Page 2 of Holiday Intercepted
Kyra pointed at me. “You know that. And I know that… but Taylor doesn’t knowthat.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.Oh no. “Please don’t tell me Cam and Steve have some stupid plan to get Taylor and Scott totalk—”
Kyra shrugged, cutting me off. “I can’t say for sure. All I know is that he specifically stated he wouldn’t come if either of them arrived. I also know he said nothing about not wanting to seeyou.”
“That just means he didn’t think enough of me to put me in the mix of his enemies.” I rolled my eyes. All I heard from that statement was that he didn’t mention me at all. “He probably doesn’t even rememberme.”
She snorted. “You’re Scott’s half-sister. And you two shared the hottest stage kiss this school has ever seen.Of coursehe remembersyou.”
I sighed. Even if that was true, it didn’t change the fact that I was not his type. He was all about the curvy brunettes. I was tall, gangly and blond. And not a pretty, shiny, platinum blond either. I was what my hair dresser calleddirty blonde. And not in the sexy,I’m a dirty girlkind of way either. Like dirt. Dirt streaked in otherwise pretty blond hair.Bleh.
We made our way across the library and took a seat at one of the long tables. Kyra worked at the elementary school, but because Maple Grove was so small, our elementary, middle and high schools were all on the same plot of land, separated by long hallways that led to the three differentbuildings.
Tiffany, now the Maple Grove cheerleading coach and president of our booster club, stood up front with the principal. I chewed on my lip, intentionally suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at her. In one hand she held a medal, and an envelope in the other. She smiled wide, her gaze trailing around the room. “Hello, teachers and faculty! I wanted to kick off our final meeting of the year by announcing that our cheer team took fourth place at regionals this fall! Goooo Knights!” She straightened her arm, holding the medal high in theair.
Laura, the speech and debate teacher caught my eye from a few seats away and shook her head slightly. Her speech and debate team took home nine out of 12 first place trophies in October. All of those were relegated to the small glass case next to the detention hall where the rest of our “lesser” wins were shoved… away from the spotlight. Which was ironic, being a theater teacher. We thespianslovedthespotlight.
There was some polite clapping, and a few cheers and whistles from the table up at the front. The table that mostly consisted of other coaches, jocks, and team spirit junkies. I never would've expected that over a decade later, I would be back in school with the same popular table taking up most of theattention.
Laura gave me an encouraging nod and Kyra squeezed my knee beneath the table. I stood up, clearing my throat and said, "Congratulations, Tiffany." I smiled as genuinely as I could manage. Itwasgreat that they placed at regionals. I wanted to celebrate our cheerleaders. I just also wanted them to celebrate us. "That's so wonderful and you and the team must be so proud." She beamed back at me. That's one thing I'll say for us as we've gotten older — even though we still tend to divide into our own sub groups, for the most part, we as adults are far kinder to each other than we ever were in highschool.
"Thank you..." Her voice faded off and I watched her expression shifted into somethinguncertain.
Coach Bolton, the wrestling coach and our psychology teacher leaned over to her and whispered, "Paige. Her name isPaige."
Forget the fact that Tiffany and I went to high school together. Forget the fact that her ex-boyfriend and I shared a stage in our senior year production. A production that I know for a fact she came to see, because I watched as she and Taylor had a blowout fight in the parking lot after because of our stage kiss… even though they were already broken up. And even though she’d already been caught cheating onhim.
I smirked at the memory. It was a good stage kiss. No, it was a goodkiss. And even though I doubt Taylor gives me or that kiss a second thought, I don’t think he was acting during our kiss. I knowIwasn't. It had taken us a while to perfect it with every rehearsal leading up to opening night being stiff and passionless. Opening night, I stormed into his dressing room and kissed him. Right there amidst the hanging racks of costumes and lighted mirrors, I kissed him. It was out of character for me, but I wasn’t used to being subpar on stage and I wasn’t about to let a privileged jock mess up my senior year performance. Because up until that night, our chemistry had been awkward. I swallowed, suppressing a shiver at the memory of kissinghim.
Because it wasgood. Better than I had expected or ever wanted it tobe.
But all that was ancient history. Tiffany was married, and not to Taylor. I kept my smile right where it was, plastered on my face although it was feeling less genuine by the second. “You're welcome. This also is a perfect segue into some of the accolades of our other extracurricular teams.” I gestured over to Laura. "For example, the speech and debate team won nine first-place trophies at state this year.” I spun, my eyes landing Mr. Rutherford, our math teacher. “The freshman math team won third place, and the varsity team won first, which sends them to Nationals in the spring.” I gestured to myself, “Lastly, our play won first place at the state level for the third year in a row, as well as two of our actors winning Best Actress and Best SupportingActor.”
Tiffany’s smile dropped and I was suddenly grateful for my acting background because I hid my feelings much better than she did. The room clapped for us as Kyra pulled the trophies out of a cardboard box one by one and set them in front of me on the table. Tiffany clapped as well, but her grin turned brittle. She glanced briefly down at her fourth-place medal in her hands. “Congratulations, Ms. Williams,” shesaid.
Aha. Shedidremember me. She remembered me enough to even know my lastname.
My grin widened. “Thank you. With so many first-place accolades, we were hoping that our students’ trophies could be displayed out front in the glass case near the entrance, rather than in the back by detention hall. It would do wonders to boost theirconfidence.”
Tiffany tilted her head to one side. “But you have your own case for your trophies. And they’re not just close to detention hall, they’re right next to your classrooms, where the students get to see them everyday.”
I was ready for this. In our smaller meetings, it was always the reason that was given to me why we can't display our trophies out front. “Yes. And while we enjoy looking at our trophies, I also think it would behoove the school to see a well-rounded trophy case up front where everybody, all students and teachers, can celebrate our wins as well. Not just us celebrating us.” I glanced over at our principal, Mrs. Brannigan, sitting with her lips pushed out, her index fingers pressing against those lips, deep in thought. “Furthermore, as we are all learning more and more each year, colleges and scholarships are requiring more of students. They expect applicants to have more than just one focus. By celebrating all the wins, we are showing our students that we value all the extracurricular groups. And it's a more eclectic display for parent-teacher nights and when prospective students come tovisit.”
Mrs. Brannigan stood up, pressing her fingers into the table. “I think Ms. Williams makes some very strongpoints.”
Tiffany’s smile was now entirely gone, and she didn't even try to hide it. "Unfortunately," Tiffany said, "there just isn't a lot of room left in that cabinet for more trophies." She gave a little shrug and attempted to change the subject. "Now for the springfundraiser—"
“Oh, I've already thought of that,” I said, interrupting her new train of thought. “We can move older trophies from previous years into classrooms, or the gymnasium. This way trophies are still displayed for the students, but the most recent trophies get celebrated by everybody in theschool.”
“I think it's a great idea,” Mrs. Brannigansaid.
“I do too,” Coach Bolton added. My gaze jerked to his. Well, that was a surprise. I’d always liked Coach Bolton. He was sweet and had kind eyes and always smiled ateveryone.
Tiffany snapped her head to him, daggers shooting out of her eyes. He simply shrugged, not phased in the least by her. Frankly, most people weren't. Her tactics might've worked wonders in high school, but we weren’t in high school anymore. Okay, wewerein high school, but we weren't high schoolersanymore.
“Great!” Mrs. Brannigan clapped her hands together, beaming. “Let's make time before the students come back from break to clear out the main trophy case and makeroom.”
Slowly, I sunk back in my chair, my knees shaking, but smiling from ear to ear. As Mrs. Brannigan spoke, I helped Kyra put the trophies back in the cardboard box beneath thetable.
