by Abigail Boyd
We pulled out our books and followed the normal routine, wading knee-deep in numbers. He seemed surprised by how much better I was doing.
"You don't even need me anymore," he said.
"I need you," I said quickly, and then blushed at how I had blurted the words. He chuckled.
"Well, alright then. I'll stay."
We finished early and started chatting about the rest of school.
"I wish there was a way to make Ms. Fellows more interesting," Henry said, echoing my sentiments. "I almost fall asleep in her class every day."
I laughed, agreeing. "She almost makes me hate reading. And I thought that was near impossible. English is my favorite."
"I told you mine is physics, right?" he asked.
"I vaguely remember that," I said, nodding. "When you offered to start tutoring me. What do you like so much about it?"
"Everything is physics," he said simply. "Like gravity, the attraction of one body to another. Why we stay on earth instead of floating. Or between you and me, for example," he teased with one of his token smiles.
"Yes, gravity is what keeps us together," I said, rolling my eyes. "Or just my terrible skill at math."
"If you don't stop saying that, I'm going to stop helping you," he said, but I could tell he was only vaguely irritated. "You need to stop beating yourself up."
"I have my reasons," I said.
"Really?" he asked, curious. "What are those reasons? I'm always telling you my secrets, but I've yet to hear any of yours."
"I don't have any secrets," I said, knowing it wasn't true.
"Everyone has secrets, Ariel," he said. The sound of his voice saying my name thrilled me more than was logical; I wanted him to say it again.
"Maybe I'll tell you someday," I offered.
He checked his watch, and as if on a timer, we heard a car pull up outside.
"Time to go," he said, standing up.
"One of these days I have to find a way to repay you," I said, following him to the den doors. He stopped in front of me and turned around.
"Well," he started, rubbing the back of his head, "I know it's late notice but — what do you think about the dance coming up?"
"I think it's so stupid how into it everyone gets," I complained, not understanding where he was going with the question. "Two hundred dollars for a dress you're going to wear for one night? No thanks."
"Oh." His beautiful face fell. "Then I guess you wouldn't want to go with me then."
I nearly choked. I coughed and he patted my back, his face concerned.
"You're asking me to go with you?" I asked finally when I regained the ability to speak. He nodded.
"Sure," I said, the giddy feeling returning. "I'd love to." I had imagined this moment, complete with what we would be wearing and what his facial expressions would be, but I figured that jinxed me from ever having it come true.
"Even though you think it's silly?" he teased.
"Well, I'm returning the favor from you going with me to the haunted house," I offered. Inside I had the heart of a hummingbird, fluttering like crazy. We walked out of the den, me behind him, grateful that he didn't see how absolutely thrilled I was. I had to stop myself from doing a little dance.
It wasn't Henry's father who had arrived, but Claire, who had come home from work. She was waiting for us in the dining room. She had still not met Henry yet, and pestered me about it endlessly, as if I should have waited for her to be home to have him over just so she could.
"Hi, you must be Henry. I'm Claire," she said brightly, holding her hand out to shake. Her blonde hair was pulled into her usual work up-do, and she wore a pinstripe suit, looking as though she had just gotten ready instead of working for ten hours.
"Nice to meet you," he said. I think she was disappointed he didn't say she looked like my sister.
"My daughter and my husband have said nothing but great things about you," she beamed. I groaned internally. "You really have me impressed by how much her grades are improving."
"Well, Ariel did all the work herself," he said modestly. "I've just been sitting there."
"I'm sure that's not true," she said, smiling coyly. I could tell by the way she was looking at him that he had worked his charms on her.
"It's completely true," he said. "Your daughter is a very smart, capable girl. And I hope you don't mind, but I asked her to be my date this weekend for the Halloween dance."
I think I could have pushed Claire over with a piece of paper. The excitement that glimmered in her eyes made them sparkle. "That is just wonderful!" she said. "When did this happen?"
"Just a few minutes ago," I said, and she looked at me as if she had forgotten I was still in the room.
"Well, we have to make sure you get a great dress, and new dancing shoes..." she put her arms around me and led me to the living room as I glared at Henry. I'm sorry he mouthed with a grin.
I'm surprised Claire let Henry out of the house when his dad showed up. By the time we said goodbye, I had been asked about so many dance plans my head was spinning. I hoped it was a good idea to accept, after all.
The next day in Art, we were starting to move on to painting. Small easels with blank canvases sat on all the tables when we walked into the art room.
Theo looked excited. I didn't feel that way; I inflicted more damage with paint than I did with pencils. Being Theo's friend hadn't helped improve my skill any.
"How are your sketches coming along for the gallery?" I asked her as I zipped up my backpack.
"Pretty good," she said optimistically, laying out several paintbrushes like surgical tools. "I'll have a batch ready to show your dad by the end of November. I hate being a perfectionist. It takes me forever to finish anything."
Suddenly, the lights flickered. I looked up at the ceiling, pausing. Then the lights went completely out. Fear bubbled up inside my chest for a moment, until I realized everyone else saw it, too. Ms. Vore kept all her windows open, facing the field, but a few girls giggled at the semi-darkness. After a moment the lights blinked back on.
"McPherson needs to take care of that," Ms. Vore muttered as she was walking down the aisle with a tub of acrylic paints.
"Is there an electrical problem?" I asked.
Realizing she'd been heard, she grinned sheepishly. "They've just been having wiring issues with all the remodeling. They were flickering like crazy a few weeks ago during parent teacher conferences. I heard they're going to schedule some electricians soon."
I sat back in my chair, happy that for once there was a logical reason for the lights going out.
"Why won't you tell me who your date is?" I asked Theo, kicking a rock down the sidewalk. It was the Thursday before the dance, and we were walking into town to go dress shopping.
She stared straight ahead, her small face resolute. "You'll see him on Saturday," she said. "Why is it an issue?"
"That's precisely my question, why is it an issue?"
She grimaced and remained silent. "Can't we talk about something else?"
Thankfully, Claire couldn't get the afternoon off, so we were on our own. I could only imagine the ribbon-festooned monstrosity she would have unleashed upon me. The air had dipped much colder, wintery, the smell of bonfires seasoning the air. I was glad for the deep pockets of my coat as I jammed my frigid hands into them.
A cheery bell dinged as we entered the dress shop. The warmth inside was a relief. In the front window, skeletons instead of mannequins were decked out in red formalwear. Whether this was a comment on the fashion industry or just the usual Halloween Town fun, I didn't know.
There were racks of bridal gowns and bridesmaids dresses in a rainbow of colors, along with a bunch of different styles of formal dresses. The store smelled strongly of eucalyptus, jammed into tall white vases all around the room.
"Where do we start?" Theo asked, dismayed. Her brow puckered as she cracked her knuckles. I surveyed the dizzying array of choices. For once, I wish I had the fashion sense of my mother.
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br /> The eager saleslady descended on us, smelling fresh meat. Her unnaturally tinted hair was piled tightly on her head.
"Hello, ladies," she purred. "Looking for dresses for the school dance?"
"How did you guess?" Theo asked, taken aback not just by her words but by the spooky expression on the woman's heavily made-up face.
"My daughter goes to Hawthorne, too," she beamed. "Shawna Jameson."
"Oh, yeah," I said, nodding. I had never heard of the girl, but I wanted to be polite.
Charleen, according to her nametag, guided us over to a rack of dresses in darker tones of mauve and olive.
"These are brand new for the winter season," she said. One leopard print, claw-like fingernail trailed along the shiny, intimidating fabrics. She pulled out a pumpkin-colored two piece with a flourish and held up to Theo. The dress dwarfed her.
"Oh, wow," Theo said, the side of her face twitching. I was worried she would have a stroke. "That sure is a dress."
"Do you maybe have something more...traditional?" I asked in the politest way I could think of.
"Sure!" The woman crowed, and jammed the dress back in with its companions. "Follow me, ladies!"
She led us to rack of dresses that looked like they were leftover from my mother's prom, all poufy sleeves and bright neon colors. Theo was biting her lip raw, trying not to laugh. I felt the same way, although I really didn't know what I was looking for.
"I don't know if that's exactly what we had in mind, either," I said delicately, fiddling with the price tag on a purple dress with blue sleeves.
"You know what, let me take a look in the back," the woman said, not to be discouraged. She disappeared behind a set of thick green curtains.
"This is some overpriced polyester," I said, balking at several of the price tags.
"Yeah, we need cheap polyester, the way it's meant to be," Theo said. "Everything in here is ugly. Let's scoot before she locks the door and makes us play dress-up."
We escaped out of the store before Charleen could come back out.
"What now?" Theo asked breathlessly as we were chugging away on the pavement.
"We could try the thrift store," I suggested. My breath was coming out in little puffs. I wondered how long snow would hold off this year. "Not glamorous, but they might have something. If you dig hard enough you can usually find some kind of treasure."
It was a short walk down to the thrift store. I hadn't been in a long time. Housed in a large building that used to be a warehouse, the store was crammed with ceramics, dishes, toys and clothes. As usual, the building was full of shoppers picking through the goods. Theo followed me over to the section with discarded dresses and costumes.
"Looks like they were cleaning out the theater department," I observed. A decent amount of costumes hung on the rows. We shifted the hangers and looked through the offerings. A plaid shirt and fringed pants complete with a cowboy hat, a Native American dress, something that looked like a deconstructed spacesuit.
"Not seeing anything yet," Theo reported. We moved on to the racks of formal clothes, although most of them looked like something a hip grandma would wear.
"I like this..." Theo pulled out a long dress covered in delicate blue and green sequins.
"That's beautiful, Theo, but it's huge," I said, looking it over.
"Mom has a sewing machine," she said hopefully. "I've made a few skirts and tops before; this wouldn't be too difficult to turn into something wearable."
I began to get discouraged as we continued to paw through the crowded racks. I wondered if I would find any of the things we had tossed out of our storage room. From the looks of it, half of Hell had the same idea about cleaning out their old junk.
I knew I was being picky, but since I was going with Henry, I wanted to look my best. I was about to give up and go home begging to Claire, when I saw a swatch of shimmery silver-white fabric. I pulled out an elegant dress with a halter top. The cascading fabric looked magical. There were no tags, and it appeared handmade. It was exactly what I wanted, even though I hadn't known what to look for.
"Wow, that is really beautiful," Theo said. "Try it on."
I went into the little fitting room in the back, pulling the dress over my head. It fit perfectly from what I could see in the mirror, curving gently around my hips and even giving me the appearance of something in the chest. I walked out and showed Theo, whose face lit up.
"It's a great contrast with your hair," she gushed. "You have to buy it."
"I don't know about the back, though," I said, turning around and putting my long hair over my shoulder. There was a deep v plunge that stopped midway down. It felt a little odd having my whole back exposed.
"Well, you can make it like a costume, so how about some wings?" Theo suggested. "I'm sure you could find some cheap at the costume shop."
That settled it, and we took our finds up to the checkout counter. As we paid for them, I knew Saturday was going to be a very interesting night.
Chapter 16
Theo and I sat in our dresses on my living room couch. I had just been through two hours of makeup application and hair styling. My scalp itched and I felt like I had pancake batter smeared on my face. And now I couldn't stop twiddling my thumbs. I shifted, the feathery white angel wings I was wearing cutting into my back.
Theo had done major reconstructive surgery to her dress in just two days, shortening the front and turning the excess into a long train in the back like a mermaid tail. The result was stunning. She'd found an unusual mix of chunky blue and green glitter from the craft store that now not only framed her eyes, but decorated her cheeks.
"I really don't want to wear my glasses," she complained, taking them off and squinting at the TV, "but I'm completely blind without them."
"They look fine," I assured her. "You look really pretty."
"I feel kind of exposed," she admitted, putting up the front of her dress.
Claire came out of her office, where she had been clearing old pictures off of her camera. She held the camera with both hands, her face excited. But it fell when she saw us, the corners of her mouth dipping down.
"Why are you two sitting?" she squealed. "You'll wrinkle your dresses!"
Theo and I glanced at each other, both releasing sighs at the same time. I stood up, careful to make sure my wings weren't snagging on the couch pillows. Theo followed. Claire started snapping photos, barely giving us a chance to pose. I imagine Theo and I were both grimacing in all of them.
My mother had offered about twenty times to drive us, but apparently Theo's date was older and had a car. This mystery man was really piquing my interest.
"You're going to run out of space before the guys even get here, Claire," I observed dryly. "Don't you want some couples shots?" She lowered the camera and frowned at it.
The doorbell rang, and I hustled over to beat my mother.
Henry stood on the porch, dressed in a knight's costume made of white and gold fabric. His head was uncovered, dark hair in its usual carefree style that fell however it wanted to. The costume was both a little goofy and attractive. Much like the person wearing it. When he saw me, his eyes lit up and his smile was soft and private.
"Wow," he breathed, eyes sweeping up my body.
"Hi," I said shyly, pulling at one side of the halter. I felt the wings wiggle behind me.
"You look amazing," he said quietly. The way he held himself now, hands pressed to his sides, looked like he was containing the urge to reach out and touch me.
"Move out the way bro, I gotta see my date," a familiar voice said behind him. Alex slapped Henry on the back and walked inside. Henry winced.
I turned to Theo, eyes wide, shaking my head. Are you kidding me? I mouthed.
She shrugged, her face contorted. Alex's tuxedo was the color of grape juice, but he otherwise had no costume elements. He was his own costume.
Claire positioned all four of us over by the closed doors to the den and made us pose for pictures until I finally wh
isked our little group out of the door and down the walk.
"We're going to be late," I reasoned as we escaped.
"Have fun!" she called, waving from the doorway. If she could she would have hopped in the car with us.
Inside Alex's Jeep, we were all like awkward kids. None of us looked at each other; we found endlessly fascinating sights out of the window. No one brought up our last misadventure; it was as if we silently agreed to stop talking about it. Alex managed to stay on the road most of the time, and had turned off the heavy metal that normally blasted from his cheap subwoofers. I still couldn't believe that Theo would want to go with him. I wondered who asked who, as my eyes darting back and forth between them.
I glanced out of the side window. A little girl stood by herself on the sidewalk. She wore a blue raincoat, even though the evening sky was clear. I had never seen someone look so utterly abandoned.
The Jeep whizzed by her. I craned my neck back.
"Did anyone see that little girl?" I asked.
"What little girl?" asked Henry from his seat beside me. But I couldn't see her anymore. Maybe her parents had been nearby, after all, and had only just picked her up.
Although the school didn't have any decorations on the outside, it looked different when we arrived. More mysterious, the tall exterior standing resolutely against the night. We got out of the car, and Henry held out his arm.
"My lady," he said, grinning his cheesy grin.
I smirked and took his arm. I finally noticed the stone fountain a few yards from the steps, since a spotlight was thrown on it for the night.
Inside, a purple fabric roll was duct taped to the floor to resemble a rug. It led, presumably, to the gym. In the entrance hall, hundreds of paper bats hung from the ceiling. Alex shrieked as they brushed the top of his head, batting them away.
"What have I gotten myself into?" I heard Theo mutter as we continued towards the gym. She was pulling at the fingerless blue lace gloves on her hands. I wondered the same thing myself. The two of them together was the strangest combination I'd ever seen, especially considering he was almost a foot taller than her.
