awkward.
“Come on, guys, let’s go or we’ll be REALLY late!” Megan has her hand on the doorknob, ready to bolt.
With a sigh of relief, I wrap my silk shawl around my shoulders and the four of us leave for the dance. We have to ride with Ms. Benedict because nobody is old enough to drive yet, but it’s only six blocks. Mark’s silence and Megan’s chatter manage to cancel each other out. Ms. Benedict is one of the faculty chaperones, so she lets us out in front of the school before parking the car.
“Have fun, kids,” she says as we climb out one by one.
Megan faces her mother with hands on her hips and says in all seriousness, “Mom, parents are to be seen and not heard! Don’t talk to me during the dance.”
Ms. Benedict just smiles and waves at us as she pulls away from the curb. I guess you could say she’s pretty tolerant when Megan cops an attitude.
Megan is right about us needing to get here early— there are lots of kids already milling around and the dance floor is getting crowded, even though the DJ hasn’t started playing the real music yet. So far there’s nothing but instrumental Christmas music coming from a CD player.
The theme of the dance goes along with The Nutcracker , so the decorations in the gym include gigantic toys, candy canes, snowflakes hung from the support beams, and even miniature nutcracker key chains for party favors. The dance committee— whoever they are— did a great job setting this up.
The minute we walk in the door, Megan and Jeremy take off in search of Emma and Kevin, leaving me standing alone with a nonverbal Mark.
“Where should we sit?” I ask.
He mumbles something and leads me to some chairs set up alongside the back wall near the folded-up bleachers.
This is going to be a long evening .
I try every kind of small talk I can think of, but the most I get from Mark is yeah or okay.
Finally in frustration I stand up and blurt out, “Just because you think you have ugly teeth is no reason to never open your mouth and talk!”
For once, Mark’s mouth drops open and I’m sure he’s wondering how I knew that. I wish I could explain it, but it’s just one of those random thoughts that comes flying out of my mouth. Before Mark can mumble one more monosyllable in response, the DJ starts playing dance music and kids jump into action. I take Mark’s hand and drag him out onto the dance floor so we won’t look like total losers sitting by ourselves.
Quince and Kensi walk in fashionably late, dressed like the royalty they expect to be crowned, her red and green silk dress color-coordinated with his holiday coat and tie. It’s amazing how good looks, popularity, and charisma can draw others like magnets, and once they’re out on the dance floor, everyone clusters around them. Green with envy, I watch the two of them smiling and dancing this close.
I try to smile at Quince while he’s focused on her , but he deliberately looks in the other direction. My heart sinks, so I determine here and now to do something— anything— to get him to at least speak to me again. I maneuver Mark over to where Quince and Kensi are dancing and deliberately bump into Quince.
“Excuse me,” I say.
Quince rolls his eyes at yet another example of my clumsiness. He starts to back away but I get between him and Kensi and stand my ground. I can almost feel Kensington’s angry glare behind me.
“Quince, could I talk to you a minute?”
“Now?”
“Hello! Dancing here,” Kensi says a little too loudly.
“Please,” I beg him, not even looking at her.
Quince opens his mouth like he’s about to tell me to back off, but I must look pretty pathetic because he finally says, “Okay. Meet me at the refreshment table after this song, and it’d better be important.”
He turns his attention back to Kensi, who smiles insincerely at me and walks Quince to the other side of the dance floor.
After the song is finished, I tell Mark I’m going for a soda. He doesn’t seem
“Come on, guys, let’s go or we’ll be REALLY late!” Megan has her hand on the doorknob, ready to bolt.
With a sigh of relief, I wrap my silk shawl around my shoulders and the four of us leave for the dance. We have to ride with Ms. Benedict because nobody is old enough to drive yet, but it’s only six blocks. Mark’s silence and Megan’s chatter manage to cancel each other out. Ms. Benedict is one of the faculty chaperones, so she lets us out in front of the school before parking the car.
“Have fun, kids,” she says as we climb out one by one.
Megan faces her mother with hands on her hips and says in all seriousness, “Mom, parents are to be seen and not heard! Don’t talk to me during the dance.”
Ms. Benedict just smiles and waves at us as she pulls away from the curb. I guess you could say she’s pretty tolerant when Megan cops an attitude.
Megan is right about us needing to get here early— there are lots of kids already milling around and the dance floor is getting crowded, even though the DJ hasn’t started playing the real music yet. So far there’s nothing but instrumental Christmas music coming from a CD player.
The theme of the dance goes along with The Nutcracker , so the decorations in the gym include gigantic toys, candy canes, snowflakes hung from the support beams, and even miniature nutcracker key chains for party favors. The dance committee— whoever they are— did a great job setting this up.
The minute we walk in the door, Megan and Jeremy take off in search of Emma and Kevin, leaving me standing alone with a nonverbal Mark.
“Where should we sit?” I ask.
He mumbles something and leads me to some chairs set up alongside the back wall near the folded-up bleachers.
This is going to be a long evening .
I try every kind of small talk I can think of, but the most I get from Mark is yeah or okay.
Finally in frustration I stand up and blurt out, “Just because you think you have ugly teeth is no reason to never open your mouth and talk!”
For once, Mark’s mouth drops open and I’m sure he’s wondering how I knew that. I wish I could explain it, but it’s just one of those random thoughts that comes flying out of my mouth. Before Mark can mumble one more monosyllable in response, the DJ starts playing dance music and kids jump into action. I take Mark’s hand and drag him out onto the dance floor so we won’t look like total losers sitting by ourselves.
Quince and Kensi walk in fashionably late, dressed like the royalty they expect to be crowned, her red and green silk dress color-coordinated with his holiday coat and tie. It’s amazing how good looks, popularity, and charisma can draw others like magnets, and once they’re out on the dance floor, everyone clusters around them. Green with envy, I watch the two of them smiling and dancing this close.
I try to smile at Quince while he’s focused on her , but he deliberately looks in the other direction. My heart sinks, so I determine here and now to do something— anything— to get him to at least speak to me again. I maneuver Mark over to where Quince and Kensi are dancing and deliberately bump into Quince.
“Excuse me,” I say.
Quince rolls his eyes at yet another example of my clumsiness. He starts to back away but I get between him and Kensi and stand my ground. I can almost feel Kensington’s angry glare behind me.
“Quince, could I talk to you a minute?”
“Now?”
“Hello! Dancing here,” Kensi says a little too loudly.
“Please,” I beg him, not even looking at her.
Quince opens his mouth like he’s about to tell me to back off, but I must look pretty pathetic because he finally says, “Okay. Meet me at the refreshment table after this song, and it’d better be important.”
He turns his attention back to Kensi, who smiles insincerely at me and walks Quince to the other side of the dance floor.
After the song is finished, I tell Mark I’m going for a soda. He doesn’t seem
Similar Books
