Not only did Mr. and Mrs. Gordon sit at their own table, but they were in a whole different room. Nita’s Bistro was definitely the fanciest restaurant I’d ever been to, with chandeliers and flowers and candles on the tables. My eyes bulged when I saw the prices on the menu.
“My parents are paying,” Julia said when she noticed my expression. “I’m pretty sure my dad called all of your parents earlier. He really just wanted an excuse to eat here,” she added, grinning. “I think he’d come once a week if he could, but my mom says they have to save it for ‘special occasions.’”
Even though we were all dressed up in a super-romantic restaurant, after a few minutes I realized it didn’t feel much different than sitting at the cafeteria table together. In fact, for a while I forgot to be nervous about the whole “date” thing.
“I finally started reading that book,” I told Julia, twirling pasta on my fork. “I seriously cannot believe you like it.”
Julia’s eyes widened. “You mean you don’t?”
“No, I love it!” I said. “It’s just a lot scarier than you said it’d be.”
“But it’s funny, too!” Julia grabbed a piece of bread. “That’s why I kept reading, I guess.”
I put my fork down. “So that’s the secret to getting you into horror! It just has to be funny, too.”
“There’s a movie coming out this summer that’s kind of comedy and horror,” Owen told Julia. “Mutant Clowns from Planet—”
“No!” Julia cried, shaking her head frantically as Seth and I snickered. “No, no, no, no way, no. Never.”
Owen blinked. “Why not?”
“She’s afraid of clowns,” I explained, and Seth nodded.
“Serious phobia.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “It’s not a phobia.”
“It is,” Seth said. “Coulrophobia. I looked it up after you saw that clown making animal balloons at my cousin’s birthday party and freaked out.”
I choked a little on my pasta. “What happened?”
“I didn’t freak out,” Julia protested. “I just . . . left the room.”
Seth caught my eye and grinned. “She hid in the coat closet.”
I giggled, and Julia rolled her eyes. “Look, a fear of clowns is perfectly healthy, considering they’re pure evil.”
Owen was still staring at her in disbelief. “Normal clowns, though? The nice ones with painted faces and red noses and—”
“Stop!” Julia yelled, clamping her hands over her ears.
“Okay, no more clown talk,” I said, still laughing. “I promise.”
After a piece of molten chocolate cake that made me realize why Mr. Gordon loved this restaurant so much, we headed back out to their SUV. Julia slipped her hand into Seth’s, patting her belly with her other hand.
“Ugh,” she said. “I might be too full to dance!”
I laughed, but just hearing the word dance was enough to set my butterflies fluttering around again. When Mr. Gordon pulled into the school parking lot, Julia and Seth hopped out first. Owen went next, then held out his hand to help me out. And even after I’d closed the door behind me, he didn’t let go.
Neither of us said a word about it. We just followed Julia and Seth inside, hand in hand like we did it all the time. Julia didn’t say anything, either, although I caught the smile on her face when she noticed.
I could hear the thump of the music coming from the gym all the way down the hall, although some of it might have been my heart pounding in my ears. This dance was going to be interesting.
Just like at the winter dance, I thought it was kind of amazing that some flashing lights and streamers made the gym look so un-gym-like. But as my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I realized the student council had done an even better job this time.
“Wow!” I said, blinking. Glow-in-the-dark moons and stars hung from the high ceiling at different lengths, some of them just a foot or two over our heads. The fluorescent streamers and balloons everywhere all seemed to glow, too. I squinted at the giant lights set up near the DJ.
“Black lights!” Brooke appeared next to us, smiling widely and carrying what looked like a hundred glow necklaces and bracelets in neon colors. “What do you think?”
“It looks amazing!” Julia exclaimed, taking a few necklaces and putting them on. “This is so cool.”
I took a purple necklace, then slipped on a matching bracelet. On my other wrist, the tiny white buds around the blue flower glowed, too. “You guys did an awesome job,” I told Brooke. She was student-council president, which seemed like a ton of work. Although I had to admit the idea of organizing a dance sounded like pretty much the most fun thing ever.
“Thanks!” Brooke gave Seth and Owen their necklaces. “We were freaking out for a while because our budget was smaller than it was for the winter dance. Then I talked to Mrs. Sutton and she told me the theater department had those black lights. So I ordered a bunch of UV balloons, and all the other glow-in-the-dark stuff was pretty cheap.” She gazed around the gym, clearly pleased. “It worked out, I guess.”
I nodded. “It totally did. It looks really . . . alien.”
Brooke laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It is,” Owen assured her. We’d dropped hands to put on the necklaces and bracelets, which was disappointing. So when the four of us started to make our way across the gym, I took his hand again before I could lose my nerve. It was hard to tell with all the weird lighting, but I was pretty sure I caught a little smile on his face. And more than a few blinks.
“You guys, how happy am I that I wore a white dress?”
Turning, we started to laugh. Gabby spread her arms out so we could get the full effect—between her bright white off-the-shoulder dress and the dozens of glow necklaces and bracelets around her neck and arms, she was practically blinding. She’d even stuck a few glow sticks in her hair, which was twisted up in a bun.
“You look radiant,” Seth deadpanned, and Gabby beamed.
“Why, thank you!”
Someone bumped my hip, and I glanced over to see Natasha at my side. “That dress still rocks,” she announced.
“Yours too. Nice touch,” I added, pointing at the green glow necklaces she was using as a headband. It actually looked really cool with her green dress.
“Thanks!” Natasha leaned closer. “So what’s going on here?” she asked in a low voice, glancing pointedly at my and Owen’s hands.
I smiled and shrugged, hoping the dim lighting hid my blush. “I don’t know. Nothing. Something. Maybe.”
Natasha’s eyes lit up. “Maybe?” She looked like she wanted to say something else, then changed her mind and just stood wearing a completely goofy grin that made me laugh.
Something about acknowledging it out loud made me feel a lot braver about the whole thing. In fact, with the black lights and glow necklaces making everyone look kind of surreal, I forgot all about my nerves.
“Wanna dance?” I asked Owen.
He grinned. “Yeah.”
For almost half an hour, the DJ played nothing but fast songs. During a really upbeat one by Infinite Crush, Julia’s favorite band, Brooke released a black net none of us had noticed overhead, sending dozens of glowing UV balloons onto the dance floor. We danced in a big group, with Gabby and Victoria occasionally doing one of their funny routines while Max and Trevor batted balloons around like volleyballs. I started to think it was kind of silly that any of us even bothered asking dates. We were all together, anyway, so why did it matter?
Then a slow song started. Flushed and out of breath, I glanced at Owen. He smiled nervously.
Oh right. That’s why.
Kicking a balloon out of the way, I stepped closer to him while everyone paired up around us. We hesitated for a second. Then I put my hands on his shoulders, and he put his hands on my waist, and we were dancing.<
br />
Our faces were pretty close, which was both nice and terrifying. I tried to think of something to talk about, but my mind had gone completely blank. Just when the silence started to make me feel panicky, a glowing pink balloon sailed over and bopped me in the head.
Owen swatted it away. We started laughing, and everything felt normal again.
Relieved, I glanced around and grinned. “Oh, no way—look at that.” We turned slowly until Owen was facing Gabby and Trevor, who were dancing together. His eyes widened in surprise.
“That’s . . . weird,” he said. “I thought they couldn’t stand each other.”
“I’m not sure,” I replied, squinting through the neon stars at Gabby. “I kind of think they like pretending they don’t like each other, if that makes sense.”
“Huh.” Owen laughed a little. “It looks like they’re arguing already.”
He was right—they were definitely bickering about something. I saw Gabby lightly swat the back of Trevor’s head. “But they’re still dancing,” I pointed out, giggling. “See what I mean?”
When a fast song started up, I was a little disappointed. But it wasn’t long before the DJ played a slow one again. For almost an hour, hardly anyone left the dance floor. I saw Natasha dancing with Seth for one song, and with Gabe for two others. Gabby danced with Liam (then Max, then some guy I didn’t know, then Victoria). But Owen and I danced together for every slow song. By the fourth or fifth one, I was starting to think maybe dating Owen wouldn’t change everything as drastically as I’d thought. After all, I’d been really nervous about dancing with him, but it already felt as normal as just hanging out and playing video games. Well, maybe not that normal. But pretty close.
The problem was, I had no idea how to actually tell him all of this. And it might have been my imagination, but it seemed like maybe Owen was thinking the same thing. A few times, he looked like he was going to say something, but stopped himself.
“Want a drink?” he asked when another slow song faded out.
“Sure!”
Dodging a few rogue balloons, we left the dance floor and headed over to the food table. I spotted Aaron and his girlfriend over by the snacks and looked around for Natasha out of habit. She was dancing with Gabe. Again. Interesting, I thought with a smile, making a mental note to ask her about that later.
Owen and I wandered around the gym for a few songs, sipping punch and talking about movies and the science fair and pretty much everything except what I really wanted to talk about. We were holding hands again, though. Which was starting to get kind of funny, since we seemed to be pretending it didn’t mean anything. I had the sudden, ridiculous mental image of us at the dance next year as eighth-graders, holding hands and dancing but insisting to everyone that we were still just friends. It would’ve made me laugh if it wasn’t so pathetic.
I tossed my cup in a trash can as another slow song started. But before Owen and I made it back to the dance floor, Gabby appeared in front of us wearing twice as many glow necklaces as she had been half an hour ago.
“My eyes!” I cried, shielding my face with my free hand.
Gabby grinned. “I found a box of extras on the side of the bleachers. Anyway, you guys mind if I cut in for a dance?”
I glanced at Owen, who looked as surprised as I felt. “Sure,” we both said at the same time, although I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. Gabby dancing with Owen didn’t bother me at all, but I wasn’t sure how many songs were left.
Then Gabby grabbed my hand with a bright smile. “I’ll have her back in one piece!” she promised Owen. He laughed as she tugged me through the crowd of dancing couples, all the way to the middle of the floor. Gabby spun me around before putting one hand on my back, the other clasping mine out to the side like we were ballroom dancing. Except not as formal, because I couldn’t stop giggling.
After a few seconds, Gabby cleared her throat expectantly. “Well?”
“Well what?” I asked, still grinning.
“You like Owen.”
She raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for denial. Tilting my head, I pretended to consider it. Then I said: “Yeah, I do. A lot.”
Gabby’s eyes widened. Tilting her head back, she yelled “finally!” at the ceiling, causing several nearby couples to give us weird looks, including Sophie and Liam. Giggling, I gestured at Gabby to keep her voice down. (Sophie was nice and all, but she was still pretty gossipy. The last thing I wanted was for Owen to hear about this conversation before I could tell him myself how I felt.)
“So have you talked to him yet?” Gabby asked eagerly, waving her hand as a yellow balloon soared over our heads.
“No. Hey, it’s hard!” I added in a low voice when she rolled her eyes.
“I like you.” Gabby’s face was dead serious. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s super hard to say.”
I sighed. “You know what I mean.”
“Okay, so don’t say anything. Get my drift?” Gabby puckered her lips in an exaggerated kiss. I burst into giggles again, feeling my face heat up.
“I can’t just . . . do that.”
“Oh, sure you can,” Gabby said dismissively. “You’ve got to do something. Or he does. Seriously, watching you two is like the race of the lovesick turtles or something.” She started to lead me in a ridiculously slow sort of tango, which just made me crack up again (and earned us a lot more weird looks). “Trevor says he pretty much never stops talking about you,” she added, after twirling me around until I felt a little dizzy. “It drives him nuts.”
I blushed again, remembering how Amy had said the same thing. “Kind of like how you keep talking about Trevor?”
Gabby snorted. “Quit changing the subject.”
“I saw you guys dancing earlier,” I went on anyway. “Who asked who?”
“I asked him,” Gabby said. “And I will not be asking him again.”
“Why?”
“Because he got pretty annoyed when I did this.” Without warning, Gabby dipped me so low, I thought I was going to fall flat on my back. I grabbed her shoulders, laughing as she pulled me back up.
“Did you for real?” I managed to choke out, still sniggering.
Gabby smiled proudly. “Of course. I always lead.”
I wiped my eyes. “You have no idea how much I wish I’d seen that.”
“It was pretty epic,” Gabby agreed. “But taking the lead is fun sometimes.” She gave me a pointed look. “Know what I mean?”
I nodded. “Yes, Captain Obvious.” But despite my light tone, I appreciated Gabby’s advice. I liked Owen, so I should tell him. It didn’t have to be so complicated.
“You know what, Gabby?” I said. “You’re a really good friend. And a great dancer.”
Gabby beamed. “You too.” She twirled me around one more time as the song ended. When a fast beat started up, the dance floor got a lot more crowded. I spotted Julia and Seth and the others, and Gabby and I made our way over to them. Soon we were in a group again, dancing and batting the balloons all over the place.
Then the DJ announced the last song. While we danced, I told Owen about Gabby and Trevor. “He’s probably hiding from her,” I finished, snickering. But Owen’s eyes were wide.
“Actually . . .” He turned us until I saw Gabby and Trevor not far away, dancing and bickering again. My mouth fell open.
“Well.” I shook my head. “Guess I was wrong.”
We started talking about the science fair, but I was distracted. Just tell him, I thought over and over. But surrounded by our friends on a crowded dance floor, I suddenly felt like everyone was staring at us. Or listening. They weren’t, of course, but I didn’t want to tell Owen how I felt while crammed in a gym with half the school.
Tomorrow, I decided as the song ended. Right after the science fair. No chickening out this time.
I woke up late Satu
rday morning after dreaming about a glowing pink spaceship covered in giant speakers blasting “Labyrinthine Dances” while dozens of aliens danced the tango around it. It had to be pretty much the nerdiest dream ever, I decided as I made my bed.
“Well, you’re looking cheerful,” said Mom when I walked into the kitchen. “The dance was fun, I take it?”
“Yes. Very.” I stuck my head into the fridge in a preemptive strike against blushing, pretending to look for the milk. I literally couldn’t make my mouth stop smiling.
“Sorry I wasn’t awake when you got home,” Mom said, cupping her hands around a mug of coffee. “All the ice cream made me sleepy. Dad said you came in wearing glow sticks or something?”
I giggled. “Yeah, the student council handed them out. There was glow stuff everywhere.” Grabbing a box of cereal from the pantry, I suddenly remembered my parents’ plans yesterday. “Wait, so you went to Maggie’s?” I asked eagerly. “Was Amy there?”
“Oh, even better.” Mom gave me a rather evil grin. “Not only was she working, her father had just stopped in to pick up an ice-cream cake. We ended up having a nice time chatting with him. Although for some reason Chad looked a little freaked out when he showed up after work and found the four of us at a table together.”
Milk sloshed out of my cereal bowl, and I set the carton down quickly. “Are you serious?”
Mom nodded. “I don’t know why. What’s so intimidating about walking into an ice-cream shop to find your parents hanging out with your girlfriend and her father? And I was telling them such nice stories about him, too.”
I started giggling uncontrollably. “Which stories? Please say the cowboy boots.”
“Ah, the cowboy boots!” Making a face, Mom took a sip of coffee. “Totally forgot that one. I did tell them about his excellent performance as Captain Hook when he did that play in elementary school. Amy seemed pretty excited when I told her we had it on video. I think we might watch it when she comes over for dinner.”
“She’s coming over, really?” I asked, grinning. “Awesome. Poor Chad.”
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