the divine feminine → chris schistad

tjueto

"nissen's having a fall ball?" nez asked out loud as she stared at the banner that was strung across the hallway from the ceiling.

"obviously," xavier scoffed, gesturing to the white banner. "you can read right?"

"it was a rhetorical question." nez whined, nudging her brother with her shoulder. although, she  still couldn't stop looking back at the sign.

'fall your way to hartvig nissen's annual fall ball! on november 19th, we will be having a dance in the auditorium. have fun with friends! ticket information will be set up at a booth throughout the first two weeks of november, then you will need to purchase a ticket in the journalism room. see you there!'

"are you going?" nez asked her brother who shrugged in response.

"sana and i would go. but i'm not a dancer, so we might do something else that night." xavier answered, causing her to gape at him.

"i'll teach you. come on x, it's your last year before you graduate. go to all the dances this year, it's part of the high school experience." nez shook her brother's shoulder as she explained it to him.

"maybe it's part of the american high school experience, but dances here are different." xavier shot back, causing her to push her eyebrows together as she shook her head in disbelief. a scoff escaped her lips and xavier regret even trying to reason with nez.

"one, you've never even been to america. so you can't even touch on that topic, let alone an american high school dance. two, you've never been to a dance. that speaks for itself. and three, what if sana wants to ask you?" nez spoke as they approached their usual table. nez and xavier must've walked pretty fast because their table was completely empty, meaning their friends were still getting out of class.

"why does sana have to ask me? i thought i was supposed to ask." xavier furrowed his eyebrows.

"that shows what you know about dances." nez rolled her eyes at her brother as he protested against it. he didn't believe her.

"johannes!" xavier called out to the boy walking towards the table. "am i supposed to asked sana to the fall ball or does she ask me?"

"girls ask the boys for dances like the fall ball or the winter formal. but boys are supposed to ask girls to homecoming and prom. make sense?" johannes tried to explain. he glanced at nez and opened his mouth once again. "but you know, since couples aren't always boy-girl, you can rearrange. in nez's case, since she's more... submissive... she'd ask chris or whoever her boo is to the fall ball."

"hold on, why does chris have to be my boo?" nez questioned johannes.

"did you just refer my little sister as the 'submissive'?" xavier asked in a warning tone.

"uh, yeah, i did." johannes easily told xavier. "and i never said chris was your boo. i just didn't know if you two were..."

"we were what?" nez questioned, tilting her head.

"a thing? i don't know, you guys confuse me."

"i told you," xavier turned to his sister. "i'm not the only one who thinks you two are a thing."

"are we talking about nez and chris?" borkis asked, joining the three. johannes laughed at how quickly the topic was guessed.

"what? how'd you know?" nez frowned. she felt like she was the only person in the group that didn't get the inside joke.

"dude, if you two aren't an item, i'm going to be really disappointed. julian too, he was rooting for the both of you." johannes said, talking about how his brother freaked out when the theory had first come up.

"chris is my best friend." nez defended.

"okay? and?" borkis said sharply. "your soulmate can be your best friend. your lover can be anyone to you. your best friend, ride or die, whatever."

"okay, can we go back to talking about the fall ball?" nez shuffled in her seat, adjusting her (xavier's) letterman jacket. "are you guys going?"

"of course, what kind of dance would it be without us?" johannes exclaimed, referring to the penetrators as a group.

"what are we talking about?" christoffer joined the table, sitting beside nez while william sat beside him.

"the fall ball."

"fall ball? i've never heard of it." chris deadpanned. william nodded his head in agreement.

"it's a school dance. i'm only going for the extra credit," replied borkis with a shrug.

"ohh," chris hummed. he turned to nez, giving her a sly smile. "what color are we wearing babe?" he asked, causing johannes to choke on his water.

"chris, if that was your lame attempt to ask my sister to the fall ball, you better back up." xavier shook his head. "apparently she's supposed to ask you. only if she wants to go with you. or even go at all."

"wait, why does nez have to ask me?" chris asked confused with a frown.

"that's what i said!" xavier exclaimed.

"because nez is the submissive," borkis curtly nodded. both johannes and borkis fist-bumped.

"what does her submissiveness have to do with asking someone to the dance?" william chimed while yawning.

"it's just common, i guess. to give everyone a chance to ask everyone to the dance." johannes shrugged as more penetrators began to finally arrive to the table.

"okay, pause." nez squeaked, cheeks hot from the topic. "rewind. can we please not use throw that word around in public? it's kind of strange, you know?" she shrunk in her seat.

"yeah." xavier agreed.

"these are for you." an unrecognizable student said, placing a plastic box of strawberries in front of william before scurrying off.

william looked at his friends in confusion. but before he could ask what was going on, someone else appeared in front of him, this time with some blueberries. they placed the berries in front of him without saying a word. he opened his mouth to say something, but they were gone just as quick as the other one.

soon enough, william had strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, and raspberries in front of him. he was so close to screaming out in confusion, but noora appeared next with a black poster. and in silver sharpie, the words 'it would be BERRY sweet if you would go to fall ball with me!'

william smiled at the girl, giving her a kiss on the cheek and pulling her into his arms. they seemed to have a little crowd forming because they clapped and cheered when william agreed with the biggest smile on his lips. he hugged her for what seemed like forever, not wanting to let her go.

"just so you know, you are the sweetest. sweeter than of these strawberries or raspberries." he mumbled to her. her red-stained lips curved upward as she nuzzled her face against his chest.

"now that is how you ask someone to a dance." mumbled xavier.

///
22 may, 2018 - unedited