A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy) (7 page)

He was singing, “….you’re beautiful just the way you are…” which, for Blade and her dozen face piercings and black lipstick was saying something.

Blade—normally impossible to embarrass—flushed pink as Samir sang and strummed his guitar in the front of the class. Coach H looked on with a knowing smile. Clearly, he’d been in on this. As Samir kept on singing, half the class joined in to help him finish the song.

Hana, of course, was the exception.  She didn’t sing because she was too busy keeping her expression carefully neutral.  Samir approached Blade’s desk. He swung his guitar over the back of his shoulder and got down on one knee in front of Blade, ending his song with a flourish. 

“Will you go to prom with me?” he asked, his eyes shining because he knew he’d gotten to her. He really had. Who knew someone as tough as Blade could be undone by a pop song?

Blade sniffed at swatted at one eye. Then, she nodded her head fiercely. She didn’t have any speeches about prom now, I noticed. The class cheered and applauded (apparently even fellow delinquents had soft spots for romance) and Samir and Blade hugged.

 I felt good for them, I did. I was happy they were happy, and yet, I found myself wondering what Heathcliff was doing at that very moment. Had he found Catherine?

More importantly, was he coming back?

***

“Earth to Miranda,” said Hana, waving a hand in front of my face. “You there?” We were sitting in the library now during study period. We’d already thoroughly dissected Samir’s prom song. At least, I had. Hana was still in mulling mode. She kept talking about how lucky Blade was and how sweet Samir was, and how she still had misgivings about them being a couple and somewhere in the middle of it, I admit, I zoned out.

“What? Oh, sorry,” I said, bringing my attention back to the joint project we were doing for physics class. This was what we were supposed to be doing, even though Hana wanted to talk about Samir. I got the impression I hadn’t heard what she’d said for the last five minutes. She was frustrated and I could tell she’d been repeating herself. “I was distracted.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Hana sent me a worried look. “Heathcliff?”

I nodded.

“Don’t worry. Heathcliff will be back.” Hana sounded confident. “I’ve seen him when he’s with you, and, Miranda, I think he really does love you. That kind of feeling doesn’t disappear overnight.” This was big coming from Hana. She’d always doubted Heathcliff’s true intentions. She’d never quite approved of him. Hana believed—like the faculty did—that Heathcliff was potentially a very bad person. He hadn’t done any bad things yet, but he was capable of them and that made her wary of him.

“Thanks, Hana,” I said.

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t say it was a
good
thing that he loves you.”

“Ha.” I laughed a little and the tension was broken. Hana had made me feel better. “You think he really wants to….” I caught myself just in time. I was about to tell Hana that Heathcliff asked me to marry him but I stopped myself at the last minute. I was glad I did. Telling Hana would be a disaster. 

“Really wants to what?” Hana prompted. She was waiting for the big reveal, but it wasn’t going to happen. I’d come to my senses first. I knew what she’d say and I really didn’t want to hear more hate-on Heathcliff at the moment.

I quickly thought of something else to say. “Uh… ask me to prom?”

“Definitely,” Hana said. “I think he won’t sing as badly as Samir, but I think he’ll ask you.”

“But what about…” I could hardly even same her name. I swallowed. “Catherine?”

“You’ve got the advantage because I bet she has no idea what a prom even is.”

I had to smile. “So…” I felt like we’d talked about Heathcliff enough, so I threw Hana a bone. “Are you really okay with Samir and Blade? Going to prom, I mean.”

Hana shrugged. “I think so. I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

“And you think Blade will hurt him?”

“It’s entirely likely. I don’t think she’s that serious – about anything,” Hana added. “Samir is very trusting you know.” Her face grew serious. I think this was a real worry of hers. Maybe I’d been wrong about her feelings for Samir.  

“Okay then, if you don’t like Samir, what about Ryan?”

“Ryan
Kent
?” Hana acted shocked. “Why do you ask about him?” It might have been my imagination, but I thought Hana might’ve blushed a little.

“Well, for one thing you know he’s into you, right?”  

She snorted, like I was making a joke. “Ha, very funny.”

“No, seriously. I think he’s into you. He asked you on a date.” A long piece of hair fell forward in my face and I pushed it back.

“He asked for tutoring,” Hana corrected.

“Trust me, it was a date.” I gathered my long, brown hair and whipped it up into a twist on my head and then stuck a pencil through it. “Since when does Ryan Kent need help writing any papers? It was obvious it was a ploy to get some alone time with you.”

Hana thought about this. “Well,
A Tale of Two Cities
is not the easiest read. But…” Hana knew as well as I did that Ryan was smart enough to handle himself in English Lit. “No, that’s crazy. Ryan Kent couldn’t like me.” 

“Don’t be so sure,” I said, as Ryan came into the library, right on time. His eyes fell on Hana and his whole face lit up. He didn’t even glance in my direction. Only Hana would miss signs like those.

“Hey, Hana!” Ryan said, sounding excited and a little out of breath as he stopped in front of our table. Then he saw me, and a flicker of disappointment passed across his face. I tried not to take it personally. I’m sure he was worried about me being the third wheel on his date. There was a time when Ryan looked at me like he’s gazing at Hana right at this moment, his eyes bright with anticipation. But, that was a long time ago—years, even. I’d had my chance with Ryan, and while he was gorgeous and there wasn’t a mean bone in his body, I just didn’t love him like I loved Heathcliff. That was the bottom line.

At the thought of Heathcliff, I felt a little pang. I hadn’t seen him since he’d seen Catherine.  That couldn’t be good.

 “Oh…uh… hi, Miranda,” Ryan said, belatedly. I think if there was any doubt he was completely over me, I would have concrete proof from the levelness of his voice. I could’ve been a tree stump for the amount of interest he gave me. But this was a good thing. It was good because he needed to move on. I had, hadn’t I?

“Hey,” I said, standing. I gathered up my books and stuffed them in my backpack. “I have to go, actually, so….”

 “Wait, Miranda!” Hana glanced at me, a little bit of panic in her voice.

“Hana, I’ve got some things to do.” I ignored the look of pleading desperation Hana gave me. If the worst thing that ever happened to her was that she had to spend an hour or two alone with Ryan Kent, then she was a lucky girl.

I left the two of them in the library. I could feel Hana glaring at me as I walked away, but I knew she’d forgive me later. Pretty soon she’d forget all about why she was mad at me. All she had to do was stare into Ryan’s clear blue eyes for a while.

Outside the library, a cool spring breeze blew and a few strands of hair fell free from my pencil-do. I felt adrift. Through the window I could see Ryan saying something that made Hana laugh. She was actually
looking
at him for a change. I was glad I’d said something to her about his interest. Maybe they would hit it off.

Ryan had been my first love and my first serious boyfriend. But, I’d made my choice. I glanced one last time at Ryan and Hana in the library and I spent a second wondering if I’d made the right one. What would’ve happened if Ryan and I had stayed a couple? If I’d never kissed Heathcliff?  I certainly wouldn’t be concerned that Ryan would run off with an ex-girlfriend from another time or disappear into a novel never to be seen again. Maybe he and I would have spent senior year planning to go off to college together. Or, maybe we would’ve just broken up anyway. You never knew with boys.

And the fact was I hadn’t picked Heathcliff as much as I’d fallen into his gravitational field. He was a force that was impossible to resist.

 Feeling suddenly even more alone, I decided I needed to find Heathcliff right now.

I looked everywhere. I went to his dorm and the cafeteria and the greenhouse at the edge of campus. I went back to our pond, but he wasn’t there, either. I even pushed my way through the bramble back to the cottage Heathcliff had restored for me. The cottage was empty, the door locked. I glanced in through the window but saw no one. I stood at the cottage door, remembering the moment Heathcliff had asked me to be his wife. 

I fingered the locket Heathcliff had returned to me and wondered what he was doing right now and who he was doing it with. I could suddenly see his face again when he spied Catherine on the commons and the desperate way he’d moved to try and reach her.   

I didn’t like where my mind was going, so I decided hanging out at Heathcliff’s cottage was just putting me in an even bleaker mood. I headed back to my dorm. The sun had now set and darkness was falling. I had already missed dinner and if I didn’t hurry, I’d miss curfew, too. That would mean detention, or more likely, sweeping or dusting or doing the dishes. The faculty was big on assigning menial jobs to rule breakers. I was one hundred percent sure cleaning out the dorm bathroom would not make me feel any better.

I walked from the woods and I was nearly to the steps of my dorm, when I saw Heathcliff standing under the street lamp near the big tree nearby. The lamplight shone on his dark hair, which curled back from his ears and across his forehead. When I saw him, my heart ballooned with a mix of relief and warmth. This must be a sign. While I’d been out searching for him, he’d been right here all along, waiting for me.

I didn’t say his name. I didn’t trust myself to speak. I was so glad to see him that I just threw my arms around his neck and pressed my cheek into his chest. It took him a split second to react. I guess he wasn’t used to me hugging him like this, out in public, where the Guardians or the faculty could see. He recovered from his surprise and then slowly wrapped an arm around me, his hand sliding down my lower back.

“Well, hello to you, too,” he said, his voice gruff in my ear. “What can I do for you on this fine evening?” 

His voice sounded angst-free. He wasn’t about to tell me he had found Catherine and was running off to be with her. That much I knew. I felt instant relief. I pulled away from him and grinned. 

“Did you find her?” I asked him. We both had to know I meant Catherine.

“I’ve found you, m’love,” Heathcliff said. “That’s all that matters now, isn’t it?”

The “m’love” was new, but I decided to go with it. Heathcliff usually wasn’t into terms of endearment, but I was so glad to see him, I really didn’t care to question it. He could make up all the nicknames he wanted so long as he didn’t go AWOL again. 

I was so glad to find him here and I couldn’t help but think this was his way of telling me that I still mattered. That Catherine wasn’t his soul mate. Not really. She was a distraction, but he had eventually come back to me. Straight back to my door.

“When you disappeared…” I said, but then I couldn’t finish. As much as I wanted to, I simply couldn’t voice my fears out loud.

“Ah, but I’m here now, aren’t I?” He smiled at me. My heart decided to skip about a dozen beats.

“How long have you been waiting here?”

“Awhile,” he said. His voice sounded a little bit different, I realized.  His accent seemed just a little bit… changed. Or maybe he was just coming down with a cold. “But seeing the beauty in your face makes the hours seem like minutes.”

He grinned. I grinned back.

Heathcliff seemed strangely free of his normally brooding mood. He was surprisingly light-hearted. This was new. His smile grew bigger. 

“Listen, I know you asked me… well, I’m not sure…” Now that I was face-to-face with him I wasn’t sure I was ready to give him an answer. The college acceptance letter and locket both weighed heavily in my pockets, and I realized that despite all that had gone down today, I hadn’t decided anything yet. I was still no closer to knowing what it was I wanted to do. But I did know one thing: I wanted to go to prom with him.

Wasn’t that a good place to start? If we could survive prom, then maybe I’d consider the marriage thing.

“I want to ask you something but… uh, I’m not sure how.” I swallowed, choking a little on my own question as my mouth went suddenly and completely dry. Wow, this was harder than I thought. I had no idea how Samir had managed to ask Blade to the prom while playing the guitar and singing in front of a classroom full of people. Just asking was nerve-wracking enough.

“Ask away, m’love.”

“Well… I mean, it might be a dumb question, because the faculty probably wouldn’t even let us go, but if they did. I mean, what I’m trying to say is if we got permission to go together…” I sighed. This was not working out well. “So will you…” I cleared my throat, and my hands suddenly felt cold and clammy. “Will you come with me to prom?”

Heathcliff’s face broke out in a large grin. “What’s in it for me?” His voice was half-teasing. His eyes wandered back down my front. This was a question I wasn’t quite prepared for. “No need to answer, m’love,” he added quickly. “I’m sure the pleasure of your company will be
payment
enough.”

It was a strange way to say yes. But I suppose a yes was a yes.

“Shall we go now?” Heathcliff quirked an eyebrow, and part of me thought there was an innuendo I wasn’t quite getting.

“Prom isn’t now,” I said, and I gave him a playful shove. “It’s in a couple of weeks.”

“Weeks? That is too bad. I would like to go with you somewhere right now.” He smiled at me and the message in his eyes was impossible to miss. It was odd, and not Heathcliff’s style.

“You’ll just have to wait for that,” I said. Then, I wrapped my hands around the lapel of his jacket and pulled him down so that his lip were near mine. And then I kissed him, not caring who saw.

No alarm bells went off; no guardians came running; no dogs were let loose to break us up; so I guessed we were safe. Darkness was falling, and from a distance, our faces would be hard to see. No one came to throw me in detention, or imprison Heathcliff in the vault, so everything should’ve been fine.