* * *
I walked in the double doors of the gym and was amazed at how beautiful the Prom Committee had made it look. They had managed to make everything look enchanted as opposed to tacky, as most proms end up being. There were flowers on all the tables, lovely looking food set up buffet style and a beautiful ice sculpture that, not surprisingly, two boys were trying to melt with their cigarette lighters.
I sat at a small corner table as far back as I could, and looked around for Josie and Rob. I saw Josie sitting at a table with Kristen, Kirsten and Gibby, all whom were dressed as -- and this was a shocker, not -- Barbie Dolls.
Josie's costume, however, as if she didn't already have more class and poise than they did, was a floor length burgundy and rose corseted gown modeled after medieval nobles gowns. Her hair looked perfect pulled up into a sort of French-twist. She looked radiant. I looked around for her date, finding him talking to his friends, showing them the sword that he was carrying. Then it clicked, who they were supposed to be: Rosalind and Orlando from As You Like It. I briefly wondered if she chose that costume for the benefit of Mr. Coulson, who would hopefully see the significance of it once all of this was over. That is, if I'm right and they do have those feelings. I looked away from Guy and saw Rob on the dance floor with Tracie. She was in a short, tight pink dress wearing a long blonde wig and black stiletto heels. She actually looked a little like Rebecca de Mornay did in Risky Business. I ignored the wave of jealousy, mainly because it was ridiculous of me to be jealous of a sixteen-year-old at this point in my relationship with Rob. They looked like they were having a good time.
And then the Denominators entered, and I had to smile at their ingenuity. They were obviously DNA as they were all dressed in matching jumpsuits and connected by a rope, two by two in a long train. I saw Josie smile as I had, but her table mates just glared. If this were a costume contest, they would definitely win.
I got up and went to the punch bowl when I saw that neither Josie nor Rob was anywhere nearby. As I was pouring my glass, Mr. Coulson walked up. He looked amazing in his tux; very neat and incredibly handsome, with the natural grace of Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart. I made eye contact and smiled. He returned the smile, but obviously didn't recognize me.
"Hi, Mr. Coulson," I said.
"Hi...um...I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."
"Lily. I dropped my books in front of you a few weeks back. You helped me pick them up."
He smiled. "You look different...again."
"This is a wig." I explained, lifting a red curl. "I'm Rose from Titanic."
He smiled. "You did a great job with it. Where's Jack?"
I shrugged a shoulder and replied, "He drowned. This is after the ship sank."
His smile faded a little. "That's a little morbid."
"Well, I didn't have a date..." He looked away and his eyes landed on Josie. "She looks fabulous, don't you agree?" I asked, following his gaze.
"She does, yes," he replied without even having to ask who I meant.
"Hard to believe she's the same girl who wore white feathers on her first day."
He looked back at me, startled. "Are you a friend of Josie's?"
"Not exactly...I know who she is. She seems very sweet. And smart."
"Yes, she is." He let out a sigh. I knew if I kept talking I could maybe get some insight into his feelings, especially if I seemed really casual and not like I was digging for information. "She's the best student I've ever had."
"Really? "
"Yes. She seems to have this eagerness to learn, and as far as being an English teacher, I couldn't ask for a better student than Josie. She writes like no student I have ever had."
"Is she a good writer, then?"
"She's incredible." he looked back at her. "She's incredible." He repeated, only this time it was barely a whisper.
"It was nice talking to you again, Mr. Coulson. I'm going to go talk to some friends. Please, excuse me."
He seemed to come out of his reverie. "Nice talking to you too..."
"Lily," I supplied.
"Lily."
I smiled and went back to my table. They would be naming the King and Queen soon.
I had somehow managed to avoid not only Rob and Josie, but Guy and his friends as well. I sat inconspicuously at my corner table with my glass of punch and plate with assorted fresh vegetables fanned out on it, ranch dressing in the center. I was nibbling on a carrot stick when I saw Rob and Tracie sit down. She was leaning close to him, giggling. He smiled back, but even I could tell from where I was sitting that it was a smile to keep her happy. They were having a conversation and I wished that I could somehow walk close to them and eavesdrop, but it was too risky, no pun intended. I watched her put her right leg behind her head and quickly diverted my attention to gauge Rob's expression. He actually looked annoyed, and he put his hand out to help her up as she fell backwards into a guy dressed as a big turtle. The turtle's date, a bunny, slapped his arm that he had put around Tracie. Rob took her hand and helped her to her feet, leading her onto the dance floor.
Not too long after, Mr. Coulson and Ms. Knox walked to the stage and he tapped the microphone to gain the attention of the kids. The DJ stopped the music. There was electricity in the air, excited twittering engulfed the room. Mr. Coulson cleared his throat.
"The moment has arrived to announce the 1999 Prom Court." He said, holding up a large index card. I looked around at the faces in the crowd, noticing that the Barbies were already primping their hair and making sure their red lips were shiny. Josie was smiling serenely; she seemed truly happy that she was having this experience. "The Princesses are..." he looked at the card, and then raised his head to look into the crowd. "...Miss Kristen Davis, Miss Kirsten Leosis and Miss Gibby Zarefsky!"
They all hugged each other, little false cries of surprise coming from their mouths. They hugged Josie and Guy as they passed them, climbing the stairs to the stage as quickly as their platform Barbie shoes would let them. They all took their sashes, waving to the crowd like they had just been crowned Miss Americas.
Ms. Knox waited for them to settle down before she read from her index card. "And the Princes are...Mr. Thomas Salamey, Mr. Jason Way and Mr. Rob..." She glanced harder at the card. "Mr. Rob." She shrugged. I looked for Rob, a smile beaming on my lips.
"YEAH!!! MR. ROB!!!" He exclaimed, running up to the stage. He gave Ms. Knox a bear hug as he reached her, then hugged the two other boys, the two that were always with Guy. I was trying to hold back my laughter as I took a picture of him with the Trib's camera.
"And now for South Glen's Prom King," Ms Knox said. "Guy Perkins!"
I looked at Guy, who had turned to face the crowd slightly, a casual shrug leaving his shoulders like this wasn't a surprise to him. In reality, it probably wasn't a surprise, and that annoyed me. He climbed he stairs and let Ms. Knox put a crown on his head.
Mr. Coulson stood at the microphone again. "And, the Prom Queen is..." H looked up and into the crowd, finding her before he said, "Josie Geller."
Josie had a genuine look of surprise, tears welled in her eyes as she slowly walked to the stage. Her smile was the biggest I had even seen. She walked up the stairs and stood in front of Mr. Coulson, looking him in the eyes as he put the crown on her head and handed her a bouquet of flowers. As she turned to face the crowd I snapped a picture of her, her hands on the crown, a suprised but estatic smile on her face.
I felt tears prick my eyes. This had to be the happiest day of her life. Everything she had wanted had come true. She and Guy walked to the middle of the dance floor for their customary first dance as King and Queen and awkwardly touched. The DJ played a moody, almost dark, song by the Cardigans that I felt actually fit the mood well. Josie looked at once elated and melancholy. Guy was talking to her and she was paying attention to him but I noticed her stare at Mr. Coulson as Guy pulled her closer to his chest.
Soon all of the kids were dancing again and Josie excused herself from Guy to head to the buffet table. She was about to bite into a piece of chocolate cake as Mr. Coulson approached her. I hated being so far away that I was missing the exchange that she was having with him, especially this one. I watched her nod, place her uneaten cake back on the table and follow Mr. Coulson onto the dance floor. It seemed as if the surrounding world disappeared for them as they held each other. They looked directly into each other's eyes as they spoke, dancing slightly slower than the beat of the music.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Guy was dancing with Aldys. She had stepped out of the DNA costume and was wearing a one-piece shiny blue body suit. I was surprised to see that she had an incredible body; very thin and in shape. I wondered why she hid it beneath all those baggy clothes. Her long hair was loose and swaying as Guy guided her around the dance floor, never really taking his eyes off of her. Was I missing something? When did her decide to be nice to her? He was always awful to her as far as I had seen.
I looked from them back to Josie and Mr. Coulson. My ears tuned into the song that was playing, appropriately enough it was Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths. I wondered if Josie was listening to the words as she looked away from Mr. Coulson, her eyes sad.
She looked at Guy and Aldys. She looked at her new friends. Her expression changed and she yelled out "Nooooooooo!!!!!" and went running toward Aldys and Guy. I looked beyond them to one of guys friends who was standing behind Aldys with a can of dog food held over her head. Josie hit the can with her hand, sending it flying into the air.
I wasn't the only one watching this happen. It seemed that the entire senior class was watching that can as the dog food slipped out and landed all over Kristen, Kirsten and Gibby. They screamed.
Gibby was the first to speak intelligible words. She glared at Josie as she said "I knew you were a loser!"
Everyone was still, watching, silent.
"You so do not deserve to be Prom Queen!" Kirsten yelled.
But instead of flinching or cowering from the popular girls' wrath, she just looked at them with almost...pity, and said, "Let me tell you something..." She took off her crown and threw it on the floor at their feet. She squared her shoulders and faced them. "I don't care about being your stupid prom queen. I'm 25 years old! I'm an undercover reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times... and I have been beating my brains out trying to impress you people!" She gestured to the crowd in digust.
My heart was pounding. I couldn't believe she had exposed herself. It was the most courageous thing I had seen anyone do. She just put her job on the line without a second thought. She was facing them strongly, like a western stand-off, and she was winning whether she knew it or not.
I looked at Mr. Coulson and saw that he was as shocked as everyone else. She hadn't revealed her obvious feelings to him yet, nor apparently, her real identity. In fact, he looked like he had taken a physical punch in the stomach, as if his breath had been stolen from him.
"Let me tell you something--Kristen, Kirsten, Gibby! You will spend your lives trying to figure out ways to keep other people down because it makes you feel more important! Why her, huh?" She motioned to Aldys, who was looking at Josie with admiration. "Let me tell you something about this... girl. She is amazing! I was new here and she befriended me, no questions asked. But you," she then gestured to the dog-food covered Barbies, "you were only my friend after my brother, Rob, posed as a student and told you to like me."
Everyone looked at Rob who smiled uncomfortably and pulled his sunglasses from his forehead to his eyes.
I looked back toward Josie to see how Mr. Coulson was taking the news, but he was no longer standing at her side. In fact, I didn't see him anywhere.
"It's a great big world out there, bigger than prom, bigger than high school. When you get out there it won't matter if you were the prom queen, or the quarterback of the football team, or... the biggest nerd in school. Find out who you are, and try not to be afraid of it. E...Excuse me." Tears had fallen to her cheeks as she pushed through the crowd.
Everyone was still silent. I started clapping and soon everyone followed suit. I hoped Josie heard the applause. I waited a few minutes and walked out.
When I got outside I saw Mr. Coulson heading to his car, and he didn't look happy. Josie was sitting on a bench, crying miserably. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't go and comfort her; I was still undercover. I had to slip past her and rush to my car.
* * *
To Be Seventeen Again
By Caroline Spenser
When I was in high school, I never wanted to leave. I believed that old saying that those were the best years of one's life. I lived every day like it was the most important one I'd have. It wasn't until I was in college that I realized that the best years were yet to come. Being a teenager is hard, but being a twenty-something isn't a walk in the park either. Besides the age-old problems of status, vanity and who to date that both age groups share, there are also greater concerns regarding finances, long-term romance and job security that I soon found to be constantly on my mind. I have looked back on the trials and tribulations of being a teenager and never really yearned to revisit those times. I have come to terms with the person I once was, and let her go to become the person I am now. I like myself much more now.
This all changed two months ago when my editor came to me with an undercover assignment to scoop a Sun-Times reporter. Josie Geller, a reporter I had never heard of, had been assigned to pose as a high school student at South Glen South High School, and I was to follow her around and basically beat her to the punch by getting my article in our paper first. Blow her cover. Jeopardize her career. All for the sake of higher sales for this paper.
As apprehensive as I was to return to the very school I had graduated from nine years earlier, I jumped into the assignment, willing to be as cut-throat as I had to be for the job I love. But something unexpected happened.
First, I found myself drawn to Josie. She entered the school clueless, shy, timid. She was snubbed by the popular kids and accepted by the "nerds". This didn't seem to bring her down, and in fact she flourished, joining their Math Club, excelling in her classes, growing more confident by the day. I watched her change slowly, my affection for her increasing. I found myself wishing that I, too, could be a "student" just so I could strike up a friendship with her.
I knew that this was against the rules.
In the meantime, I met who I would soon find out was Josie Geller's brother. I fell for him so hard that it shocked me. I was introduced to Josie and his parents. I felt like I belonged with them. I knew that I belonged with him. When I was undercover, watching Josie, I found that I was pulling for her confidence to grow more. I wanted to see her achieve her goals, to be as popular as she had always wanted to be.
I saw her struggle with the popular kids until a mysterious person came along and changed that for her. He came in like her proverbial white knight, telling stories to the popular kids about how she used to date him, how she was the heir to the Ex-Lax fortune, how her father owned a yacht and she spent her summers in the South of France. This was all it took for those shallow, self-absorbed "leaders of the world of high school cool" to accept her with open arms, taking her under their wings and soon looking to her for answers and advice.
Josie picked the Senior Prom Theme. She was on the Prom Committee. She arrived with the most popular boy in the Senior Class. She was named Prom Queen.
I could see by the look on her face as her handsome English teacher put that crown on her head that every dream she had had when she was truly seventeen had come true. Josie Geller had faced her fears head-on, fighting in the trenches of high school life for a second time and coming out victorious. I admired her strength.
Only she was stronger than I'm sure even she knew. You see, she may have been accepted into their group, but she would never really fit in. She's too close to the geek she once was; she cares too much about the "little guy", and she proved this by revealing her true reason for being at South Glen South after her so-called friends tried to play a cruel, and potentially devastating, joke on the one person who had honestly befriended her from the very start.
When Josie threw her crown onto the floor, she threw away the last of her adolescent wishes to be cool in high school, and she became the coolest adult I have ever known. She spoke her mind to not only these kids, but in essence to all of the kids who had ridiculed her when she was a real high school student. She walked away from them, her head held high, her shoulders straight, proving not only to them but hopefully to herself that she is a better person than anyone ever expected.
I think she is the bravest person I know.
I hope Josie's experience changes not only her life, but also those whose lives she touched, just by being there.
* * *