“How To Be The Center of Attention” a short story by Summer Peace ’19
after Junot Diaz
Dance everywhere. In the hallways, on stage, in people’s heads. Make sure to bend over. In flat backs, sliding into splits, port de bra forward. Make girls want to be you. Make guys want to bang you. If a girl is bold, she’ll talk about you. If she’s real, she’ll talk to you. Respond to her questions of “why are you always dancing?” with equally bitchy questions of “why can’t you keep your legs closed?” Smile and walk away. A guy might talk about touching or even beg to cop a feel. Let them, but only if they’re cute and have that dimple in the right cheek you secretly rave about. Make the other girls jealous. They know who you are, but you’ll never really know any of them.
If people don’t see your face often, you lose them. Never lose your power. Always be everywhere. When you’re the first volunteer to make the announcement, or head the committee, or perform in front of the school, you are unforgettable. The sight of your face should bug him in the most precious way. Be the constant ringing in his ears, the buzzing in his head. When he closes his eyes at night, you should be the only thing he sees. The forgotten are remembered in the most unforgiving way.
The walk is everything you can’t say. Toe, ankle, heel, knee, hip: forever in that order. The girls will make fun of you, try to walk like you, make jokes. Laugh in return. The boys will trace every curve of your hips with each step down the hallway. With a quick flick of the ass, you’ll have them all drooling. You’re forever on the runway of judgmental eyes. Make them feel like you’re walking on clouds in their minds. Each click of your heels is the glass shard that pops the bubble of their fantasies. They only inflate again, anyways.
You have the choice of two different looks, but both of them should make people say wow. There’s the edgy badass look. Wear black pants, chokers, your hair curly, and tight fitting tops. Try and make yourself seem taboo. Everyone wants what they can’t have, so they have no choice but to talk about it. When he looks at you like you’re nothing but a piece of meat, you’ve already won. Then there’s the soft, delicate, and trendy look. Wear lots of pink, boots, and flowy tops. Don’t wing your eyeliner. Mascara is a must, but must be minimal. Girls will whisper about how innocent you look. Once they utter the word “cute,” you know you’ve stuck in their minds. Experimenting, they should call you, with glossed lips in a whisper.
Let rumors run wild. The more they say about you, the more infamous you become. Chuckle when you hear that one about you and some random junior in the ice room. Outright laugh when the cutie in Amex says how jealous he is of the guy you blew on the cross-country trail. The girls’ rumors will be better anyway. If she’s the sweet type, she’ll defend you because “you’re so pretty” and she would “do the same if she were you”. If she’s the jealous type, she’ll roll her eyes and call you a whore. The only one you should really care about is him. Let him think that you’re easy, open, and available. Can you really do a split during sex? The thought should dance across his mind until the primal urge takes over. You are dancing, walking sex. His mind is your stage; use it.