THE QUESTIONS

While walking her way out of The Bugle office, Lily noticed the poster on the wall. She whispered to herself, "The Spring Dance... Why this early, Duncan? What is so exciting about it anyway?"

Spring Dance, the high school prom, wasn't her priority that afternoon so she distanced herself from the poster and walked the steps to Marlowe Hall, already shoving all thoughts of dresses, make-up, and heels to the back of her mind.

Starting the survey, which was the priority of her whole afternoon, she approached a group of freshmen girls and asked them the thirty questions on the List.

1. Who's the coolest guy?

2. Who's the hottest girl?

3. Who stands out in the crowd?

4. Who's everybody's friend?

5. Who's the worst dressed? 6. And the best?

7. School bullies?

8. Who do you want to be cheer captain? (Missy Finnegan or Hilary Monroe)

9. Who's your Student Council President? (Jane Sawyer or Sophie Baker)

10. Who's smarter, Paul Dean or Milo Pearson?

11. The best varsity team?

12. Who's the loser dude?

13. If I have a girlfriend, she is?

14. If I have a boyfriend, he is?

15. Most popular freshman? 16. Sophomore? 17. Junior? 18. Senior?

19. The smartest cheater?

20. Favorite teacher?

21. Which subject would you skip?

22. Does Jackie Watson cheat in football?

23. Suspension or expulsion for Jim Nichols?

24. Who's your student of the year?

25. Do you agree with the President?

26. Is the Student Council doing its job?

27. What changes do you want to be made on the school campus this year or next year?

28. Who's your Spring Dance King?

29. Who's your Spring Dance Queen?

30. The school's cutest couple?

After asking the giggly freshmen girls, Lily went next to a circle of boys sitting under an old elm tree. She was relieved to get away from the girls. All they talked about was Frankie Bosworth.

Thinking of the baseball jock, she wondered what was going on between him and her best friend. She could not wait until she forced the truth out of the redhead's mouth.

Being satisfied with the boys' answers, she then asked a group of cheerleaders and got a little stuck with them on a particularly hot topic the past few weeks. She realized they were discussing the Jackie Watson "steroid" case.

How could he make that mistake? No wonder he got that solid, big, muscular body. Did you see him do it? Will he get kicked out? Is he crazy or somethin'? Will he lose his chances to go to college? Their questions just went on and on and on.

In Lily's opinion, the whole mess was a non-issue at best. It was not exactly a problem. The football team won every game they played so far from last season and coming into the new season. It's called cheating, Lily, she admonished herself, but she lived by the "No Proof No Case" code so she was indifferent about it all.

Far from completing the List, Lily had been asking students around the same thirty questions all afternoon and found herself already exhausted. It was not an extremely sunny afternoon but oddly enough the heat was already draining her of her cool, so she decided to take a break for a while and chose the benches at Marlowe Hall.

The hall was old and one of the first buildings when the school was first built almost a hundred years ago. The main library, most of the science laboratories, and school board offices largely comprised it. The hall, a witness to many generations of students and teachers, was still remarkably, to Lily's eyes, as beautiful as it always had. The library had a collection of pictures to document its glory back in the old days.

Now, students simply saw it as an archaic school hall, dull and depreciated by time and weather.

A wide-eyed and awkward city girl back then, when Lily first came to Fram Hill High, she always had a particular impression about the hall, a certain fondness. She liked it. It was almost innate. She liked what the hall stood for. Calm and collected, withstanding the test of time. Her feelings never changed since the day she took her very first steps into the hall.

While the hall was beautiful and an original Fram Hill High landmark, a contrast to its reputation was its giving off a strange yet sentimental atmosphere to some people. Despite it, the hall held stories about young couples who made the high and marbled walls a favorite rendezvous spot.

The stories or what people probably preferred to call rumors were classic love anecdotes, and Lily wondered if the students still met at Marlowe Hall. The idea of running away for love wasn't bad. Her grandmother would agree. In fact, she had one hell of a story to tell about the time she almost eloped with a lover. It just seemed a little cliché and naive to Lily. Surprisingly enough, she thought that it was nevertheless romantic. She never admitted it to anyone, afraid she'd be laughed at and risked sounding foolish because she was known to be a little bit cynic, but she wanted a romance of her own too and she hoped it would be...

"Hello, you."

"What the hell—" Lily swore.

Turning around, she came face to face with the boy romance was unlikely associated with. "The hell do you think scaring me like that, Snow White?"

She remembered the night at Douglas' party. The drive home. The door shoving. Oh boy! She tried not to blush at the memory. She needed a new face. Dammit!

"Who's Snow White?" Confusion was obvious on Ray's face–a face with all those freckles and those eyes.

Those eyes—

"Hello? Calling McQueen back to Earth," he was waving a hand in front of Lily's face.

She grabbed his wrist and snapped, "Stop!"

"Hey! Easy now. I didn't mean to scare you. I just saw you talking to some kids around. Is it The Bugle business?"

"Yeah, so what is it to you?" She sounded so annoyed because she honestly was. No particular reason why.

"Nothing, really. I'm just curious. You're quite amusing."

"What? Excuse me? Amusing--" Now she was getting quite annoyed at him. "Get lost, Snow White."

"I wonder why you call me Snow White. Do I look like her? I am not friends with the seven dwarves. I have weird friends. Does that count?" He wrinkled his nose and continued, "But I take being called Snow White as a compliment, eh?" He curtsied and made a princess twirl.

"I don't like you right now. I call you Snow White because you have skin as white as the A4s I use. White and blank. Scratch papers. Paper cut."

He raised an eyebrow. "Ouch! How rude. I guess you should properly call me 'Paper White' not 'Snow White', Stiff."

Did he just call her Stiff? "Well, thank you, Paper White." She curtsied and twirled. She turned to leave him but he suddenly grabbed her right hand.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Wait. I was only messing with you. Okay? I'm sorry about walking right up behind you and scaring the shit out of you. And I am also sorry about that last time. I mean I'm sorry about what happened at Douglas' party... with Alas. He was, um, drunk and upset with Missy for fucking things up. She kinda dumped him. Poor guy. I'm sorry if you ever felt bothered or offended because of it. Yeah, yeah. That's it. God, I swear I am not good with words. Sorry."

She looked at him, really looked at him, and thought he was being sincere but, for a second, saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes. He's messing with me all right. "Fine but you don't really have to be sorry. You gave me a ride home, remember? I also had my own version of inebriation that night. We call it quits. You just scared me. That is all."

He nodded. "Now, I haven't properly introduced myself to you, have I? Okay. Let's start over. I'm terrible at saying hello but here I go. Hello, I'm Ray. I'm not friends with the seven dwarves but I can sing Heigh-Ho." He offered Lily his hand and smiled, flashing pearly whites. "And you are?"

***