Something Peculiar

5

Nancy had a fat lip in school the next day, but she didn't say a word to me. I was starting to think that when she snarled "You're dead" at me, it may have been an empty threat. School was pretty uneventful, which was kind of nice.

After school, as we were walking out, Lalisa assured me that she'd be seeing me at the dance, and I was suddenly very excited about it. Kai reminded me that he'd pick me up at seven, and I gave him my address so that would actually be possible. Then all i had left to do was pick out a dress, do something with my hair, and oh, yeah, tell Tae.

I waited until we got home for the simple reason that Jessica lives there too. I knew she would go bananas with happiness over the dance, so I figured that she could work  as a good balance to Tae, who would most likely recommend instating a charity best. Once in the door, I kicked off my shoes and tossed aside my bag. I grabbed as bottle of water from the fridge, and Tae started going through the mail that Jessica had left on the kitchen island.

"Hey, is Jessica around?" I asked, twisting the bottle top on and off repeatedly.

"Yah, she's upstairs," Tae replied absently. "Why?"

"Oh, I just... I had something to tell you," I said unsurely, then took a long drink of my water.

"Yeah?" Tae turned to look at me, worry tightening his voice. "What?"

"It's good news," I insisted and took a deep breath. Tae turned around completely, leaning his back against the island and crossing his arms over his chest. He was suspicious of anything I consider good news.

"There's this dance tonight at school, and its fully chaperoned. And, well, Kai's going to pick me up at seven. And Lalisa is going to meet us there."

"Kai?" Tae raised an eyebrow and his voice got harder. "That goofy guy that's supposed to be "just a friend?" He did an angry air quotes, which would've made me laugh if I wasn't feeling defensive.

"He is just a friend! Were going with Lalisa too! We're all friends!" I left out the part that while Kai and I were definitely just friends, I wasn't so sure about exactly what was going on with me and Lalisa.

"But just Kai is picking you up? Not with Lalisa?" Tae said gruffly. "You know. even if there is another girl involved, that doesn't help your case. Going somewhere with one handsy, teenage boy is bad enough, and I haven't  even met this Lalisa, how can I be sure it's not a Limario or a Larrie?"

"Its just a dance!" I said. "A school sanctioned function! And I'm just doing what you told me! I'm making friends! And its a girl and a boy! Its really not that big of a deal!"

"I've never met them, and I only just started hearing about them a few days ago." Tae shook his head. "No, this sounds like a bad idea. I mean, why am I just hearing about this dance now?"

"Because Kai just asked me today," I lied. As a rule, I didn't lie to Tae about anything important. But this wasn't all that important, and it was mostly a white lie anyway.

"He asked you? That's not what you said. You said you were going as friends."

"Yah, we are. But he asked me. I didn't just spontaneously decide i was going with him," I shrugged. Tae was making me question what I thought I knew. We were just friends, weren't we? I mean, Kai was pretty obviously trying to set me up with Lalisa, and it just might work if I stopped fighting him on it so much.

"So how does Lalisa work into this equation?" Tae didn't believe anything I was saying, which I didn't think was very fair considering how little I lied to him.

"Kai asked her too. And I can't drive, unlike Lalisa, so Kai offered to pick me up." I crossed my arms and looked at him evenly. "So there. That's everything."