The New Kid

Chapter 8- A Close Encounter

"So, are you into the 50s at all?" Savannah asked me.

I shook my hand side to side, "The only thing I liked about the 50s was the fashion and West Side Story. Why do you ask?"

"Can you dance?"

"Yes."

"The theme for the homecoming dance is the 1950s. You'd be the life of the party if you went, Scott," Savannah stated.

She was right. Maybe I could even impress Jessica, or even share a dance with her. That thought made my blood heat up.

"When and where's the dance?" I asked.

Savannah raised an eyebrow at me, "It's tonight at the gym. Do you pay attention to the announcements?"

I smiled, "Well, I kinda had something else on my mind."

Ever since yesterday, Jessica had been the only thing on my mind. The announcements were just tuned out.

"Well, see you at the dance tonight then," Savannah said. She walked away with her plastic tiara gleaming in the ceiling lights. While I walked to my class, I hummed some swing tunes to prepare me for the dance.

Later, Drake and I were getting ready for the homecoming dance. I styled my hair into a pompadour like Preston's. Drake didn't do much to groom himself. He wore a white t-shirt and tucked it into his jeans. Meanwhile, I had a cream dress shirt with a black tie and a plaid vest over it with grey dress pants. I looked more 50's-esque than Drake did.

"They had this style," Drake said.

"Yeah. I look more like the part than you, though," I said.

We arrived at school and we saw a lot of people dressed in 50's clothes enter the building. Jessica and Savannah were nowhere to be found, though. I put on my fake 50's glasses and we went inside.

"Do you have all that stuff just lying around?" Drake asked.

"These are my clothes from the Mambo scene from West Side Story," I said.

Drake's eyes widened, "Who'd you play as?"

I looked up, trying to remember, "I was Action. Goddamn do I miss it."

The sound of music grew louder as we got closer to the gym. The floor rumbled from the volume. We opened the doors and we were greeted to a large crowd of people dancing to the music.

"Scott! Hey!" Preston said. His pompadour was more voluminous than yesterday. He had an odd smile on his face.

"What's goin' on with the creepy smile?" I asked.

"Well, I did something evil. I dunno if you guys think it's funny, but I think it is," he began, "You see...I couldn't help but see how jealous you were last night at coronation when Cameron started grabbing Jessica like that. So, for your sake of hanging with Jessica tonight, I may or may not have done something to his fruit punch when he wasn't looking."

"Okay, this is getting really dark. What'd you do?" I asked.

He pulled out a bottle of liquid laxative, "You won't have to deal with him tonight."

I snorted, "Preston, you're fucking high."

"No, I'm not bro. I quit that shit when I was 16. Gotta get into the Ivy League somehow."

And as if on cue, Savannah and Jessica appeared out of nowhere. They were both wearing plaid dresses and large bows in their hair.

"You made it!" Savannah said.