Dark Night

Outcomes

I was nervous Monday when I walked into school. The vice-principal was benignly monitoring the flow of students, and when she saw me, took me over to the side. "Delia, I'm catching the students who ran for student council on their way in so that they know the results of their race before it's announced. I wanted to tell you that your race was the tightest we've ever seen in the twelve years that I've been here, but Carl won by fourteen votes. We counted the ballots three times. You can be proud of the campaign you ran. You did a great job speaking off the cuff."

"Thanks, Ms Lassiter," I said, smiling. "I appreciate knowing the result."

I was deflated as I walked to my locker and stowed my stuff. Sure, it wasn't a life-long dream of mine to be student body president, but I'd hoped. The announcement was made in home room, and it was nice that the students around me gave me their condolences. I think John, when I went to pre-calc, was more disappointed for me than I was.

"I've still got tryouts this afternoon for the drill team," I said, trying to buck him up. "I spent a few hours over at Stephanie's last weekend, polishing the routines. Head up, shoulders down, toes pointed." I grinned. "You know the drill." He grinned back. "The tulips still look great. I'm taking it as a sign that they're not wilted. I hid them on the corner of my desk by the bureau so nobody could give me grief."

The two of us accidentally rolled our eyes in unison and laughed.

I saw Carl at lunch and I went over to congratulate him. "If you'd gone to school here longer, I bet you would have beaten me," he said nicely. "That was a great speech." So that was nice.

All that meant that I was loaded for bear when it was time for tryouts. I wore some little sparkly crystal earrings I'd gotten over the weekend at Claire's in the mall. I'd also gotten little clip-in false hair extensions in a bright purple that looked great in my real hair and freshened my makeup. The group of us went into the gym to perform the first routine and I made sure to keep a smile on my face and performed with enthusiasm. Then we were sent back to the locker room and called out one at a time. I made sure to make eye contact with the judging panel and tried to inject some personality, lifting my hip in one turn for a little flounce and winking at the judges. I'd left my hair loose, as long hair could add movement and life to a performance. Then, in a surprise move, they had us wait after everybody had performed, and brought us out as a group to hear the results. One girl who'd been cut was philosophical.

"I knew that I wasn't going to be as good as people like you," she said to me, "but no harm in trying, right?"

"You're talking to someone who lost an election, so yeah, I agree." That got a smile out of her. "Listen, I heard that the marching band is considering adding a flag team to their performances. That could be fun." She perked up.

"I'll check with the band director."

I had made the team, and took a moment to savor the unfamiliar heady feeling of success. After the girls who had been disappointed had left, the remaining ten of us were each given a lavender t-shirt with a v neck, a Spartan helmet silkscreened on the front, and two white stripes on the elbow-length sleeves, and more paper, including some recommended stretches so that we could do splits and high kicks. The team officers were going to a camp this summer to learn a dance, and we would learn that and another routine over the summer so we could have two to perform when we got back to school. We also had a uniform list, showing pictures of the outfits and what it would all cost. It wasn't too bad. It kind of hurt for me because I wasn't fond of dipping into my earnings, but this was something new and different for me, promised to be fun, and I found that I didn't mind too much. There was enough money in the team bank account to pay forty dollars toward each new member's gear. Some of us had our checkbooks with us and were able to pay then; we had the option of the two installments or in full, and filled out our size sheets. I paid in full.