Chapter 25: That Lingerie Would Look Great On My Bedroom Floor
((Playlist: Girl Crush by New Politics))
"So your parents are outgrowing their homophobia? I'm proud of them," Lys said as they worked on a packet during class the next day.
Sophie nodded. "It's great. I think Amy is surprised by how well it went."
They spent a few minutes working on the questions before Lys said, "hey, before I forget, do you want to go prom dress shopping with me this Saturday? My mom's pressuring me to get a dress, and I don't like to go with her because she's really judgmental of what I wear."
Sophie grinned conspiratorially. "Did someone ask you to go to prom with him?"
Lys raised her eyebrows. "Not yet, but I'm hopeful."
"He better hurry. Prom is in what- two months?"
"Two months from now will be summer, you weirdo. Actually, it's like two weeks after the talent show."
"Darn. That's less than a month away."
"Maybe I'll ask him myself," Lys shrugged, though a faint blush crept onto her cheeks. "His hair was so soft yesterday."
Sophie laughed, remembering how puzzled Jonah had looked. "He looked so confused after you did that."
"What I wouldn't give to do it again," she sighed. Then she perked up. "Maybe I will at lunch today. He's gotta take the hint at some point, right?"
"I think you'll have to be a little more forward with him," Sophie said. "He's one of those guys who doesn't take a romantic hint unless you slap him in the face repeatedly with it."
"Well, asking him to prom is pretty forward," Lys decided. "I'm gonna do it. I'm going to throw all my inhibitions behind me and ask that boy to prom!"
"You go!" Sophie gave her a thumbs-up.
"Has Jackson asked you yet?" Lys asked.
"Not yet. He will though," she added with certainty. "I mean, who else would he take?"
"True, true. But are you coming dress shopping?"
"Hmmm. I don't know..." Sophie grinned as she pretended to think about it.
"Come on! We can go to Cinnabon," she sang.
Sophie laughed. "You know me too well."
"That's what best friends are for: knowing every single thing about each other." She doodled a smiley face on Sophie's hand. "So you're coming?"
"Of course! I need a dress too," Sophie said.
The girls continued making plans throughout most of class, and when the bell rang at the end, they walked to lunch together.
"When do you want me to pick you up Saturday?" Lys asked as they sat down.
"How does eleven sound?" Sophie asked. "And then we grab lunch and... I don't know, gossip or whatever teenagers do."
Before she could answer, Mikayla sat down. "Where you guys going?" She asked.
"Prom dress shopping," Sophie replied.
"Oooh! Sounds fun! Can I come with?"
Lys shrugged, taking a sip of her water. "The more, the merrier," she said.
"If you still have room in your car, I could totally invite Taylor Mirandez to come with us," Mikayla chirped. "She really knows how to pick a dress."
Sophie opened her mouth, closed it, the opened it again, trying to figure out what to say other than 'heck no'. There was no way she wanted to go prom dress shopping with one of Jackson's short-term ex-girlfriends. The thought was too awkward for words.
Instead, she said, "Actually, I planned on inviting one of my bandmates: Lilith."
"Oh," Mikayla shrugged. "Well, that's great. Is she cool?"
"She's definitely a character," Sophie replied.
Lys furrowed her brow. "The only other girl in the band is that emo girl."
"Uh, yeah, she's sort of a Satanist. Er, wait, no- a Wiccan," Sophie corrected.
Mikayla looked surprised. "Oh. That's neat. Well, we could use some diversity in our little group, anyway."
"We really do," Lys agreed. "We don't have a token black person or a token gay person- we have a token guy. And I don't think Jonah wants to go prom dress shopping with us."
"Speaking of Jonah, what was that little hair ruffle you gave him the other day?" Mikayla smiled coyly.
"Me fixing his messy hair," Lys said through a mouthful of pizza. "And it was just as soft as I'd imagined it'd be," she sighed.
"Have you asked him to prom yet?" Mikayla asked.
Lys blushed a little. "I've been busy, geez. I have school, and lacrosse, and MCing, and TV shows to watch. I'll get to it."
Jonah suddenly sat down at the table. "What don't you have time for?"
Lys blushed even harder, shoved more pizza into her mouth, and mumbled something.
"Huh?" Jonah raised an eyebrow.
"I don't have time for my weird hobbies," Lys quickly said.
Jonah grinned. "Which weird hobbies?"
"Oh, y'know- underwater basket weaving, oil painting, writing Jar Jar Binks x Arnold Palmer fanfictions... my passions," she rambled.
Jonah blinked. "Right. I'm going to get some food."
After he left, Mikayla snorted. "Girl, you are smooth."
"Shut up." Lys buried her face in her hands.
Sophie grinned. "Okay, enough picking on Lys," she said. "Do you have a date yet, Mikayla?"
Mikayla waved a hand. "I never think about dates until the last minute," she shrugged, "besides, if we do a good enough job dress shopping this Saturday, the boys will come crawling to me."
Lys sighed. "My, my, my, aren't you the modest one?"
"What? I'm hot and I'm proud," she smirked.
"Why don't you ask that Latvian guy you're doing the rap battle with?" Sophie asked. "I think he might be into you."
Mikayla tilted her head, like a small dog in a state of confusion. "You really think so? I can't understand half of what he says, and sometimes I get mixed signals."
"Probably because you can't understand half of what he's saying," Lys pointed out, taking a sip of her drink.
"His accent is so thick," Mikayla ran a hand through her hair, "Don't get me wrong, it's really hot, but it's so thick."
A chair squeaked across the linoleum as Jonah returned. "As always, I feel like I came into this conversation at the wrong time," he said as Mikayla mouthed the word 'thick' again, for extra emphasis, even adding in hand gestures.
"That's because you did," Sophie corroborate.
Lys looked over at Jonah. "Hey, you wanna go to prom with me?"
Jonah almost spit out his drink in surprise. "What?"
"You. Me. Prom. Together," she said.
Jonah nodded. "Yeah. Sure, that'd be fun."
Lys beamed. "Great! Cool. This is going to be awesome."
Sophie grinned and gave her a thumbs up while Mikayla wiggled her eyebrows and mouthed 'push his hair back again.' Lys rolled her eyes and blushed a little.
Mikayla asked Sophie, "has Jackson asked you to prom yet?"
"Not yet. But he will soon, probably," she continued. "But if all else fails, I'll ask him."
Lys's eyes suddenly widened and she slapped her hands on table, making everyone jump. "Ohmygod GUYS. We can triple date for dinner before prom!"
"That would be fun!" Sophie grinned. "You and Jonah, me and Jackson, and Mikayla and Maksim. This is gonna be a wild dinner."
"Where do you guys want to go? Market Square, The Riviera, Vinezzi's?" Lys listed off.
"My stomach says The Riviera but my wallet says McDonald's," Mikayla sighed.
"Can we even make this decision when a third of the group doesn't know they're coming with us yet?" Sophie asked. "And this is assuming we all survive the talent show."
Lys waved her off dismissively. "I'm a determined girl. I'll get to that dance even if my arm is in a sling."
"What if you wind up in a full body cast?" Sophie asked.
"Jonah," Lys asked, "if I should happen to be in a full body cast, do you think you could wheelchair me into prom?"
He raised his eyebrows. "I feel like the doctor wouldn't even let you out of the hospital."
"Then would you heroically break me out of the hospital?" She smirked. "I mean, I'd love to break myself out, but the body cast makes it difficult."
"We'll see," he said cryptically.
Sophie smiled faintly as she picked at her shady cafeteria food. "This is going to be a good time. I can feel it."
That is, if i can survive the cursed talent show, dress shopping with Lilith, Jackson's sociopathic ex-girlfriend, a couple calculus exams, and get Jackson to go to the dance with me, she added mentally.