“Dad, this is embarrassing!” Jonny whined as he stood in front of the mirror in disgust.
Ah lunch time, Jonny’s most hated time of the day. He much preferred being yelled at by Mr. Freeman for that stupid comment he made and being given that week long detention. Now came the traditional “where do I sit” dance.
”Well, Jonny, that will teach you not to wait so long to do your laundry. You’re just lucky I had some spare clothes that fit you.” Jonny wasn’t so sure it was luck as he stared in the mirror.
His father’s old dress pants weren’t too bad, but because oh his father’s height they were just a little baggier than he was use to. It was the sweater, however, that made him cringe at the sight of himself. It was green, brown, blue, and every color possible all mixed together in a mural of random streaks that made it look as if the knitting machine that had made it had just blown up. But his dad was right, he had procrastinated on doing his laundry too long and now these were his only alternatives.
Glumly, Jonny followed his father out the door and into the car. School was going to be a nightmare.
Jonny stood before the main doors to the school. He was already late and the bell rang to signal the end of first period. Everyone was going to be in the halls and he could no longer delay the inevitable. Taking a deep breath, Jonny opened the doors just as the principle came over the intercom with an announcement.
“Students, one more announcement that has been neglected for the past week. The annual Sadie Hawkins Dance will be tonight. It cannot be rescheduled, so girls, you had better find a date and quickly.” The intercom beeped as the principle clicked off and Jonny bowed his head in despair.
He had been looking forward to this dance all year. Had even gone through the trouble of looking good all year long for Missy Tompkins, hoping she would ask him. But as he conjured up the memory of himself in the mirror, Jonny’s hope faded. As Jonny rounded the front office and entered the hall where everyone was talking and gossiping about the unexpected dance, something happened that Jonny didn’t expect. Though not the most popular kid in school, Jonny was well known and was often greeted with a head nod or a passive “Hi” when he entered the hallway; but now there was nothing. Everyone was ignoring him. A new hope sprang into Jonny’s mind: no one knew he was there and though this hindered his chances of getting a date, more than the sweater did, at least no one would remember this embarrassment. That is if Harry hadn’t come for a visit.
Harry rounded a corner farther down the hall and stopped short when he saw Jonny. Harry had originally been surprised to find that Jonny hadn’t been in his first hour class but nothing could have prepared him for this sight. Though it was hard, Harry just managed to contain his laughter until he reached Jonny and then he began to laugh hard and loud. It was all Jonny could do to keep Harry from falling to the floor.
“Harry, shut up, I don’t want to attract attention.” Jonny pleaded earnestly but it was too late.
Already, thousands of his classmate’s eyes were laid firmly on him and chuckles could be heard forming in people’s throats. And just as embarrassment began to creep its way into Jonny’s face he took control and decided if he was going to look like a geek he might as well act like one.
In a rush of energy Jonny stuck his hands in the air and shouted like he was at a rock concert and this was met with shouts, hollers, and laughter. Jonny took this reply as fuel for his insanity and let out another shout, which was returned with even greater force than before. The awkward stage was over now it was time to have some fun.
Jonny, Harry, and a few other boys who had been caught up in Jonny’s excitement started walking down the hall toward Mr. Freeman’s public speaking class, passing girls that were headed toward the bathroom to discuss possible dates for tonight’s dance.
Jonny was dying to hear what they were saying but if he didn’t hurry he would be late for his next class and worrying about such things, as well as putting his ear to the girls bathroom door, defiantly wouldn’t help his reputation.
“MR. PATROW! Mr. Freeman shouted, when Jonny didn’t answer him and began to snore, waking him up immediately. “Would you care to give us your report?”
“I would love to Mr. Freeman.” Jonny got up in front of the class and just before starting decided to take his rush of insanity a little bit farther as he took a better look at Mr. Freeman’s get up. “Oh by the way Mr. Freeman I loved you yesterday on Mr. Rodgers I got this outfit just for you.” The class erupted into laughter as Jonny indicated his father’s clothes. He had everyone’s attention, unfortunately that included Mr. Freeman’s.
Jonny spotted Missy Tompkins with the rest of the cheerleading squad. Telling by her uniform she had just been promoted to squad captain and the uniform loved her for it. As he looked at her he began to develop a need to sit down or he wasn’t going to make it another step before his knees collapsed. The best move was just to sit down beside her and hope she didn’t mind too much.
“Hey Patrow! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Oh, hi Biff. Um I was just resting my legs I was just about to get back up.” Jonny knew he could take this punk but recent fights in school between him and so said bullies was a constant reminder that if he slipped up one more time detention would be the worst of his problems.
“Yeah? Well how about I just lay you out for the rest of the year, that way you’ll get all the rest you need?”
“No thanks I’ll just be on my way.” Jonny hated running from a fight but this time he had no choice.
Jonny tossed his food into the nearest trashcan and entered the halls intending to get as far away as he could when he ran into someone and they both crashed onto the floor.
“Oh, sorry.” A female voice muttered apologetically as she got up. Jonny had hit his head and his vision was slightly blurred but from what he could make out she was a very attractive girl.
“Jonny?!” Jonny’s vision cleared and he suddenly realized who she was.
“Oh hey Jess. When did you get back?”
“Just this morning. Wow you look great, finally gotten into a habit of showering have we?” Jonny laughed slightly as he remembered the mud fights he and Jessie use to have and his refusal to take a bath until one of them had been declared the winner. “And those clothes are defiantly a new look for you.”
Jonny’s eyes began to wander away from her face and he began to notice a few new things about her too. She was no longer the slightly pudgy girl from elementary and her red hair was smoothly combed instead of the regular tangle it had been when he had last seen her.
“Well it’s good to see some things haven’t changed.”
“You’re still as ungraceful as ever.”
“Yeah well…you see I… what I mean is…” Jonny couldn’t seem to make a coherent sentence. She was just so darn cute he couldn’t focus on what he wanted to say.
“And your command of the English language is staggering. So what’s new around here?”
“Oh, um…well there’s a Sadie Hawkins dance coming up tonight. I suppose if you want to get back into the groove of things you should find a boy and ask him to go with you.” Jonny couldn’t believe he was saying that, either it was because he wanted her to ask him or it was because he knew he was blatantly hinting to her what he wanted.
“Oh, yeah I guess I could do that. But who to ask?” She had caught Jonny’s hint and was amazed to find herself considering it. But she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. “I wonder if Biff Johnson is still available. Do you remember him Jonny? Yeah Biff seems like just the guy to get me back into the ‘groove’ of things.”
“Uh, yeah I guess.” Jonny stammered, she was slipping away he could feel it but the dance rules required that she ask him.
“Or maybe Harry, you know he has grown really cute over the past few years. He would make a great date.”
“Jess…” Jessie put a finger on his lips to silence him.
“What about you Jonny Patrow? Would you take a girl like me to a dance?” He didn’t need to answer as she leaned in and kissed him; her teasing had worked and now he was hers.
As they walked down the hall Jonny’s arm around Jessie’s waist she turned to him and with a very serious look she said, “Oh and don’t forget to wear that sweater when you pick me up tonight, you look so cute.”