Kara's Cross

I look down at my lap and smooth out the wrinkles caused by sitting in the car. This dress is the only good part of the night so far, so I feel compelled to protect it. My dad surprised me when he came home from work this afternoon, telling me he wasn’t going to let his daughter go to her first high school dance in an old dress used for family pictures. It is a dark purple, strapless parlor dress. Not what I would have envisioned him purchasing for me. I shouldn’t have been surprised he had picked it up with Elizabeth on his lunch break. He must really like her to be okay with me wearing something like this. If my dad had been alone, it would probably have looked like something a grandmother would love, if he had thought to buy one at all. I do have to say, if nothing else, she has good taste in clothing.

My dad pulls up beside the sidewalk in front of the gym where they are holding the dance. I step out of the car and walk up to the driver’s side door as he rolls down the window.

“Thanks for driving me, Dad. I’ll see you later.”

“Of course,” he smiles, “I hope you enjoy yourself. I love you.”

He puts his hands up and leans his head forward for a hug. I survey the area quickly before leaning in to return the hug.

“Love you too, Dad,” I whisper, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, “have fun tonight.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” he smiles, looking like he is about to shed a tear, “you and your friends have a great time.”

I nod and wave as I walk around the front of the car in the direction of the gym doors. I turn and wave again as he pulls away. Taking a deep breath, I resume heading toward the gym. I hope that Logan is already inside waiting for me. He is the only one going to the dance with me. I should have been completely honest with my dad, but I was afraid if I had been, he wouldn’t let me go.

Before school this morning, Maddie came up to me and informed me she and Mason weren’t going to go with me to the dance anymore. Arabella had talked to her last night and let her know she had gotten her mom’s job back. She had seen the hurt on Maddie’s face the day she found out and all she wanted was to make it better. Maddie told me she was sorry, but she can’t be friends anymore. The worst part is it didn’t seem like Arabella had used her power on Maddie.

My luck wasn’t any better with Jackie or Lauren. They both left at noon for a debate tournament across the state. They won’t be back until Saturday night. Katie wanted to go, but her mom is making her babysit.

I can hear the low pounding of bass as I approach the inner gym doors. I show my ticket and hang my coat on the rack before gently pushing open the door to the dance. The dazzling array of light, sound and smells spilling out through the opening bombards my senses. There are spotlights and rotating lights of various colors everywhere and a big disco ball is hanging in the center of the dance floor. There are speakers all along the outskirts of the gym, allowing the music to hit me from all directions. The smell is the most interesting. Even as I stand a good twenty feet away from the crowd on the dance floor, I note the aroma of a mixture of dozens of colognes and body sprays, not quite strong enough to drown out the smell of sweat and sneakers that usually occupies the room.

“Wow,” a voice from behind startles me, “you look beautiful!”

I turn to confirm Logan’s voice is the one I heard. It is, but I almost do not recognize him. He is wearing dark blue jeans, a dark green silky looking dress shirt with a nice light green tie. His hair is even trimmed and gelled.

“Kara?”

He looks like a model.

“Kara?”

“Hey, Logan,” I finally manage to blurt out, “so do you. Look beautiful, I mean. I mean you look hot, I mean handsome, tonight.”

My heart is thumping so fast and loudly, the sounds around me fade out and all I can seem to focus on is Logan.

“Thanks. I mean, thank you. I mean, thank you very much,” he laughs.

“Very funny,” I respond, sticking my tongue out, anything to calm the rapid beating of my heart.

“Thank you,” he bows at the waist, “I try my best.”

“I really like the shade of green of your shirt, Logan.”

“Thanks. I just bought it today. I had heard you’d be wearing green, so I thought I’d match you. Guess it didn’t work out. So, what do you think? Should we go the rest of the way in?”

I nod and begin walking alongside Logan as we make our way over to the dance area. There are so many students here, most I only recognize from the halls, or the cafeteria. A couple of hundred faces and I probably know only a dozen of them. Over by the refreshment table, I see Arabella and three or four of her followers, Maddie among them. I try to make eye contact with Maddie, but she isn’t looking around, she’s just staring at her cup, looking sad. Mason is over with his friends sitting on the bleachers, telling them some sort of exciting story. He looks up at me as we walk by, the animated look on his face turning sad and regretful. Maybe he did miss me, after all.

“Do you want to dance?” Logan gestures over to the dance floor.

“Um, thanks, Logan, but I just want to look around for a little while. You go ahead and I’ll come find you in a few minutes.”

“I don’t really want to go out there by myself,” he admits, “I’ll just go get us some punch.”

I watch Logan walk over to the refreshment table. When he is within a few feet, Maddie looks up and sees him. She gives him a polite smile and begins glancing around the gym. She stops when she notices me, and we maintain eye contact. She looks unhappy. Something suddenly distracts her and pulls her attention back to the group. Arabella is glaring at her and it looks like she is lecturing her as well. Maddie goes back to staring at her cup.

I look back at Logan. He has grabbed a couple of punches and is walking by Arabella. It looks like he bumped into her, causing her to drop her punch, splashing it all over her shoes. Arabella spins around and calls Logan an idiot, loud enough even I can hear it. She walks up to face him and they stand toe to toe, glaring at each other for several seconds before a chaperone steps up and stands between them. The must be making them walk away from each other, since Logan is taking the long way back here and Arabella stormed over to the table and is attempting to clean her shoes with napkins.

“Maddie wanted to go to the dance with you, you know.”

I jump and draw in a frightened breath at the words coming from my right. Mason is standing beside me. I was watching Arabella and Logan so intently I didn’t even see him walk over here.

“Hi, Mason. I’m sorry I jumped. I was just distracted, I guess.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, glancing over toward the refreshment table, “we all heard Arabella yell. Good for Logan, bringing her down a notch. Anyway, like I said before, Maddie wanted to go with you to the dance.”

“Why didn’t she?” I’m not the one who changed my mind.

“Maddie’s only doing it because she feels guilty.” He glares in Arabella’s direction. “Arabella made it clear Maddie owed her for getting our mom’s job back. She told Maddie she’d better stop talking to you or our mom might lose her job again, this time permanently. I’m not supposed to talk to you either, but I wanted you to know.”

“It’s not fair for Arabella to control people like that,” my voice deepening in anger, “somebody needs to stand up to her.”

“I hate it too, Kara,” Mason replies sadly, “but Maddie and I can’t take any chances. We can’t let our mom lose her job. We barely make ends meet as it is.” He looks back and sees Arabella looking around the room. “I’ve gotta go, Kara. I just wanted you to know about Maddie.”

Before I can even say thanks, Mason is already halfway back to his friends in the bleachers. Arabella locates me from across the room and gives me an ugly glare, as if she’s blaming me for the punch on her shoes. Knowing her, she probably is. She holds her stare for another second or two before storming off to the bathrooms. Maddie and the rest of her crew stay grouped up beside the table.

Seeing my chance, I begin walking to the side hallway toward the bathroom. I probably should have let Logan know where I am going, but he would probably just try to talk me out of it. I reach the door to the girls bathroom just as it is swinging shut again. I pull the door open and go in.

Two girls are standing by the mirror giggling about a boy or something and Arabella is standing by the far sink, holding her shoes in one hand and adjusting the water with the other.

“Get out!” I concentrate my words on the two girls by the mirror.

The girls leave immediately and a sharp pain needles its way deep into my brain. I have never been able to stop the discomfort, but I am getting better at handling it. I blink my eyes and take a deep breath, focusing my attention on Arabella.

“I hope you weren’t talking to me,” Arabella taunts, “because we all know by now, I’m uncontrollable.”

“Out of control is more like it, Arabella,” I snap, “what is wrong with you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” she retorts, “you’re the freak loser who doesn’t belong in this school. I get so sick of having to be around miserable wretches like you all the time.”

“You know what, Arabella? I can handle people like you, but the way you’re treating Maddie is disgusting.”

“You mean my little pet?” she laughs at her words. “She should thank me for lifting her up above the pathetic life she had before.”

“You’re blackmailing her to hang around you and stay away from me. You’ve probably even used your power on her, too. She is not a play toy, Arabella.”

“Keeping her away from you is half the fun, Kara. I know it pisses you off. Since I can’t control you, having her to do my bidding is almost as good. I find the whole situation hilarious. The best part is she thinks she owes me for getting her mom’s job back. It’s funny since they fired her because of me in the first place. Most of my wardrobe came from Nouveau and it’s not like I’m going to pay for anything when I have such a wonderful power.”

“We’ll see how willing she is to be around you when I tell her the truth, Arabella.”

“Be my guest, Kara,” she sneers, “if you do, I’m just going to force her to be my little lap dog, and maybe her cute brother, too.”

I don’t know what to do. I can’t convince her to be nice, I can’t use my power and it’s not like I’m going to try to beat her up or anything, even if I thought I could.

Arabella sighs impatiently, her superior demeanor becoming briefly thoughtful.

“When I started middle school, I was incredibly shy. I didn’t have any friends and was afraid to talk to anybody. I didn’t even know about my power yet. I just kept to myself in my pathetic, little world.”

She pauses, looking at herself in the mirror.

“Anyway,” she continues, “I was walking up the stairs to class one day and I slipped. I tried reaching out to grab any of the people around me, but they moved out of the way. I fell down a half flight of stairs and landed hard on the floor below. Knowing what I do now, I’m not sure why I thought anyone would help me, but I looked up expecting to see one or more people waiting to give me a hand. Not only was there no one ready to help me, there was a sizable crowd of my schoolmates just standing around me, laughing their stupid heads off. Part of me wanted to cry, but most of me was mad. Mad at how dumb and cruel people can be and mad I ever wanted any of them to like and accept me.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Arabella.”

“Save your sorry for someone who wants or needs it, Kara. You haven’t heard the rest yet. I pulled myself up to a sitting position, my books and papers strewn around me, and I let it all out. I glared at each one of them and told them to stop laughing and be nice. At that moment, everything changed. The laughter stopped instantly and suddenly everyone was trying to help me and, well, being nice to me.”

“You used your power for the first time,” I conclude, “didn’t it hurt?”

“It hurt like hell and I must have blacked out, because I was taken to the nurse’s office. Everyone assumed it was from the fall. Even I did, for a while, until the people who were by me on the stairs were still being nice to me days later. Once I figured out I had my power, I’ve been working my way to the top ever since. Which reminds me,” she says focusing her attention back on cleaning her shoes, “I need to get back out to the dance; I was talking with the principal and some of the teachers earlier and I have a feeling I’m going to win Snow Queen tonight.”

“How can you be so mean when you were in the same position once?”

“Don’t be naive, Kara,” she retorts sarcastically as she puts her shoes back on, “you obviously weren’t listening to my story. People are stupid cattle and you either get trampled by them or you round them up and use them for your own purposes. If you’re stupid enough to remain a loser and let the masses trample you, you’re an idiot, especially since you have the power to do something about it.”

“Not everyone is like that, Arabella, some people, like Maddie, are genuinely good.”

“Save it,” she blurts as she walks by, “you obviously are too deluded to see the world the way it really is. I’m going back to the dance now; they’re going to announce the queen soon. Just stay out of my way from now on, Kara. If you don’t, I’ll make Maddie’s life a living hell.”

Arabella walks out of the bathroom, leaving me alone, staring at myself in the mirror. I really thought talking to her would help, but it did nothing. I don’t know how to help Maddie. I was angry when I went into the bathroom, but now I just feel useless.

I walk back out to the dance and search for Logan. I find him sitting by the exit doors, holding two cups of punch, looking confused and slightly irritated. His look changes to relief when he spots me walking up to him.

“Sorry, Logan,” I begin, giving him a smile, “Mason had told me what happened with Maddie and I saw an opportunity to talk to Arabella. I would have let you know if I could have.”

“It’s okay,” he sighs, “I was only a little worried you’d left me here alone. What is the deal with Maddie?”

I repeat what Mason told me about Maddie and describe the exchange between Arabella and myself to Logan, making sure to include my sense of frustration at my inability to fix anything. As I finish, he remains silent, but his look has darkened quite a bit.

“One of us should talk to Maddie,” Logan requests; “she needs to know Arabella was the reason her mom was fired.”

“We can’t, Logan. Arabella told me if we interfered, she would start using her power on Maddie and Mason, and treat them really badly. I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, we have to do something, Kara.”

“Well, I can’t figure anything out. We can’t use our power on her. What else could you do, beat her up?”

“It would make me feel better if I did,” he jokes, “but, you’re right, it wouldn’t help anything.”

“I’m going to try to talk to Maddie without Arabella noticing,” I inform Logan, “maybe she can give us some ideas, since she is the center of all this.”

“Okay,” Logan said, “I’ll try to think of other options while you’re doing that.”

Looking at all the kids dancing as I walk by, I wonder if I will ever be able to enjoy spending time with my friends again, especially Maddie. They all look so carefree and happy out there enjoying each other’s company. If only I could get Arabella to understand. We are similar in so many ways and so different in others.

I climb onto the bleachers and walk down to a section where I am close enough to see Maddie, but Arabella is out of view. Keeping my eyes on Maddie, I get ready to signal her when she looks up at me. Maddie glances up at me before too long and I put my hand up in a quick wave and begin trying to communicate with her. I try mouthing the word bathroom to her, but before I can do it a second time, she gets a worried look in her eyes and Arabella comes into my view. She looks up at me and frowns, shaking her head as if she’s trying to scold me. I do my best to look like I’m not doing anything, but I do not think she is convinced. Arabella stares at me for a few more seconds, daring me to try something, before her and her entourage move out of my view.

I hope that Logan came up with some ideas. Looking around the gym floor, I see him up near the stage. The principal and some of the teachers are gathering on the stage now, Logan must want to have a good spot for the announcement of king and queen. Maybe he thinks he’s going to win. I wouldn’t be too surprised, judging by the way he looks tonight, but I’m not sure how they decide it anyway. I make my way over to where he is standing and put my hand on his shoulder.

“So, Logan, are we this close because they’re about to announce you king of the dance?”

“No, although it would be a natural choice, don’t you think?”

“I won’t deny you’re looking quite kingly today.” I agree; taking the time to admire him, “But why are we here, if it’s not for you?”

“I figured out what we can do, Kara.”

“Well, don’t leave me in suspense. What is it?”

He looks up at the stage for a moment.

“I was half hoping to surprise you. Can you wait and see?”

“I’m not sure it would be a great idea,” I argue, suddenly worried, “give me a good hint, and I’ll let you know.”

“Let’s just say I’m pretty sure someone we both know is going to win Snow Queen.”

“Logan, I already told you Arabella is using her power to win. What’s the good part?”

“I wasn’t talking about Arabella, that’s what.”

This doesn’t sound good. There is no way Arabella will allow anyone else to win Snow Queen.

“Are you talking about Maddie?” I am almost afraid to hear his answer.

“You got it,” he proudly replies. “I was going to have you win at first, but then I thought it would be better if Maddie won. She’s the one who deserves it the most, having to put up with Arabella’s crap.”

“No, Logan, no! Arabella’s going to ruin her life if we don’t leave her alone. I want to show her up as much as you do, but this doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“Sure it is, Kara. If Maddie wins, it will make her more popular. The people Arabella has in her posse are popular, so it will make more sense to people if Maddie is popular, too.”

“Logan,” I feel like I’m about to panic, “Arabella’s so-called friends hang around her because she forces them, and she’s popular because she makes herself popular. She wants to be the biggest deal in school; she doesn’t want competition. If Maddie wins, she’ll be furious.”

“Maybe,” Logan shrugs, “but I still think I’m right about this.”

“How did you do it, Logan? Maybe there’s still time to fix this.”

“I went right to the man in charge, the principal.”

Logan gestures in the direction of the stage and I turn to see the principal talking with a couple of teachers. I glance around to find the stairs onto the stage and begin formulating a plan. I need be able to talk to the principal alone, but am not sure how to get him away from the two teachers. Deciding on the direct approach, I walk along the front of the stage until I’m in front of the principal and wave in an attempt to get his attention. One of the teachers sees me and taps the principal’s shoulder, gesturing for him to look in my direction. I can still fix this.

The principal turns around and looks at me.

“Is it time to make the announcement already?” he asks, obviously assuming I’m someone else, “I’ll be right there.”

What? Not good.

I watch helplessly as the principal walks over to the right side of the stage where the microphone is set up. I look back at Logan who is mouthing to me everything is fine. Maybe if I cause some sort of a scene, I can delay the announcement. The only thing I can think to do is storm the stage, but all I’ll get for my trouble is a slight delay and an escort off the stage.

“May I have everyone’s attention please?” The principal’s voice cues the DJ to cut the music and flood the lights in his direction. The students quickly gather in front of the stage.

“First of all,” he begins, shifting his eye contact to include everyone, “thank you for being here tonight. You have all helped to make this dance a success. I’d also like to thank the Debate Club for setting up and working the refreshments table and the Freshman Student Council for putting up all of the decorations and arranging all of tonight’s festivities.”

The principal nods in my direction, apparently still believing I’m a member of Student Council.

“I was told to keep the speech short, so I promise it won’t be more than a half hour,” he begins laughing as the throng of students moan in unison. “Of course, I’m kidding. I’m just going to announce the Snow King and Queen and then you can get back to dancing. Thanks again for a great first semester and without further ado, your Snow King is...”

Of course he has to pause for effect. Just get on with it.

“Lance Parker! Come up and take your crown.”

It’s weird. Naming the quarterback the king of the dance is almost tradition, but for some odd reason, part of me thought it would be Logan.

Lance is one of Mason’s friends, and they are still in the midst of giving high fives to each other when I locate them in the middle of the crowd. After the extended congratulations among friends, Lance begins making his way up to the stage, continuing the high five routine with every person he passes. Eventually he reaches the microphone and receives his crown from the principal.

“Thanks, everybody,” Lance announces, “now let’s find out who my queen is.”

Everyone whoops and hollers in response to Lance’s words, prompting the principal to step up to Lance and gently move the microphone away from him. He shakes Lance’s hand and proceeds to position himself in front of the microphone once again, sticking his hand out in front of him to quiet everyone down.

“Now, students and faculty,” the principal begins, “what’s a king without a queen? This year’s Snow Queen is...”

Another pause. What is the point?

“Maddie Fischer. Congratulations!”

My senses go into overdrive as I attempt to notice everything at once. I have no idea how this is going to play out, so I am doing my best to be ready for anything. Logan is screaming and clapping louder than anyone. The crowd in general is an equal mixture of people clapping and cheering and of people looking confused or disappointed. Arabella looks about three steps beyond furious, almost ready to explode. Her followers look stunned trying to figure out how they are supposed to react, deciding on a creepy mixture of laughter and anger. Maddie is frozen. She is either too stunned or too scared to move. I begin making my way over to her, hoping Logan takes the initiative as well.

I have only traveled a few feet when Arabella reacts, moving intimately close to Maddie, whispering into her ear. Dread, immediate and intense, fills me to my core.

After getting about halfway through the crowd, I notice Maddie is starting to make her way on stage. I continue to weave through the students as best I can. The plan is to slide around Arabella and her group and be ready to jump on stage if anything goes sour, but Arabella’s enforcers have formed a semi-circle in front of me, while Arabella stands directly in my path.

“You moron,” Arabella growls, “I told you to stay out of my way. Is this your idea of a joke? All you had to do was let me have things the way I wanted and everything would have been fine.”

“It wasn’t me, Arabella,” I admit, “I didn’t like what you said, but I wasn’t going to try to take this away from you, I swear.”

“It was obviously either you or Logan, and to tell you the truth, I could care less, I’m sure you’ve already told him everything anyway. The problem for you is, I had a feeling you might do something like this, so I planned accordingly. I hope you are ready to deal with the consequences, Kara. Keep an eye on the principal and chaperones, oh, and Maddie, too. Her part is the best.”

Arabella looks calmly over to Maddie who has just reached the microphone. The look of shock on her face has turned to sadness and horror. She is just standing there, saying nothing. I have no idea what is supposed to happen, but it seems Maddie knows, maybe she is even trying to stop it. I begin making my way up to the stage in case there is anything I can do, but Arabella’s cronies cut me off, pushing me back where I was.

“Are you ready, Kara?” Arabella smiles at me before turning her attention back to Maddie. She opens her mouth like she’s about to speak but stops when she makes eye contact with Maddie, suddenly looking remorseful. Maddie looks terrified. Tears are beginning to run down her face. The cheers and applause from the students around us have turned silent. All eyes lock in confused focus on Maddie, trying to figure out what is happening. Even Lance doesn’t know how to react. He’s staring at her, helpless. Arabella looks even more upset than before. Maybe I can still stop whatever this is.

“Arabella,” I plead, “don’t do this. I’ll do anything, please!”

My words shake her back to reality. She turns to stare at me, blankly at first, but with recognition a second later.

“It’s too late, Kara,” Arabella states, her words weaker than before. She turns to focus on the principal and the teachers, then shifts over to her friends and finally looks back up at Maddie.

“Now!”

Whatever Arabella planned must be happening. The principal and chaperones seem to have all decided to run out the exit doors. Two of Arabella’s cronies, Dani and Christine lunge at me and grab my arms, pulling me to the ground and holding me there. Once I am on the ground, Dani gets up and joins Mel, the third girl, chasing someone behind me, I assume Logan. I can’t tell what is occurring on stage, but everyone who was so quiet a few seconds ago is either laughing or getting a phone out to record what is happening. I use my strength and what little advantage I have, to reposition my head in the other direction.

I can’t believe my eyes! Maddie has ripped off her dress and is waddling around the stage in her underwear half singing, half crying the Princess Kitty theme song, tears streaming down her face.

“Logan help me!” I call out, not sure if he can hear.

I turn my head back to face Christine.

“Get off!”

She lets go of me and stands up, freeing me to move again. I get up as quickly as I can manage to and begin pushing my way to the stage. When I am almost to the stage, I brush past Arabella.

I step in front of her, half expecting to see her cackling like the witch she is. Instead, she is silent. Not allowing the shock of her current condition to dampen the severity of what she did to Maddie, I put all my strength into slapping her across the cheek.

“You’re a horrible, horrible monster, Arabella,” I growl, “you don’t deserve to be in the same room as Maddie, and I am going to figure out a way to keep her safe from you, even if it kills me.”

Not even caring how she reacts, I turn and resume my rush to the stage. Everyone I push my way past is either laughing or staring at Maddie. Maybe Arabella was right about most people. No, it’s not true. Maddie isn’t like them. I need to help her.

I reach the stage and pull myself up on it, not wanting to waste time trying to reach the stairs on either side. I step on the bottom of my dress as I stand up and I hear it ripping somewhere, but I don’t care. I need to help Maddie.

Grabbing her dress off the stage floor, I hurry over to her and look into her eyes.

“Stop doing what Arabella told you.”

She stops dancing and singing, immediately burying her head in my chest sobbing. My adrenaline is so high right now; I barely notice the pain shooting through my head and neck. I hand Maddie her dress and lean my head down so I can talk to her.

“Go backstage and get dressed, Maddie. I’ll fix everything. I promise.”

Maddie continues crying, but takes the dress and goes somewhere behind the curtain. I step up to the microphone at the front of the stage. Scanning the crowd of students, I see Logan. He is holding Arabella’s hands behind her back with one arm and covering her mouth with the other. He sees me and nods.

Taking a deep breath, I pull the microphone stand closer to my body. There are at least a couple hundred people in the gym. I hope I am able to do this. I think of my dad for some reason. I hope he knows I love him. I take one more deep breath and concentrate on the entire crowd.

“Everybody be quiet and listen. If you took any pictures or video in the last fifteen minutes, delete it all now. If you sent any messages about what you saw, send new messages saying it was all a joke. After you have done this, you and everyone else in this gym are going to forget everything you have seen here for the last fifteen minutes. Instead, you will remember having an average time at the dance tonight. As soon as I finish talking, you will all leave for your homes and will remember the reason you had to leave early was that someone pulled a fire alarm. Now...go...home...”

The pain I have been trying to ignore goes supernova through my entire body. I can’t see anything. I don’t even know if I’m standing or floating, my body is either burning or I’m being run through a blender. My thoughts are messy...

“...that girl’s falling off the stage!”

A girl’s falling?