Geoffry held out his hand to Mouse, "I only want to dance with you tonight."
Mouse swallowed and her face turned red.
Geoffry smirked at her, pleased with himself for making her blush.
"Come on," Geoffry said, "Just one song."
The song "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray started playing.
Mouse scowled at Geoffry and said quietly, "If I dance with you for one song, will you leave me alone afterwards?"
"Sure." Geoffry said, smiling.
Mouse sighed and reluctantly took his hand.
Geoffry grinned and lead her out to the gym floor.
Mouse stared down at her feet when they got to the center of the floor.
Geoffry took her hand and put his hand on her waist.
Mouse slapped his hand away, so Geoffry put his hand on her shoulder instead.
Mouse turned her red face to the floor the entire time and Geoffry gazed at her, smiling kindly.
I sat alone by the wall, bored and miserable.
I glanced up and my eyes widened. Mouse was dancing with Geoffry.
"What the..." I said out loud, cocking my head.
Mouse was staring down at the floor, but Geoffry was looking at her face.
I was so lost. I didn't even try to figure it out on my own and I decided I would bug Mouse about it later.
I put my chin in my hands and watched people dance miserably.
I looked up and saw someone walking toward me; Tina.
Her hair was dyed red, and I don't mean red like Kathy or Alice's hair, I mean red like a fire truck. She was wearing a short dress that was mostly sea green and yellow tulle and it had green rhinestones all over it. It didn't go with her red hair or her pink and white polka dotted high heels at all.
"Hi, Angie." Tina said.
"Uh, hi." I said, "Nice dress."
Tina smiled and said, "Thanks. I like yours too."
She looked around and asked, "Where are your friends?"
"Dancing." I said flatly, "Chris was with Geoffry, he felt bad and now he's with Alice. Then Geoffry went after Mouse. Now Tae-Hyun's here and Leo's with her."
Yes, I just referred to Tae-Hyun as her. No use claiming she's a boy when she's wearing a pink prom dress and a rose in her hair.
Tina's expression stayed the same, calm, and she simply tilted her head to the side.
"Leo and Tae-Hyun?" She asked.
I pointed toward them. They had their arms around each other and Tae-Hyun had her head on Leo's chest.
"I didn't know Tae-Hyun was a girl." Tina said casually.
"None of us did." I said, "She had a plan to come here and pretend to be a boy, yada yada yada..."
"I see." Tina said, looking back at me. She looked at me for a while and she held out her hand, "Want to dance?"
I looked at Tina's hand, then at her face. Emotionless, as usual. Was she serious?
"Umm..." I said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're a girl."
"Yes..."
"And I'm a girl." I said awkwardly.
Tina shrugged, "So?"
I looked at her and said, "Uh, sure..."
Tina took my hand and lead me to the dance floor.
She put her hand that wasn't holding mine on my shoulder and I did the same.
It felt really weird dancing with a girl. I was a little embarrassed.
"I really love this song." Tina said in her usual half-there tone.
A song I recognized, but couldn't name was playing.
Follow me, everything is alright. I'll be the one to tuck you in at night and if you want to leave, I can guarantee you won't find nobody else like me.
I realized I was doing was Mouse was doing to Geoffry. I wouldn't look at Tina's face, but she was looking right at me.
That was really rude.
I looked her in the eyes. Tina had green eyes, like me. I noticed her hair and her clothes were really fancy, but she wasn't wearing any makeup.
"You don't wear makeup, do you, Tina?" I asked.
Tina shook her head, "Nope. People shouldn't feel like they have to cover up their face to be beautiful."
When I was around Tina, some of the things she said made me feel really stupid. She wasn't being mean or anything, she just sounded a lot smarter than me.
Tina could probably beat the world record of longest staring contest.
I got uncomfortable and looked away from her.
"So, is Tae-Hyun doing better?" Tina asked.
I looked at her and said, "From when we went to camp?"
Tina nodded.
"Oh, yeah. She's a lot better." I said.
"Good." Tina said, "What's her real name?"
"What?"
"What's her real name?" Tina repeated, "Tae-Hyun is a boy's name in Korea. What is her birth name?"
The question hadn't occurred to me. I knew nothing about Korea.
"I don't know." I said, "You should ask her."
Tina nodded, "Good idea."
Niether of us said anything for a few minutes. The silence was killing me.
Tina is great and I think I'm glad to know her, but it's impossible to know what she's thinking, what she's going to do next, or how she knows so much about life. I still can't get it through my head how she's so nonchalant about everything all the time.
"So," I said, breaking the silence, "What made you die your hair?"
Tina shrugged, "I was sick of it being the same all the time."
Was she kidding? Tina has a different hairstyle every single day and almost never repeats her ideas.
I snickered and Tina tilted her head to the side.
"What?" She said.
"That's just kind of silly." I said, "You change your hair every day. What do you mean you're 'sick of it being the same all the time'?"
"I always change the style of my hair, not the color." Tina said.
I nodded, "Ahh..."
Mom picked up Chris, Alice, Leo, Mouse, and I an hour later. You can only stay at a school dance for so long.
"So, kids, how was the dance?"
Mouse, Chris, and I all said, "Weird."
"It was wonderful." Leo said, dazed and beaming.
"How was it weird?" Mom asked, looking at us in the car mirror.
"Geoffry was surprisingly okay with me leaving him to dance with Alice." Chris said.
"I danced with a girl." I said.
"So did I." Mouse said.
We all looked at Mouse.
"Who did you dance with?" Leo asked.
"Geoffry." Mouse said through clenched teeth.
Leo gaped at her and Chris said, "You danced with him?"
"Yes." Mouse said, looking pissed, "He said he would leave me alone if I danced with him."
Mom gushed, "Ohh, Mousey!"
"Mom!" Chris shrieked, "That's not a good thing! She just danced with my boyfriend!"
"Who you ditched at the dance." I said.
Mom looked at us in the mirror and said, "I'm confused..."
I explained, "Chris felt bad about not going to the dance with Alice, so he told Geoffry that and Geoffry didn't care."
"He did so care!" Chris said.
I looked at him and said, "Yeah? Name one thing that he did to show that he cared?"
"He kissed me on the cheek." Chris said, crossing his arms, "And... He..."
We all looked at Chris. He furrowed his brow and, shaking his head, said, "Never mind."
"I danced with Tae-Hyun." Leo said, grinning stupidly.
I saw Mom knit her eyebrows in the mirror.
"Tae-Hyun's a girl, Mom." I said casually.
Mom looked really confused now.
My eyes got really wide when I realized something.
"Holy crap," I said, "I went out with a girl."
"Didn't you say you also danced with a girl tonight?" Mouse said.
I nodded slowly.
"Wow," Chris said, "I guess homosexuality runs in the family.
"I'm not a lesbian, Chris." I said.
Chris shrugged and said, "Sure."
"She looked so beautiful." Leo said dopily, "With that Rose in her hair and that pink dress."
"Well, Angie, it's okay to be whatever you want to be." Mom said.
"Mom!" I cried.
"What?" Mom said, "I'm just letting you know that I'm fine with whatever path you choose."
There was a pause and Chris said, "Or both paths."
"CHRIS! COME ON!" I exclaimed.
Chris, Mouse, and Alice started laughing.
"That's it, I'm in love with her." Leo said.
We all looked at him
"Where did that come from?" Alice said.
Leo swung his head to look at her, grinning away, "Tae-Hyun. She's so beautiful. She's smart and funny and cute and-"
"Leo," Mouse said.
"Huh?"
"Shut up." Mouse said, "You're making me want to vomit, almost as much as Geoffry does."
"You better stay away from him." Chris said, pointing a finger at Mouse.
"Chris..." Mom said sharply.
Mouse snorted, "Don't worry, Chris. I'm not interested in your little transvestite boyfriend..."
"And she kissed me." Leo said, sighing, "Best. Night. Ever."
"Shut up, Leo." Mouse said.
Mom stopped the car and said, "Okay, we're at Alice's house."
Alice got out of the car and Chris said, "Bye, Allie."
"Bye, Chris." Alice said, "Bye, guys. Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Harper."
"No problem, Alice." Mom said, waving out the window, "Goodnight."
We watched Alice go into her house and Mom drove Mouse and Leo home.
"So, Angie." Chris said, putting his hands behind his head and crossing his legs, "Who did you end up dancing with?"
"Tina." I said.
Chris furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Who?"
"Tina Fackler." I said.
"Ohh..." Chris said, "The giraffe girl?"
I nodded, "Yeah. It was weird, I was just sitting by the wall and she came over and asked me if I wanted to dance?"
"Do you think she likes you?" Chris asked, grinning.
I shook my head, "It's impossible to tell with Tina."
"Good point." Chris said.
Mom smiled and said, "Well, I'm glad you kids had fun."
"Yeah, we did." Chris said, beaming.
I nodded slowly.
"Yeah..."
No comments:
Post a Comment