Sunset Memories

Chapter 13 - Inviting Stress

''Luca, who're you going with to the Christmas Dance?'' 

     I turned and saw Max running towards me. He was dressed in a red baseball T-shirt, red shoes, and dark jeans. His hair wasn't at its best, but he looked relatively in a hurry. 

     I said, ''What Christmas Dance?'' and closed my locker. 

     ''The Christmas Dance,'' he answered, as though everyone else knew what it was. ''Happens every year. Remember I went with Angelika last year and she slapped me?'' 

     The memory brought a grin to my face. I'd been fourteen, my third year at JFKS. ''Didn't I go with Pauline?'' 

     ''Yep, but you guys didn't even look at each other, let alone dance.'' Max snickered. ''So, who're you going with this year?''

     ''I don't know, you only just told me about it.''

     ''Well, get a move on, man, or else all the good ones will be gone.'' Max grinned at me and sped off to his locker as the bell rang. 

     I sat in Chemistry, thinking about the Dance. Behind me, kids were passing notes and whispering about the same thing. It looked like the whole school was excited. 

     The kid beside me, Rudolf Gutheil, tapped my arm. I turned. He passed me a note. When I opened it, I recognized Hanna's loopy writing.

     Who're you going with to the dance? 

     I folded the note again, pondering over her words and everyone else's thoughts. Who did I want to ask? 

     The answer came to me immediately: Danielle. 

     I wrote on the back of the note. You'll see. Then I passed it back to Hanna, who grinned when she read it. I spent the rest of Chemistry class writing out the perfect invitation. 

     At lunch, I told everyone that I had to go to the bathroom, but instead ran to Danielle's locker. I didn't know her combination, so I slipped the note into the tiny little openings at the top of her locker. Then I went back and ate lunch with Danielle, Max, Hanna, and Astrid.  

     ''I want to go with Dennis Hambruch,'' said Astrid dreamily, watching a guy with black hair and thick eyebrows cross through the lunchroom. ''He's so hot.'' 

     ''Shut up, boy-crazy,'' Hanna grinned. ''Markus Ackner asked me during History.''

     ''What'd you say?'' I asked. 

     ''No, of course. I'd never go with an idiot like him. I slapped him, instead.''   

     ''Nice,'' Max said gently.

    ''Thank you, Max,'' Hanna said in a surprised tone.

     ''It's what I do,'' he shrugged. ''I'm thinking of asking Sophie.''

     ''Sophie Muntz?'' Astrid said. 

     ''Yeah.''

     ''You asked her last year and she slapped you,'' Hanna told him. 

     ''Yeah, there's a lot of that going around at the moment,'' Max said stiffly. ''Who're you going with, Luca?'' 

     I shrugged. ''No one at the moment.''

     ''At the moment?''

     I looked at Max. ''Well, I gave someone a note, but I'm waiting for her answer.''

     ''Ooh, who is it?'' Hanna asked quickly.

     ''Someone,'' I said nervously. ''When I get her answer, I'll tell you.''