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Chapter 24
Matt
Everyone’s filing into the gym. Carter walks in with Emma and Jen, giving me a nod, before finding a seat with them. As part of ASB, we’re in charge of announcing the court and revealing to everyone what next week’s prom court week functions are going to be. Our teacher sits behind us, just in case he needs to intervene, but he’s usually pretty relaxed about everything and lets us handle it.
The chatter continues as the bleachers start filling up. We put up banners attached to the basketball hoops, promoting prom with different colors and designs. We also have five banners rolled up; each one will reveal next week’s theme days for the prom week functions.
Greg is handling the PA system and has it linked to music, so when we announce who makes the court, there’s party music playing in the background. As the final students walk into the gym, I see Izzy come in with Cindy and Veronica. She’s still wearing those sexy, skinny jeans and that baggy red hoodie, but it’s now pulled over her head. Her eyes find mine, and she smiles, but I notice something different. There’s blond hair poking out from under her hoodie. I point at my head, gesturing to her what was going on, and she just smiles back raising her eyebrows.
“Matt?” Yvette calls over to me, breaking my attention.
“Right,” I answer back before bringing the microphone up. “All right, seniors. Welcome!” I call out as the chattering dies down. “This year we had a huge turnout for voting. We went back and checked on the tallies for the last three years, and we had almost our whole senior class put in a vote, which is pretty awesome.” Yvette leads a cheer, Oscar following suit, which gets the rest of the students clapping. “So, without any further ado, I say we just get to it. Afterwards, we’ll go over prom court week events, and the mandatory rules and regulations when it comes to attending prom. Thank you, faculty,” I say with a dry monotone, which gets a small laugh. “I’ll be announcing the girls’ court first and then the guys’.”
Yvette and Oscar start the clapping again, and the rest of the gym follows along.
“First up, no surprise really, she’s our Vice President. Yvette Morales!”
Yvette acts like she had no idea, jumping up and down, but we both know that she got the most votes. She campaigned hard to make court—all the while tagging my name along with hers. She runs over and kisses me on the cheek, causing some oohs and aahs from the girls, while I just roll my eyes.
“Next up, it’s everyone’s favorite cheerleading captain, Sarah Donovan.”
Sarah makes her way down the bleachers, accompanied by screams from the entire cheerleading squad and their friends.
“Next, we have Woodbridge’s own star of the stage, Jen Harris!” I call out a little more excited than the first two.
Carter and Emma jump to their feet, Carter hollering as Jen blushes and makes her way down next to the others.
“This year’s prom court will also be joined by Natalie Frazier.” Natalie’s a popular cheerleader, and most likely our class valedictorian.
“And finally, rounding out the girls’ court, is our resident YouTube star, Isabel Jacobs!”
The reaction to Izzy’s name being called out rivals Sarah’s, with what looks like half the crowd jumping to their feet, cheering her on. For a moment, she seems shocked by all the adulation, and I see Cindy and Veronica nudging her arm to get her to come down. As she takes her first few steps, Izzy’s smile shows up. But it isn’t just a happy grin. It’s something confident.
She holds her head a little bit higher as she gets to the bottom of the bleachers and stops. Casting a look over the crowd, her eyes find mine for a brief second, and she grins. Then, she unzips the red hoodie. Looking back at Cindy, she nods to her friends, then pulls the hood back revealing a blond wig. The hoodie unzipped now, the length of it falls to her thighs, and she tugs at her right sleeve. The sleeve rips off, revealing her arm covered in what looks like metal.
My jaw drops. Some in the crowd start chattering, while the others who know what is happening start to cheer. My mouth still open, the corners of my lips curl upwards. She’s dressed as Edward from Fullmetal Alchemist. And she’s freaking hot. The large hoodie is unzipped now, revealing this tight black tank top hugging her skin. She smiles as she makes her way over to the rest of the girls.
I clear my throat. “That’s exactly why she calls herself So Cal Nerd Girl.”
The cheering seems to grow louder. Even the people that don’t know who she’s dressed up as seem to get behind her and the confidence she radiates forth.
“Oscar,” I say away from the mic, but he doesn’t hear me. He’s too busy checking out Izzy. “Yo!”
He finally looks over at me. “Yeah?”
“Set the girls up in the line.”
“Oh, right.” He walks over to the girls and ushers them just off to the side.
“All right.” I look back at the crowd. “Now, let’s see who made the guys’ court.” The crowd cheers. “Okay, if your name is called, Greg will usher you by the girl who’ll be your prom court couple for next week’s events. First up, our ASB commissioner, Oscar Cappelli.”
Oscar fist pumps and plays to the cheering crowd. He walks over to Yvette since he knows he’s coupling with her.
“Next up, Warrior’s superstar QB, Bret Thompson!” Bret smirks from the stands, being congratulated by most of his teammates he’s sitting next to, and makes his way down. “We also have Franco Avila!”
The entire basketball team erupts and cheers him on as he walks down. I can’t help but smirk as Jen sees he’s being directed next to her and she’ll be coupling with him for the events next week. She looks over at me, and I give a friendly nod as she mouths Thank you.
“We also have Sam Patterson.” The clapping continues, but it’s definitely the quietest response out of everyone. I wrinkle my nose, feeling bad again about Sam being the joke vote, but he doesn’t seem as uncomfortable as I figured he would be. The chess club, all five of them, and the debate team are the loudest, and I’m happy he at least has a core group of friends that are behind him.
