by Sheryl Berk
Everyone was disappointed, but no one more than Emma. She had worked so hard to make matches and counsel her peers ensuring a perfect evening. Now, everything was ruined, just ruined. There would be no dance, no beautiful pink decorations, no confetti cannon, and worst of all, no Jax.
She listened in bed that night as the rain beat forcefully against the windows and the wind whipped through the trees of their backyard. The lights flickered on and off, and her mom and dad made sure that she and Luc each had a flashlight in case they lost power altogether. When she awoke in the morning, there were downed power lines and uprooted trees everywhere. “School is canceled for today,” her mom came in to inform her. Luc was cheering from his room—his high school had also closed. “Thankfully the school didn’t lose electricity, but Ms. Bates says the gym is totally flooded and they need to get the water pumped out.”
“Flooded?” Emma gasped. “Where are we supposed to have the Sadie Hawkins Dance?”
“I think that’s the last thing on Principal Bates’s mind,” her dad told her. “The entire basement level of Austen Middle is underwater. It’ll be a long time before that gym is ready to be used.”
Emma couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t bad enough that the dance was canceled yesterday, now it would never happen? She looked at her dress hanging from a hook on her closet door. It was a beautiful shade of purple crushed velvet, with a wrap front and ruffles along the hemline. When she saw it in the window of Daniella’s Dress Boutique, she knew it was the one. She had been counting the hours till the dance—and this had to happen.
“It’s a natural disaster,” her father tried to soothe her frazzled nerves. He was watching the news about the local damage. “It’s no one’s fault. Sometimes, these things just happen. We’re lucky we’re okay. It could have been much worse.”
“Really? I don’t think so,” Emma sulked. She knew she sounded like a spoiled brat moaning about the dance being canceled, but it felt like such a letdown. She looked out the window—the sky was perfectly blue and the sun was shining. It was the calm after the storm. But couldn’t it have waited to happen over the weekend? Did Mother Nature have to step in and spoil everything the day of the dance?
As disappointed as she was, she knew the rest of her classmates would be just as upset. Harriet called her, moaning: “It’s not fair! I slept in rollers all night so my hair would have beachy waves!”
“I wish we could have the dance somewhere else besides the gym,” Emma thought out loud. “The storm is over. My dad says it’s perfectly safe to go out.”
“Go where?” Harriet replied. “Did you read the email from Principal Bates? The gym is underwater. Are we supposed to swim at the dance? And to think of all that cake and ice cream that will go to waste!”
Ice cream! Why hadn’t she thought of it before? “Harriet, I need you to call Izzy and meet me at Freddy’s in an hour.”
“Emma!” Harriet wailed. “How can you eat at a time like this? The Sadie Hawkins Dance is history.”
“No it isn’t—not yet,” Emma promised her. “I have an idea how to save it.”
“Freddy,” Emma said, barging through the door of the ice cream shop. “We have a terrible predicament.” She knew Freddy’s had survived five decades of rain, snow, sleet—even a small earthquake—and remained unscathed. The nor’easter had knocked out power in the area, but Freddy had an emergency generator so his ice cream would never melt. The lights were on, and Freddy was polishing the tabletops with a damp rag so they sparkled.
Freddy sat down on a counter stool and stroked his white beard. “Lay it on me,” he said. “I’ve heard it all over the years. What’s the problem?”
“Our school gym is flooded,” Harriet said.
“Underwater,” Izzy added.
“Totaled,” Emma continued. “And we were supposed to have our seventh-grade dance last night. That’s seventy very disappointed seventh graders.”
“Devastated,” Izzy piped up.
“Miserable,” Harriet sniffled.
“Well, that is a new one,” Freddy said. “I’ve never heard of a sunken gymnasium before. But what can I do to help? You kids need a few pints of Really Rocky Road to cheer you up?”
“Not exactly,” Emma said. “We need you to host the dance here.”
“Here? Seventy kids dancing here?” Freddy mopped his brow with a dish towel. “That’s a tall order, young lady.”
Emma walked around the ice cream shop. “If we pushed back all the tables, it would make room for a dance floor.” She continued visualizing it. “We could put the chairs stacked up high in the kitchen.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to help you and your friends out, Emma. But I don’t think I have the resources for a fancy dance. Who would I get for staff? Or to help me set and clean up?”
“We could ask Jordie and her decorating team to come in and make everything pretty and pink. Luc didn’t deliver the supplies, they’re all still waiting at Partytopia.”
“And I’m sure Ms. Bates, Mr. Goddard, and some of our parents would pitch in,” Izzy added.
“A dance needs music, doesn’t it?” the owner asked them. “All I got is an old jukebox that barely works in the corner.”
“Winston could do the audio and the lighting,” Emma volunteered. “He’s a whiz at it.”
“I dunno,” Freddy said. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Pretty please,” Emma pleaded. “It’s just one night and you could totally save the day. You’d be our hero!”
Freddy leaned back and looked around. “A hero, huh? You really think you could dress this place up and have a dance here?”
“I know we could,” Emma said, confidently.
“Then I guess I can’t say no,” Freddy replied.
Emma threw her arms around him and hugged him. “Freddy, we can’t thank you enough. This is going to be the best Sadie Hawkins Dance anyone has ever seen.”
Emma called Principal Bates to tell her the good news.
“That’s wonderful, Emma,” Ms. Bates said. “And Austen will pick up the tab for all the ice cream—make sure you tell Freddy to save me one of his root beer floats!”
Harriet and Izzy were in charge of calling in the troops: Jordie and Lyla would bring all the cheerleaders to help decorate Freddy’s; Elton, Jax, and the soccer and track teams would help move the tables and chairs and clear the room; and Winston and the school show-choir tech crew would set up speakers and lights. They would all pitch in and help clean up, leaving Freddy’s spic-and-span after the dance was over.
That left Emma to fill in the rest of her classmates—with a special Ask Emma Urgent News Post. She sat at her laptop and typed:
Dear Fellow Seventh Graders,
I have some good news—make that some great news. Even though our gym is in bad shape after the storm, we have a place to have an amazing Sadie Hawkins Dance tonight: Freddy’s Deep Freeze! Everyone is pitching in to make this dance perfect. So get ready, get your dancing shoes on, and see you there at seven tonight! Please spread the word and make sure everyone knows we’re back on!
XO,
Emma
Her dad knocked gently on her door. “So now you can add party planner to your résumé, eh?” Mr. Woods joked. “I hear you saved the seventh-grade dance by getting Freddy to host it.”
“And I hear you asked Mom to marry her over a bowl of Lucky Charms,” Emma teased. “We’re both very creative.”
“That we are,” her dad said, smiling. “I also thought you might need a few extra hands tonight at the party, so your mom and I can volunteer.”
“Really? You don’t mind?” Emma asked.
“Mind? There’s a Funky Monkey Banana Split with my name on it waiting at Freddy’s. You can pay me back in ice cream—and you know Freddy serves ‘twenty tongue-tantalizing flavors every day.’”
“It’s a deal,” Emma agreed. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Oh, and I got your brother to DJ,” her father added. �
��I had to bribe him with a Star Wars marathon for the next five family movie nights, but I figure it’s worth it.”
Emma winced. “Okay. Anything to save the dance.”
Now the only detail that was left was Emma herself—in all the commotion over the storm, she hadn’t given much thought to how she wanted to wear her hair or what color lipstick and eye shadow would go with her purple dress. She stared at herself in her bathroom mirror: Her nose was sprinkled with freckles and her hair hung in loose blond waves down her back. She remembered what Jax had told her, “Sometimes you think too much, Emma, and you get carried away.” Then she thought about what her mom had said about her dad winning her over by being “the realest boy she ever met.” She applied just a dot of lip gloss, a hint of mascara, and a touch of powder, letting her natural beauty—and her freckles—shine through. Then she scooped her hair into a low ponytail and tied it with a lavender ribbon to match her dress. It was all simply perfect, and it was all simply her.
The doors at Freddy’s Deep Freeze were locked until precisely seven o’clock—that’s when the long line of Austen seventh graders winding around the block got their first glimpse of the Sadie Hawkins Dance in all its glory.
Emma had decided she would meet Jax there. She’d keep everything cool and casual; the last thing she wanted to do was scare him again. As she walked through the door, what she saw took her breath away. The entire room was draped in pink toile, and pink balloons floated on the ceiling. She couldn’t believe this was Freddy’s; it looked more like something out of a fairy tale. She had to admit it: Jordie and her cheerleaders had done an amazing job transforming the room into a magical space, and Luc and the Partytopia staff had certainly come through. Winston had strung sparkling lights all along the counter, and music was booming from speakers he had mounted on the walls.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Harriet gushed. She looked like a frosted cupcake in her puffy pink dress with a sheer layer of shimmering sequins sprinkled across the skirt. “I can’t believe we pulled this off, Emma. After everything we went through, it’s just perfect.” Marty was wearing a white suit and pink tie to match.
“Not too shabby, huh?” he asked Emma, tugging on his lapels.
“I kind of expected you two to dress as Superman and Supergirl—but this is much better,” Emma joked.
Izzy and Elton also looked perfectly paired: She wore a little black dress with a red sash around her waist, and Elton was in a black shirt and red bow tie.
Everyone looked amazing—so elegant, so put together.
“Make way, make way,” Lyla said, parting the sea of students for Jordie’s big entrance.
“The queen has arrived,” Ty told Emma. “You don’t wanna miss this.”
Emma stepped aside and watched and waited like the rest of the seventh grade for Jordie’s fashionably late arrival.
Finally, she appeared at the door, a vision in bubblegum pink, from her billowing ball gown to her elbow-length gloves to the tiara perched on top of her updo. Winston trailed behind her, proud and perfectly matched in a black tux with a pink bow tie and cummerbund. His hair was slicked back, and his glasses were tucked away in his pocket.
“Winston, you’re a vision,” Emma told him. “I never would have recognized you.”
“I don’t recognize me, either,” Winston admitted. “But I like it!”
Jordie strolled over to Emma. “I have to hand it to you,” she told her. “You saved the dance. I would have been very upset if this custom couture gown didn’t have its moment in the spotlight.”
“Glad I could help,” Emma said.
“Helping is your talent,” Jordie told her. “Like mine is singing, dancing, acting—just about every-thing else.”
Emma tried not to laugh; Jordie was a bit full of herself. But telling her she had a talent for helping others made up for it. It’s the one thing that truly made her feel fulfilled—just knowing that she had been able to bring so many people together and come up with a way to prevent this magical night from being canceled.
She suddenly spied Jax watching her from the corner by the jukebox. She waved, and he came over, smiling.
“You look amazing,” he said. He was wearing a light-blue, button-down shirt that made his eyes look even bluer, and a purple tie that complemented her dress.
“How did you know what color my dress was?” Emma asked, surprised. “That tie is a perfect match.”
“Two little birdies might have told me,” Jax said. “You really have some great friends.” He handed her a wrist corsage made of delicate purple irises and lilacs.
Emma looked around the room at her match-making handiwork: There was Marty and Harriet, arm and arm; Izzy and Elton toasting each other with ice cream sundaes; Lyla and Ty busting some moves on the dance floor; Winston carrying the train on Jordie’s gown and grinning from ear to ear; Ms. Bates and Mr. Goddard were standing by the punch bowl chatting; and even her parents looked delighted to be helping, scooping out cups of ice cream with Freddy behind the counter.
“Ya wanna dance?” Jax asked her. She remembered the last time they had danced together, at the Student Congress after-party, while Maroon 5 performed in the background.
“I loved the iMovie you made,” he whispered in her ear as they began to take the floor side by side. Emma looked stunned—how could he have possibly seen it?
Jax read her mind. “I said you had the best friends—they kind of snuck it off your laptop and sent it to me.”
Remind me to strangle Izzy and Harriet, Emma thought. And remind me to change my password! But she couldn’t be angry at them; they had just been trying to get her and Jax back together. Come to think of it, she definitely would have done the same thing herself.
“They figured since you helped them get their dates for the dance, the least they could do was patch things up between us.”
“And did it work?” Emma asked, shyly. “Did they patch things up, I mean?” He was holding one of her hands in his and the other was around her waist.
“I never forgot about DC or us, Emma,” he admitted.
“Well, you seemed to have a pretty bad case of amnesia.”
“I’m sorry I acted weird, but I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”
Emma saw her dad dipping her mom on the dance floor. “We Woods are pretty persistent,” she said. “I tried everything I could to make you like me again.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Jax told her. “Because I think you’re amazing just the way you are.”
Emma noticed the music had suddenly stopped. She heard Luc’s voice over the microphone: “And this one goes out to someone you all know: Emma Woods.” Bruno Mars’s “Just the Way You Are” began playing, and a confetti cannon suddenly went off showering the entire dance floor in pink and silver. Everyone cheered—even Ms. Bates and Mr. Goddard who seemed to be gazing into each other’s eyes.
“You set this up, too?” Emma laughed. “How much did it take to bribe Luc?”
“Ten dollars,” Jax said, grinning. “And I told Mr. Freddy the soccer and track teams would handle the cleanup. That’s a whole lotta confetti.”
“Very impressive,” Emma said. “You thought of everything—and I had no idea what you were up to.”
“I can do sneaky,” Jax said. “I learned from the best.”
They swayed to the music and Emma rested her cheek against Jax’s shoulder. This felt right. They felt right together. And Emma couldn’t have been happier if she had planned the whole thing herself.
And for once, she was glad she hadn’t.
CARRIE’S GUIDE TO THE ULTIMATE SLUMBER PARTY!
Want to throw the most epic party à la the gang at Austen Middle School? Gather your BFFs for a slumber party and prepare to have the night of your life—Ask Emma style!
INVITE YOUR GUESTS
Make a potential guest list of five to eight of your closest friends (depending on how much space you have at home) and show your parents before moving forward with invitatio
ns. Once they approve, it’s time to figure out whether you want to Evite, text, purchase, or make your own invitations. If you want to go the DIY route, an online template with a bright, welcoming border (cute heart or floral patterns are always winners) works perfectly. You can slip the invite into your besties’ lockers at school and wait for replies to come rolling in! Always make sure your invitation includes:
WHO: You! The name of the person hosting
WHAT: An awesome slumber party!
WHERE: Your address
WHEN: Date and time, including pickup the next day
WHAT TO BRING: PJs, sleeping bag, pillow, robe, slippers, toothbrush, change of clothes for the next morning. You can also ask guests to bring their fave board games to play, or some homemade snacks to share.
RSVP: A date to let you know if they’re in or out for the festivities
CONTACT: An email and/or phone number in case your guests or their parents need to reach you for more details or with questions
Once you finalize your list of attendees, start a group chat and coordinate outfits for the night. Matching PJs and scrunchies make for the most adorable selfies!
DECK THE HALLS
Or, in this case, your bedroom, basement, living room—whatever locale you’re planning on staging your sleepover. Be as creative as you like: Set up mini fabric tents for each guest; string lights, balloons, paper lanterns, butterflies, streamers. Maybe (like Jordie) you want to have a pretty-and-pink theme! You can also set up fun “stations” for girls to do activities, i.e. “The Nail Salon”—a table with assorted polishes for giving one another mani-pedis. (See below for more activity ideas.)
ARRANGE YOUR EATS
Before your friends arrive, prepare an assortment of snacks to nibble on throughout the course of the evening. I recommend placing Cheetos, popcorn, candy, and chips in large bowls to share. Finger foods are also a good choice: mini grilled cheese sandwiches (cut them in quarters); chicken nuggets with assorted dipping sauces; mini pizza bagels; fruit kabobs (chunks of melon, pineapple, and grapes on wooden skewers).
