Morp

“You know prom is in two weeks, Darby?”

My heart skipped a beat as I pulled my backpack from my locker. I didn’t want to make eye contact with Adam right away. It would look too eager.

“Yeah. I saw the posters up by the cafeteria this morning.” I shut my locker and we started walking toward the main staircase. I could feel my lunch doing flips in my stomach as I tried to control my breathing and smiling.

Adam and I had been dating for a few months and his casualness was one of his most attractive qualities. He never got stressed and he always said what he was thinking.

“What are you thinking about prom?” He asked while looking straight at me.

“I’m excited. I think it’ll be a fun night and since you’re a senior and I’m a junior we’ll both know a lot of people there.”

“Exactly. That is what I told Anna when she asked me to prom.” He didn’t even break stride as he said it.

“Who’s Anna?” I asked trying not to sound as shocked and confused as I was.

“She goes to Clemson High. We worked together last summer. She just broke up with her boyfriend and asked me to go to prom. We decided to go to Orion High’s prom instead of both to make it simple.”

I absently nodded and waited for him to finish talking, so I could go collapse in the nearest girls’ bathroom.

“Yeah. It should be fun. How about a movie on Friday?”

“I’ll have to check,” I said without looking at him. 

He left without another word, and I watched him walk out the double doors to head to the parking lot and his rusty tan Jeep. I stood there for about thirty seconds and then turned to head back to my locker instead of the bathroom where a bunch of girls could be heard laughing. I just needed to walk this out. The fact Adam had decided to accept another girl’s invite to prom didn’t bother me as much as his request to go out this coming Friday night after that kick in the stomach. I knew we weren’t together or anything, but we had been dating solidly for a month now and I just thought we would go together. On the other hand, my mother would be pleased though. She hated Adam and that was not an exaggeration. Normally my mother did not detest anyone or anything on principle, but she vocally admitted to hating him after our first date. Adam had arrived to pick me up in his Jeep which you could hear from over a mile away. He pulled up onto the curb and my dad’s cut grass, and then he jumped out of the driver’s side. He was wearing long green khakis that were cut off at the knees and fraying uncontrollably. He had on no shirt, but he did have on a white beaded necklace that accented his extremely sun-browned skin. He wore no shoes and was smoking a clove cigarette. Before my mom could deny the date, I kissed her quickly and met him half-way through our yard. We both waved and I jumped into the Jeep, because there were no doors, and buckled my seatbelt. I waved again and laughed to myself as I watched her grimacing on the front porch as we drove away.

I didn’t even want to think about prom now and started to spin my locker combination when I heard voices in the classroom to my right.

“She’s going with her boyfriend now,” I heard Forrest say to someone.

“Her boyfriend? How did that happen?” Eric’s voice came into clarity at the question that hid a snort behind it.

“Karina and I decided to go to prom back in the fall. We were talking about how neither of us had dates to dances and didn’t want our senior prom to be a repeat. So, we agreed to go together. The trouble is Karina started dating Sebastian last month and she wants to go with him. I don’t blame her. It just sucks that she has a date now and I don’t. I doubt I even go.”

“Don’t give up hope, man. There are probably lots of girls you could ask.”

“I don’t want prom to be a blind date though. I want to have fun and be able to hang out and relax. It’s senior year after all.”

“I get you and I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for you, Forest.”

“Thanks. See you later, Eric.”

I fumbled getting my locker open as Eric came out of the room. 

“Hey Darby,” Eric said and smiled, “Have a good day?”

“Yeah. How about you?”

“Always. It’s a waste of time to have bad days.” Eric smiled and winked slightly. We had had this conversation every day since I started here as a freshman. It still made me smile, and on the occasions when my days weren’t so great, Eric made it a point to show me how to be grateful for a bad day instead of making it a worse day. He waved and walked away down the hallway. That meant that Forest might be alone in the classroom. While I was technically dating Adam, the crush I carried for Forest was bordering on three years. He was the first person to introduce himself, he was really smart, and everyone thought he was the nicest guy. However, I was a completely awkward freshman and could never say anything to him. I just stayed silent until I ended up sitting behind him this year in Academic Decathalon. We had a mixed homeroom of juniors and seniors so we could study and take practice tests for competition. I got to know Forest and being around him made my crush intensify.

Before I could even think about asking Forest out, Adam entered into the picture. It was at the end of soccer season. Since our inner-city school didn’t have enough girls to field its own team, I played with the guys. Adam and I had been on the field together for three years now and one day after practice as I was taking off my cleats and shin guards, he nonchalantly leaned up against a tree close by. We talked about how he and Jaina, his girlfriend of two years and the prettiest girl in school, had broken up and how he wanted to date more girls. Before I realized how the conversation had turned, I had agreed to a date that following Saturday. He left and I realized I had said yes before I asked my mom’s permission. This also would only make date #2 for me. The first was in 7^th grade and all I remember was eating way too much popcorn.

When Adam and I went out, it was simply fun. We played sand volleyball, went to movies, sat in coffee shops and listened to live music or poetry reads, played basketball at a friend’s house, ate incredible Mexican food, and occasionally went fishing. We had long conversations about life, and I really thought he liked me. So, the thought of some other girl on his arm at prom pushed forward my determination to be seen at prom with someone else. I took a deep breath and walked right into Forest as he was coming out of the classroom. He dropped his book and I stumbled backwards.

“Hey,” Forest said startled.

“Sorry,” I said quickly and took a step to steady myself as he scooped up the fallen book.

“Oh. Hi Darby,” Forest said and smiled, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No,” I said, “I'm sorry I made you drop your book.”

“It’s fine. It’s just Calculus,” he said with another smile.

I laughed, “Are you walking out to your car?”

“Yeah.”

“Mind if I walk with you?”

“Nope.”

We walked toward the stairwell, and he started talking about the tests we would be working on tomorrow. As we descended to the second floor, the conversation came to a pause, so I started up a conversation about prom. I am not sure where the words came from. It was a true out-of-body experience. I was listening to this girl, who looked just like me, bravely attempt to ask her crush to prom.

“Are you going to prom?” I asked like I hadn’t heard his conversation with Eric.

“I don’t know. My date bailed and I do not know if I want to go now. How about you? Are you going?”

“Well, I was going to ask someone, but I am not sure what he’ll say…”

“Really, who were going to ask?” He interrupted with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

By this time, we were at my car. I opened the driver’s side door and threw my bag onto the passenger side. Then I put both arms on the top of the open car door of my grey Dodge Omni and looked at Forest.

“Actually,” I said as casually as I could, “I was going to ask you.”

To my surprise the twinkle did not fade. In fact, his smile rose to meet the sparkle still playing in his eyes.

“That’d be great,” he said, “We should totally go together. How about we work out the details tomorrow in homeroom?”

“Okay. That sounds good. See you tomorrow.” I slowly slid into the driver’s seat as Forest walked away to his car. I had a date with my crush and the guy I was dating would be at prom with another girl. At least the night would be interesting.

Turns out, interesting was too soft of a word for that evening. Adam lost his cool more than once with his date who never wanted to dance, mingle, or walk around the room at all. At one point, he pulled me aside and asked another friend of ours to take our picture together.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered into my ear, “I should have taken you to prom.” I smiled and let our friend snap a picture on both of our phones. It wasn’t until later when I looked at the picture that I noticed neither of us were smiling naturally. We looked like there was an electric current shooting up our legs. The picture was horribly stiff and fake. 

Forest and I, on the other hand, had a great time. Except I never realized how much taller he was than me. As a solid 5’7 girl, his 6’2 stature made me look tiny and the flats I chose to go with my dress didn’t help my height situation out at all. He couldn’t put his arm around me in our official picture and he pushed a chair onto the dance floor so I could at least be eye to eye with him when we slow danced. Additionally, I learned that my crush would always stay a crush. He remarked multiple times throughout the night how he was glad we were just friends and how cute Eric looked in his tux. 

All in all, it was certainly a night to remember. Adam went on to serve in the Navy, I never saw him again, and my mother was ecstatic. Five years later, I attended Eric and Forest’s wedding and we laughed about our prom while drinking champagne.

“It should have been called Morp,” I said taking a sip from the glass.

“Why?” Eric asked as he took a drink.

“Because it never goes the way anyone imagines it,” I replied.

They both nodded with grins, and we clinked the glasses before toasting another drink to high school memories and future adventures.