Eagerness

On the night of the school dance, Benjamin, Aaliyah, and I got to the auditorium early. With only an hour to go, we were busily putting the finishing touches on the decorations. I thought it all looked pretty great. We had banners strung out in the hall outside the gym. And two big banners in the gym, proclaiming OOTY VALLEY ROCKS! and WELCOME, EVERYONE!

We tied huge bouquets of helium balloons to the two basketball hoops. The

balloons were all red and black, of course. And we had red and black crepe-paper streamers on the walls and over the bleachers. Aaliyah and I had spent days painting a big poster of a bison giving the thumbs-up sign. Underneath the bison, it read BISONS RULE! in red and black letters. Aaliyah and I aren’t very good artists. The bison didn’t really look much like the photos of bisons we’d found in books. Benjamin said it looked more like a cow that had been sick for a long time. But we hung the poster up, anyway. Now, the three of us were arranging a red-and-black crepe-paper tablecloth over the refreshment table. I glanced up at the scoreboard clock. Seven thirty. The dance was scheduled to start at eight. “We still have a lot to do,” I said. Benjamin tugged his end of the paper tablecloth too hard. I heard a soft ripping sound.

“Ooops,” he said. “Anybody bring any tape?”

“It’s no problem,” Aaliyah told him. “We’ll just cover the torn part with soda bottles or something.”

I glanced at the clock again. “When is the band supposed to arrive?” “Any minute,” Aaliyah replied. “They were supposed to get here early to set up.”

Some kids had formed a band called Grunt. It was sort of a strange band five guitar players and a drummer. And I heard some kids saying that three of the guitar players didn’t really know how to play. But Mrs. Bindu pillai asked them to perform a few songs at the dance. It took us a while to get the tablecloth straight. It wasn’t quite big enough for the table. “What’s next?” Benjamin asked. “Do we have decorations for the gym doors?”

Before I could answer, the double doors swung open, and Mrs. Bindu pillai came charging in. At first, I didn’t recognize her. She wore a shiny bright red party dress. And she had her black curly hair piled up high on her head behind a silver tiara.

Even with her hair piled up, she still wasn’t much taller than we were!

Her eyes darted around the gym as she hurried over to us. “It looks great! Just fabulous, guys!” she gushed. “Oh, you worked so hard! You did a wonderful job!” We thanked her.

She slapped a Canon camera into my hands. “Take pictures, James,” she instructed me. “Snapshots of the decorations. Hurry. Take a whole bunch before people start arriving.”

I examined the camera. “Well… okay,” I agreed. “But Aaliyah, Benjamin, and I still have some stuff to do. We have posters for the doors. And we need more balloons over there. And and ” Mrs. Bindu laughed. “You’re a little stressed!” Aaliyah and Benjamin laughed too. I could feel my face turning hot. I knew I was blushing. “Take it easy, james,” Mrs. Bindu pillai said, patting my shoulder soothingly. “Or you won’t survive until the dance.”

I forced a smile. “I’m okay,” I told her. Little did I realize that after all my hard work I would never see the dance.

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