Bonnie's Style
The Bells of St. Anthony's Ep. 16
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Bonnie’s Style
As told by Zeke
School dances always made me a little nervous. I mean, I've got Bonnie, and we're so much in love, and I always feel like I'm under more pressure to impress her. Especially with Theresa watching on Bonnie's side, and Lucius watching from mine. Bonnie and I have had a ton of false starts, and I wind up worrying she's going to slip out of my hand like a cell phone from wet fingers.
Well, getting my license helps. I don't need Dad to chauffeur me to pick her up. I didn't even have to give her a ride to Homecoming. She lived close enough that we could walk.
She seemed especially interested in showing off her new dress. "Theresa's mom made it for me today." It had broad straps on the shoulders and a calf-length floral-patterned skirt. She looked cute in it.
We met up with Lucius at the door to the gym, and Theresa was in the lobby with her maker club and their robot. Bonnie thanked her profusely for her dress, then we went into the gymnasium itself.
And suddenly, Bonnie's expression changed.
"What's wrong?" I said.
She looked down at her dress and tugged at a strap. "Do you think I look a little... overdressed?"
It was hard to tell what she meant, but looking around at the rest of the Homecoming dance, I noticed a lot of girls in much more casual outfits--some in regular shirts with skirts, some in dresses you might wear on the street, and some just wearing blue jeans. I think maybe we were all relieved to be out of uniform. Bonnie looked more like she was dressed for a wedding.
And even I was just wearing a polo shirt and my regular uniform pants. Not too far from the other guys here.
"You look fine," Bonnie," I said, but it felt hollow. She knew I meant it, but she also knew I had to say it. "You don't stand out that much."
"Of course I stand out. I'm a walking, talking sore thumb." She was shrinking back as if trying to hide behind me. Bonnie could be energetic and perky, but also incredibly self-conscious.
What was I supposed to say? I would have been just as happy with her in her Jujutsu Kaisen shirt? Or maybe run with it, tell her she does look goofy? Ugh, come on, Zeke, do you want this to backfire on you? This whole thing was ridiculous. Why was I supposed to care if--
Before I could even through logically, I turned to Bonnie and opened my big mouth.
"Are you really that sad about looking better than everybody else?"
Her eyes flicked at me behind her glasses. Her face had no expression. In that brief slice of eternity, I thought I'd stepped in it and made her smell it.
She began to look around at the crowd--at Swift appearing out of nowhere in the crowd, at Charlotte manning the DJ table, at the Junior and Senior girls chit-chatting in the bleachers.
"Hey, Augusta," she said, "how do I look?"
She was maybe the best person to ask--she was such an oddball she was pretty much guaranteed to be direct with you.
"At least somebody remembered this is supposed to be romantic," Augusta said, looking down at her own blouse and skirt. As she walked off, she said, "That's one of Mrs. Long's, isn't it? I need to hit her up sometime."
And she joined up with Rustin, and they went out into the crowd.
"You're right, Zeke," Bonnie said. "Let's show them what a dance really looks like."
She offered her hand, and I took it.
But just as we took our place on the floor, Bonnie glanced at the entrance. "Oh look, Theresa's bringing out her robot."
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