* * *
Unfortunately, it was one of those times where the light never seems to change. And the love of Aldys' life came over. The only thing was that he didn't seem to know it. Guy snubbed her at every opportunity he got. Now wasn't any different than the other times.
"Hey, Alpo. The dogpark is that way."
The nickname hurt more than the remark, but she tried to hide it. "The last time I checked this was a free country." Her standard reply to everything.
As the light stayed red, she was forced to sit and listen to Guy commanding her to go home and calculate her coolness, or lack of it.
Finally it turned green. She pushed the pedal as fast as she could manage. Aldys could feel the tears coming, but now wasn't the time. Tyke and Josie both saw her as a strong and independent person. A person who had managed to stand on her own legs and was proud of it. There was no use in them knowing the horrible truth.
After she had bit Josie abruptly off when she tried to help, the night had moved downwards. It had practically fallen apart and Aldys had dropped Josie off as soon as they hit the target of the evening. "Good night Josie. I feel the need for some privacy now, if you don't mind."
Josie had left, but not until she had patted her shoulder comfortingly. Something told Aldys that Josie understood what she was feeling.
"Night, Aldys. I love you." Tyke whispered as Aldys tucked her in. "Love you too. Good night, sweet dreams." As she closed the door behind her, she knew that it didn't really matter if she was cool or not. Larissa loved her anyway, and her approval was all that was important. But she couldn't help going into her room to think things over, just once more.
Aldys' room wasn't very large, but more importantly, it truly represented the spirit of its owner. Aldys had painted four individual paintings of her father, her mother, Larissa and her hamster that had died eating the electric furnace. All four paintings, with posters of great philosophers and researchers decorated her green walls. Her flute lay in the window and a baseball bat stood in one corner. The desk had a blueberry I-Mac computer and lots of books. And the bookcase in the corner had even more books. Hanging from the ceiling was a pair of dolphins made of paper-mach�.
Right now Aldys wasn't all that interested in her room. She simply lay down on the bed and stared into the ceiling. Why did he have to act like snot? Why did everybody at South Glen High, except for her fellow sufferers, feel that it was so hard to be nice to her? The main word in her brain was why. She simply couldn�t get it. She wasn't that hideous. Aldys felt that she seemed to be popular with everybody, except for the popular crowd. But that shouldn't matter to her, should it? Why did it matter what the Lemmings thought of her? After a long period of soul-searching, without any bright new thoughts she fell asleep.
Her dreams were filled with images. Images of how it should've been. An Aldys who impressed everybody with her appearance, who had the total control over Guy's mind and body and who could "hang" wherever she wanted. But it went as dreams do, ending at the moment when Guy was going to kiss her.
The next day was prom-fever at school. Aldys couldn't understand what the fuss was about. Ok so it was the prom, who cared? It was just an excuse for partying more and spending more money on something as insignificant as gowns. And the quest for a theme was ridiculous.
The millennium? Well, maybe it was kind of hip at the moment thinking of it. But what would you do on a prom named the millennium? In her opinion it would be far cooler to use a literary or a movie theme, or a sports theme?
She couldn't help but thinking about the furor it would cause at South Glen High when they discovered the fact that the other schools had the same prom theme. It would be worth the trouble she had taken to figure it out and send in an anonymous letter to the student body president. Oh, it hadn't been all that much trouble, the guys at the team had been happy to help her. Now all she had to do was put the letter in the mailbox.
She was nervous while doing it. It wasn't like they would be furious if they discovered. But it still felt like a federal crime. Aldys wanted to confide in someone, but soon realized that it would spoil all the fun for her. Now she only had to sit back and watch it happen. At the same time as she watched Josie get a bigger and bigger crush on Mr. Coulson.
Time for some entertainment!