I pull the letter out of my bag. Shandy’s wiping her nose with her wrist corsage. Everyone is silent, even Mr. Finley and the group of teachers along the wall. A male teacher nods and winks. I glance down at Maisey’s letter, then back at the teacher. It’s Mr. N. in a tux. I smile as one of the tears I’d been holding back falls. Right onto my paper, next to one of the splotches of faded ink from Maisey’s tears.
I clear my throat, “I’m not going to tell you everything she said. But the people that hurt her the most, you know who you are. And you know why it hurt her so bad.” I grip the letter and read: “You are all a bunch of bitches. Wherever I am right now, you can bet that I’m no longer worried about feeling like shit and going to school and feeling even shittier. I hope everyone has a great time at the Prom. It won’t be at my expense. To anyone that has ever felt like a loser: sad, damaged, shitty, ugly, small, invisible or lonely, I’m sorry. It was really bad for me but just because I didn’t fight anymore doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. I hope you dance tonight. Dance like no one is watching. I’m going to be okay now. I’m dancing too, and this time no one is laughing.” I fold the paper back up and wipe my eyes.
Someone yells “Wooo-hooo!” and some people begin to clap. Shandy lets loose a high-pitched, horror movie scream.
Justin yells “Duck!”
I throw myself to the ground as my crown is knocked violently off my head, shattering into a thousand pieces. Everything happens in a matter of five seconds. I raise my head, expecting Maisey’s ghost or pig’s blood dripping onto the stage. Instead my attacker is a cardboard vampire cutout, now lying on the floor next to me, among the crown pieces. And what looks like a dozen more, swooping down like flying monkeys, on strings hung from the rafters.
We are being attacked by cardboard vampire and werewolf cutouts.
Jane is knocked out of her chair while everyone else jumps and dives, scattering onto the stage, sprawled out like dead bodies. Langley is rolling all over the stage, cry-laughing like a madwoman. The laughter and squeals of fear from the kids in the crowd are deafening. Sean army crawls toward me but is stopped, in the nose, by a low flying werewolf. Kallie’s taken cover under Todd, and Laura’s on the ground, sobbing into Chris’s arms. He guards her while his whole body shakes with laughter. Brian lays flat, belly to the floor, with his hands covering his head. Jane lays next to him, the cage of her dress bent; pink satin ruffles and white tulle hiked up, exposing a matching pair of bloomers.
Molly screams, “There’s blood, there’s blood!”
“Chill out Molly, it’s my nose,” says Sean. “You okay, Bree?”
“Who did this? Who freaking did this?” Shandy screeches, clawing over the stage to us.
Todd lifts his head and laughs. “It sure as hell wasn’t us. I don’t think any of us are willing to lose an eye for a prank.”
“Yeah, not even me,” says Justin.
Shandy glares. “I knew it was you jerks.” She slides to the end of the stage and climbs the stairs backward, as if they’re a ladder.
“I’m fine. Are you okay?” I ask Sean. “It’s a lot of blood.”
He smiles and winces. “I’ve felt worse.”
“Holy shit, dude.” Justin yanks his tie from his neck and passes it to Sean.
Sean reaches into Justin’s breast pocket, and pulls out a gold handkerchief. “I’ll use this instead. Thanks, man.”
“Shit, I was saving that.”
“Now it’ll have my blood stains on it. Makes for a better story.” Sean wipes his nose and stands, pulling me up with his other hand. “Coast is clear guys, we can get up.”
“Oh, snap. Look at all these.” Justin props up a vampire and a werewolf. “It looks like there’s one for each of us.” He holds the werewolf next to him and smiles. JUSTIN CONNER: PROM IDIOT. He passes the vampire to Chris.
CHRIS MONROE: PROM JOCKSTRAP. We get up examining the others. I pick up the one that was lying next to me. The one that almost took my head off.
BREE HUGHES: PROM POSER.
Sean sees it and laughs. “Could be worse.” He holds up a vampire. SEAN MILLS: PROM ONE-HIT LOSER.
Laura cries even harder when she sees hers. LAURA ROSE: WHO CARES?
“Oh really, you’re going to cry? Look at mine,” Kallie says holding hers up. KALLIE VATE: PROM STAR FUCKER.
Todd holds up his. “Pffft.” TODD WHITE: PROM GONARHEA. “What the hell? Is that even spelled right?”
Brian says, “I found mine!” He lifts it like a trophy. BRIAN WANG: PROM QUEEN. “This is hilarious, I’m keeping it.”
“Well, I guess I know what everyone thinks of me,” says Molly. She holds up a sexy vampire cutout. MOLLY CHAPMAN: PROM FAKE FUCK.
“Oh don’t forget this one. Here’s yours, Jane,” I say walking to the back of the stage, grabbing the werewolf that knocked her over. “Honestly though, I hope things get better for you.” I drop the cutout onto her lap. JANE HULMES: PROM BITCH.
Principal Finley walks onto the stage looking over his shoulder and up to the rafters. Shandy follows. They stare up to the ceiling. Shandy pulls Finley over to a corner, her mouth moves a mile a minute as she points back and forth to us, the decorations, the cutouts, the stage, and back to us. Finley nods and marches over to us with Shandy, his eyes blazing, hers glaring.