Page 104 of Something Rad
“Yay!” Alice sings, jumping up and down. “How fun is this? Both of us going to our senior year Homecoming with boyfriends?”
“Sofun,” I nod, entertaining her.
Alice pulls me into a hug right outside the gym door. “I can’t wait. This is already the best year ever. I’m so happy. Especially for you.”
I swallow down the urge to scream that it’s a lie. “Me too, Al.”
“Oh, there’s Daniel,” she says, spotting him over my shoulder and pulling back. “See you later?”
“Sure. See ya.”
Alice scurries off, hooking her arm with Daniel’s and heading towards the far main entrance to the gym where the rest of the students are filing in. I duck inside the door to my side where the athletes and staff are meant to enter.
I find my usual spot in the corner of the room and begin fiddling with my camera, making sure it’s all set to begin taking pictures. Once it’s good to go, I inch around the edge of the bleachers, taking in the scene as the band starts to play. The students in the bleachers instantly get excited by the sound, many jumping out of their seats.
Suddenly, a gust of wind passes behind me, startling me, as the cheer team comes jogging around the corner and spreads out in front of the bleachers, some doing cartwheels and flips to get to their places. The crowd goes wild, and I take it as a perfect opportunity to grab some pictures, already mentally writing the newspaper article in my head. When I pull the camera back a few moments later, I see all of the cheerleaders gathered around a handful of plastic bins in front of the bleachers. They start pulling the contents out and tossing whatever the small items are into the bleachers. People have their hands in the air and are jumping up and down trying to get the attention of whatever cheerleader is closest to them so they’ll send one in their direction. It isn’t until Kate Andrews sets one off, quickly followed by every other cheerleader and a good portion of the students in the bleachers, that I realize they’re confetti poppers.
A smile instantly comes to my face and I raise my camera again, snapping as many pictures as I can. This will be awful for cleaning up, but absolutely incredible as yearbook photos.
I run out of film, and start fishing another roll out of my pocket. It’s then that I spot Robbie walking into the gym with Brad Marshall and Paul Strothers. His head shifts in my direction and we make eye contact for a fraction of a second before I look away, pulling the film from my jeans. The volume of music coming from the band starts rising, the roar from the crowd becoming crazy between all of the people talking, cheering, and setting off confetti poppers. It all becomes suddenly twice as intense as Principal Whileyman’s voice comes over the speakers, introducing the volleyball team.
“Crap,” I mutter, working to swap out the film rolls as quickly as possible. I just barely get the used film roll out of the camera when a shadow appears in front of me.
“Oh my gosh! Hi, Sara!”
My brows immediately pull together at the voice I swear I recognize. I look up slowly, finding Denise standing in front of me with her hands on her hips, a huge smile on her face. “Uh– Hi, Denise?” I say, trying to mask the confusion in my voice as I work to get the new roll of film into the camera and ready to go.
“You’re here!” she says, that too big smile growing even wider.
“Um, well, the whole school is here,” I say.
She lets out a laugh that somehow sounds like angels singing in heaven. “Well, yeah,” she says. “But I guess I just meanthere. Like, right here.”
“Right,” I say, narrowing my eyes at her. “Well, I always take photos over here during pep rallies.”
“You do?” Denise asks, tilting her head. “I’ve never noticed.”
Of course you haven’t.
The volleyball team starts running into the gym and I raise my camera, trying to get a picture. Denise immediately steps in front of me. “Sorry, excuse me,” I say, trying to get around her. She just keeps stepping to the side, staying in my path and blocking my shot.
“Why don’t you come and join the fun?” Denise asks. “Take the day off. Come hang out in the bleachers.”
“I can’t.” I shake my head. “I have to get photos for the newspaper and yearbook.”
I move to the left this time, trying to trip her up, but Denise doesn’t miss a beat, continuing to block me. “Oh, come on,” she says. “Live a little. We have party poppers and everything.” She holds up her hands to show me the handful of poppers she’s holding.
“I noticed,” I say, trying not to sound as frustrated as I feel. “It looks like fun, but I can’t.” I manage to get one half decent shot over Denise’s shoulder of the volleyball team waving to the crowd of students, but half decent won’t cut it.
Suddenly, Ginger Matthews appears, jogging up from behind Denise. “Hi, Den,” she says. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, I was just trying to get Sara involved in the fun, but she says she’s not interested,” Denise says, flashing Ginger a puppy dog face.
“What?” Ginger questions, an exaggerated look of surprise crossing her face. “Oh, c’mon, Sara, you totally should!”
“See, I told you!” Denise says. “Come on, just for a few minutes.”
“I told you I can’t.” I stand on my tiptoes, snapping whatever photos I can without Denise’s blonde ponytail in the frame.
