The room was dim, very low lights were on and it was nearly perfect. The only thing missing was the music and the students. It was the night of the dance only an hour until it started. The teachers and staff were setting up while the students were all getting ready in their dorm rooms. The dance was to be in the basketball court and everyone was anxious to see how it would look. No one knew what to expect; all they knew was that there would be music, dancing, and decorations. It was to be the first dance at the Columbus High Boarding School.
Jamie was in her room while her friend Chris was sitting on the couch in her dorm’s living room. He had promised he was going to help her get ready, which he now regretted.
“Are you almost done? You have been in there for nearly a century.”
“You’re a dude. You wouldn’t understand.”
“You’re not a girly girl ya know! Why now do you suddenly care about how you look? Yesterday you were covered in mud after a game of football with the other guys.”
“Because this dance is special. It is my opportunity to show the other girls that I can be a girl too. Maybe then Sarah will leave me alone.”
“Forget Sarah! She is jut jealous that you can get a dude’s attention easier than her. Now come out I want to see you as a girl and not a dude for once.”
Jamie came out of her room slowly. Her short brown hair had been but in girls and slightly pinned out of her face. Her eyes were outlined by a silvery eye liner and complimented by light blue eye shadow. Her lips were decorated with very subtle lip gloss. Freckles spattered across her cheeks and over her nose giving her a little look of innocence. She wore a blue dress held up by skinny, delicate straps. It fell beautifully over her body making her look like a young lady. The dress ended in the middle of her thigh. Chris was in total shock when he saw her. Ten minutes ago Jamie was the tom boy he always knew her as. A simple shirt, jeans, and converse as an outfit. Now she had transformed, but she was still wearing her worn down old converse.
“Well say something. Stop starring at me.” Jamie was feeling awkward in her dress and wasn’t very confident with her outfit.
“You look . . .dude wow”
“Thanks. I think.”
“Sarah might pass out in shock. HAHAHA that would be hilarious.”
“I don’t care what Sarah and her gang of fakes have to say.” Jamie’s face began to blush lightly.
“Oh yeah. You want Sam to notice you.” Chris teased.
“Shut up.” Jamie’s face became redder from embarrassment. “It’s just a stupid little fantasy I have always had.”
“I never heard of this fantasy. And as your supposed best friend, I am slightly offended you never told me it.”
“It’s stupid. I just always imagined going to a dance all dressed up like this and . . . and having a guy I liked come up to me and tell me I am beautiful then we would slow dance together.”
“Wow that dress is making you more girly than I thought.” Chris joked. “It’s a cute idea I guess. Just don’t get your hopes too high. You know Sarah practically claimed will as her property.”
“That’s why it’s only a fantasy.”
Jamie and Chris next went to Chris’s dorm. Jamie had agreed to help him and his roommates pick out what to wear since they didn’t trust any other girl with helping with outfits. She picked out nice, button down shirt and simple jeans for them all. She knew the pain of dressing up that most guys felt. Jamie naturally fit in with boys. She loved sports, wasn’t afraid to get dirty during experiments or games, didn’t like girly things like make –up or skirts. Jamie was only fifteen and still hadn’t had her first kiss yet and Sam had been her first crush. Chris was sixteen and was a little bit more mature than Jamie. They had been friends since Jamie first attended Columbus High and this was the first time he had ever seen her look like the other girls. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Chris’s roommates, Nate and Josh were also friends with Jamie but they weren’t as close to her as Chris was.
The four of them walked out into the hallway and down to the common room where everyone waited to go see the dance. They stood by the pool table and Josh challenged Chris to a game. Nate and Jamie stood by the wall and watched them while having a small conversation. Without warning Sarah came up to Jamie with her two loyal sidekicks Lisa and Jane. Sarah was wearing a purple strapless dress. It was shorter than Jamie’s dress and she wore small silver heals. Her golden hair was in perfect curls and her face was caked with make-up. Lisa and Jane wore gold and silver dresses. Their hair was straight but they also wore too much make-up and small heals.
“Nice shoes.” Sarah sarcastically stated looking down at Jamie’s converse.
“I don’t have any other shoes.” Jamie replied calmly.
“You should just hide in your room for the night. It’s not like anyone is going to dance with you tonight. Go back to being a boy; at least you look more decent that way.”
“She looks kinda cute.” Sam came up and joined the conversation. “Jamie, did you see the Orioles vs. Yankees game? Man that was awesome.”
“Yeah I did. It was a close game I thought the Yankees would win but it was a good game.” A smile crept on her face. With that Sam, Sarah and her sidekicks left to talk with some other people.
“Don’t listen to those phonies.” Nate whispered. “You make a nice girl.”
Suddenly, a teacher walked in and announced it was time for the dance. Everyone cheered and began walking over to the basketball court across the campus. When they entered the room, they all starred in amazement. The ceiling had streamers of the school’s colors, blue and silver, hanging from it. There was a D.J. blasting music in the back of the room. There were some tables along the side with chairs for sitting and resting when people got tired of dancing. The lights were low but it was easy to see.
Students rang in groups to the dance floor and began to dance. Jamie stood in the back; she didn’t know how to dance really and was too shy to try. Chris and Nate stayed back with her while Josh went to dance with his girlfriend. They tried to talk over the loud music coming from the speakers and laughed when Nate tried to say something through a pathetic attempt at charades. Later in the night, Jamie did dance a little bit and wasn’t as terrible as she thought. The room was filled with students dancing and singing along to the songs they knew. At one moment, Jamie saw Sam sitting alone in a back table, Sarah was probably distracted by something and he managed to sneak away.
“GO TALK TO HIM!” Chris yelled over the crowd. Jamie smiled at him and crossed her fingers.
She walked up to the table Sam was at and nervously sat next to him.
“Hey”
“Hey, Jamie” There was a small smile on him.
“How’s it going? What do you think of the dance?”
“It’s not bad surprisingly. How are you handling wearing a dress?” He joked.
“Well, I’m actually wearing my soccer shorts underneath the dress. I just rolled them up a little bit so they wouldn’t show.” Sam chuckled at that information.
“I should have known.” For a moment they simply sat and looked at each other. Jamie could feel her cheeks begin to redden. “Jamie. . .Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.” Butterflies danced to the beat of the music in her stomach.
“Do you like me? I mean, like have a crush on me? I’m kind of with Sarah right now but we haven’t really told anyone and she has this crazy idea in her head that you have a crush on me.”
“Um, . . .Yeah crazy idea. No, we are just buds. You can tell her that.” Jamie’s stomach dropped. Her heart sank.
“I tried to tell her but she won’t drop it. I mean, seriously? Us as a couple? HA! That would be ridiculous. We are just friends and anything more than that would be crazy.”
“Yeah . . .Crazy.”
“Well, I should probably go back to Sarah now. She wanted a slow dance together. Ugh. What’s with girls and slow dancing?” Sam got up and walked towards Sarah.
Jamie ran out of the room. She sat crying on a bench under a tree outside. Chris came chasing after her when he saw her storm out.
“What’s wrong? What did that jerk do?” He was concerned and angry at the same time
“He is dating Sarah. They were keeping it a secret. He thinks a relationship with me would be crazy and ridiculous.” Jamie choked out through her sobs.
“Hang on. I’m gonna go kick his . . .”
“NO!” Jamie interrupted. “He didn’t know I liked him. Whatever. Sarah was right. I am not good at being a girl or being pretty like every other girl here.”
“Sarah can go drink poison for all I care. Come on Jamie; don’t let this ruin your first dance. Please come back inside.
Jamie stood up and wiped away her tears. Together they walked back into the dance right when a slow song began to play.
“Guys grab a special little lady and take her to the dance floor. It’s time for a slow dance.” The D.J. announced with a microphone in his hands.
Chris took Jamie’s hand and led her to the center of the dance floor for everyone to see them. He held on hand while he placed his other around her waist. Jamie’s free hand rested gently on Chris’s shoulder as they began to dance. Chris looked at Jamie and leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
“You look absolutely beautiful.”
