howdy do dearies!
who's your favorite superhero?
i love FLASH!

•••  

The Rec Hall was quite a scene and I felt overwhelmed by it. Everyone in the school had gathered — even the teachers — and the students were restless on the bleachers. The hall was decorated in purple, black and gold ribbons and banners.

As Valerie and I walked in, I couldn't help but ask. "Did they change the school colors?"

"No," she said. "It's the theme color for the pep rally. It was your idea."

"Oh." I tried acting nonchalant at that piece of information.

I let Valerie lead me to where we would be seated and we passed by some cheerleaders who wore the same blue and yellow uniform that I remembered. They waved at us with their golden pompoms. Valerie stuck up her nose at them. I waved back.

"Junior cheers," she commented while rolling her eyes.

"Why didn't you wave back?"

"No reason. I just didn't feel like it," she said.

Valerie stopped and saw some goths seated at the front. She unhooked her arm from mine and I guessed that she wanted to sit there, but I noticed there was no space. It was fully occupied.

"Get out, freaks!" she snapped suddenly and I widened my eyes, not only because of her sudden outburst but mostly because my sister was there.

"Uhm," I took Valerie by the arm. "We could sit at the back. There's lots of space there." I said while glancing at Dawn, who was giving me the stink eye.

Valerie gave me an incredulous look. "Are you crazy? We can't!"

"Why not?"

"You're supposed to give an opening speech, Dee—I mean, Reddee."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Valerie, you should've told me this earlier."

"Oops, slipped my mind," she casually said.

My heart began beating in panic. Speech? The only pep rally speech that I literally remembered happened in freshman year, and I wasn't even paying much attention. I had been eager for the pep rally to begin.

I rubbed my eyes in frustration. What the hell was I going to say? And even if I had written a speech beforehand, by any chance, where had I placed it?

Ugh! My life was so fucking messed up.

I scanned the bleachers and saw an empty space next to someone familiar.

Without hesitating, I dragged Valerie with me towards that direction, ignoring her question of where I was taking her.

I stood in front of him, all smiles. "Hey, skater boy."

He gave me a mock frown before dragging his eyes to Valerie. His face visibly dropped.

"Who the hell is this?" asked Val.

"This is Nigato. My friend." I said, and he smiled. "Is this space taken?"

"Nah. You can sit. Next to me." He insisted and I got his message. He obviously didn't want to sit next to Valerie. I sat down and Valerie remained standing.

I sighed. "Please Valerie. It's about to start, and I want you to help me figure out how I'm going to do this speech."

She also sighed before relenting. "Fine."

"Hey," Nigato nudged me. "You're going to be great. I believe in you."

I gave him what I thought was a genuine smile. "Thanks."

I studied his eyes and I could clearly see the purple hue in them. "Are those contacts?"

"Yeah," he grinned toothily. "I'm an anime character, remember?"

We both laughed. Just then, Valerie who was sat on my other side tapped my shoulder. "You know," she started. "I can help you with your speech. I think I have a gist of what your plans were for the pep rally."

The genuineness in her eyes made me forget any uneasiness and doubt feeling that tried to manifest.

"Really?" I beamed at her. "That would be awesome."

Valerie smiled at me, but she turned away before I could interpret the queasy feeling that her smile gave me.

Just then, the microphone screeched and silence washed over the hall. I looked over to the podium and saw Principal Khalil. He still looked like those famous laid back Arabian gulf dudes, a trait that made more than half of the girls in the school crush on him. But his strictness, adding to the fact that he was married to another man and had adopted kids drove most girls away. That didn't stop the occasional flirts try to shoot their shots, even though they were easily deflected and they'd end up feeling ashamed somehow.

"Students," began Mr. Khalil. "Today, we have gathered here for the officiating of our pep rally, also known as the spirit week."

Cheers were heard all over.

"I won't say much. Speeches are for academic parades and this is definitely not one." He said and some students laughed.

"Without further ado, I welcome our coach, Mrs. Tipidoe."

I saw a dark skinned and muscled lady go to the podium. I had never seen her before.

"What happened to Mr. Hamilton?" I whispered to Nigato.

"He died," said skater boy. "Killed himself."

"What?!"

Nigato nodded. "I know. It was a shock to everyone. The school team was devastated. But Dylan was the most affected."

I was vaguely aware that Mrs. Tipidoe had begun talking, but her gruff voice was background noise to me as I tried to fathom what Nigato was telling me.

"Wait. Dylan? Blond hair, blue eyes, a bit of British accent when he talks?"

"Yes, Dylan Hamilton," said skater boy. "The guy you're having an affair with."

"What?!"

"Shhh!" Somebody behind me said.

"How . . ." I lowered my voice and inched closer to Nigato. "How do you know we're having an affair?"

"I found out," Nigato said as casually as though he was talking about the weather.

"Do people know?" my voice sounded urgent.

"Not really. It's not my place to tell anyway." He shrugged.

So . . . it was true. Dylan had not been lying when he cornered me in the morning. My lips tingled at the memory of his kiss.

I felt a slight nudge on my side. "You're up," Nigato said.

It was when I noticed that Mrs. Tipidoe had finished talking and people were clapping. I began clapping too.

"Red," skater boy said. "Go to the stage. She called your name."

My heart stumbled in pure panic. I could now feel everyone's gazes boring through me. I looked to Valerie and she gave me that sickly sweet smile that made me uneasy.

"Don't worry," she placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. "I got this."

As Valerie stood up, the clapping died down quite hastily as she walked across the linoleum floor towards the podium, and confused murmurs followed.

She reached the podium, whispered something to Mrs. Tipidoe before clearing her throat. Her voice reverberating throughout the whole hall.

"I will take this opportunity to say that Reddee Jones can't make her speech because she is mentally incapacitated."

My mouth hung open as shocked murmurs waved through the crowd. How dare she!

"But since I'm her best friend, she kindly asked me to do it." Valerie laughed her tinkly laugh that always made my insides queasy. She whipped out a paper and unfolded it, the crinkling noise being heard through the speakers.

"This is going to be a disaster," Nigato whispered. "If she changes the theme days, we're doomed."

"So!" Valerie screeched. "I won't change what was already planned if that's what you are all thinking."

I could hear vague sighs of relief from the crowd. Nigato beside me voiced his 'Phew! Thank the heavens.'

"I'll just officially announce the theme days that had already been planned," said Valerie in a tone as though it pained her to say those words. "Today, we'll launch the pep rally with our school anthem, mascot and cheers dance and the spirit can challenge."

Cheers and whoops of excitement were heard from all over the hall. From behind me, I heard someone yell 'You go, Dee!'

Warmth coursed through my chest after that comment. I planned this? Whoa. I was starting to feel really proud of myself. If only I could remember.

"On Tuesday, which is tomorrow, it will be a military theme day," said Valerie

More cheers. More claps. And the warmth in my chest kept on swelling.

"When I say military, you're free to wear any navy themed, air force themed or camo themed costume that honors those who fight for our country and protect it."

"Did a good one there, mate," someone whispered behind me.

"Thanks," I said without bothering to look at who had spoken.

"On Wednesday," Valerie sighed as though this speech had taken much of her energy. "Good vs Evil theme. Come as your favorite superhero or villain."

Nigato beamed at me. "Oh my god, Red!"

"What?" I leaned closer as the cheers continued.

"You took my suggestion!"

"I did?" I was shocked.

"Yes!" He pulled me closer and gave me a friendly hug. "Thank you so much. You're the best."

I hugged him back. "You're welcome."

"Disney Day is on Thursday," commented Valerie. "Get to relive your childhood."

From the bleachers across me, I saw some girls stand up and do some twirls. I smiled.

"And on Friday, it will be the school colors day, in which we will wear blue, white and yellow colors to support our school teams."

One final big cheer came from the other end of the hall, where I noticed the guys who leaped up excitement were jocks, judging from the jerseys they wore.

"Homecoming Dance will be on Saturday," said Valerie. "And it will be a Snowball theme."

There was suddenly an uproar and I got confused. What was happening? Even Nigato stood up in protest.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"She changed it!" He exclaimed. "It was supposed to be an 80's themed dance. Everyone knows that."

I stood up. The boos being thrown at Valerie got louder and louder as she walked away, flipping her hair as though she didn't quite care that she was being booed at.

I went to her and met her in the middle of the hall. "Why did you change it?"

"Change what?" she asked innocently.

"The Homecoming Dance Theme."

"How would you know?" she raised her brow at me. "You don't remember what you planned. This is what you planned."

She held the paper up. It was a light shade of pink. I snatched it and read its contents. Even though I had lost three years of my memory, I was sure that this was definitely not my handwriting.

Valerie walked away before I could say anything to her, and from the crowd, I heard someone yell, "Dee, do something!"

But what could I do? She had already announced it. And my feet were rubbery. Did I have the courage to go and change Homecoming's theme? People were now staring, wondering what I would do as I stood alone on the linoleum floor. I knew that they had the notion that I was retarded because of my amnesia.

But whose fault was it in the first place to make them think that I was 'mentally incapacitated'?

Valerie Hawthorne.

I crumpled the paper and dropped it, making my resolve. I saw Principal Khalil stand up, ready to officiate the pep rally themes and approve of them, and I rushed to get to the podium because if he made it official, there would be no changing of the themes.

"Wait!" I yelled, and Mr. Khalil paused his steps.

"There has been a misunderstanding," I said as I climbed the stairs leading to the podium.

"Miss Jones?" Mr. Khalil said, looking perplexed. "You were supposed to announce the themes, why didn't you come up when you were called?"

"I, uh," I gulped. "Forgot?"

I smiled sheepishly at the underlying meaning of what I had just said.

He narrowed his eyes at me, clearly not amused. "What is it?"

I got closer to the microphone and my voice echoed in the hall. "The Homecoming Dance isn't supposed to be Snowball themed."

"Yeah," a guy commented from the crowd. "Snowball was last year!"

"It was?" My voice echoed.

"YEAH!" There was a sudden uproar from every student and I flinched.

"What is your suggestion, Miss Jones?" the Principal asked.

"This year's theme for the Homecoming Dance is the 80's."

I expected the sudden cheer, and I felt immensely proud because of it. Every student had stood up and were clapping and yelling and whooping as though their lives depended on it.

"Alright," I saw the Principal shrug. "Let's give the people what they want."

I moved to the side to allow him to officiate the themes.

"I am proud to announce," his husky voice reverberated. "That this year's themes have been made official. Let the pep rally begin!"

•••

more action in the next chapter. sorry if this was long and boring.

vote and comment💜

—Marj💋