| Subject: Story of Joanne - P1 Ch8 |
Author:
Rose
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Date Posted: 02:54:49 09/20/02 Fri
In reply to:
Rose
's message, "Story of Joanne - P1 Ch7" on 02:53:19 09/20/02 Fri
~Chapter Eight~
The Halloween Ball
Very soon those three weeks passed, and it was Halloween. The girls were about ready to go up and change, when Nicky came running over to Gen and pulled her over to the side. "Gen, do you have a date?"
“No. Why?”
“I don't either, I waited too long to ask Sheila, and I kinda forgot about asking anyone else to the ball. I've checked the entire school, EVERYBODY except for me and you have got a date. We will be humiliated. There isn't a student in this school going stag.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Gen, will you go to the dance with me?”
“WHAT?”
“Please, everybody knows you’re my sister.”
“That's what I'm afraid of. INCEST!”
“Shut up Gen, come on, you'll be the only girl without a date.”
“Fine, Nicky. But I’m not going to dance with you.”
“Deal.” Then all the girls went to get dressed.
Joanne was twisting her hair into little twists, secured into a bun with onyx and pearl studded bobby pins when they asked, “what are you wearing?”
“A dress my mum sent me, but its a surprise, you'll have to wait till I put it on.” and Joanne continued fixing her hair, leaving a few curls trailing down her back, then some in front. Her mother had sent her a Neiman-Marcus exclusive dress, tailored to her measurements. It was a black silk column dress, with a back that laced up. With is she wore a string of pearls and black heels. She looked stunning she could tell by the wide-eyed expressions of her roommates.
The ball was being held in the Main Hall, and Joanne didn't want to reveal her dress until she had to. She was having second thoughts about wearing it. It wasn't really her style. So she put a black velvet cloak with a silver satin lining over it and she would dump it at the table they would be sitting at the ball. When she walked down the stairs, with her cloak on, Nicky immediately said, “I didn't know this was a costume ball, though I wouldn't have went as a bat like you Joanne!”
“Shut up Nicky, this is a cloak, I'm having second thoughts about the dress my mum sent me.” and since nobody wanted to hurt her feelings, they didn't pursue the topic.
They got into the Main Hall, and they were awed by the decorations. Black plastic bats were dangling from the ceiling on thin wires, jack-o-lanterns were glowing eerily on every table and a band was playing on the stage.
Nicky immediately went to the refreshments table and got himself some shandy and a few fancy cakes, but he dropped his cakes into his glass of shandy when he saw Joanne take off her cloak. His eyes grew round as saucers at the magnificent picture she presented. Almost every guy in the room had the same expression on his face, Daniel included. Couples stopped dancing on the floor, because the guy out of each one was staring at Joanne. The youngest singer from the band that was around fifteen stopped in the middle of the chorus. Joanne was blissfully unaware of all of this.
Ben choked on some peanuts he had grabbed on the way in, and Joanne got up and hit him squarely on the back.
“Thanks.” he gasped.
“Anytime, hey what are you guys looking at?”
“YOU!” Daniel, Ben, Nicky, and even Nathan said at the same time.
“Is it my dress? I think I'll just wear my cloak. I was afraid it would make me look ridiculous.” Joanne said and reached for her cloak, but Daniel took it away from her and said, “NO! You look nice. Don't put the cloak on.”
They sat down, and the feast began. After awhile Daniel asked nervously, “Joanne, do you want to dance?”
“I would love to!” And she flashed him a beautiful smile that almost made him pass out.
They were dancing their fifth straight dance when Daniel suddenly asked, “Jo, will you be my girlfriend?”
“Umm, yes I will.” Joanne answered, and Daniel returned her smile. They were completely absorbed in each other when Nicky tapped on Daniel’s shoulder and said, “May I cut in?” and Daniel reluctantly handed Joanne over.
Unlike between her and Daniel, Joanne put a good foot of daylight between her and Nicky.
“So, Joanne, what's going on between you and Dan?” Nicky asked.
“He asked me to be his girlfriend,” she said simply.
“And what did you say?”
“Well aren't you being snoopy, but I said yes.”
“Just asking.” Nicky said in a snappy voice
“Just answering.” she said in an equally snappish tone and frowns settled over both of them, then Ben cut in.
“Hello Jo, what's going on between you and Dan?” Ben asked without preamble, and Joanne purposely stepped on his foot.
“We're going out.” she said irritably, “I wish you people could learn to mind your own business.”
Ben smiled and said, “Can't teach an old dog new tricks.”
“Yeah right,” but Joanne smiled back.
“Okay, its time for me to get to dance with her again.” Daniel cut back in, and they were once again dancing.
“Jo, do you want to go for a walk in the gardens with me?” Daniel asked.
“Sure.”
“Hey, can I dance with her?” John interrupted and Daniel reluctantly handed her over once again.
“Hey, you look real nice tonight Joanne.”
“Thanks John. Who did you bring?”
“Caitlin, but she's dancing with Matthew.”
“Cool, she's nice. What did you think of that match the other week?”
“Awesome.”
“Hey, John, I'll trade you partners.” Matthew said, and they switched. Joanne danced with him for a minute then said, “I need to go, Dan is waiting for me.” and she started walking toward him, but Luke McClain intercepted her. They danced a song, and then Max Wheeler walked up.
“Joanne, would you please honour me with a dance?” he asked, and she couldn't be mean so she accepted. This lasted for about twenty seconds them Daniel said coldly, “Wheeler, I believe she's with me.”
“Well, if she can dance with other guys she can dance with me too.” Max said.
“No she can't.”
“HEY!” Joanne exclaimed.
“Sorry Jo,” Said Daniel calmly. “But you still don't realize the full extent of his malice and stupidity.”
“Whatever you say Dan, let's just continue dancing.” Joanne said finally and led him back out to the dance floor.
Joanne noticed that only a few couples were on the dance floor at any given time, and she switched partners often, but every other dance was always with Daniel.
Most of the time he sat out when he wasn't dancing with Joanne, and it was toward the end of their 27th dance that Nicky came over and said, “Please dance with Gen, she's driving me crazy.” They did trade partners and Joanne said, “I thought you two weren't going to dance.”
“Gen has only danced three other dances besides this one, and she wanted to dance, so I was the gopher. Unfortunately. Then she just complained once we started dancing.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Oh, it was, trust me.” he said sarcastically.
About twenty minutes later, the ball ended. It was 12’O Clock.
Joanne went up to the dorm and got into her pyjamas. She flopped onto the bed and said, "I'm exhausted!”
“I'm not,” Amanda said.
“Me neither,” Gen complied.
“I'm still fresh,” Poppy told them.
“Me too!” Said Rosa, taking out a pair of diamond earrings.
“My goodness, how can you guys NOT be tired?” Joanne asked.
“Easy, none of us danced more than five dances.” Gen said good-naturedly
“WHAT?” Joanne asked with disbelief
“Exactly, there wasn't a girl in this school besides you that danced more than fifteen dances.” Amelia informed her.
“Why am I so special?” Joanne asked in astonishment.
“Look at you! You looked gorgeous tonight. You were the only girl they wanted to dance with.” Amanda said.
Joanne blushed and mumbled good night.
The next morning, being a Sunday all of North House stayed in bed until about twelve; the latest coming down around three.
Joanne was more than a little embarrassed to go down to the common room, let alone the Main Hall. She thought she would disguise whatever made her so popular last night by pulling her hair back in a tight pony-tail, streamers and all, and forsaking any kind of beauty amplifier (makeup). She also left all her jewellery upstairs and put on her rattiest sneakers. She thought the tomboy effect was pretty darn good.
The whole common room was filled with yawning people who had flopped down in poufs and chairs, some on the floor. No one had bothered to get dressed to go down to lunch, as they still had lots of candy and food from last night's ball. And even Poppy and Rosa, usually so picky about their appearance, tramped down the girls' staircase in dressing gowns and un-brushed hair tied in kerchiefs.
Nicky, Ben, Daniel, and Nathan all got up from their seats in the corner and sat with Joanne who was lying on the couch by the fire.
Nicky was the first one to talk. “So, did you decide to quit playing dress-up?”
She said calmly, “Yes, I think I put more work into looking like this than what I normally do though.”
“I have to say, you look like crap.” Nicky said, and Joanne momentarily stared. Then she went over to him and punched him in the stomach.
“Hey, what'd you do that for?” he said indignantly.
“It takes 42 muscles to frown, it only takes about 4 to punch you.”
She smiled nastily and Ben, Daniel, and even Nathan started laughing. Joanne walked over to a study table, deciding she would write a letter to her family.
Daniel caught up to her quickly and said, “Joanne, you still look pretty.”
“Thanks.” Joanne responded quietly.
Joanne had spent the afternoon with Daniel and Ben, who were engaged in trying to teach her the latest prank Nicky had invented, a sort of fake plastic tube, disguised as a chewing gum packet that squirted water (or any other liquid contained in it) which was supposed to attack the victim in the eye while they’re thinking they’re being offered a piece of gum. She still wasn't quite sure on how to make the water squirt out efficiently, so she ended up with a weak and dribble sort of spray splashing onto the floor, this was quickly moped up by Amelia and Rosa, who were on cleaning duty that week.
For the seventeenth time that day, Amelia sank to the floor, scowling at Joanne as she scrubbed the floor. Joanne thought she could continue doing it for the rest of the day until Amelia made a threat, with the words “Davenport” and “Detention” in them.
In the end, Joanne, Ben and Daniel decided to find an empty classroom to teach her some engage in frolic tricks, which they hoped to use on some of the teachers or the West House students or even Amelia.
As Daniel told her a great prank (where you superglue a pound coin to the pavement and watch how many passers by try and pick it up), Joanne was suddenly squirted in the face with ice-cold water.
“Like my water-gun?”
“Nicky! I'm going to kill you and have fun doing it. Come here!” She pointed her can of deodorant spray (she had been using it earlier in another one of the boys’ antic hoax’s) at his retreating figure. “Fine then. Chicken!” Joanne sank down onto a stool. “Ben, this isn't working. I've tried so many times and it's still pretty pathetic.”
She was trying to fit the deodorant can in an empty box of chocolate Roses; the only problem was she couldn’t make it spray through the hidden hole she’d made. (It was a prank mainly used for male species, in case you’re wondering)
“Yeah, I know. The main reason it isn't working is because the can need’s to be secure, not wobbling around in there.”
She glared. “How am I supposed to make this fit? And it’s hard to concentrate on any of these joke objects if I'm being threatened by a water gun. Which I can see poking through that door, Nicky!”
A blast of purposely coloured green water striked Joanne’s face.
“There, now we’re even for the that punch.” Said Nicky, disappearing out the door.
“Nicky, if I ever get hold of you, I'll--” She couldn't finish her sentence, as she had made a mad dash for some strong girls’ perfume and anti-per spirant.
Daniel looked up from his joke book. “You better run Nicky!” He shouted to the figure standing in the corridor.
Joanne ran her fingers along a can of Natural deodorant, grinning evilly, and then started chasing Nicky all through the corridors outside, trying to spray him, but he kept dodging behind stone statues and other large ornaments.
Joanne rounded a corner, knocking over a spear from an old suit of armour, and found herself in one of the dungeons underground. She never been down here before and it was quite eerie and dank.
This area of the castle apparently hadn't been used for quite some time; the walls were greenish and slimy, while the few chairs in the room that had obviously been rather nice; covered with blue or black velvet, were now completely useless. Someone or something had smashed the furniture to bits, leaving broken and splintery pieces of wood all over the floor. The backs were broken off of one chair, and about three mahogany table legs were lying around, devoid of the tabletop.
Joanne shivered. She moved forward into the dungeon, a bit tentatively. Searching for her handy mini torch she had been using also in another one of those pranks (blinding hoax), and she found it in her pocket.
She made a small beam in front of her, looking around for Nicky.
Behind her, the door slammed, making her jump. “Who's there?”
No one answered.
Sticking from the ceiling was the ring of a trapdoor, and, hoping this might have been where Nicky had gone, Joanne pulled on it.
It gave way easily, and, to her surprise, all she saw was muck, mud, algae, and rotten pieces of wood that had been pushed down to form a sort of floor to the place above.
Joanne realized that there was no way on earth anyone could be up there, but, next instant, her thoughts were distracted by a trickling drip, drip echoing through the dungeon, coming from a hole in the ceiling, right in front of her. Eyes wide, Joanne realized she had to be under the lake, which was right next to the castle. She remembered it from a jog she took once around the grounds.
She rushed to the door; tearing frantically at the handle, all the while thinking that the ceiling might collapse, letting in the lake. The door wouldn't open.
“Help!” Joanne repeated over and over again, hoping someone might hear her. “Someone, help!” She tried to open the door again, thinking it might just be jammed slightly, but she soon realised it was must be locked.
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