Winner - Round 10
Title: HOMECOMING QUEEN.
Rating: teen, maybe slightly mature.
Pairing: UC to start with, saying anymore would give too much away.
Disclaimer: It’s not mine, it belongs to UPN, WB (CW??) Jason Katims, Melinda Metz and others.
Summary: It’s time for the annual homecoming dance.
Thanks to Islandgirl for being my beta and to Behrsgirl77 for my amazing banner.
Home coming Queen.
Part One
“A costume homecoming dance? That’s so lame.”
“I think it’s it a great idea. I have my costume picked out already.”
Maria Deluca rolled her eyes at the gushing tone of Liz Parker's voice and buttoned up her uniform. “Of course you do, let me guess Mr. and Mrs. Perfect.”
Liz swatted at her playfully with her apron. “We’re not that bad.”
On the contrary, Maria thought, they were awful. She had never seen two people more sweetly in love and mostly she was happy for them. As long as she didn’t have to spend too much time in their company. There was only so much lovey-dovey talk and sloppy kisses that a girl could witness before wanting to kill somebody. “So who are you going as?”
“Peter Pan and Wendy.”
“Peter Pan?” Maria burst into gales of laughter. “What did he say when you told him he would have to wear panty-hose in public?”
“He’s really looking forward to it. Besides, he was thinking about the sword he gets to wear so I don’t think that he realised that he would have to wear panty-hose.”
“Can I be there when you tell him?” Maria said with a cheeky smile.
Liz wrapped her apron strings around her waist and tied it in place securely. She gave herself one last look in the mirror to make everything was as it should be. “Ready?”
Maria groaned, “I guess.”
She pushed herself away from the lockers and followed her best friend out into the restaurant. The Crashdown was packed, mostly with high school students but there were several tourists amongst them. The two girls quickly began taking orders and delivering drinks, catering to the tourists first, they were the ones that tipped. It seemed like hours before the rush was over and the waitress could draw breath again. Liz poured herself a glass of water and an OJ for Maria and took a seat at the counter.
“Can I tell you something?” She asked her friend in a low voice.
“Of course,” Maria replied, leaning in close to hear.
Liz scanned the diner to make sure that there was nobody close enough to overhear. “We’ve decided that the time is right for us to…you know, consummate our relationship. It’s going to be really special. We’re going to get a hotel room after homecoming. I have loads of candles and I’m burning a CD with all the songs that are special to us on it. Like the one that was playing the first time we kissed.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Maria frowned, not exactly sure how to respond to it. It wasn’t like she wasn’t expecting it, they had been dating for three years already. “As long as you’re comfortable with it and not under any pressure.”
“I’m not, he wouldn’t even do that Maria.”
“And you’re prepared? Have you been to the gynaecologist?”
Liz shook her head, biting her lip shyly. “Would you come with me?”
“Ok. It’s not like I need to go, the last time I had a boyfriend was like in the sixth grade but what the hey. Just don’t let my mom find out or she’ll think that I am having sex and then there could be trouble.”
“My lips are sealed. Thanks Maria, I’m really nervous about going.”
The bell above the door chimed and the two girls sighed and slid off their seats ready for another onslaught of customers. Football practice had just let out so the players usually came to the Crashdown afterwards to eat, which meant that the cheerleaders and wannabe’s of West Roswell came too.
Sure enough, not fifteen minutes later the football team arrived in a pack led by their captain Kyle Valenti and the star quarterback Max Evans.
“Here’s Loverboy,” Maria teased in her best Jack Nicholson imitation.
A huge smile lit up Liz's face and she hurried through the service doors to get rid of the large pile of dirty dishes in her arms.
Maria made her way to the table where Max had sat down with his sister and best friend. “Hi guys, can I take your order?”
“We’re waiting on somebody so we won’t order food now, just drinks if that’s ok?” Max said apologetically.
“That’s fine, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the person you’re waiting for is your better half.”
“Right,” Max confirmed.
“And since she always orders the same thing every time, why don’t I just put the order in now before the kitchen is snowed under with the other players orders so that it’ll be ready when she gets here.”
“Good idea,” Max agreed.
Maria refrained from using the smart comment she had on the tip of her tongue and took their order. As she made her way to the window she was almost knocked over by Liz who barrelled through the door and launched herself into her boyfriend’s arms and began peppering his face with kisses. It was to his credit that he didn’t push her away in embarrassment at such a sappy public display of affection, and in front of the football team too.
There were several catcalls and piercing whistles but the couple remained oblivious to them. Maria gave them a couple of minutes to canoodle before going over to Liz to pull her away.
“Sorry to interrupt but it’s busy right now and I’m not the only one on duty.”
“Spoilsport,” Liz pouted playfully. She gave Kyle one last lingering kiss then slowly tore herself away from him and went back to work, floating around the diner happily.
It was enough to make a person want to throw up, Maria thought, not at all jealously.
Jose rang the bell to let them know that an order was ready. As she was closest to the hatch and not smiling dopily at her boyfriend, Maria responded to the bell and expertly gathered all the plates and took them over to the table.
“Here you go guys,” She announced placing the Will Smith burger in front of Max.
“Sorry I’m late,” a cheery voice announced as Tess Harding slid into the booth beside Max and placed a kiss on his cheek.
“Here you go Tess,” Maria smiled placing a plate of waffles in front of the blonde.
“That’s exactly what I wanted,” Tess exclaimed in delight and threw her arms around Max who seemed to have no qualms taking the credit for Maria’s idea. He and Tess began to kiss like they hadn’t seen each other in a year.
Ugh, what is it with couples today? Maria wondered. She placed the last two plates in front of Isabel and Michael, who were watching Max and Tess with thinly veiled disgust.
“It’s good to know I’m not the only one,” Maria said conversationally.
Michael and Isabel looked at her in confusion. She pointed to Kyle and Liz who were once again wrapped in each other’s arms and swapping saliva like their lives depended on it. Isabel rolled her eyes and began eating.
“You can go now,” Michael said to Maria before turning his attention to his own food. He picked up his burger then put it down with a sound of disgust and kicked Max hard on the shins. “I’m trying to eat here.”
Max and Tess pulled apart blushing furiously. Maria shook her head and went to extract Liz from Kyle again.
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Liz was standing in the hallway at school admiring the Homecoming dance posters that had just been up when she felt a pair of strong arms slip around her waist and a pair of warm lips nibble at her neck. “Hi Kyle.”
“Hi beautiful, whatcha doing?”
“Just thinking,” she said as she twisted her body around so she could give him a proper kiss hello.
“So what were you thinking about?” Kyle asked when they had said hello decently and were walking out to the quad for lunch.
“This is our last Homecoming dance as students of Roswell High. The next Homecoming we go to, we’ll be the ones coming home. It’s strange to think isn’t it?”
Kyle nodded, a pensive look on his face.
“What’s the matter?” Liz asked in distress.
They sat down at their favorite table and pulled out their lunches.
“I just hate thinking of next year,” Kyle sighed. “You’ll be in Harvard and where will I be? If I’m lucky it’ll be New Mexico State.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself Kyle,” Liz chided. “If you work hard you can easily pull your grades up, I’ll help and I just know that you’re going to get a scholarship either in football or wrestling. And there’s no guarantee that I’ll get into Harvard. And even if I do, there’s no way that I’m going to Boston and leaving you here in New Mexico. You and I belong together Kyle and I’m not going to let anything get in the way of that.”
“Harvard has been your dream since you knew that it existed. I remember that you used to talk about going to Harvard the way the rest of us used to want to be NFL stars and rockstars.”
“You are my dream, Kyle Valenti. We’re meant to be together, you’ll see. Things will work out for us.”
“I love you Liz,” Kyle told her, leaning close to capture her lips.
A few minutes later as they ate lunch, Liz watched Maria coming out of the building chatting away to a girl in her history class. “Hey, we have to find Maria a date for Homecoming.”
“Maria is a big girl, she doesn’t need us to set her up.”
“I want her to find somebody and be happy like we are. Do you know anybody that’s interested in her?”
“A couple of guys, but I don’t think they’re what you have in mind.”
“Why not?”
Kyle smiled, sometimes Liz could be so naïve. “Let’s just say that they’re not interested in a relationship like we have.”
Liz sighed. “You must know somebody who would be right for Maria.”
“No, most of my friends are sane.”
“Kyle,” Liz screeched incredulously before bursting into giggles.
“What’s so funny?” Maria asked as she plopped into the seat beside Liz.
“Nothing,” they both said at once.
“Ok,” Maria sighed. She hated being the third wheel, always feeling excluded from their private jokes and lingo. If only Alex was still here, God she missed him so much.
“Have you a date for Homecoming yet?” Liz asked.
Maria wrinkled her nose. “Henry Mason asked me.”
“He’s cute,” Liz said, a tad patronisingly.
“He’s also a jerk. I was standing beside Susie Meyer and he asked her first, she said no so then he asked me and then when I said no he asked Jenni Bryant.”
“Do you want Kyle to set you up with one of his friends?” Liz asked, ignoring the way Kyle was nudging her knee.
“Thanks, but I’m fine,” Maria assured her friend. “I’m ok Liz, I’ll get a date and have a good time. I don’t need a boyfriend ok, so you don’t have to feel sorry for me.”
“I just want you to be happy,”
“Don’t ever say anything like that in front of my Mom or she’ll sit you down and lecture you for two hours straight about why you don’t need a man to be happy. According to her, it’s women like you who have set the feminist movement back forty years.”
“By wanting my friend to be happy?” Liz asked in surprise.
“By thinking that the only way for a woman to be happy is to have a man in her life instead of embracing her independence and freedom.”
“That’s boohickey,” Liz protested. “I can be independent and have a boyfriend.”
“Boohickey?” Kyle repeated, catching Maria’s eye and laughing. “Hey, does all that garbage mean that your mom isn’t serious about my dad.”
Maria grinned and peeled her banana. “It’s not garbage. And as long as he respects her independence and doesn’t treat her like she’s a fragile flower that can’t do anything by herself they’ll be fine.” In other words, as long as he doesn’t act like Kyle did around Liz she added silently to herself.
“I think it’s so great that your parents are dating,” Liz gushed. “Just think if they got married then we’d all be related.”
Kyle smiled sappily and kisses Liz. Maria rolled her eyes again and wondered when she missed Liz and Kyle announcing their engagement.
“Attention students, this is Principle McClure,” a tinny voice announced over the school PA system. A ripple of excitement went through the student body and everybody actually paid attention. “The nominees for Homecoming King and Queen are in. The nominees for King are, in alphabetical order, Max Evans, Michael Guerin and Kyle Valenti. The nominees for Queen are, also in alphabetical order, Isabel Evans, Tess Harding and Elizabeth Parker. Congratulations to all of you, please report to the admin office after school today.”
“Congratulations guys,”
Liz and Kyle were wearing matching grins and blushing modestly.
“That’s so exciting,” Liz gushed. “I’ll be in homecoming court.”
“My queen,” Kyle proclaimed dramatically giving her a mock bow.
They all laughed.
“I won’t win,” Liz said with a shake of her head.
“You have just as good a chance as the other two girls,” Maria spoke up.
Liz raised her eyebrow. “Against Isabel Evans and Tess Harding? There’s no way. It’s an honor just to be nominated beside them.”
In any other school, Liz and Kyle would probably be a shoo-in for the title of King and Queen. They were both good looking, talented, well liked and a totally perfect couple. But then Tess Harding and Isabel Evans didn’t go to other schools. Not only were they movie star gorgeous but they were by far the most admired girls in the town. Even though they mostly kept to themselves and didn’t seem to belong to the conventional popular cliques, they were widely acknowledged as the most popular students in school. It didn’t hurt that their boyfriends were also the most lusted after guys on campus. Max Evans was the star of the football team, sweet, kind and a natural leader. Michael Guerin, though abrasive and oftentimes sullen was the typical bad boy that all good girls secretly love. Handsome, mysterious and a talented artist, it didn’t matter that he never spoke to anybody apart from Isabel, Tess or Max. They were Roswell royalty and it was just simply a given that they would be the ones to take the title.
“Max and Tess probably, I really can’t picture Michael Guerin in a crown,” Kyle declared.
“I can, a crown and nothing else,” a girl who had walked up to their table said with a sigh. She turned bright red, mumbled congratulations and hurried off.
“It has to be Max and Tess,” Liz agreed. “There’s something about them as King and Queen that seems so right.”
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