Suzie’s House 315 : Emma as Talk Show Hostess

While the guys in the band scrambled to get Kate’s kit drum set up, Emma had to do everything she could to keep the audience entertained. Didn’t she? So it was OK if she got a little silly. Right.

“Soooooo… Miss Cheerleader, I’ve heard about you.” Emma strutted up to the first row of folding chairs. She smiled, imagined her own teeth as serrated as a shark, and chuckled.

The cheerleader got nervous. She’d always looked down on Emma. Literally. She would tip her head back and look down her nose like she thought Emma was a piece of trash. It felt good to stand over her

“Aren’t you the one who said cheerleaders are the smartest girls in school? What was your score on the math exam last week?” Emma held the microphone in front of the girl.

Would she lie? Emma sat in the seat in behind her and already knew her score had been thirty out of a hundred. It didn’t really matter to Emma. The point was the Cheerleader was squirming.

“It…. It was fine,” the cheerleader said defensively.

“Really,” Emma said into the microphone in a tone she’d never used before, but that went perfectly with her dominatrix outfit.

Done with the cheerleader already, Emma headed for the aisle running right down the middle of the gym from stage to back wall.

“Show of hands, is there anyone here who thought they’d get a better score on a test than they actually did?” Emma held her own hand up. She’d certainly bombed her share of tests. Thank Gawd she’d never bragged before hand.

A lot of kids held their hands up.

“Any of you in Mr. Bradley’s class?”

Even more hands went up.

“Speak of the devil.” Emma’s grin felt positively evil as she zeroed in on the teacher about half way back. “That would be you, wouldn’t it?” She shoved her microphone in his face and a titter ran through the room.

“Yes,” he said a little nervously.

Nervous! A teacher was actually nervous in front of Emma. The wonder of it rushed to her head. First a cheerleader, then the teacher. What could be better?

“So, I’m sure everyone here is wondering. How do you score tests?” She was thinking about the time Kate and Katy and compared tests. Their answers were as much alike as short response answers could get. But the points given were completely different.

“Well, I…” Mr. Bradley huffed and puffed for a few minutes. His explanation was perfectly good, but Emma let it go in one ear and out the other.

She faked a yawn. “Maybe you should stick to multiple choice. Better than grading the poor little lambs on handwriting.” She sashayed further down the aisle in search of new prey.

Oh, she was feeling mean today. If Mr. Bradley knew it was her under the mask, she was going to be in such Dutch. But it felt so good to say that. She’d wanted to for a long time, but without her daring black mask, she’d never have had the nerve.

A flash of white arm and fast gesture at the very back drew her attention. It was a guy she’d had her eye on for a while shoving the guy next to him. He was good looking with hair a little long and dark brown eyes. And he was a total idiot.

Emma pounced.

“Hey there, good looking.” She dropped into his lap. “Aren’t you the tastiest boy around.” She kicked her feet and squeed.

Most of the audience laughed. They’d been in a pretty good mood since she’d teased Mr. Bradley.

“So… you got a girlfriend?” Emma held the microphone in front of him.

“Uh… no.” His got a little rosy.

“Anyone you like?”

“Uh…” He wasn’t going to answer.

“What do you think? Is there anyone he likes?” Emma turned the mic to his buddy.

“Yeah. There’s this cheer….”

“Shut up!” The guy took a swipe at his friend, and accidentally dumped Emma out of his lap.

She landed in the aisle on her butt. The whole audience held their breath in horrified silence. Then Emma started to laugh. If she weren’t wearing the mask she’d be so embarrassed now. But it didn’t really matter, right? No one would ever know it was her. And they next time they played, she’d wear one of the other masks Bruce gave her. It wasn’t like she had to stick to only one.

The strangest thing happened. As soon as she started laughing, so did everyone else. They all acted relieved or something. It was like she’d given them permission to have a good time. It made her feel strong as she got to her feet.

“So, you’re in love with some cheerleader, huh?” She talked like nothing had happened even while she dusted off her little black skirt. “It wouldn’t be one with low math scores, would it?”

His face went bright red and everyone laughed.

“Ok. We’re ready,” Tracy called from the stage.

Emma looked up to find the entire band in position, instruments ready. Only the spot in the middle where she was supposed to stand remained vacant. And here she was at the opposite end of the gym.

She could run from one end to the other, but then she wouldn’t have enough breath left for singing. She didn’t want to do the talk show host thing anymore. She didn’t want to hold things up, either.

Then she got an idea. One she thought the rest of the band would like. Wouldn’t it be cool to start the song from all the way back here and then work her way to the stage while singing?

“Don’t wait for me, Honey,” Emma said into the microphone like she ever actually said things like. “A one, a two, a one – two – three…”

And the band actually started playing.

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