Chapter Sixty One

By Chris Fulmer

Ferris took a much-needed drink of water. He'd just gone through five songs in the last ten minutes and needed a serious breather. He was actually hoping Rooney was somehow present to hear it, to see how little his nose-rubbing had worked.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of six more people entering the gym for the first time that evening. He smiled; it was time for all the phone calls he'd made to have their effect.

"Well folks, we're going to skip out of order here for a moment and take this opportunity to announce the king and queen of this year's dance," he told the kids, who applauded with excitement, "Cameron, the envelopes please."

Cameron handed it to him. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" he whispered.

"It's for a good cause, Cameron, and I always like to assist with good causes," Ferris whispered back. He waved the Kicker on drums for a roll. "And this year's dance king isssssss ......." he said dramatically as he pulled the card out of the envelope, "Brian Johnson!"

There was a brief moment of surprise in the gym, but this quickly gave way to loud applause. Confused, Brian approached the stage. "Wait a minute, there's got a to be a mistake here, Ferris," he told the unofficial MC, "I'm not one of the finalists. And you know that!"

"Do I? Hmm, that's a tough one," Ferris said as the applause died down, "Well Mr. Johnson, it seems I and the rest of the selection committee received calls this afternoon once power was back up from the finalists, who told us that in light of recent circumstances, they'd be more than willing to relinquish their positions to you, so with them no longer in the running, that means you're our winner for tonight, so come on up here and receive your prize."

"What are you doing here, Ferris?" Brian demanded as the student body pushed him enthusiastically up on stage, "You've got to have some sort of ulterior motive for this!"

"Well, since you put it that way, as a matter of fact I do," Ferris told him, "Seeing how far down you've been all this week emotionally, I think this would be a great way of telling you, on behalf of all of us here at Shermer High, how much we've appreciated knowing you all these years. Indeed I myself can remember fondly in eighth grade us working together on that pyramid construction project, and how you kept screaming at me that you'd report me to Mr. Rooney if I kept cheating the angles on the computer."

"Well you were cheating and I don't approve of that," Brian told him. "But it was the most fun I've had on a school project, and that really meant a lot to me," Ferris said, "And I'm sure many of the people out here tonight would tell you the same thing if they could. Who wants to tell Brian here how much he means to them, raise your hand now."

Brian didn't really expect too much from this, but he was blown away to see just about everyone in the gym raise their hands very eagerly. "In that case, please form a line up here so you can tell him to his face," Ferris instructed them.

What formed was admittedly less of a line than a large clumping. "One at a time, one at a time," Ferris told them all, "You there, I don't know your name, you can go first."

"Hey, you remember me, Brian?" asked the first person.

"Yeah, you were on the Oak Park team; it's Jeffrey, right?"

"Yep, and I want you to know that even though we walked out with first place, you and your team were the real winners, I'm willing to say," Jeffrey told him, "And you were far and away the best person there on any team, so there's no need for you to be so hard on yourself with it. So therefore, I think you deserve this," he handed Brian his individual first place trophy. Brian stared at it blankly for a moment. "I--I can't take this," he said, "I don't really deserve...."

"Come on Brian, of course you deserve it, "Wyatt spoke up, "You didn't let us down at all. If it hadn't been for all those questions you got right in the first round, in fact, we'd never even have been as close as we were."

"He's right," Jeffrey said, "I was watching. Even with a second place finish here, I'd so you're going to go places that most of the people in this building tonight could even dream about."

There was an unprecedented burst of applause form the crowd. Brian felt genuinely touched. He took hold of the trophy and shook Jeffrey's hand. "Thanks," he said softly, "You're very kind."

"Yes, he is, isn't he?" Ferris said, "Who's next?"

The next person turned out to be Aaron. "I'd just to say thanks for getting me through all those years whenever we studied together," he told the brain, "I don't think I'd have done even half as well as I have without you."

"I know," Brian told him with a smile. Up came Matt. 'My mom loved the present I got her, and I have you to thank for it," he said to his friend, "I'm more honored to be your friend than anything else in the world, you know. I just wish I'd told you earlier, so you wouldn't have tried to end it. I'd've never have survived without you in my life, and I mean that seriously."

"I kind of have an idea," Brian was glad the tombstone of Matt he'd seen last night would never materialize, "And I'm honored to be your friend too."

And then Lori stepped up to the mike. "Brian, I know you've been jealous of me for years, but I want you to know that I wouldn't even be at the top of the class without you," she told him, "You inspired me to work hard at my classes when I came here in second grade; before that I could have cared less about the classroom. Then I saw how well you did and how much the teachers commended you for all the hard work, and I wanted be like that, so I put every ounce of effort into being like you. And I still want to be just like you--in the classroom and elsewhere."

"Thank you," Brian told her, now realizing why she'd been a loser in his nightmare the previous night. More and more people filed up to pay him their respects, mostly with similar comments about how he'd helped them pass a certain exam or class. He found himself crying again--but this time the tears were ones of joy. He'd never thought that the whole student body would so selflessly rally around and support him as they were now. Especially considering how heavily divided into social groups the student body usually was at Shermer High. Had he known this before he'd tried to commit suicide, he'd never had attempted it in the first place. Once the final tribute had been paid (and it took a good fifteen minutes to get through everyone), and he'd let Cameron crown and robe him as dance king, he took hold of the microphone. "I'd like you all to know," he told them through his happy tears, "that I'll be eternally grateful to all of you for the love, kindness, respect, and support you've given to me tonight. As a dear friend of mine told me recently, it's the little things that matter the most, and all your little things have combined to make me feel happier than I probably ever will again. Thank you, all of you."

The applause they all gave him was louder than any he'd ever heard before. Combined with the loud chanting of him name from the back of the gym, it put him all the way up on Cloud 10. "Yes, your Majesty, you've got the trophy, you've got the respect, you've got the praise, but that's not all, King Johnson," Ferris told him, "As an extra special gift from us to you, tonight we're giving you the power to choose who you want as your queen, so if you've had your eyes on some special chick for some time, now's the time to tell her how much she means to you. Who wants to be queen tonight, raise your hand."

Again Brian was amazed and delighted to see a ton of hands go up. They included some of the most popular girls from the school's in crowd--girls he admittedly had thought of maybe asking out at one point or another, but would never have even remotely thought that they'd be as interested in him as they seemed now. But he knew there was only one real choice he could make for queen. He turned toward the foot of the stage where the rest of the "Club" was still standing and waved Chandra, who looked positively stunning in a rich purple dress with light blue trim that she'd told him had once been her mother's, up on stage. The look of ecstasy at being chosen for once in her life made her face glow like a Christmas tree. The rest of the student body didn't take her selection as well; a load of, "WHATs!?" swept through the gym, accompanied by a few angry uproars. "Sorry folks, the king's word is final," Ferris told the naysayers, "Sloane, would you please give Miss Oaks her crown?"

"You didn't have to do this for me," Chandra told Brian through her own tears of joy as Sloane crowned her.

"You deserve it," Brian told her. "I'd like to say something here," he told the student body, 'It's come to my attention that a lot of you haven't been treating Chandra all that well. Let me just say that's unacceptable from where I'm standing, and from here on anyone who wants to pick on or make fun of her is going to answer to my good friend John Bender."

A large roar of protest came from the crowd. "No, no, no!!!" Bender yelled up, his voice drowned out by the hissing, "I am not going to be her bodyguard!!"

Brian covered the microphone. "What am I going to have to do to convince you to go along with it?" he asked the criminal.

"Nothing, you hear me, absolutely nothing!" Bender said firmly.

"So if I were to tell everyone how Kevin made you look like a complete fool last night, you wouldn't care in the least?"

Bender groaned, cornered. If there was one thing he couldn't afford to lose, it was his reputation. "It's just till the end of the year," he said roughly, "After that it's open season on her again!"

"Thank you," Brian told him. "You'll probably also be interested in knowing,' he continued, to the disbelieving masses, "that she's the only reason I'm standing here before you now, so you should thank her for that. She's also a great singer, one of the best I've ever heard. If you don't believe me, just listen to her."

"Brian, you know how I am with crowds," Chandra whispered to him, "I don't think I'd be able to last five minutes out here!"

"Just close your eyes and let your heart take over," Brian told her, taking hold of her hand, "And know that I'm here if you need me, just like you were there for me when I needed you."

Chandra closed her eyes. The sounds of hissing goaded her on internally to show that she was more than just an outcast. Slowly, tentatively, the words came out: "I'm going to make a change for once in my life. It's going to feel real good, going to make a difference, going to make it riiiight. As I turned up the collar of my favorite winter coat, change is blowing my mind. I see kids on the street without enough to eat; who am I to be blind, pretending not to see them eat."

She stopped for a moment, judging how well she was being taken in. Silence in the gym told her that at least the hecklers were now at bay. With more confidence, she opened her eyes and continued, "A willow deeply scarred, somebody's broken heart, and one man's soul, they follow each other on the wind you know, 'cause they've got nowhere to go, that's why I want you to know....."

Again she paused. Somehow she just couldn't go ahead with the refrain. True to his word, Brian picked up for her. "I'm starting with the man in the mirror," he sang out, "I'm asking him to change his ways." Chandra joined in with him, feeling comfortable with him singing with her. "And no message could have been any clearer," they crooned, 'If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change."

"Isn't this lovely?" Ferris asked the audience, looking quite pleased himself at what he was hearing, "Best I've heard in a while." He turned to the Kickers. "Boys, kick it up a few notches; this deserves the full treatment."

"She's really showing them a thing or two about how she's not how the think of her," Allison commented at the foot of the stage, taking note of the audience's increasingly positive reactions to Chandra's singing abilities, "Kind of like we all were with each other earlier in the year."

"Yeah, I kind of think she chose 'Man in the Mirror' deliberately to make a point at them that they need to think a bit," Andrew added. He turned to Claire, who was breaking into a small smile at the rhythm. "So, are you willing to admit she did you good back at the church, Claire?" he inquired. "I suppose so," Claire said, forcing a larger smile, "I still don't like her, but I am grateful to her for giving me an outlet. I feel al to better now that the Father heard me all out. Actually, now that I think about it, I guess the church isn't so bad after all. As much as I hate to say it...."

"Then don't," Bender quipped. Claire looked him down sternly. 'As much as I hate to say it, I feel like I want to repay her for it somehow," she continued, "Without giving her the wrong idea that I do actually like her, that is."

"I think we could all repay her," Allison said, "And I have just the idea how." She walked up on stage and waved the others after her. "You've got to be kidding!" Bender muttered, but he shrugged and joined the other three in backing up Chandra and Brian, fitting at the point in the song where Jackson's backup singers joined him. The two of them smiled at the participation of the others and poured even more of their hearts into it. The crowds got a little more into it now, particularly when Ferris somehow, perhaps magically, set off impressive pyrotechnics on stage. This startled the singers a bit, but they continued going as the song reached its crescendo. In his office, Rooney rolled his eyes. "Fitting," he muttered, "Ferris WOULD be into the pointless babbling of a depraved lunatic....."

As the song came to a literally explosive end (with fortunately nobody getting burned), the applause was again somewhat scattered and with only moderate cheering. For Chandra, however, it was heaven on earth, to have at least won over a small number of people. "Thank you," she told the crowd through her own tears of joy, "You're a great audience, thank you for letting me sing. I've always wanted to do this."

"You still suck!!" shouted one person in the back. "Oh shut up, she's really great!!" someone else told the first person off.

"People, we're not here to fight the evening away," Ferris told everyone, "I think we're in the presence of a natural here. My dear Miss Oaks, if you ever need someone to vouch for you, just let me be that person to reference you."

"Thank you Ferris," Chandra said, shaking his hand.

"That's what I'm here for," Ferris told her, "If you're up to singing more later on, you're more than free to. Let's all give it up one more time for tonight's kind and queen!"

The applause was rather loud again. "And since we're in the middle of what now seems to be karaoke night with a cross-section of all of us here," Ferris continued, eyeing the Club over, "why don't we continue with another favorite of mine? I think it's one we can all relate to. But first I've got to ask just one more question: CAN YOU FEEL ST. ELMO'S FIRE!!!!????"

The student body roared in delight as the Kickers cranked up John Parr's adolescent anthem. "Mr. Bender, give me a beat with the first verse here," Ferris said, putting his arm around Bender's shoulder. Bender glared at him but more than willingly joined in with him in singing the song: "Growing up, you don't see the writing on the wall. Passing by, moving straight ahead you knew it all....."

"Hey your highness," it was Jeffrey from Oak Park again, "Are you ready for even more good news?"

"I guess so," Brian was by now getting used to it, "What?"

"Well, do you remember my teammate Melissa?"

"Of course," it would have been very hard from Brian to forget her. She was definitely one of the prettiest girls he'd seen in recent memory, and he'd noticed her looking over toward the Shermer table a lot during the title match, "What about her?"

"She told me to tell you that she's been worried about you," Jeffrey told him, "In fact, you seem to be the only thing she talks about anymore. I guess you could say you've really helped her too. She's been really nervous and scared the last few months because she's the only person in our class going to Northwestern next year, and the thought of being alone really got her. But since Wednesday night when she saw you were going there as well on the program, she's been a lot happier about it."

"Well you can tell her I said thanks," Brian said, glad to have made an impact on someone as attractive as her.

"You can tell her that in person," Jeffrey said, "She also told me to tell you that she'd like to hook up with you some time over the break. Here's her number," he handed Brian a piece of paper, "Call her when you get the chance. You know, I could very well be mistaken, but I think she has some deep feelings for you."

Brian couldn't contain his delight over this news. "Well I'd be glad to, because if there's anyone I'd love for it to be real with, she's one of those people," he said.

"Yep, she really is," Jeffrey admitted. He checked his watch. "Well, I'd better get going, so once again, happy holidays."

"Same to you," Brian thanked him as he walked away.

"All in all, not bad for a guy with no friends whom no girl could ever love," Chandra told him with a big smile.

"Yeah, I really underestimated myself there," Brian admitted, "And I have you to thank for allowing me to be able to enjoy it all. For that you can be sure that I'll always be grateful to you for it."

"And I'll always be grateful for you sticking by me when I needed someone too," Chandra told him, "Thanks for helping me out there when I needed it. Thanks to you I'm happier than I've ever been in my life."

"Well friends always help friends, and you're one if there ever is one," Brian gave her a very affectionate patting on the shoulder. They joined in with Ferris and the others with the refrain: "I can climb the highest mountain, cross the widest sea, I can feel St. Elmo's Fire burning in me. Burning in me...."