undercover | caminah

attempt one

"Well, it's really...something," Dinah said, faking sincerity.

Normani and Ally held opposite ends of the banner, showing off the work they had done. The phrase 'will you go to prom with me?' was written out with pink marker, lopsided red hearts surrounding the words.

Ally peered down at it, "It's not perfect, but it's cute in a second grade love kind of way."

Dinah sighed, "I guess I can try with this. I'll tell her this is the prelude to a bigger proposal."

"That's the spirit! Now let's load this thing into the car," Normani said enthusiastically, rolling up her end of the banner.

Dinah called shotgun, sliding into the passenger's side of Normani's BMW. Ally took the larger than life banner with her in the backseat, carefully holding it on her lap, and Normani got in the front. The girls chattered wildly about whether Troy would finally ask Ally to prom today, and Normani continued to gush about Arin.

In fact, she was so distracted by the prom talk that she didn't notice the crowd of students crossing the street.

"Mani, look out!" Dinah yelled, pointing at the sea of high schoolers.

Normani turned to look at the road as she slammed her foot on the breaks, sending little Ally flying into the back of Dinah's seat, ultimately crushing the poster.

A girl with long, brown hair whipped her head around as she crossed the street, her eyes wide behind her glasses. Dinah's heart was already in her throat, but it felt like it was about to jump out of her mouth at this point. The girl gave Dinah a weak smile, then continued walking, her cheeks reddening.

"Who was that?" Normani questioned, looking at her dazed best friend.

Ally huffed from the backseat, "The last thing you need to be doing is taking your eyes off of the road! Not only did you almost kill us, the poster is smashed!"

Dinah reached back, patting her friend on the knee, "Don't be so dramatic, Ally, we're fine."

"Normani was too busy daydreaming about Arin and she nearly flattened a small army of kids!" Ally shrieked, obviously stilled frightened by the incident.

"Shut up, Ally," Normani replied, rolling her eyes, "Now Dinah, was that her?"

Dinah stammered, "Maybe. I didn't really get a good look at her."

Raising her eyebrows, Normani said, "Dinah, you were practically drooling all over yourself. Plus, that girl was super nervous to see you. I'm thinking she might like you too."

"You saw her for three seconds, how could you know all that?" Dinah questioned, "She's like that with everyone, she's a shy person."

Normani put a hand on her best friend's forearm, saying, "I know love when I see it."

Then the girl hit the gas and took off.

---

Rain started pouring down in record time. The drive from where the bus lets off to the student parking lot is no less than three minutes, but nonetheless, rain barreled from the sky. Normani had cranked her wipers up so fast Dinah thought they would pop off any second, but they stayed put.

The girls arrived to school with ten minutes to spare, Normani whipping into a spot so fast Dinah's side ached. They all watched the rain fall on the windshield, the wipers barely being able to keep up now.

Ally was the first to speak up, "Not only did we almost get killed, by now it's a monsoon outside. Just wonderful."

"I didn't bring an umbrella so," Normani admitted, "I don't know how we're going to get the poster in."

"Let's wait until the rain slows a little," Dinah tried, but the rain didn't look like it would let up anytime soon.

Normani shifted around in her seat, giving Ally a thoughtful stare, "Hey Ally?"

"Oh no," Ally responded, "What?"

Normani explained her idea, and after some arguing, Ally reluctantly agreed.

Two minutes later, Normani was stuffing the poster up Ally's dress. Dinah watched in horror from the safety of the car, feeling like she was watching some kind of weird, reverse birth ritual. Of course, Ally is shorter than the average human, and only about half of the rolled up poster could fit up her dress, so whatever stuck out would just have to bare the weather.

"Come on, Dinah!" Normani yelled, "It's time to run!"

Dinah exited the car, chasing after the girls through the coldness of the rain. Running through water probably wasn't the best idea, considering Ally tripped over her own feet, and landed stomach first into the ground.

Normani went back to help Ally, shouting theatrically at Dinah, "Save yourself!"

She ran full speed toward the school, pulling the door open with force as she let herself in. Dinah waited, out of breath, for her friends to come in and show her how much damage was done.

A minute later, Normani shoved the door open, letting Ally go in first. The poster was cradled in Normani's arm, completely destroyed and stained with ink.

"If we let it dry in the dance hall, we might be able to salvage it by time your chemistry class comes around," Normani said hopefully.

"Maybe I should just try something different tomorrow," Dinah suggested, "I really appreciate all the hard work you guys put into this, but it's not worth it."

Normani frowned, but she understood, "Bring it just in case, okay? It might get better after drying for a few hours."

"We'll see," Dinah remarked, upset that her first plan had fallen through.

---

The four girls went to check on the poster after lunch. When Lauren finally saw the infamous poster, she visibly cringed. The banner looked worse than Dinah had imagined: the words had melted into each other, the red hearts had dripped down the paper, and there was a punctured hole right in the middle of it.

"It looks like it's gone to hell and back," Lauren commented, "There's no way Dinah could show this to the girl. She'll think Dinah's crazy."

"Thank you, Lauren," Dinah replied, glad that one of her friend's was on her side.

Normani shrugged, "She might appreciate the lady balls you have to ask her without anything extravagant."

"Please don't ever say 'lady balls' again," Ally said with disgust.

Staring Ally down, Normani said, "Lady balls. Big, old, wrinkly lady balls."

"I'll see you guys after school," Lauren said, fast walking away from the current conversation.

"Yeah, catch you guys later. I'm not sticking around to hear this," Dinah said, leaving the destroyed banner and her two best friends behind.