Opposites Attract!!! (It's still the 16th over here ) I wrote a cute short story
"Quick! Quick!" Meredith pulled her friend Lisa down the hall. "We can't be late!"
"Alright, alright." Lisa blew a curly string of brown hair from her face as she was rushed down the school hallway. Another girl joined them breathless and grinning
"Derick just finished practice. Ethan told me he's in a good mood." A smile tugged at Lisa's lips currently dissipating her nervousness.
"Yes!!" Meredith grabbed her arm and turned to the other girl. "This is good. Rosa, tell Ethan to stall him for a bit."
The girls then rounded a corner where more of their friends stood. All of Lisa's basketball teammates.
"Do you have the board?"
"Yeah!" The girls giggled and parted, showing a tall cutout. A vertical board, marked like a giant ruler, and a horizontal one attached at the top with the words PROM? in bright colors. Basketball and footballs were painted all over the masterpiece.
"Did I get your height right?" Meredith pointed at the painted ruler. "Six foot three?" Lisa nodded getting nervous again.
"Okay, Ethan said the star is stalled and to let him know when he can come," Rosa said, looking up from her phone.
"Star?"
Meredith grinned. "It's our codename for our running back."
"You are so extra."
"You'll thank me later."
"I'm going to give the go ahead," Rosa announced.
"Alright!" Meredith shouted clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "Set up the board and take your places."
"Ready?" Rosa squeezed Lisa's hand. "You can do thisâŚyou should dry your hands, though."
"Sorry." Lisa sheepishly wiped her sweaty hands on her shirt. She felt rather awkward dressing up. Her tall skinny figure could never fit in anything nice. But, this was the outfit that Derick said looked nice on her at their sports banquet last year. She smoothed down her pink skirt, reminiscing. It took weeks to plan it all out. Getting all her friends and his friends together. Making sure everything fell into place. It had to be perfect.
"He's coming!" Rosa dug her nails in her friend's arm. "I just might be more nervous than you."
"I feel like I'm going to throw up." Meredith shook her head with a sigh. "Please don't."
"What if he says no?"
"Stop that!" She reprimanded her. "You and Derick have known each other for years. He would never-- Oh! Here he is!" Lisa could hear voices echo down the hallway."Good luck! Love ya!" Before she could react the girls fled the scene as several members of the football team came around. The quarterback, Ethan, led the way. Seeing Lisa, he grinned and halted, hiding Derick behind him.
"Dude, why'd you stop?" An irritated voice snapped.
I thought they said he was in a good mood. Lisa closed her eyes and gulped.
"Sorry man, I think you need to see this." Ethan stepped aside and Lisa caught her breath. Derick had his arms crossed. His wavy black hair plastered to his face with sweat. He noticed Lisa first and his stormy grey-green eyes narrowed then he saw what she stood next to and they widened.
"UmâŚ" Lisa stammered as the boys pushed Derick forward. "Heyy...I...uh...I have a questionâŚ" Ethan pulled out a phone and Lisa wanted to punch him. Rosa promised there would be no filming. Before she could say anything else, Derick pointed at the board. His face red, from practice or from this, she couldn't tell. "What is that?" His matter of fact voice stung a little, but Lisa pushed through and took a deep breath, imagining it like taking a shot at the last minute of the game. She couldn't back down now
"I'm...I'm asking you to prom...I know we're both different. Basketball. Football. I'm tall and you'reâŚ"
"Five foot four," Ethan supplied.
"Yeah, thanks...anyway, the list could go on, but even if we don't seem like a perfect pair." Lisa twisted her skirt. "You've always been there for me and...and you never made me feel awkward about my height." Her face burned and she imagined it was about as red as his was becoming. "Yeah...so...um...that was about all I had to say...Prom?"
Derick opened his mouth, then closed it and ran a hand through his hair. "JustâŚ" he sighed. "What's that board supposed to mean?"
"Uh...you can only say no if you're this tall."
"Seriously?" Lisa winced, Rosa did say he could get offended, but she had hoped his sense of humor would prevail.
Please don't be harsh, if you're going to let me down. Her hands trembled as they held up the board. Derick took a step forward and shook his head. Just as tears began to form in Lisa's eyes, he suddenly began to laugh.
"UmâŚ" Lisa glanced at Ethan who shrugged and continued to film. "What's so funny?" She tried to smile.
"This." Derick waved his hand. "Did you really plan all this?"
The lump in her throat disappeared as she got defensive. "Yeah...I wanted it to be special."
"This is cliche."
"Well, I didn't know how else to ask you."
"And--"
"What the hell, Derick! It's just a proposal, you just need to say yes or no!" Lisa stamped her foot. To think I wanted to ask this guy to Prom!
"Okay." Derick stopped laughing. "Yes."
"...What?"
"I said yes. I'll go to prom with you." Derick rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I like you too...and I had no idea how to ask you."
"Woohoo!!!!" Ethan and the other boys began to holler and applaud, clapping Derick on the back.
"He said yes, guys!!!" Lisa could hear the girls coming from behind her yelling.
"I knew you could do it!" Meredith gave her a hug.
"YeahâŚ" Lisa looked at Derick till their eyes met among the crowd of cheering people. The boy rolled his eyes, and she grinned, pointing to an exit. "Here." Lisa then handed the board to Rosa.
"What? But we need to take a picture."
"Picture can wait." Lisa ducked down. "I need to meet someone."
"Who? Wait a minute--" but the girl had already disappeared.
"Hey, where's Derick, babe?" Ethan came up next to Rosa. "He was here a minute ago."
The girl shook her head with a knowing smile as she saw the exit door close. "Beats me."