Once Joan and I finished our little talk, I kind of started to look for Ben. Once more I had to wade through the crowds of people, somewhere dancing and others where chatting, boys flirted with girls and girls flirted with boys. All in all, it was your average dance. Finally a few minutes of searching, I found Ben by the refreshment table. He offered me a small smile as he passed me the paper cup.

“Have a nice talk with Joan?” He asked as he raised his paper cup to his lips and closing his eyes he took a small sip of the punch.

“I did.” I said playing with the cup, “So, how was the game?” I respond. I looked down at the ground, I could feel my cheeks flooding with color. There seemed to be a wall between us, and both of us seemed to be doing our best to break through that wall. But despite our best efforts, we seemed to make very little, if any headway.

“It was okay, I guess. Coach put me in at the last. Being a freshman and all. At that point, we were pretty well gone. The thing must have been pretty rough... Being you being the hostage.” He said in a tone of voice that suggested he was struggling for words. “You were pretty brave though, do you know, do what you did.”

I shrugged my shoulders and started to play with my hair... Then I was saved, one of the seniors, who had volunteered to act as the disc jockey for the dance started to play a slow dancing song. Setting my cup down on the table, I offered Ben my hand and smiled sweetly at him.

“Would you like to dance?” I offered as noticed that all around us, people were breaking off into pairs. The lights were starting to dim and jerry-rigged disco ball that spun lazily above us started to cast shimmers of silvery light.

“Sure.” He said setting down his own paper cup. And so he slipped his strong hand into mine and took me by the hand and lead me onto the dance floor. And part of me felt okay with being lead onto the dance floor by this handsome boy I just meet. It felt even nicer to have him wrap his arms around and press me to his body. So many thoughts were racing through my head now, I could still feel the heat from the game in his big hands and that heat traveled from the palm of his hands, through the sheer fabric of my dress and into my bones and that feeling along made me quiver with delight.

Everything also seemed to slow down. The scent of his body spray filled my nose and made me see stars and hearts, his strong touch made my blood turn to ice water, as we moved slowly across the floor. I felt time and space slow down. Everything else seemed to just disappear, the whole of my world seemed just he and I.

Then through the darkness, I looked up and noticed how handsome he had appeared. His boyish features made my heart leap into my throat and made me blush. I took a deep breath and leaned in, and he leaned in as well, and before I could catch myself I found our lips meeting and we kissed. Pleasure filled my body and flooded every inch of me as our tongues touched. Sparks flashed in my mind, fireworks exploded and the flames of passion were lit.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, we stopped to breathe. We both looked down at the ground, I could tell he was flushed and I was flushed as well. My first kiss, my first kiss had just happened. It had been James who was getting kissed, but Jamie... And I felt more like her, no... I was her. I will always be her. She was me and I was her.

“Dang girl.” He said blushed as started to slowly spin. “You kiss pretty well.” He said starting to pant. He looked down and smiled softly at me.

“You're not so bad yourself,” I said blushing as I peered toward him. “I would love to do a little more, you know a grand tour,” I said trying my hand at flirting with him. A deep, dark blush colored my cheeks as the words started to sink in, and I started to understand what I was implying.
He blushed and cleared his throat. I only smirked a little as I peered up at him. He looked away, blushing brightly, clearly lost for words. That caused me to giggle for some reason. I was quickly finding, it was fun to tease boys and to make them blush. There was nothing cuter than seeing a boy blushing and utterly lost for words. Nothing in the world could compare to it.

“May I have your attention please!” A voice called from the stage. A teacher dressed in a nice, simple black dress with black dress shoes was standing upon the wooden stage. She was holding a little envelope. “May I please have your attention, we're about to announce our homecoming queen and king. They will then crown are homecoming princess and prince. The four will share a dance. The homecoming queen and king will dance, and the homecoming princess and prince will dance. There then will one more dance before Rev. John Mark of Benton First Baptist church will lead us all in prayer.”

The women paused and peered toward the far side of the crowd. I followed her gaze and found she was peering at a middle age man with slick back black hair. He was dressed in a white button shirt, brown tweed trousers, and a matching brown coat. He was talking to Linda and her father. Both had their arms crossed and both were pointing toward me with there fingers. Both had looks of anger and raged painted on there faces, while the good preacher just stood there, his arm folded across his chest, one arm rested on his elbow the other stroked his chin as if pondering what his next move would be.

“Okay, first I’ll announce the homecoming king.” She took a deep breath as she opened the envelope, everybody paused and drew in deep breaths of there own and in the background, you could hear a pre-recorded drum roll being played. And then in a loud, booming tone of voice, she called out. “And our two thousand and eighteen Benton Academy homecoming king is…” She paused again as she removed a piece of paper from the envelope, she then read the name aloud. “Mr. Keith Wells!”

A tall, handsome man with deep auburn hair walked toward the Stage, he was wearing a three-piece suit and smiling from ear to ear. He was helped on stage by the boy P.E instructor who shook his hand. Then the teacher, I believe her name was Mrs. Skinner placed a sash around him and a crown. He then moved toward the mike and made a simple little speech.

Keith cleared his throat and leaned down and then in a very “Bro” manner of speaking, he started the customary five to six-minute speech. His speech, was pretty much him praising the effort of the football team, praising God and giving him thanks, offering praise to the football coaches and what not. I’m afraid to say I had to roll my eyes every other minute. Finally, that speech drew to a close, and everybody politely clapped.

The teacher nodded her head and cleared her throat as she stepped up to the mike and took out a second envelope, this one was a bright pale pink a sharp contrast to the deep blue one from before. She cleared her throat again as she shifted her eyes around the crowd.

“And now, our homecoming queen for the two thousand and eighteen seasons is…” Again the prerecord drum roll sounded in the background and with a dramatic flare she opened the thing and removed another piece of a paper. “Lily Elizabeth Potter!”

I blinked and blinked again as I looked around, my sister stood there blushing, she looked quite stricken, like she was not expecting that honor. I turned toward her and smiled She returned the smile and winked as she slowly started to pick her way to the top of the stage. The teacher placed the crown upon her head and the sash around her shoulder.

My sister then made a short speech, she likewise thanked the football for there hard fought game, thanked the cheerleaders for giving it there all. She then cleared her voice and like she always does, she took control. Once she cleared her throat, she closed her eyes and a small smile formed upon her face.

“I know we normally wait for this, but I’ll like to go ahead and crown the homecoming princess.” She said in an oddly commanding tone of voice. She opened her eyes and peered toward me.
“Normally, the princess has been the second most popular girl. Normal the best friend of the queen. I’m going to break with that tradition. The girl I’m going to name princess deserves the title. She started off as being a major pain in my bottom. But when I need a favor, she said yes without blinking an eye. When I was threatened, she stood up for me, This girl is going to make something of herself… Therefore it gives me great pleasure to name Jamie Sarah Potter as our two thousand and eighteen homecoming princess.” She called out in a firm, commanding tone of voice.

At that very minute, I felt like a ton of bricks had been dropped on my head. I could just stand there, my jaw slacked open and my eyes wide open. From social outcast to homecoming princess in just the span of a fortnight... Had the armies of heaven overthrown God, and proclaimed heaven a social republic... I doubt anybody even old hard nose Rev. John Mark over there would bat an eyelash when they compare the fact that I, a social outcast from the lowest rung of the social ladder climbed so high in high school society.

And there another episode ends.