CHAPTER 3
I was sitting next to Gerard in home group and the whole class was talking amongst themselves, and the teacher called out and announced that there was going to be a;
‘Year 11 formal in a few weeks. We had a staff meeting and decided we’d give you one.’
There was a groan from most of the boys, and a couple of excited squeals from the girls.
‘We’re having it in the hall so you don’t have to pay for anything except your outfits. It is expected that everyone comes and everyone has a good time. Now go to your first lesson.’ The bell rang and everyone got up and started talking.
‘A formal eh? You going to ask Krystal to go?’ Gerard
‘Nah, I’m gonna ask Ray to go.’  I replied sarcastically. Gerard looked at me
‘Yeah. Sure you are.’
‘Hey, at least I have someone to ask. You don’t have anyone.’
‘I’ll ask Frankie.’ I laughed.
‘Oh my god!’ I then spotted Ray walking from his classroom with Krystal walking next to him, looking as though she was trying not to laugh. ‘Nice hair style Ray.’
‘Shut up.’ He snapped. Krystal came and stood next to me and grabbed my hand.
‘What have we got first?’ Asked Frank, appearing next to Ray. He eyed Ray’s hair and giggled
‘English.’ Gerard replied. ‘And we better go, otherwise we might be late.’ Gerard, Frank, Krystal and I departed for our English classroom.
It turns out we were a minute late, but the teacher didn’t care. We sat at the back of the classroom and payed no attention to the teacher. Krystal was busy doodling on the back of one of her sheets again, and Gerard and Frank were playing rock paper scissors under the table. I watched Krystal draw, while day dreaming about the formal, which is a really weird thing to day dream about. That’s normally the thing girls dream about.
I looked at Krystal’s face from the corner of my eye. What was she thinking about, besides from what she was going to draw next? Her eyes flickered up and down the page, studying her drawings.
I was so busy dreaming that I didn’t even realize the bell had gone to signal recess until Gerard smacked me on the back of my head, which knocked my glasses off my face.
‘Gerard, don’t hit him.’ Krystal said. I grabbed my glasses and put them back on and stood up, grabbing my bag. We all left the classroom and wandered towards the oval. As we walked, Krystal held my hand and had her head resting on my shoulder. Gerard and Frank were whispering to each other about something and occasionally laughing. Probably thinking up bizarre ways Ray managed to set his hair on fire. And speaking of Ray…
He was standing near the library, with a girl and her friend standing next to him. The friend had her back to Ray and the girl and was trying not to burst out laughing. We stopped walking and stood where we could watch them. The friend spotted us and walked over to us.
‘You guys are Ray’s friends aren’t you?’ She asked
‘Yeah.’
‘Oh. Well, if you’re wondering what’s going on, my friend, Hannah, is asking Ray to the formal.’ We all laughed.
‘Why does she want to go to the formal with him?’ Asked Frank
‘She’s had a major crush on him since year 9. It’s actually gotten really annoying when she keeps talking about him.’
‘I bet. What are they talking about?’
‘I dunno, I wasn’t paying attention, I was trying not to laugh at his hair.’ She looked back at them. ‘Oh, look they’ve stopped talking.’ Ray was walking to the oval and Hannah was walking back to us. She didn’t look too happy. ‘Do you think he rejected her?’ But it was quite the opposite.
When Hannah had got to us, she squealed and hugged her friend
‘HE SAID YES!’ She screamed.
‘Oh my god!’ Hannah and her friend ran off to their friends.
‘Well, Mikey, you’re plans on asking Ray to the formal aren’t gonna work out then.’ Gerard said. I laughed.
‘I have a better person to ask.’ I said, hugging Krystal. ‘Have you asked the person you said you were going to ask yet?’ Gerard laughed.
‘No I haven’t.’ He turned to Frank. ‘Hey Fwankie, you wanna come to the formal with me!?’ He said, in his most babyish voice. Frank laughed.
‘Yes Gee, I do!’
‘Yay!’ Gerard hugged Frank and they walked off together. I laughed.
‘Now they can be a happy gay couple.’ I said, watching them as they walked off. I looked at Krystal. ‘So how about it? Wanna go to the formal with me?’ She smiled
‘Of course I do.’ I smiled and hugged her again. We then wandered to the oval and sat down with Gerard, Frank and Ray.
‘So we all have dates for the formal then?’ Gerard asked as we sat down
‘Yep.’
‘Who’re you guys taking?’ Ray asked Gerard and Frank.
‘Each other.’ Ray laughed
‘You guys are taking each other to the formal?’ Gerard nodded. ‘Right.’
‘Who was that girl we saw you with before? I think her name was Hannah was it?’
‘Oh, yeah. She came up to me and told me that she liked me and was wondering if I wanted to go to the formal with her. And I said yes.’
‘Well obviously. She practically exploded with joy when she got up to us to tell her friend.’