The Perfect Couple

15

By the time Mom and Dad got home I had the potatoes peeled, the carrots scraped and the roast ready for the oven. Mom came into the kitchen first, through the garage door. Dad always cleaned the car after a trip.

"Kelly!" Mom said. I saw a smile spreading over her face.

"Your hair looks lovely and you've put on a little makeup." She walked around me, touching my hair and making little noises as the ends curled around her fingers. Then finally her smile turned sort of misty, the way it did when something reminded her that I was growing up. "My tomboy seems to have turned into a young lady," she murmured.

I'd toned down the makeup some, or she might not have been so pleased. I'd figured out that she was willing to let me grow up, but only a little bit at a time.

Later Dad drank a toast Tomy new look with his coffee. "To the belle of the ball!"

Of course I thought of the Christmas Ball and my heart almost leaped out of my chest knowing that well, hoping anyway, that Alan would be my escort.

Monday morning Marcus called me. That was unusual on a school morning, but it seemed that nothing was usual anymore.

"We'd better walk to school, he said. "That way more people will see us than if we bike or take the bus. You know how it is the last few blocks. Kids converge from all over. Most of the time Alan rides with his brother, but for all we know, they may drive by and he'll see us together. That'll be a beginning."

Marcus was sure getting into the spirit of the thing and what he said was true. Still, I groaned at the thought of walking to school. I wasn't wearing my sneakers, but a pair of blue patents with little curved heels.

They were comfortable for just walking around, but I wasn't sure how they'd be on a two mile hike. Well, I supposed that aching arches were a small price to paying we did no more than get the word out today; Kelly Black and Marcus Lopez were a twosome. "See you out front," I said.

Marcus's eyes got so big when I ran out the gate that he looked as if he was wearing goggles. "Is that really you?"

My hair, lively from the brushing I'd given it, bounced around my shoulders. I hadn't put on much makeup, but I had given myself features where before I'd just had a face. From the mix-and-match things I'd bought Saturday I'd chosen to put on a grey miniskirt and a top the same rich blue as my shoes.

"Did I look so awful before?" I asked, practicing my flirting with a mock frown. "I didn't notice how you looked before," Marcus said. "Oh." I swallowed, then said, "you look nice, too."