The main characters in this story are probably caricatures of people in mid-sized towns in the American Midwest; this town I'll call "Normal" to protect the guilty. However, caricatures are normally based upon realistic perceptions, even if oversimplifications or not entirely accurate. Anyway these caricatures were real life.
First there was the Carver High School girl who was both head cheerleader and star athlete, and the most popular girl in school, Ashley Prentice. Ashley is the daughter Merilee and Owen Prentice one of the richest couples in town.
Merilee was the chairman of most of the high visibility charities in town but not because she was a charitable person; it was for the status that it gave her.
Owen owned more than 50% of Normal Trust, by far the largest and most prestigious bank in town, and all or parts of a number of retail businesses on Main Street.
Ashley and Merilee were the best looking women in their age groups in Normal and Carver County -- and also in many surrounding towns.
Ashley's two years older brother Storm (his nickname, he hated his real name of Reginald) was different than the other members of the family. He kept a low profile, played football like every other able-bodied male teenager did at Carver High School, but had no interest in fame, fortune, or pretense. He got out of town for college, and stayed out, ultimately becoming an attorney in a big city.
While Ashley was loved by her parents, they never taught her humility, empathy, or grace -- qualities that they were also lacking in. This led Ashley to be much less than kind to many of her classmates -- kids not in the popular group. One such kid was Billy Thompson.
Billy was a fairly innocuous kid. He wasn't particularly good looking, he was on the short and slight side for boys his age, and he wasn't "able-bodied" enough to play High School football. For this reason he was often bullied by boys at Carver High. His main tormenter was the senior quarterback for the football team, Jack Austin. Billy took the bullying without complaint.
While Billy's parents weren't poor they didn't have much disposable income so his material things were sometimes lacking. What Billy did have, however, much to his ultimate dismay, was a crush on Ashley. Billy and Ashley were in the same class in school, juniors at the time this story starts. While Billy's crush wasn't unusual since many boys in Ashley's age range did, he wasn't subtle enough to hide it.
As a result of Billy's crush on Ashley he was teased unmercifully by his male classmates who weren't already bullying him, scorned by many of his female classmates, and pranked by many who didn't tease or scorn him. Despite his situation, by working a part time job he saved enough money to get tickets to the Junior Prom and even rent a luxury car, and asked Ashley to go with him, far enough in advance that no one else could possibly have, not even the aforesaid football star Jack Austin.
Ashley was appalled that someone of Billy's status had the nerve to ask her -- which at least he did over the phone since he probably would have wet his pants if he did so in person. This gave her time to think without displaying the scornful look on her face that would have been evident if he asked in person. She decided that Billy needed to be put in his place so after a pregnant pause she started questioning him in a flirtatious manner and after some evil fun told him "Yes, but I'm a little worried Billy that you don't have enough money to get me the appropriate corsage, Tierra, or other items that I need."
With his spirts buoyed Billy assured her that he could by working longer at his part-time job, so he had her confirm that she would go with him. "We need to keep this our little secret, however," she whispered over the phone, "otherwise my status-seeking mother might get involved. Also, we can only talk about this over the phone, not in person at school."
Since Ashley's "Yes" was beyond his wildest dreams Billy was willing to agree to all conditions.
So began the most ruthless long-lasting prank in Carver High School history. Ashley clued in her close female friends on the condition of absolute secrecy and set about every week or so telling Billy what she needed for the Junior Prom. It included a Tierra -- the first one of which she rejected because it wasn't sparkly enough -- a pashmina, a pair of ugly shoes that she never had any intention of wearing but just gave to the local Goodwill, various bottles of perfume, and a piece of jewelry. Billy spent all of the money he made, and was in his bank account as gifts from his grandparents, but he knew that it would all be worth it especially since whenever he saw Ashley in the hallways at school she smiled at him -- although she never talked to him live.
Ashley also told her haughty mother about the evil prank. Instead of discouraging her daughter like a good parent would Merilee only laughed and agreed to perform her part of the hoax.
The big day finally arrived as Billy pulled up to the Prentice mansion in his rented Lincoln with the exact corsage that Ashley had told him that she wanted. When he got to the door, however, Ashley didn't answer but rather her mother Merilee did.
"Uh,,,hello...uh...Mrs. Prentice," Billy stammered, not only because he was nervous about the entire night but also because Merilee was -- as earlier indicated -- a very good looking woman and her low cut evening gown did little to hide the voluptuousness of her prodigious mammary glands, "is Ashley ready?"
"Ready for what," was Merilee's terse, coarse, reply.
"Uh...to go to the junior prom," he responded barely above a whisper.
"She left with Jack Austin a half hour ago; why would you think that she'd go with you?" Merilee snickered.
Billy suddenly realized that he had been pranked worse than anyone in the history of Carver High had, and started lightly crying.
"Get your big boy pants on and take this as one of life's lessons," Merilee caustically continued, "but I assume that you have no use now for that corsage and it will look really great with my dress when Mr. Prentice and I go to the Leukemia Charity Ball tonight," Merilee concluded holding out her hand.
Completely defeated and trying to hold back his tears Billy handed over the corsage and then the door was closed in his face, without even a thank you from Merilee.
Billy drove his rented Lincoln to a remote spot in town and broke down crying. After a couple of hours of self-pity he finally got himself together enough to drive home. His concerned mother asked him what was wrong when she saw him come home early, and in distress, but he merely said "I don't want to talk about it," and went to his room. Sleep didn't come quickly, but finally his emotional exhaustion took over and he fell into a deep, if troubled, sleep.
The next Monday at school everyone who had heard of the cruel prank on Billy was either laughing or shaking their heads about it. Fortunately there was only two weeks left in the school year so he retreated into his shell and rode them out without interacting with anyone, suffering the laughter that came his way -- especially from Jack Austin -- the best that he could. That summer he turned 18 and since there was no way that he was going to submit himself to a year of humiliation in what would have been his senior year he dropped out of school and joined the Marines.
