Bonnie's Weekend

Ep. 10 of The Belles of St. Anthony's

Bonnie and Zeke have been friends for ages, and finally started going out toward the end of middle school. They're hardly ever seen without their hands attached to each other, whispering into each others' ears, swapping memes on their phones. She also lives close to St. Anthony's, so he walks her home every single day. It's enough to make anybody feel like a third wheel... which I do.

The day before the Homecoming dance, I walked with the two of them to Bonnie's so Zeke and I could go over our script for the talent show. As usual, those two were giggling to each other like a couple of kindergartners.

"It's a shame you're not going to the dance," I said.

"Well, we thought about it," Bonnie said, "but we don't need to go to a stupid dance to prove we love each other. Right, Zeke?"

"Right. Besides, those dances are always so loud and crowded and uncomfortable. I've never really had a good time at one."

He could have fooled me at the spring dance in eighth. It was right after he and Bonnie finally admitted they liked each other, and they spent the whole time on the dance floor. "Isn't Charlotte helping with music?" I said.

"Oh no, that'll be worse," Bonnie said. "The music won't even make any sense. All the notes and beats'll be totally random!"

"So hey, I've been meaning to ask," Zeke said to Bonnie, "what do you want to do instead?"

"Hm..." She tweaked her glasses. "Any good movies out?"

"There's a new superhero movie," I mentioned. I'd been kind of curious about it, and these two are bigger nerds than me.

"Oh yeah," Zeke said, then his face fell a little. "Isn't that like three hours?"

"I'd rather just watch something at home," Bonnie said.

"Why don't we do that?"

"We can't, my little sister's having that slumber party, remember?"

"Right. Maybe at my place?"

"Your dad always makes fun of our movies. There's gotta be something..."

"Does Esslie's band have a show?" I said. I've been to some of them. If I didn't know she was skipping the dance, I would have asked her in a heartbeat.

"I asked Swift," Bonnie said, "and she said no."

"I mean..." Zeke was scratching the back of his neck. "Maybe we could just sit and read for a little bit."

"I suppose so..." Bonnie stepped up onto her front porch. "It'd just be nice if we could do something more romantic."

The three of us stood in a triangle, wracking our brains silently. Gradually Zeke and Bonnie turned their gaze toward each other, each with a face of someone on the verge of committing to a shrug.

"The dance starts at seven, right?" Bonnie said.

Zeke said, "Pick you up at six?"