Juke Jam

Chapter Thirteen

Things had been quiet around Charlie's house ever since Martha dropped the bomb that she was pregnant with her third child. Charlie was excited, but at the same time he wasn't. He already didn't get enough attention from his parents—unless it was negative—so having a new baby sister or brother would definitely not help with that. Annabelle kept skipping around the house with a smile on her face. She was obviously happy to be a big sister; she probably thought about having a playmate. Charlie was way too old to play with her; he would never play dolls.

The only time Charlie felt relieved was at school, surprisingly. The sock hop was this weekend and he was really having an internal conflict. He wanted to ask Gladys, boy did he, but he just could not bring himself to do it. He had been acting weird around Gladys just because of that and he hoped that she didn't think anything of it. He was silly, of course Gladys was going to notice that he was acting weird. She wasn't a dumb girl; she knew when something was up.

Charlie was walking to his locker when he saw Gladys at hers. His breath hitched in his throat and his heart instantly started beating fast. That's what Gladys did to him; he couldn't explain it. Whenever he saw Gladys his hands got all sweaty and his nerves started running all over the place. Charlie had to admit that Gladys made him nervous. She was gorgeous, it was just that simple. He enjoyed her company and learning more about her. He could honestly say that Gladys was his first real crush. He definitely hadn't thought about a girl like this before he met Gladys.

He was going to say something to her, but he heard Daisy calling his name behind him, so he turned around.

"Hiya, Charlie." She smiled.

"Hi, Daisy." He tried his best to show that his patience wasn't running low. He just really didn't like Daisy like that.

"Are you going to the sock hop?" She raised her eyebrows, twirling her hair around her finger.

"I might." He nodded his head.

"Oh." She puckered her lips, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yep." He nodded his head and prevented himself from turning around to look at Gladys.

"Ohhh." She drawled out.

Charlie wasn't stupid, he knew she wanted him to ask her to the dance. Quite frankly, he was going to because he was too scared to ask Gladys. He just hoped Gladys wouldn't be mad at him.

"Would you like to be my date to the sock hop?" Charlie smiled forcefully.

"Really, I thought you'd never ask! Course I'll be your date, Charlie." Daisy squealed, clapping her hands.

Gladys watched the whole thing unfold, and she quickly walked down the hallway. She never looked at Charlie once. She didn't want him to see how hurt she was. She understood that they couldn't be seen at the dance together, but he didn't have to ask Daisy to the sock hop. He could have just went solo, like plenty of other students were going to. Gladys wasn't particularly mad; she was just disappointed. She couldn't really describe how she was feeling.

Charlie knew he messed up the moment he saw her scurrying down the hallway.

"Yeah, me too." Charlie said.

"I can't wait to tell my mom and daddy. They're gonna be so thrilled!" Daisy smiled. "My parents really like you, Charlie. They think you're an alright guy."