Cyrus and his family had been living in our town for a week and a half when I first saw Cyrus drafting. I was driving to the pond one morning and saw him there: following an over-the-speed-limit car on the main road, wearing a black body suit and a biker helmet, riding a thin skateboard. He was bent over, leaning forward, with his hands clasped behind his back. I swerved off the road, caught completely off guard, and watched in shock as he sped down the road behind that car. Of course, at the time, I hadn’t known it was Cyrus behind the helmet.
“I saw the craziest thing today,” I said as I walked up to the pond a while later, where everyone was sprawled out in their usual positions. “What’d you see?” Queen asked, pausing in her wading to glance over at me. “I was driving, and this guy sped past me, in this, like, full-body black suit thing, on this really thin skateboard, with a motorcycle helmet. He was drafting a car! Here, of all places! It was crazy!” I noticed Cyrus smile a little bit and walked over to him, “What’s so funny, Trace?” I asked. He laughed and nudged my shoulder, “Nothing. I just think your whole thing with anti-adrenaline is funny.” I scoffed and sat down on a log. Keira paused in her pulling out split ends and looked over at Nate, "Hey, Nate..."
"Yea?"
"What time did you say that event thing was at?"
"The Awards Ceremony?"
"Yea, that."
"Six thirty. Why?"
"What time is it now?" Keira asked, narrowing her eyes. We all stopped what we were doing- except Cyrus, who looked confused- and turned to look at Nate. His eyes widened and he quickly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He looked at the screen and then looked back up at us, eyes wide, "Oops."
"NATE!" we all yelled in unison as we jumped up, gathering whatever stuff we had with us. "What? It's not my fault!" Nate whined, stuffing his phone back into his pocket and helping Queen fold her huge blanket. "You were supposed to be Time Keeper!" Keira groaned. "Sorry, sorry," he said, biting his lip. Cyrus watched as we all checked each other, making sure we weren't forgetting anything. And then we broke into a sprint, hurrying back to the main road where Nate's beat-up, forty-year old Mustang was parked on the side of the road. We all jumped in, including Cyrus, though he still didn't know what was going on, and Nate hurriedly started the car and drove to the school auditorium way past the speed limit.
Keira, Queen and I immediately ran to the girl's bathroom as soon as we got to the school. We changed quickly into our dresses, running Queen's brush through our hair, quickly applying Keira's lipstick to all our mouths and pulling our heels out of my huge purse, strapping them on quickly before sprinting, heels and all, down to the auditorium. The guys, of course, despite our hurrying, still beat us. Nate and Tim had both changed into dress pants and button-down shirts, Nate even had a suit jacket, though it wasn't buttoned, and they'd changed out of their sneakers into dress shoes. Cyrus was standing with them, awkwardly, wearing a suit jacket- (I guessed that it was Tim's) over his band shirt, looking uncomfortable in his black jeans and probably thanking the Lord that he had decided to wear black sneakers today. "Hey," Queen whispered quietly as she hurried under Nate's arm. Keira moved to stand next to Tim, who awkwardly complimented her, and she awkwardly complimented him back, and they stood there in all their awkwardness and pretended that they weren't attracted to each other. I snuck up behind Cyrus and whispered, "Lookin' snazzy." He turned, grinned sarcastically at me, and replied quietly, "No one told me there was an award ceremony going on." I shrugged, "Oops." He rolled his eyes and looked back at the stage, "Lookin' hot, Jett." I smacked his arm and stifled a laugh, "You are so awkward."
"And you are so not Joan Jett." I grinned and shook my head, keeping my eyes on the stage, "Oh, that hurt. How shall I ever recover?" Cyrus grinned, too, and muttered, "Build a bridge and get over it."
"You are not funny."
"Ouch. That was painful."
"Cry me a river and drown in it." He glanced at me, smiled, and looked back at the stage, falling silent as the mayor stepped onto the stage, announcing the Citizens of the Year award winners.
No comments:
Post a Comment