My 1st Prom

Date: 30/6, Thurs (part 1)

  I downright refused to roll out of bed after opening my eyes. Class Experience Day. My stomach clenches in anxiety. Even Aranobrac can't make me after she drew the curtains, 'Wake up, sleepyhead. I know you- you're not a heartless monster.' A corner of my mouth rises up when she layers emphasis on the word heartless, 'I'm awake,' 'You know what I mean,' She told me, 'it's July, so the school holidays should be around the next corner.'

Mum checks my temperature when I remain in bed. 'You're perfectly fine, Cel.' 'I'd like to stay at home today,' I don't care if I sound childish, 'can you please call the school?' I think of the pink, white and blue cotton candy shades that building has. 'What's the problem here?' Dad walks in, manhandling his tie with one hand. 'She doesn't want to get out of bed,' Mum sounds incredulous, 'I don't know what's happening. She's acting like a dead person.' I pull the covers over my head, urgently wanting to live a different life. 'Celestia, why won't you get up?' Dad enquiries. 'I want to stay home.' I cower on the marshmallow mattress. 'Should we should let her ride in the car today?' Mum whispers. 'No thanks,' I curl into a ball, knowing she never meant the Mercedes, 'school starts at 2.' 'GOOD AFTERNOON SIS!' Luke's shouts rocket from the living room, 'SCHOOL STARTS AT 3 FOR ME!' 'Celestia, do you have any problems with school? Is everything ok?' Dad pulls the blanket off, exposing me to sunlight, 'Should we arrange a meeting with your CTs?' Nope nope nope the last thing I need is them raising the roof. 'Noooo.' I sit up and blink, 'I'm fine, I'll get to school in time.' 'Car option is available,' Dad suggests for the first time in forever, 'today is your class fun day, right?' As if taking the limousine to living hell can make my day. My stomach pulls tighter. 'Nah, I'm set.' Set to fail Supermans.

'I'll take the bus to school an hour early, you wanna join me?' Chocolate jam coating Luke's chin. 'Gimme 10 minutes.' I swim into the toilet using sheer discipline, 'Wipe your face, dude.' 'Are you certain you don't want to ride in the car today? You've always wanted to ride it to school,' Mum knocks on the toilet door. 'Sure, Mum,' I gargle. 'What did she say?' Dad's voice is louder than the running tap water. 'Even the limo can't cheer her up,' Mum answers, 'her hormones must be kicking in.'

Our team shirts have the superhero logo plastered in front plus individual names tags attached on the back. Mine reads "Celesteeah". 'Is the- the- that... fellow -The Person Whose Rucksack I Contaminated- in charge of ordering name tags?' I take mine off a hook in the girls' changing room. 'Who?' XYZ asks, rubbing her eyes. I notice her panda eyes are gone. 'Yes,' Apple's arms shoot through her shirt armholes, 'very weird when you put it that way.' 'I wasn't trying to be funny,' I put my team shirt on, 'that guy who's always mean, what's his name?' 'Oh,' XYZ says, 'You mean that guy-' 'Don't go around asking his name, Celestia.' Apple finishes changing, 'Hold up, you have the hots for him, don't you?' No way. I smooth out the shirt wrinkles, not opening my mouth. XYZ pulls on her Superman t-shirt, 'Can you guys believe Eva's absent today?' Thanks, XYZ. 'Quality time! No need to keep a lookout for her then,' I shoot her a sarcastic eye roll. Apple pulls a face at both of us. I give in, 'I never liked him, just so you guys know.' 'Aha,' XYZ jokes satisfyingly, 'we wondered.'

'Get ready to lose.' I sigh. 'What?' XYZ folds her other shirt neatly. 'Heads up: none of the athletes want to be Celestia's teammates, so they became Batmans.' Apple fills her in. We're at a loss of words for a few seconds. 'Am I the only person who thinks this is unfair ? Batmans won from the start,' XYZ grumbles, 'I should've seen this coming.' My friends deserve better. 'We'll merely lose for one day,' Apple slaps her thigh, 'we should, like, enjoy our last team bonding activity this year. Let's get this over with.' 'Totally!' I egg them on, 'I'm so ready. Losers for today?' I raise both palms, one to XYZ, one to Apple. Both of them hi-five back. 'For today!' XYZ and Apple exclaim at the same time.

We step into the gym. Batmans has already formed a huddle, unlike Supermans, who mingle casually. Eva's presence is missing, as expected. 'There she is,' an S1G2 person scowls. Visible repulsion unites both teams as soon as they see me. More than one person rolls their eyes. After I show up, everyone begins discussing how I snapped in my "breakdown episode" on the school trip. In front of me. They stare at me with revulsion as though they are about to perform an autopsy on a dead mouse. My shaky confidence collapses. XYZ covers her nose and mouth, 'I need to sneeze! I need to sneeze! Let me grab someone to sneeze on!' She's so ridiculous I can't stop laughing. XYZ cracks up as well. S1G2 people leaping further away from her only makes me laugh more hysterically. Suddenly, peoples' scrunched noses and double takes are replaced by joyful grins. Wh-? "Hey Nick!" Many girls begin stretching their long, hairless smooth legs. Especially Apple. I'm not the only girl who finds him hard to resist, apparently. Finding myself looking him over, I blink forcibly.

He looks irresistibly hot in a black and white striped shirt, no kidding. Just look at him. The way he's standing radiates awesomeness. 'Yo.' His friendly brown eyes scan the crowd, effortlessly spreading warmth. 'Play off is on. Where's Windy?' I instantly get why he's such a social magnet. He probably has a gene labelled "popularity" in his DNA. 'Yo,' Apple replies for everyone, 'she's not here yet.' 'Oh yah.' He's already being fawned over by both teams' players from the left and from the right. Apparently, S1G1's class activity took place in the morning, leaving him free to 'pop by'.

I swiftly found another thing to eyeball until steady foot stomping and the sound of stomachs being gently slapped drew laughter and mounting excitement. I trace the increasing noise source from somewhere at the centre of the crowd. 'Nick's doing a haka,' XYZ says, 'a bunch of people are joining in!' 'Really? Where is he?' Apple jumps up and down, trying to get a better view, 'What's a haka?' 'See for yourself,' XYZ vaguely gestures to them. I don't glance to Nick's way, knowing I can't see him amid the moving bodies. But before I could register anything, something hard -like an elbow- slams into my back, and I pitch forward, legs stumbling to regain balance. I whirl my head backwards. It could've been anyone - everybody is either laughing or clapping or stomping or chanting here. Who pushed me?

Dodging a ball constantly thrown my way is tiring. I'm standing at the very back, keeping my eyes on the ball at all times after the game kicked off with a whistle blow. Batmans are the sporty classmates of S1G2. They try eliminating me first, obviously. I last for 30 seconds because Supermans -my team members- surround me on purpose. At first I thought they were protecting me without body contact, then I realised: it's a trap-I'd walked right into it. A Batman flings the ball, it whizzes in our direction and the girl in front of me dives sideways in a split second. The next thing I know, there's a ball sized impact near my collarbone. I got hit.

Batmans target XYZ next after knocking me out. I secretly wish for her to turn the attack on themselves. Our teammates even attempt using the same trick they did on me. The whizzing ball would've hit XYZ if she hadn't knelt down in the nick of time. She catches it and rushes forward, silently threatening to crush anyone in her way. XYZ dumps it back, making Supermans hop sideways. Her face shining from sweat, she swerves and takes out two Batmans like a pro in her next throw, reminding Supermans to think twice before feeding her to the wolves. She's not as peaky as before, I notice. She's ... somewhat revived, invincible. Our team players wisely stay out of the collision course. 'Booyah!' She punches the air, sweat dripping off her chin. Yet every Batman is an individual ace, they pick us off one after another with speedy reflexes and sharp aim. The ball is shot -straight as an arrow- at XYZ. She ducks neatly before catching the ball and slamming it at the other team like a comet. Every move she makes is charged with adrenaline. Batmans manage to knock us out one at a time with their unbeatable athletic talents, eventually clearing most Supermans off the ground. XYZ tried her best, but she couldn't dart out of their firing range. Batmans scream their victory afterwards. Nick cheers along as he tallies the results.

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You guys enjoy the story so far ? Part 2 of 30/6 entry coming soon!