Homecoming pt 6: The Dance.

The week before the dance felt like it went forever for DaeRi. Though it was a lot easier with a friend, and she was secretly thankful that Shae hadn’t listened to Ella and ditched DaeRi. Instead they started spending a lot of their time together.

But still DaeRi was relieved when she woke up Friday morning knowing that after tonight this homecoming mess would be over and she can move on to something else.

It also happened to be spirit day. DaeRi owned very few orange things, it just wasn’t one of her fave colors. But she managed to find a orange cardigan to put on over a royal blue dress.

On the bus she took her usual seat near the front, put in her earphones and tuned everyone out until Shae took the seat next to her.

“Hey,” Shae said. DaeRi looked over at Shae and tried not to laugh, Shae was covered in in orange and blue. She was wearing orange shorts with a blue t-shirt, blue knee high socks, and orange converse.

“Wow you take spirit day very seriously,” DaeRi said.

“Aren’t I supposed to?” Shae asked.

“Of course,” DaeRi said, gesturing to her own outfit, “But wow that’s a lot of orange and blue. Did you just have all of that in your closet?”

Shae shook her head, her eyes wide, or as wide as they could get, “No way. You should have seen my closet before, it was all neutral colors. I had my mom take me shopping for these, plus I made a pact to dress more colorful this year, in my attempt to stand out instead of blend in.”

DaeRi nodded, “Alright. I respect that.”

Shae continued to tell her about how when she saw the orange converse she just knew that she had to have them.

DaeRi just nodded when she was supposed to.

Then they were at school and they joined the big orange and blue stream of people in the hallways. DaeRi could hear the excited voices surround her, the talk of the dance and homecoming queen and king.

Shae joined Mariah at her locker and DaeRi was on her own to her locker where she was shocked to find Tamarai waiting.

“Hey,” DaeRi said, suspiciously.

“Are you going to the dance?” Tamarai asked, looking nervous.

“Yeah, of course,” DaeRi said.

Tamarai smiled, “Good, just wanted to know. I’ll see you then.”

Tamarai hurried away leaving Daeri wishing she could hate her but really Tamarai was just an innocent bystander caught in all of this popularity mess. It was sad really.

The day went by as usual, except with a pep rally just before school let out early. Shae found DaeRi and they sat together and watched the cheerleader bounce around. Then the band came out and did a song. And, just for kicks really, the football team went out and waved to them. Then it was over and everyone swarmed out of the gym and towards the parking lot, in a hurry to get home and prepare themselves for the dance.

“I’ll see you at the dance?” Shae said before getting off the bus at her stop.

“Of course,” DaeRi said. She contemplated inviting Shae over to prep with her, but didn’t get the chance as the bus pulled away, leaving Shae waving to her on the sidewalk.

Shae was sometimes obnoxious but it was nice to have a friend again.

--

DaeRi’s mom wasn’t home, as usual, and DaeRi went straight to her room. Staring at her dress she tried to build some enthusiasm for getting ready, but it wasn’t the same without Harriette and Tamarai.

Right now Harriette was probably helping Tamarai get her hair done, or maybe doing her makeup. And maybe those girls were with them, swapping makeup application tips and how they got their hair to have such a natural looking bounce.

DaeRi shook her head, trying to get these negative thoughts to leave her alone. She should have invited Shae over, but it was too late now. DaeRi went to her bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

“Okay, DaeRi,” She said to herself, “It’s time to get some makeup on and into your dress, alright?”

DaeRi nodded to herself and started applying her makeup. Nothing too much, since it was just homecoming. Then she went back to her room, slipped on her dress and contemplated what shoes to wear. She went with a simple pair of black heels.

Next on the agenda was her hair.

It was currently in a ponytail, the way she wore it everyday. She took it out and brushed it, watching herself in the mirror as she did. She brushed it all over one shoulder and smiled at herself. It looked cute. She got out a silver flower barrette to keep it there. And she was done.

She looked at the clock, saw that it was still early and sat on her bed wondering what to do. And suddenly a bigger dilemma hit her, how was she gonna get to the dance?

She stood up abruptly. This was a problem. A big problem.

She started pacing back and forth, considering her options. She could call Shae and ask if her mom could drop by and pick her up, but would that look lame?

“It would look even more lame if I didn’t go,” DaeRi said to herself.

And she was right so she called Shae.

“Hi,” Shae answered.

“Hi, it’s me DaeRi,” Daeri said, “I have a problem?”

“Oh? what’s wrong?” Shae asked.

“I need a ride to the dance,” DaeRi said.

“Your mom isn’t taking you?” Shae asked.

“She’s not home,” DaeRi said.

“Oh,” Shae paused, “So you got ready by yourself?”

“Uhm, yeah,” DaeRi said.

“Oh,” Shae said, again, “I’ll ask my mom to swing by and pick you up.”

“Thanks,” DaeRi said.

“Well you have to get to the dance somehow,” Shae said.

“Well, yeah,” DaeRi said, “I’ll see you then.”

“Okay,” Shae said.

After she hung up DaeRi went out to the kitchen to get something to eat. She saw that the rice cooker wasn’t on and turned it on for her mom, who would surely call sometime later tonight to ask if it was on. Then she got out some crackers and ate them slowly, wondering what Tamarai and the others were up to right about then.

And wishing she was with them.

--

Tamarai listened to Ella tell Harriette about how her mom told her the “right” way to curl your hair. Tamarai didn’t care, she missed DaeRi. She hoped that DaeRi was at least getting ready with that Shae girl. She was so happy to see that DaeRi was hanging out with someone, she at least deserved someone to spend her time with.

Tamarai didn’t want to be worrying about DaeRi right then though, she had been right about the cute editor asking her out to homecoming and he could be there any minute now. She tried to focus all her energy into being excited about that.

She had been happy to hear that DaeRi was going to the dance, as she had been worried that Daeri would just not go. She didn’t want DaeRi to miss her last homecoming.

And there she went worrying about DaeRi again.

She tried to pay attention to Harriette who was now saying that Ella’s mom was wrong and Ella looked like she was trying to both agree and not agree at the same time.

“What does it matter anyway?” Mariah said to Tamarai suddenly, “I mean, I like talking about hair just as much as any other girl but can’t we just agree to disagree.”

Tamarai laughed, “That looks like what Ella is trying to do.”

Mariah hid her laugh behind her hand, something she always did, “She’s just trying to butter Harriette up, and at the same time stand her ground. She told me all about it.”

“Hm?” Tamarai asked.

“Oh, she’s got this whole plan,” Mariah shrugged, “Suck up to Harriette while being independent at the same time. So that no one will think she’s just Harriette’s lacky.”

“But she is,” Tamarai said.

Mariah looked at Tamarai, cocking her head to the side a bit.

“I mean we all are,” Tamarai said, “Not in a bad way, but we’re just side character to Harriette’s story.”

Mariah frowned, “Don’t you like Harriette.”

“Of course, yeah,” Tamarai said, “But I know that she only started hanging out with me to help her with the whole popularity thing. And I don’t really care, I accept it.”

Mariah nodded, “Yeah. I’m just standing around for Ella.”

Tamarai nodded, looking over at Harriette. She really did like Harriette, Harriette was nice and generous and never wanted to hurt people. She was a genuinely nice person, but she was just a girl. And she had accepted her into the family with wide open arms.

She had imperfections, like everyone else and one of them was that she was a tad bit self centered. It didn’t hurt anyone.

---

Shae’s mom pulled into DaeRi’s driveway right on time and soon they were off to the dance.

“You look gorgeous,” Shae said.

In the dark car DaeRi couldn’t get a good look at Shae so she just said, “Thanks, I’m sure you do too.”

“Thanks,” shae said.

It wasn’t long until they were in the school’s parking lot and Shae’s mom was saying that she would pick them up at ten on the dot and Daeri was leading the way into the the decorated gym.

As usual for the homecoming dance the gym was covered head to toe with orange and blue. DaeRi didn’t take long to admire the decor, she just walked straight over to the table against the wall that was covered in cookies, chips, and punch. As she sipped a cup of punch and stared out at the dance floor she started to wonder what exactly she was doing here. She wasn't gonna have any fun, that was for sure. But she did have to show everyone that she wasn’t gonna shy away from big events.

She looked towards the door and wondered if Tamarai had arrived yet and suddenly there they were. Harriette standing in the center with Collin right beside her, and the twins and Tamarai surrounding them.

Tamarai looked gorgeous in a fire-y orange a-line dress that had a high low hem line. It was gorgeous and so Tamarai. The twins were wearing matching  dresses, Ella’s was a tight baby pink dress and Mariah was wearing a cropped tank top and a aline skirt, also in baby pink. Then There was Harriette wearing a powder blue dress with an empire waistline lined with pearls and flowing down to just above her knees. And of course she looked gorgeous.

Then DaeRi noticed the guy that Tamarai was holding hands with. DaeRi didn’t know that Tamarai was dating someone. He was really cute, dark skin, a crew cut, and he had an amazing smile. Plus a nice sense of style as he was wearing some nice jeans, a black t-shirt and a blazer with a flower in the pocket.

DaeRi caught Tamarai’s eye and smiled, hopefully showing that she noticed the cute guy and her arm. It must have worked because Tamarai blushed and smiled sheepishly back at her, before following the rest of her group to the dance floor.

“What are you looking at?” Shae asked.

“Just Tamarai,” Daeri said, “She’s got a date. It’s sweet.”

Shae nodded, “you still like her? Even though she chose Harriette over you.”

DaeRi shrugged, “Yeah, I guess. She’s nice, and it’s not completely her fault. She didn’t really have an option.”

“But she did,” Shae said.

DaeRi shrugged again, “Maybe.”

“Shae!” Suddenly a guys voice broke through their conversation.

DaeRi looked over to see a basic looking guy coming there way, followed by the girl DaeRi had spit the cookie on.

“Matt,” Shae said flatly.

Matt must be the other friend Shae talked about, and judging by the tone of her voice she didn’t care much for him anymore.

“I didn’t think you would come,” Matt said.

“Well, I couldn’t miss my first A.L. High homecoming,” Shae said.

Matt grinned, “Yeah. We never used to go to dances.”

Shae frowned, “Yeah, but times have changed.”

“I never thought you would change,” Matt said.

“Yeah well you did, so...” Shae said, then she turned to DaeRi, “Let’s go dance, DaeRi.”

Daeri shrugged, “Sure.”

Shae looked back at Matt once more before she and Daeri walked through the crowd dancing.

“So you don’t like him?” DaeRi asked as they danced.

“I’m kind of mad him,” Shae said.

“Yeah, because he ditched you, right?” DaeRi asked.

Shae frowned,” Yeah.”

“So you weren’t a dance kind of person before?” DaeRi asked.

“Yeah,” Shae said, “We used to just sit around alone. We weren’t people people, but he changed and I didn’t.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Daeri asked.

“I wanted to show him that I could change,” Shae said.

“That’s really cute,” Daeri said.

“Cute?” Shae asked.

“Yeah, so do you still like him then?” Daeri asked.

“Maybe, it’s not the same though,” Shae said, “I don’t think it ever will be.”

“Okay, enough of this sad stuff,” DaeRi said after a moment of silence, “This is a dance and we’re gonna have fun.”

DaeRi grabbed Shae’s hand and pulled her to the center of the dance floor where the Populars always danced.

And there they were, Tamarai, Tamarai’s date, Harriette, Collin, and the twins dancing in a circle with everyone surrounding them. DaeRi couldn’t help but feel a  pang of sadness that she wasn’t with them, like she used to be. She didn’t know what she thought this was a good idea.

It was like seeing them there, without her, having fun made it all seem so real. For the first time Daeri could see and feel that she really honest to god was not popular anymore, and it hurt.

Tamarai looked back and caught her eye, frowning a bit. DaeRi turned around and pushed her way back through the crowd. Shae called back to her but DaeRi didn’t listen and soon enough she was outside. Alone.

---

Tamarai watches as DaeRi slipped through the crowd, just a second after seeing the hurt on her face. Tamarai excused herself from her friends just as a voice rang out through the gym.

Harriette put her hand on Tamarai’s arm and said, “They’re about to announce homecoming king and queen!”

Tamaria bit her lip, she was split between going out and consoling her best friend or staying in and hearing what was sure to be her name announced as prom queen.

“DaeRi just ran out,” Tamarai said.

Harriette frowned, “DaeRi’s here?”

Tamarai nodded, “I gotta go.”

“And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” the announcer said just as Tamarai turned from Harriette and started towards the door.

“The crowning of homecoming king and queen!” they went on, “I think we’ll start with queen! as you know our nominees are Honey Bell and Tamarai Brown!”

The crowd cheered.

Tamarai was at the door but looked back at the stage, she had to be quick or she would miss it. Couldn’t they do king first?

“Oh, I just heard that you guys would like to hear king first?” the announcer said, sounding a tad bit confused, “So let’s go!”

Tamarai grinned, she just knew that Harriette had given her time to go see DaeRi. Tamarai quickly left the gym and found DaeRi sitting on the curb with her her chin resting on her hand.

“You okay?” Tamarai asked.

DaeRi looked at her, she didn’t seem too surprised to see Tamarai, and said simply “No.”

Tamarai sat next to DaeRi, “What’s up?” she asked.

“It’s just hitting me that I really messed up,” DaeRi laughed bitterly,”I’m really not popular anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” Tamarai said quietly. She heard the crowd in the gym go crazy and she knew she didn't have much time left.

“Don’t you have to go get crowned?” DaeRi asked.

Tamarai shrugged, “I guess. But only if you come in too.”

“So you can rub it in my face that I lost another one of my dreams?” DaeRi asked, shaking her head, “No way.”

“No, so I can share this moment with my best friend,” Tamarai said.

“Shut up,” DaeRi said, but she smiled a bit, “I’m still your best friend?”

“Of course,” Tamarai said.

DaeRi sighed and stood up,” Come on, you can’t miss it.”

Tamarai smiled up at her, “Thanks!”

“Get up,” DaeRi said, trying to hide her smile.

Tamarai stood up and together they went into the gym just as Tamarai’s name rang out through the crowd.

With one last look at DaeRi Tamarai walked through the crowd and up to the stage where she was crowned. She smiled out at all the happy faces, catching Harriette’s eye and smiling extra big for her. Thanking her for the extra time.

Then it was over and Tamarai was walking off the stage and getting hugs, high fives, pats on the back, and other forms of congratulations  on her way to DaeRi who was standing in the back with that Shae girl.

Daeri frowned and shook her head, “go, hang out with Harriette. I’ll call you later.”

“But I wanna hang out with you,” Tamarai said, “And what happened to hi and congratulations.”

“I’m not gonna congratulate you for stealing my crown,” Daeris aid, but she was smiling as she said it.

Tamarai gave her a sudden hug, almost knocking her over, “I’m so sorry!”

She didn’t even notice the shocked stares from everyone else, and the sad look on Harriette’s face as she watched Tamarai hug the most hated girl in school.

--

DaeRi spent the rest of the night dancing with Shae and Tamarai, and Tamarai introduced her to her handsome date.

“This is Kyle,” Tamarai said, “He’s the editor for the newspaper.”

“And her boyfriend,” Kyle said.

Tamarai was most definitely blushing even if no one could see it in the dark.

When the night was over Tamarai hugged DaeRi goodbye and told Shae that it was so much fun getting to know her. Then she left with her boyfriend and Harriette. Harriette didn’t say a word to DaeRi.

The whole ride home Shae talked about how this was actually the most fun she had ever had, and how she was so happy that Tamarai had hung out with them.

“She was obviously disregarding the whole “do not hang out with DaeRi” rule,” Shae had said.

And finally they were in front of DaeRi house, and she could see that all the lights were out which meant either her mom was out super late or already asleep. DaeRi forgot to feel embarrassed of her small house, instead feeling embarrassed of the lack of that family warmth that was supposed to be in a house.

As she said goodbye to Shae and her mom, she hoped they didn’t notice the lack of lights on in the house. But they probably did.

They didn’t pull away until she was safely inside. Once inside DaeRi checked her mom’s room and saw the familiar figure sleeping in the bed, then tip toed to her own room where she changed into some comfy pajamas and crawled into bed.

She was still in a daze from the whole night that had ended nothing like she had expected.

She was just glad that homecoming was over and done with.

Homecoming pt 5: More Important Problem.

Homecoming. This was becoming DaeRi’s least favorite conversation topic, not that she was even talking to anyone. But everyday as she walked the hallways, feeling the the hopeless-ness of everything, she heard the word “homecoming” over and over again. It didn’t help that people were giving her dirty looks because of the cookie incident. DaeRi just wanted to disappear.

But through all of this DaeRi did not think about not going to the homecoming dance, not even once.

At A.L. High homecoming was really only the dance. They didn’t have a real football team, just a group of guys who played football for the attention, or sometimes for fun, so there was no football game. There was a parade, where each of the clubs decorated a car and drove down main street. And a pep rally, basically all the cheerleaders do all year are pep rallies. There was also spirit day, when everyone dressed up in orange and blue, the color of A.L. High. Then there was the dance, the highlight of the whole week.

And DaeRi was not gonna miss her senior year homecoming dance. Even if she wasn’t queen.

The only problem was that she needed a dress, she had a few dresses from the previous years but no way was she gonna re-wear a dress. For all the previous dances DaeRi had went shopping with Harriette and Tamarai who would buy her a dress, but this year she was off on her own.

It was a week until the dance when DaeRi remembered her “back account”.

When DaeRi was much younger and they had been living in Broad Meadows for two years she heard her mom talking about a bank account and asked her what it was.

“It’s a place where you put all your money to keep it safe,” she had explained.

DaeRi thought that was a pretty good idea, so she went to her room found a box and put all of her money in it. She didn't have much obviously, but over the years she continued to put all the money she got into it until she met Tamarai, which was in sixth grade. She stopped then because she had to spend her money, since she and Tamarai would go out and do stuff that required money.

When She told Tamarai about her “bank account” Tamarai had thought it would be a good idea to hide it and open it later when DaeRi really needed  the money.

And now seemed like a pretty good time.

She remembered they had hid it at the top of her closet, which was now full of old clothes, stuffed animals, other old toys, and basically anything DaeRi’s mom refused to throw out, she was sort of a hoarder.

DaeRi pulled up her desk chair to the closet and stood on it, facing the challenge of uncovering the box that was surely hidden in there somewhere. She then proceeded to dump everything on the floor, until she saw the little shoebox and could pull it out.

She then sat on her penguin rug and opened the box. She frowned at the small amount of bills in it and proceeded to count them out, doubting it would be enough for a suitable dress.

There was around a hundred dollars, not too bad she had to admit. She couldn’t believe her little girl self had just hid this money away.

So she put the money in her purse, left a note for her mom, and ran out the door and all the way to the bus stop. She arrived just as the bus to the mall pulled up.

She took a seat on the bus and started thinking about where to go first. Obviously the high end stores were off the list, she couldn’t afford an extravagant dress. And she didn’t need one either, as it was just homecoming.

Suddenly the person beside her said something, ending with “the playdough cookies?”

DaeRi closed her eyes and tried not to groan before turning to the girl next to her and asking “Hm?”

“You’re the girl who gave out those nasty cookies,” the girl said. The girl had these ridiculously tiny eyes, and a big mouth, and her hair was cut super short. But she wasn’t ugly exactly, just interesting.

“Yeah, so?” DaeRi finally said.

The girl shrugged, “just saying.”

“Well, okay,” DaeRi said, turning away and looking out the window, wishing the bus ride wasn’t as long as she knew it was.

“I’m Shae, by the way,” the girl said.

“DaeRi,” DaeRi said, not looking back at Shae, “as I’m sure you know.”

“Why’d you give out those terrible cookies?” Shae asked.

“It was an accident,” DaeRi said, annoyed, “I was trying to campaign for my friend and I made bad cookies, okay?”

“But how?” Shae asked.

DaeRi glared at Shae and Shae turned a shade of pink and shrank away.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“It was an accident,” DaeRi said, “Salt looks an awful lot like sugar.”

Shae nodded.

Daeri hoped that Shae was done talking to her and looked back out the window. Unfortunately Shae had some more things on her mind.

“You’re friends with Tamarai?” Shae asked.

“Uhm, no I guess,” DaeRi said, “I was.”

Shae looked thoughtful, “So what happened?”

DaeRi could not believe this girl did not already know the whole story, did she live under a rock?

“I did something that Harriette didn’t like, and so she kicked me out of her inner circle and Tamarai is still in the inner circle. So we’re not friends,” DaeRi explained.

“Oh,” Shae said, smiling slightly, “Harriette? Gosh, I just lost my friend to her too!”

DaeRi looked back at Shae, now interested, “How?”

“Ella, that’s one of them, was obsessed with her and wanted to be her best friend,” Shae said, “and I guess she is now, along with Mariah, my other friend, and the only one I really liked. Ella was a bit rough around the edges, but Mariah was nice. But now Mariah only talks to me in the morning, because they’re so busy spending the rest of the day with Harriette.”

Mariah and Ella, DaeRi’s replacements.

“Oh,” Was all DaeRi said, what else was there to say? Then she realised that this Shae girl just might be useful to her. Another girl who had lost her friends to Harriette? Surely Shae must feel some resentment towards her. DaeRi needed some friend who didn’t like Harriette. Well she need friends period, but if they didn’t like Harriette, that was a plus.

Shae didn’t say anything else for the rest of the ride, until they both got off on the same stop.

“What are you doing at the mall?” Shae asked.

“Dress shopping,” DaeRi said.

Shae slowly smiled, “Me too.”

“I’m guessing you want to come along?” DaeRi asked.

Shae shrugged, “if you’re okay with it?.”

Daeri grinned, this girl was the perfect lacky!

“Of course, come on!” DaeRi said.

And they headed into the mall together.

--

After a day of shopping with Shae, DaeRi learned a few things about her new friend. Shae had had a best friend until he ditched her for the drama geeks. She wasn't very confident and she could go on long spiels and not even care if DaeRi was interested, only to apologise profusely afterwards. And then look like she regretted apologising.

She wasn’t too bad.

DaeRi also managed to find herself a moderately okay dress, it was a dark turquoise A-line dress with a ridiculously poofy skirt that was covered in sparkles. It looked like the night sky, which DaeRi appreciated. Plus is had little slits at on the side of the waist, making it just a little sexy. DaeRi thought it wasn’t too bad considering she had a budget.

Shae ended up getting a short flowy lilac dress, very grecian inspired. It was really pretty, and DaeRi hoped that Shae wouldn’t overshadow her with such a gorgeous dress. It helped that Shae wasn’t very attractive and had the body of a ten year old boy. At least that is what DaeRi thought.

After shopping they ate at the food court and DaeRi saw Harriette, Tamarai and those replacements waiting in line at Starbucks. DaeRi took this as an opportunity to show them that she was making new friends.

She pulled Shae over to Starbucks, claiming that she had been craving a pumpkin latte.

As they stepped into line, right behind Harriette and her friends, Tamarai looked back at them, her mouth shaping into a small O.

“Hi,” DaeRi said.

Harriette looked back at them and frowned, “DaeRi.”

“Shae!” one of the replacements said.

“Mariah,” Shae said, smiling.

Oh yeah, Shae had said her friends had been stolen by Harriette.

“You’re hanging out with DaeRi?” the other replacement said. DaeRi had not known that they were twins, and they looked completely identical. The only difference was Mariah had her hair long wavy hair pulled into a ponytail and the other girl had her’s cut into a bob. It was a little jarring.

“We just met on the bus,” Shae said.

“Well, ditch her,” The short haired twin said, crossing her arms. DaeRi couldn’t help but gape at this girl, she had never ever talked to her a day in her life but here she was telling her new found friend to ditch her?

“Uhm, hello I’m right here?” DaeRi said.

“So?” The girl said.

“I don’t even know your name,” Daeri said, “and you think you can tell my friend to ditch me?”

“My name is Ella,” she said, smiling innocently, “And if Shae knows what’s good for her she would ditch you.”

Then Ella turned back to Shae, “You do know that this girl was kicked from the inner circle, right?”

Shae nodded slowly, “She told me on the bus.”

“And you still came here with her?” Ella scoffed.

“Yeah, she seemed nice,” Shae shrugged.

“Well, she’s not,” Harriette said.

Everyone turned to look at Harriette, who had been quiet up until then.

“I’m not that hungry anymore,” Harriette said, “Let’s go.”

And with that Harriette walked away. Without even a last glance at DaeRi.

Ella followed quickly, but not before telling Shae one more time that she should ditch DaeRi. Then Mariah followed, casting a sympathetic glance back at Shae. And lastly Tamarai was standing there, looking back and forth between Harriette’s retreating back and DaeRi.

“I’m sorry,” Tamarai said, quickly, before running off to catch up with Harriette.

“Of course you are,” DaeRi mumbled to herself, before turning away and heading towards the the exit with Shae quickly following behind.

“That was intense,” Shae said.

“Shut up,” DaeRi said.

And Shae didn't say another word the whole ride home.

homecoming pt4: After the Cookie Incident.

So DaeRi’s first plan bombed, and she wasn’t sure whether to continue with the whole campaign plan or not. It didn’t seem like it would help her, but if she stopped then everyone would know she was only doing it to get on Harriette’s good side.

The whole ride home, on the bus because she had no ride since she used to ride home with Harriette’s mom, she thought it over again and again. Riding the bus was a pain, so it encourage her to keep on trying. She couldn’t just give up. She just needed a better plan.

When she arrived home, to an empty house as her mom was working late lately, she went straight to her room to think where she does her best thinking, on her floor. Her floor was her favorite place in the house.

When they first moved in years ago her mom said she could buy one thing for her new room and she picked out an extremely fluffy rug in the shape of a penguins head. It was old now and the white was more yellow, but she loved it all the same.

She got her iPod, put on her favorite thinking playlist and sat down right in the middle of her rug. She had a small room, which just enough space for a bed, a desk, and a closet. Her bed was against the floor length window, which her desk right next to the foot of it. The closet was on the third wall, with the door on the fourth wall.

Her second favorite part of her room was the walls, her mom and AeGuk had painted them light blue color, and then DaeRi had insisted that they paint the wall next to her bed, the one with the window, a midnight blue so it would feel like sleeping outside. And they did.

Now sitting in penguin rug, though, she wasn’t thinking about that. She was thinking about ways to win back her popularity. She needed to think of the ultimate good deed that would get her back on Harriette’s good side.

And just as she was contemplating that her phone rang and she rolled her eyes. The only person who called her was her mom, usually to tell her she was gonna be late because she got an extra job and had to take it, or to ask her if she would please check if the rice cooker was on.

She answered her phone prepared for either of those situations and instead heard Tamarai’s familiar voice.

“Hi,” Tamarai said.

“Oh, Tamarai,” DaeRi said, even though she tried not to let it show she did miss Tamarai. Tamarai was always the best listener and always had some helpful advice to give, usually something she heard her mom say before and Mrs. Brown was probably the wisest person in Broad Meadows.

“Thanks for trying to campaign for me,” Tamarai said, “I’m sorry the cookies came out bad.”

“So you don’t think I did it on purpose, then?” DaeRi said, as this had passed her mind a few times since her talk with Thomas earlier. If Thomas thought she was that much of a monster, why wouldn’t Tamarai?

“What? Of course not,” Tamarai said, “You would never do something like that, especially if you wanted to become popular again.”

“Right?” Daeri said, “This guy totally thought I did earlier, though.”

“Who?” Tamarai asked.

“This Thomas guy,” DaeRi said.

“Oh, yeah, I know him,” Tamarai said, “Brown wavy hair, almost curly, and weird green eyes?”

“Yeah, that’s him,” DaeRi said.

“Yeah he’s our junior photographer,” Tamarai said, “For the newspaper.”

Newspaper. Due to her miserable start of the year DaeRi had forgotten to sign up, now she wished she had. Two times a week to show everyone that she wasn’t that bad? Sounded like a good idea.

“Can you maybe get me in?” DaeRi asked.

“What? The newspaper committee?” Tamarai asked.

“Yes,” DaeRi said, “I forgot to sign up.”

“I guess I could try,” Tamarai said. Then DaeRi heard a voice in the background, the familiar childish voice of Harriette. She seriously sounded like a five year old.

“I gotta go,” Tamarai said quickly, “Talk to you later.”

“Bye,” DaeRi said quickly just as Tamarai hung up.

The call left her wondering why she had dumped Tamarai in the first place, it was awfully nice to have someone to talk to.

--

Tamarai had to admit that it was nice not having to worry about DaeRi, even though she did miss her.

But the weeks they had stop talking where probably the best weeks of her senior year so far, the newspaper committee started up again and she was getting close to the cute editor, and she suspected that he was gonna ask her to homecoming. Plus Harriette’s new friends Ella and Mariah were actually kind of fun, Ella was a little harsh on the edges, like DaeRi was, to be honest, but Mariah was sweet and liked stupid jokes. Sometimes she reminded herself she should feel bad having so much fun with DaeRi’s replacements but really, she didn’t mind.

Tamarai started feeling a bit like DaeRi was doing okay without her, sure she was still eating alone and she didn’t seem to be feeling anymore upbeat, but she didn’t look too bad.

Then the whole cookie incident happened and she saw just how much DaeRi still wanted to be popular, and watching her sulk her way out of the cafeteria afterwards made Tamarai feel bad. She felt bad that her plan had failed, because Tamarai was sure that it was indeed just a big plan and that DaeRi had not actually felt any sort of actually want to help Tamarai win homecoming queen.

So Tamarai called her, mostly to apologise about her failed plan, but somehow there conversation segwayed into talking about Thomas, some guy on the newspaper committee, and DaeRi asked her to help her get back into the newspaper committee. And then Harriette was in her room, wanting to talk about Homecoming dresses. Tamarai told her she was talking to the cute editor.

Tamarai wanted to be friends with DaeRi but it was just too complicated.

Homecoming pt3: The Goodies Showdown.

The next day Honey, Lexi, and Layla were standing in the doorway to the cafeteria handing out lollipops with tags on them that said “Don’t be a sucker, vote Honey Bell for homecoming queen!”

When DaeRi passed through, carrying her tray of cookies, they looked at her curiously and offered her a lollipop.

“What’s the tray?” Honey asked after DaeRi refused the lollipop.

“It’s a secret,” DaeRi said.

Honey gave her a look, but shrugged and said, “have a good day.”

DaeRi went to her table and set down her tray, placed her purse and lunch on the table then headed over to Harriette’s table, stopping by the other tables on the way handing them each a cookie and saying, “Vote Tamarai for homecoming queen, please!” It was all so cheerful.

But when she reached the popular table she found that it was covered with cookies, cupcakes, and chocolate bars that said “Vote for Tamarai, the best in A.L. High!” It was ridiculously cute.

“Uhm.” Tamarai said when she noticed DaeRi approaching.

DaeRi said nothing at first, she didn’t know why she was so shocked. Duh Tamarai was gonna campaign for herself, and duh it was gonna be better than DaeRi’s lame attempt.

But Daeri reminded herself that it was the thought that count and said “hi!”

“Want a cookie, cupcake or chocolate bar?” Harriette asked.

“I’m good,” DaeRi said, smiling sweetly, “I’m actually handing out cookies myself.”

“For what?” Harriette asked.

“For Tamarai,” DaeRi said.

“You’re campaigning for Tamarai?” Harriette asked incredulously.

“Yep,” DaeRi said.

“Why?” Tamarai asked, looking confused.

“To show that I care about you,” DaeRi said, “And since I‘m not nominated, you should win.”

Now Harriette rolled her eyes and looked at DaeRi, “so it’s only because you’re not nominated? Don’t tell me you think that something as small as campaigning for Tamarai, just because you weren’t nominated, is going to get me to forgive you. Now, if you were nominated and campaigned for Tamarai than maybe I would forgive you.”

DaeRi said nothing, she was shocked to say the least. Here she was campaigning for her ex best friend to win something she had always wanted to win, instead of sitting around and being bitter, and Harriette was finding way to call her out on it.

“Thank you,” Tamarai said, breaking the silence. Then someone tapped DaeRi on the shoulder.

“These cookies are terrible,” the girl said as soon as DaeRi turned around.

“They taste like play dough,” another guy said.

DaeRi frowned, “huh? What does play dough taste like?”

“Like this,” another girl said holding out the half eaten cookie in her hand. DaeRi took the cookie and took a bite and spit it right out, and kind of on the first girl. It tasted like salt!

“Ew, what the-” DaeRi said. She tried to think back to making the cookies the other night and remembered taking out the sugar. At least she had thought it was the sugar.

Oh.

She remembered, all of the stuff in her house was labeled in Korean, she didn't know what half the stuff in her house was. When she got the sugar she just took the first thing she saw that resembled sugar.

“Oh, sorry,” DaeRi shrugged. “It was an accident.”

“Didn’t you try them before you brought them in?” The guy said. The first girl had stomped away in disgust after DaeRi accidentally spit the cookie on her, but there was a crowd forming now. All of them wanting to know why she handed out salty cookies. And Harriette, being the strategic girl she is, offered them the goodies she had on display. Reminding each of them to vote for Tamarai.

Which thankfully distracted them long enough for DaeRi to make an escape. She couldn’t believe just how bad that had went. Why couldn’t anything go right for her?

At her table she gathered her stuff up and was prepared to go when the guy from earlier suddenly appeared next to her.

She jumped back and glared at him, “you scared me.”

“Did you make the play dough cookies on purpose?” he asked.

DaeRi stared at him, shocked that he would make an assumption like that. She vaguely recognised him, but wasn’t sure how. He had soft brown curls that hung around his face, a bit too long for DaeRi’s taste, and exotic looking green eyes.

“No,” she finally said, “Why would I do that?”

“To make people not vote for Tamarai,” he said, “Hand out disgusting cookies that say Tamarai on them, make it look like you’re campaigning for her, and then people eat the cookies think that Tamarai had something to do with the cookies and vote for Honey instead. Simple.”

“Wow,” DaeRi said, “I hadn't’ even thought of doing something that evil. Tamarai’s my friend, why would I do that?”

“She’s not your friend anymore,” He pointed out, “The last time I checked you were kicked out of the ‘popular’ circle.”

He said “popular” with just a hint of sarcasm.

“Whatever,” DaeRi said, “I didn’t make the cookies bad on purpose, you can blame my mom for labeling everything in a language no one but her understands.”

“Hm,” He said looking at her thoughtfully, “Okay, I believe you.”

DaeRi glared at him, again, and finished gathering her stuff. “Not that it mattered to me. I don’t even know who you are.”

“Thomas, or Thom for short,” He said holding out his hand.

DaeRi looked at his hand and laughed cynically, “nice to meet you but I gotta go.”

Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

He shrugged and dropped his hand, “talk to you later.”

“Hopefully not,” DaeRi said, shooting him one last glare and walking away.

Homecoming pt2: Campaigning for Queen

After a lot of thinking DaeRi knew what she had to do. It wouldn’t get her homecoming queen, but it might help her get popular enough to win prom queen at the end of the year, which was ultimately her end goal. She was going to campaign for Tamarai, help her get homecoming queen. Then it would look like she cared so much for her old best friend that she would give up on the homecoming queen title and help Tamarai instead.

It was genius, at least DaeRi thought it was.

When Homecoming queen nominations came around it wasn’t a surprise to hear that Tamarai was nominated. Tamarai’s biggest competition was Honey Bell, but Daeri didn’t really think Honey stood a chance.

Now the only question was, how does one actually campaign for someone?

Well she learned quickly enough as only a day after the nominations were announced she found, littering the walls, posters with Honey’s face on them surrounding by hearts and lips saying “Don’t be a sucker, vote Honey bell for homecoming queen!”. Which was kind of sounded a bit rude to DaeRi.

But it did remind DaeRi that the first step to campaigning was posters. But the problem with posters was that DaeRi had little to no money, which meant she couldn’t make the fancy posters that Honey had hanging around and she couldn’t ask her mom for money for something that she would surely call superficial. Not only that, but she would also have to explain homecoming to her mom, and probably why she wasn’t nominated herself, which she did not want to get into with her mom.

So she had to think of something more creative, which is why she found herself in her kitchen on Wednesday night surrounded by what she thought she would need to make cookies. She had her iPod, which was a gift from Harriette a while back, and it was open to a recipe for sugar cookies with frosting. Her idea was to make simple sugar cookies and decorate them with Tamarai’s name, and then pass them out the next day. She had seen other people do this before, like Fedora a few years back when she miraculously won homecoming queen.

She followed the recipe carefully and waited the ten minutes it took for them to cook and was taking the cookies out of the oven when her mom walked into the kitchen.

She looked around and asked, “what are you doing?” in Korean, of course.

“Making cookies,” DaeRi said setting the tray of cookie on the counter.

“Why?” her mom asked, still speaking Korean.

“For Tamarai,” DaeRi said, not bothering to explain anything else. “And can you please speak English?”

“Is she okay?” her mom asked, finally speaking English.

“Yes, I’m just making her cookies,” DaeRi said, picking up her iPod and checking how long she was supposed to let them sit, which was ten minutes. Now she had to make the frosting.

Her mom was silent as she watched her make frosting, again following the directions carefully.

“Hey, do we have any food coloring?” she asked her mom.

Her mom paused then shook her head, “no.”

“Oh,” DaeRi said. Now what was she gonna do? She couldn’t write Tamarai on white cookies with white frosting. She needed orange, the school color. Than she remembered the orange juice in the fridge, maybe that would work?

She got the orange juice and poured a little into her frosting then quickly stirred it. It was orange. DaeRi grinned. How resourceful of her, she thought.

“But does it taste good?” she asked herself. She dipped a spoon into the frosting and took a taste, not too bad. A little weird, but not bad.

She knew what to do next, she had seen other people do it before. She got a sandwich bag and proceeded to spoon some of the orange frosting into it, than she cut a corner off and she had a piping bag.

“You are not too bad in the kitchen,” her mom said, before turning around and going back into the living room, where she was undoubtedly watching one of her Korean dramas she was so obsessed with.

Her mom didn’t compliment her much, AeGuk had always been her favorite, so even just a little thing like “You’re not too bad in the kitchen,” made DaeRi smile.

It had been ten minutes, DaeRi assumed, so she went on to decorate the cookies. Which she thought she did a pretty good job on. They said Tamarai’s name in nice neat script, DaeRi felt proud of her always neat handwriting, and she dotted each I with a heart. They were adorable.

Seeing that it was already way too late DaeRi quickly covered the cookies with plastic wrap and went to sleep, dreaming about one day being popular again. A dream that felt so close.

--

Meanwhile at another house the day that the nominations were announced, Tamarai, Harriette, and Collin sat on Harriette bed in a circle brainstorming on campaign ideas. Even though everyone had thought Tamarai would win, Tamarai still felt a happy shock about being nominated. The thought of actually being homecoming queen was just too much, so she was immersing herself in campaigning to distract herself.

“Posters, of course,” Harriette said, “And Collin can design them! And we’ll make cookies, or those chocolate bars that you can get anything written on. Which do you think is better, Tamarai?”

Tamarai shrugged, “Both?”

Harriette grinned, “Genius! You can design the posters, right Collin?”

Collin looked unsure, “I don’t really know how?”

“I was thinking we’d put it together on the computer and then have it printed.” Harriette said.

“But wouldn’t it be cuter, and more original, if we had a drawing on it?” Tamarai said.

Harriette paused and slowly smiled, “yes! A drawing of you! Oh, please Collin!”

Collin looked unsure again but shrugged and nodded, “sure.”

Harriette hugged him, almost knocking him off the bed, “Thanks!”

“Anything for you,” Collin said.

Harriette grinned, then turned back to Tamarai, “so what should your slogan be?”

Tamarai stopped and thought about it. This was the hardest part, how did people think of slogans?

“What rhymes with Tamarai?” Collin said.

“Cry, die, fly, high, pie...” Harriette saide.

“Bye, tie, guy, dry, fry,...” Tamarai said.

“What about more than one syllable words?” Collin asked.

Harriette looked at her phone, probably searching for words that rhyme with Tamarai. Suddenly she stopped, grinned and looked up at her friends.

“Vote Tamarai, the best in A.L. High,” Harriette said in a sing songy voice.

“That’s cute,” Tamarai said.

“It sounds a bit conceited but it’s good,” Collins aid.

“It’s a homecoming queen campaign,” Harriette said, “it’s supposed to be conceited.”

They all laughed. It wasn’t long before their mom popped her head through the door and told them it was time to get to sleep, and of course they did. Because no one disobeyed Mrs. Brown.