Ashton wondered why he had even bothered to attend his prom. He was going stag, which said a lot he thought. Always there but never the main person. He looked around and saw all the people that in one way or another had made a mark in school. Bill the star quarter-back. Mary the head cheerleader. Peter, the star baseball pitcher, accompanied by his date Eric who’s batting (almost) always amazed people. Charleene the student council president. Wolfgang the school paper editor-in-chief. Martin this year’s valedictorian to be. Ashton had interacted with all of them and was constantly in their shadows. Perhaps that was his problem. All the others had focused on one thing they were good at. Ashton had let himself be spread out.

Unfortunately, that also meant that he hadn’t been accepted to any of the colleges he wanted to attend. Sure, Harvard had given him a reserve spot. A very high number. Strangely enough, only the day before he had received a message from a guy at Harvard admission who wanted to meet him. Apparently, they had received a most amazing letter of recommendation signed by an impossible set of signatures that he wanted to discuss with Ashton. A letter like they had never received before. Ashton had agreed to meet. Not that it’d matter. Even if he’d be moved up on the waiting list his parents couldn’t afford it. He would have needed a scholarship for that and as Ashton didn’t excel in anything even if he was good at many things …

He noticed his twin sister Eve in a gaggle of girls. She was beautiful. Ashton was cute. And that was the source of one of many reasons why Ashton was a nobody. Not handsome, cute. His sister was also a cheerleader. She had decided to be a cheerleader well before freshman year. Ashton, as the kind brother he is, had helped her. Eve had got into the JV cheerleading team. Unfortunately for Ashton the tryouts had left the JV team one girl short. No qualified candidate for the last spot. Ashton was really just too kind and persuadable so he went along when Eve suggested that he try out. He got accepted. The problem was that the girls in the JV team didn’t want to make it a mixed team. Did I mention that Ashton just is too kind and persuadable? Besides, he looked very cute in the short skirt. Very nice legs. Since the cheerleading teams as well as the varsity football team thought so Ashton was spared any overt bullying. Still, his peers had a problem relating to the girly boy. Cheerleaders were expected to keep a certain dress standard. And thus it went on for four years. Ashton was not really a girl and not really a boy. He might have been placed in the girl box by all and not only by half the school, he WAS really cute, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he also slipped into the football team. One day at cheerleading practice he had seen a football lying around and just for fun kicked. The football flew away, far away. All those years of ballet that he had dragged his sister to might have had something to do with that. Too bad for Ashton that the football coach saw him. Ashton had to prove that that kick wasn’t just a fluke. The story could have ended there if it hadn’t been for an away game the next week. The boy Ashton was nominally entered as a member of the football team to avoid any locker room disputes. That was nothing new. What was new was that the JV kicker twisted his ankle. Ashton filled in. He caused quite an upset when he scored kicking in his cheerleader uniform, short skirt and all. He had only had time to change the shoes. And thus it continued. Ashton cheered and kicked. Only now he had his own football uniform shirt. Number 69. Ashton never found out who was responsible for that. He still wore the skirt when kicking. For one thing there never was enough time to change. For another it was great PR for the JV football team and eventually for the varsity football team. The last year the QB, Bill, had been very kind and supportive to Ashton. Bill had really gone out of his way to make Ashton, the girly boy(?) cheerleader, feel part of the team. Ashton, like Eve also made the varsity cheerleading team.

So that accounts for Bill and Mary. What about the others? Well, Ashton had played little league baseball before high school so one day when the baseball JV hade a home game and needed one more player … Well, Ashton just was too kind and persuadable. He played well enough to be dragooned into the team. Good things the cheerleaders never cheered for the baseball teams. No, he was not nearly as good a player as Peter and Paul. However, he became known as “Old Reliable”. He was sent in when the bases were loaded and when Eric’s normally brilliant batting failed, which happened more often than Eric liked. Ashton never hit a home run in all those years but he also never failed to get to first base. He was a master bunter.

Have I mentioned that Ashton just was too kind and persuadable? I think I have. That accounts for the student council and school paper. Charleene was only too happy to have a second vice chairman to unload every task that nobody else wanted to do. Ashton also worked on the school paper for three years without his name appearing as a byline or as editor. Not that Ashton didn’t do lots of editing. He taught all the journalists active those three years how to write but he wasn’t the editor in chief. That was first Otto and then Wolfgang Schmidt.

That only leaves Martin. Martin was probably Ashton’s best friend in school. Basically they were both nerds, even if Ashton never got the chance to live that out. Martin was not really smarter than Ashton. Ashton was really smart, even if just too kind and persuadable. Still, Martin concentrated on his academic studies and headed the honors list. Ashton was on it but since he spent so much time on other things he appeared some places lower down. The time he spent on tutoring didn’t help. He claimed he did it because he needed the money. True, his parents weren’t rich and his surprisingly active social life, he was after all a nerd at heart, required some expenses. Still, his claim was somewhat undermined by the fact that he routinely waived his tutoring fees for the kids from his own less than prosperous neighborhood.

So, Ashton was at the prom without really feeling he belonged there. Nothing new. He had that feeling quite often. And why had he agreed to wear a PINK tux? I think I might have mentioned that Ashton was just too kind and persuadable.

Well, since he was there, he might as well stay for the announcement of prom king and queen. Not that that would be any surprise. Anything else than quarterback Bill and head cheerleader Mary would be an earthquake. This made the surprise for Ashton so much greater when Bill was announced as one of the prom princes. Who could the king be? He eagerly waited to see who’d that be.

The principal called for attention

“I’m happy and proud to announce that the school has chosen the most kind and respected boy as prom king: Ashton Parker!”

Wild cheering and everyone applauded Ashton. It took him some time to realize that HE was supposed to climb the podium.

Ashton was still in a cloud mentally, so he didn’t even hear who the prom princesses were. Now there was only the formal announcement of Mary as queen left.

“I’m happy and proud to announce that the school has chosen the most kind and respected girl as prom queen: Ashton Parker!”

Wait! That was patently deranged! Ashton was a boy. And he had already been crowned prom king. He couldn’t be BOTH king and queen, could he?

Apparently, the school thought he could. He got a second crown among the ear shattering cheering. Prom princess Mary and prom prince Bill both approached Ashton for the obligatory dance, each sort of standing in for Ashley him(her?)self when dancing with Ashley.

Mary deferred to Bill. The look Bill gave Ashley contained more than just courtesy. Much more. To be honest, it made Ashely feel a bit giddy. Still, this was for one night only, so it didn’t matter. Bill would go to Harvard and, as we know, Ashley would not.

Still, come to think about it, what WAS in that recommendation letter the Harvard admission guy wanted to discuss?