Week 9 Story: Prom Queen

 **UPDATED VERSION ON MY PORTFOLIO**

(Found on Wannapik, prom crown and sash)

My name is on the ballot? How is that even possible? 

Prom season is by far my least favorite part of high school so far. We're so close to the end of senior year and then I can escape this prison. I don't need one last dance to celebrate my time here, mainly because I haven't enjoyed anything about this place.

We all know how high school can get. Once everyone finds their clique freshman year, the hierarchy takes over. You got the popular girls who wear the one-size-fits-most clothing and carry the designer bags. Then you have your meathead athletic bros that bring home championship titles in exchange for passing their classes. On the opposing side of these groups, you have me and my crowd: the nobody group. Because we don't have athletic ability or long blonde hair, we are irrelevant. Funny enough though, that is exactly how I like it.

However, much to everyone's surprise, I found my name on the ballot for Prom Queen along with these Barbie doll girls. How, you may ask. The simple answer is I don't know. The complex answer is I don't know, but now I gotta do something about it.

As the ballots were released and everyone's eyes scanned over the list, I felt the burning gaze of everyone around me as we all thought the same thing. This only fueled my fire even more. I had to win.

Later that day, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

"Hey girly pops," I tried to say all peppy-like as I approached the popular girls at lunch to appeal to their "personality." Instead they all just looked at me like some creature. Fair enough honestly.

I cleared my throat and tried again. "So, um, did y'all see the prom court ballot?"

"Yeah, we did," Nicole, their leader, said dryly. "Is this some sort of joke or prank?"

"Uh, unfortunately no. I am just as confused as you are," I replied, trying to appear innocent and clueless. I mean I was clueless on how my name got on the ballot, but my new plan was anything but innocent. "I just wanted to talk to y'all about it to see if you knew anything. But I can promise you that this is the last thing I want. I know that being on prom court is so much more important to y'all than it is to me, so just know that I will be campaigning for one of you to win."

All the girls looked at each other wearily, but came to a quick consensus that I could be trusted. Their mistake. Nicole looked back to me and smiled the most fake smile I had ever seen and simply uttered, "Thanks girly pop."

Over the course of the next few days, I worked on gaining as many votes I could while being as quiet about it as possible. I quickly collected the votes of my crowd of irrelevants, as we wanted to see the oh-so typical hierarchy taken down. The next group I needed to tackle were the jock dudes, which was going to be easier than a fifth grade spelling test - which they probably couldn't pass without help anyway. Lucky for me, Nicole was dating the leader of these meatheads, Brad. All I had to do was tell him that I saw Nicole behind the bleachers with his best friend, Chad, and he would be dumb enough to believe me and I could turn the votes to benefit me. Easy as that.

Prom night finally came, and before I knew it I was on stage standing next to Nicole as we awaited who would be announced Prom Queen. I looked around in the crowd and saw the faces of everyone I knew that voted for me. I was going to win. My plan was going to work. 

My name was announced and I found myself standing there as they placed the crown and sash on me. I felt Nicole's death glare all over my body, and those anxious goose bumps mixed with the satisfaction of something finally going my way overcame me. I started to feel sick, and I ran off stage to nearest restroom. Locking the door behind me, I laid down on the cold tile floor and tried to make sense of what my new reality was. Before I knew it, I heard the clacking of stilettos approaching the door and the jiggling of the handle. It was Nicole.

"You think you're so clever, don't you," Nicole barked, jolting me up. She banged on the door over and over again, yelling about how I ruined her life and how I was gonna pay for this. "Also, nice try on getting Brad to leave me. He's here with me right now and he is not leaving this door until you come out. So stay in there as long as you like, but we're going to get you no matter what."

I slumped down back to the ground, knowing that Brad's bulky-self was standing right outside that door. An hour or so passed, and I almost gave in. "This isn't worth it," I thought to myself. But, just as that thought left my mind, I heard Brad snoring. This was my time to get out.

I quietly unlocked the door and quickly snuck past Brad, making a clear bee-line for the door. I ran out of that school faster than I could ever imagine, knowing that I could never go back.

Author's Note: This story is an adaptation of "Tink-Tinkje" from South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910). In the original, the story is about a small bird (Tink-Tinkje) winning the title for leader of the bird kingdom over the vulture who was the crowd favorite. He achieved this by hiding under the vulture's wings and tricking him into thinking he had won. When the tink-tinkje was announced the winner, he was run off by the other birds into a mouse-hole, where the owl guarded it to catch the tink-tinkje once he escaped. However, the owl fell asleep, and this allowed the tink-tinkje a clean escape. I basically just retold this story using the trope of a prom queen fight and stereotypical high school groups and plot lines. I had a lot of fun writing this story and hope you enjoyed reading it!