A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy)
and I suspected we were never going to be on the same wavelength.
    And, the fact was, I liked Bard. It had started as a punishment, but it had grown into something else altogether. I’d met Heathcliff here, not to mention all my other friends. And even though my time here had been dangerous and stressful, I have to admit I wouldn’t want to change places with anybody at my old high school.
    I just had to figure out why Catherine was here, poised to spoil what was left of my senior year.
    As I stared out across the campus grounds from the windows in our class, the pathways were empty, save for two guardians—a fat squat one and a tall thin one—who were marching down the main pathway, patrolling the campus and looking for anyone who might be ditching class. I wondered where Heathcliff was at this moment. Had he found Catherine? The idea of him talking to her made my stomach tie itself up in knots. Was he—right at this moment—telling her how much he’d missed her?
    I realize that part of me was to blame if he did. If I’d jumped at his marriage proposal, maybe he wouldn’t have been so eager to find Catherine when she showed up again. I hoped I wasn’t too late already. To be honest, I didn’t know what Heathcliff felt for Catherine. I knew he’d loved her at one time.  But Catherine was a subject we’d both deftly avoided. Now, I wished I’d insisted we talk about it.
    Until now, he said he wanted to stay here with me and I believed him. I just hoped he hadn’t changed his mind.
    The Guardians outside turned left across campus and disappeared behind the science building. And then, suddenly, the room burst into song. My attention went to the front of the class and I saw Samir standing there. He was holding a guitar, strumming notes. I didn’t know he played guitar. From the look on Blade’s face he’d kept her in the dark, too.
    He was singing, “….you’re beautiful just the way you are…” which, for Blade and her dozen face piercings and black lipstick was saying something.
    Blade—normally impossible to embarrass—flushed pink as Samir sang and strummed his guitar in the front of the class. Coach H looked on with a knowing smile. Clearly, he’d been in on this. As Samir kept on singing, half the class joined in to help him finish the song.
    Hana, of course, was the exception.  She didn’t sing because she was too busy keeping her expression carefully neutral.  Samir approached Blade’s desk. He swung his guitar over the back of his shoulder and got down on one knee in front of Blade, ending his song with a flourish. 
    “Will you go to prom with me?” he asked, his eyes shining because he knew he’d gotten to her. He really had. Who knew someone as tough as Blade could be undone by a pop song?
    Blade sniffed at swatted at one eye. Then, she nodded her head fiercely. She didn’t have any speeches about prom now, I noticed. The class cheered and applauded (apparently even fellow delinquents had soft spots for romance) and Samir and Blade hugged.
     I felt good for them, I did. I was happy they were happy, and yet, I found myself wondering what Heathcliff was doing at that very moment. Had he found Catherine?
    More importantly, was he coming back?
     
    ***
     
    “Earth to Miranda,” said Hana, waving a hand in front of my face. “You there?” We were sitting in the library now during study period. We’d already thoroughly dissected Samir’s prom song. At least, I had. Hana was still in mulling mode. She kept talking about how lucky Blade was and how sweet Samir was, and how she still had misgivings about them being a couple and somewhere in the middle of it, I admit, I zoned out.
    “What? Oh, sorry,” I said, bringing my attention back to the joint project we were doing for physics class. This was what we were supposed to be doing, even though Hana wanted to talk about Samir. I got the impression I hadn’t heard what she’d said for the last five minutes. She was frustrated and I

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