Chapter 20
After hours of thinking—or dreading—I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t—or really, I shouldn’t—go to the dance, especially since I had put all my friends and their reputations in jeopardy.
Like Bridge, who was now terrified to talk to me because of Venus’s threat to take away her only dream date to Homecoming. Or Mase who never wanted to be a lab rat or finalist in the first place, but did it for me and now was thrust in the kind of spotlight he dreaded.
But the part that truly made me sick to my stomach was what had happened to Susan. And since Bart had officially outted Susan as “Jabba,” I could only imagine what her life would be like once this tag was broadcast to the entire school.
And then there was Adam, to whom I promised to deliver a date with Venus for Homecoming if he helped me, and he’s more than done his part. And now I needed to do mine.
The only right thing to do was to pull myself out of being a finalist candidate. I figured this would at least increase everybody else’s chance to win as well as help me keep my word to Dr. Hamrock and, now, most importantly, to Swen.
The next day when I went to school, I was a little taken aback when I saw all the camera crews everywhere. Some were following the freshmen. Other crews were covering the upperclassmen, just like the paparazzi do in all those glossy magazines.
And then there were even more camera crews shooting what’s called “B” roll footage. I learned that that’s just extra footage of random things to help tell the story of the documentary, like pictures of the front of the school, the sign of Gamma High, or our flying stallion mascot, the Pegasus called Peggy. Hideous, I know, but I guess they need Peggy to help tell the story.
The entire day was very surreal. I was just glad I dressed cute for the occasion. I wore my hair in two big buns on top of my head, and instead of putting in chopsticks, like some girls do, I put little antennas, and I dressed in all pink with a shiny silver vest with my silver boots. It may have looked a little Power Puff meets the SciFi Channel, but it did make me feel fierce. And I had a feeling I was going to need all the fierceness I could muster up today.
Throughout the day I looked for Mr. Stringer so I could let him know my final, fateful decision. Since he was working closely with the Student Council, I just figured I could tell him and then he’d tell the council, and then it would be over and done with. I just wanted it to happen pronto, except there was one problem—I couldn’t find him all day.
Finally, I ran into him in the media room, where the production company had set up an office and also where they were editing. Mr. Stringer was on his computer looking at some lunchroom footage.
“Uh, hi, Mr. Stringer. I’m Luz Santos, one of the freshman finalists?”
Rod paused the scene and turned around. “Oh, yeah, you’re the gadget girl—the one with the talking shoe.”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Call me Rod. What can I do for you?”
“Well, uh, Rod, I was thinking that I needed to withdraw from being a Homecoming finalist and from the documentary and all.”
“And why is that?” Rod said as he leaned back in his chair and cocked his head like I’d better have a good explanation.
“Well, because I have to ... I mean ... I chose to enter the science competition here at Gamma. And since there wasn’t anyone to compete with me here, I automatically became eligible to enter the regional competition. And it just so happens that it lands on the same day as Homecoming. And it’s on the other side of Fort Worth, which is, like, over an hour away,” I explained.
I just rattled that last part off because I didn’t think the production company was from here. I mean, I had overheard Rod talking in the hall about Texas and cowboy hats and boots and all. And it’s not like that many people wear them here at school, but I thought it was still important to give him a geography lesson on the distance between Dallas and Fort Worth.
“So, you don’t think you could make the dance,” said Rod, bringing me back to my own so-called reality show.
“No, not really.”
“I see. Well, for the sake of the story—and just so you know, the story is the star for High School Rules—not to mention all the students who voted for you, would you stay in for the duration of the shooting?”
I just froze.
“Look, I first want to portray a truthful perspective of who the students wanted as their freshman court. That’s why I need everyone to continue to participate. Just stick in the race and you don’t have to go to the dance. And then at the end of it all, we can still get your interview of why you wanted to withdraw.”
“Okay ... ,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Luz, you should want to do the show because this not only is very compelling stuff but it’s also the story of your life,” said Rod, making an overly dramatic face.
I felt myself wanting to laugh, but instead I chose to bite on my lower lip. It sounded kind of crazy to me, because, well, my life wasn’t that dramatic. Wait a minute—yes, it was. My friends’ reputations were on the brink of being destroyed. I could fail science and be kicked out of the science cluster. And, oh, yeah, Venus could steal the man of my dreams. My head nodded automatically for Rod.
“Good, then we’ll still have the crews following you so we can really get a clear picture of you and your life.”
“Alright ...” I said, still not quite sure of what that would entail. I left and headed to the cafeteria.
When I arrived, my biggest concern of the day was whom I was going to sit with at lunch. Little did I know, it wasn’t going to be that big of a deal because there were going to be much bigger deals unfolding as the day progressed. As I walked up to Adam, he let me know right away that he was going to confront Venus. On that note, I decided I should lie low and hang with my sci-fi peeps at our table and watch from a distance.
I saw Adam talk with Venus for a minute, and she was all fake smiles and laughs until Adam confronted her. I couldn’t hear what she was saying but, at the same time, I knew it wasn’t good. I could see that she was saying something sarcastic because she struck a pose and started waving her hands (which she pretty much did on a daily basis).
But whatever she did say was definitely unexpected enough to cause Adam’s face to drop. It was as if someone just told him that he forgot to wear pants or something, and then he just stormed off. And Bridge was standing by witnessing the entire train wreck.
Then out of nowhere came a camera crew of three guys rushing to Venus, and she started talking to the camera. Now I really wanted to hear what she had to say. But by the time I got up to the camera crew from the other side of the cafeteria, the press conference was over.
I tried to find Adam but he was already MIA. I even went to Adam’s office (the girls’ bathroom) to see if he dropped in to collect himself or something. Nope. He wasn’t there. Just the usual bunch of chattering chicas. About that time the bell rang and I ran into the swarms heading to class and stumbled into Bridge.
“Do you know what just happened?” she said, on fire.
“I saw it but I was too far away to hear. What happened?”
Bridge pulled me over by a trash can so that no one would hear our conversation. “Well, Adam just came up and confronted V about whether she was going to the dance with Bart. And she said she was. She said she knew that Adam might not have money to take her to the dance and she didn’t want to put him in that position because of his mom losing her job and all.”
“Wait a sec, Bridge. I thought you weren’t supposed to be talking to me,” I said, scanning the crowd to make sure the Venus flytrap wasn’t buzzing around.
“No, I’m totally talking to you now,” Bridge said in her big-girl voice. “And when I asked Venus how she knew about Adam’s mom, she said his mom used to clean offices for her dad’s company, but now the company is relocating to Austin.”
“Is Venus moving?”
“No. I know—you wish. Her dad’s going to be commuting.”
“Oh, that sucks.”
“And when the video crew asked Venus what had just happened, she told them that at first she was going to go with Adam, but since his mom was laid off, she didn’t want to go with him because he was probably hard up for money and all.”
“You’re kidding me,” I said, feeling an extra twinge of venom.
“No, I’m not. I was in total shock when she said that, and I’m sure she realized that so she asked if she could have a ‘take two.’”
“A ‘take two’?”
“Yeah, like in the movies—a do over, another take. No one said no, so she just said, ‘Anyway, I just didn’t want him to feel bad, y’-know, about being poor and, like, having to come up with that kind of money for the dance. Like money for dinner, the limo, and everything else. I think I’ll start a can drive for him or something.’ ”
My stomach started to knot up, and I pulled Bridge away from the sour smell of the trash can, which was also making me sick.
“So then Venus looked at me and said, ‘That sounded better, right? I didn’t want to sound like a fake or like a bee-otch,’ and then she asked me if she should have cried when she mentioned the can drive! That’s when the cameras turned to me, and I felt so horrible, I ran off. I’m sure I looked like a big doof,” Bridge said, then looked down at her cute little red ballerina flats.
“No, you did the right thing.”
Bridge just leaned on some nearby lockers and held her books closely to her chest as if she was guarding her corazón.
“Luz, I’m done with this.”
“With what?” I asked, not sure what exactly she was done with.
“I don’t like feeling my life’s under a microscope. I want out.”
“What are you saying, Bridge? What about your date with B-Dawg?”
“Oh, no! I’ll still go to Homecoming with him, of course, but I don’t think I can handle being a finalist or a part of this documentary. It’s bad.”
I was completely speechless as I looked at Bridge. Completely. But then I thought about our science project.
“What about the experiment?”
“Hey, you got me to finalist. That’s got to count for something,” Bridge said.
“C’mon, Bridge, it can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, yeah, it can. Those cameras are rolling on us all the time. Just like when you’re taking your spy pictures. And you know what, Luz, we can look pretty stupid without even trying, just like everybody you take pictures of. I’m afraid we are all going to be crucified before the dance. And you know what else? I’m really beginning to think that we shouldn’t have done the experiment at all, Luz. It’s too high of a price to pay.”
“Well, you know there’s always a price or risk when conducting experiments.”
“I don’t have that kind of collateral, Luz.”
“Well, maybe we can think of another experiment and change everybody’s ...” I started to say as thoughts swirled around in my head and my stomach started churning acid.
“Luz, get hold of yourself!” Bridge threw her hands in the air.
“You’re talking like a total freak! No more experiments, potions, gadgets, photos, or whatever. We just have to deal, like everybody else. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.” She started to turn to walk in the opposite direction.
“You will?” I said, suddenly feeling a wave of insecurity. I was hoping I wasn’t losing my science partner, but, more importantly, my friend.
“Yeah,” Bridge said over her shoulder.
“Are you sure you’re not worried about the wrath of Venus?” I asked, just to make sure.
“I’m so tired of V that if I saw her right now, I would pull every strand of her blond hair out of her little pin head.”
“You mean fake blond hair.”
“Yeah, and that’s not the only thing fake about her,” said Bridge as she shook her bosom and rolled her eyes sarcastically.
And that’s when we realized we were being filmed. How much had they heard? Bridge and I froze, and then she ran away and I walked in the opposite direction, hoping no one would follow us. For a second, it felt like an invasion of privacy. Isn’t there a law about that kind of stuff?
As I walked up the stairs, I quickly realized that if they aired that piece of video, Bridge and I were going to be deep in caca. Again, since I felt like this was my fault, I felt it was my responsibility to fix it, and fast. But how? I decided to talk with Rod one last time.
I found him in the media center. His desk was filled with empty Styrofoam cups, while a pot of coffee was brewing behind him between stacks and stacks of videotapes.
“Hey, Mr. Stringer, I mean Rod?”
“Yes, Luz?”
“Look, I don’t want to take up too much of your time again because I know you’re busy, but I’m afraid some of your guys have recorded some footage that shouldn’t get out.”
“Luz, I have hundreds of hours of footage to go through,” Rod said, putting another tape into a machine. “Could you be more specific about the footage you’re talking about?”
“Well, for starters, Bart said he nominated Susan as a joke. I don’t think she knows that she’s referred to as ‘Jabba.’ And he called Mason a mute, which he totally isn’t. And, uh, today, just a few minutes ago, your crew shot Venus and she mentioned that Adam’s mom just lost her job ...” I was waiting for Rod to take down some notes for editing purposes and stuff.
“And ... ?”
“What I’m saying is, that information is really damaging.”
Rod didn’t seem to be bothered in the least bit.
“Rod, when you and your crew are done with this episode, the rest of the students here have to go on. And speaking for the freshman class in particular, we have barely gotten started here. And I feel like your crew is trying to ruin us or something.”
“Really?” Rod said as he stopped what he was doing for a moment.
“Yes, really.”
“Well, I’m really sorry you feel that way, Luz. But it’s not about trying to ruin you and your friends. It’s really just an honest snapshot of your lives. And that honesty is part of the price of being popular, being nominated, and agreeing to be part of the documentary.”
“But not all the students I mentioned asked to be popular,” I said, hoping I wouldn’t have to reveal Project Gamma Glamma to him.
“Okay, what does that mean?” asked Rod. I could tell that he was getting a bit annoyed with my visit, so I knew I had no choice but to spill the frijoles.
“‘Off the record,’ there are some students who didn’t ask to be popular—they were only helping me with my science project.”
“Are you saying that you were conducting an experiment to make kids popular?”
“Yes.”
“You’re kidding me. That’s insane.”
“Yes. I mean no! Yes, it’s insane, but no I’m totally being serious here.”
“Now why would you cook up an experiment like that?” Rod spun around in his chair and poured a cup of coffee.
“It’s a long story,” I said, hoping not to have to tell the whole thing.
“Oh, don’t worry, I have time for this.” Rod looked me straight in the eyes. “Because this is about you and your life. And this is a story that needs to be told. Today,” said Rod, sounding overdramatic, like a used-car salesman.
Rod spun around again to grab his walkie-talkie from his desk. “Danny Jackson, can I have you come up to the media room? We have to pop off an interview. And bring Henning so he can boom. And make sure someone comes up here with some powder in case we’re shiny.” Then he turned to me and said, “If you’re cool with it, then I’d like to put you and your story on tape.” I just nodded weakly, not sure if I had any options at this point, but I was anything but cool or “shiny.”