Stand Up

Chapter 10: A Prom Twist

I found myself in the same lunchroom as everyday. The same chatter filled the air. Posters were taped to the wall for prom queen. Of course Ashley appeared the most on the walls.

"Alright. What's the big surprise?" I asked Greg. I looked at Haley beside me. She looked eager to tell me. I took a big spoonful of my soup.

"Everyone at this table had an idea." They were all staring at me. "I will buy your prom dress and you will buy my tuxedo." I almost spit out my mouthful of soup. Greg would pick out my prom dress? That's what every girl dreams of doing. Shopping in the mall and finding the perfect dress.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kate said sitting down next to me. She looked at all of our expressions.

"Do you like the idea?" Greg asked anticipating my answer. I stared at the bowl of soup on my plate, which now looked like goo.

"Oh, now I know what your talking about." Kate said. "Come on Isabel, just do it. I have to have Jordan pick out my dress. At least Greg has good taste." I looked at Haley, Mark, Kate, and then finally Greg. Greg was blushing from Kate's comment.

"Okay." I reluctantly agreed. Haley quietly cheered as Mark wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Haley's glasses slid down her nose. She pushed them back up and giggled. "Wait a second. Are you two . . . . . " I trailed off.

"Yes we are!" Mark said flipping his brown hair. You could tell he was trying to look cool and it wasn't working.

I thought about what I just agreed to. I don't know how to buy a tuxedo. I don't know what kind or anything. I bet Greg is just as clueless as me. I guess we'd all find out at the prom.

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 I never imagined I'd go to the mall in search of my boyfriend's tuxedo, but here I was wheeling into the large building with Kate by my side. I looked up at the tall ceiling. We were on the bottom level scanning any stores that could possibly help us.

It felt good to be at the mall with my best friend. She pointed out these dazzling earrings that I just had to buy. I pointed out this cute jacket in the window, but the price was towering over our budget.

I felt weird not being able to walk around in the mall. I had to use my wheelchair. Parents looked at me with gloom while their children had saddened eyes.

"Hey, let's go in there." Kate pointed to a store on the wall. Mannequins wearing fancy suits and ties were in the windows. Men were walking in and out of it. We ran up to the store and were greeted by a tall man with a bushy mustache.

"Ah, hello there!" The man spoke with an Italian accent. "I haven't seen you in my store before. Can I help you find something?" He was very nice, but sometimes a little hard to understand. "We have plenty Italian tuxes and suits to choose from."

"Can you help us find a tuxedo for our boyfriends?" Kate spoke before I could even open my mouth.

"Of course!" The man led us to a wall that had nothing on it except tuxedos. Too many of them to count. "My absolute favorite is this." He picked up a charming suit. I could imagine Greg wearing it while we were slow dancing, but sadly, I could no longer dance. Kate nudged me waking me up from my daydream.

"Look at the price." She whispered so the man didn't hear. I picked up the price tag. I sat there stunned for a few seconds then bid the man a polite farewell. We could never afford that price.

Kate and I went around the mall. We couldn't find anything. Finally, we stopped in a girl store to get some accessories. We doubted the guys would get those. I wheeled through the doors and spotted the prettiest necklace. I wheeled up to it as fast as I could.

It was a dove carrying a rose. In the center of the bloom in the rose there was a red jewel. It probably wasn't real, but it was beautiful. The dove was a shiny silver color that matched the chain. The rose gave it color.

"Whoa that's cool. Are you going to get it?" Kate walked up from behind me. I grabbed it off the shelf and nodded my head. Kate glanced at her watch. "We need to find that tuxedo. It's getting late."

I rolled to the checkout. I was behind a girl in flare jeans and an expensive jacket. That same jacket I spotted earlier. Wavy blond hair fell below her shoulders. She turned around and faced me.

"Oh, it's so nice to see you!" Ashley smiled. I didn't have to look back; I could tell Kate was rolling her eyes. "It that what you're getting?" She gently picked up the necklace from my hands. Why was she being so nice? "Look, I'm getting this." She held up a designer purse. I had to admit, it was stunning. "It was the last one on the rack." Ashley said proudly. She threw my necklace hard to the ground.

 It smacked the ground with a clink. Kate picked it up for me. Now I was getting the see the darker side of Ashley.

"For your information, I am not envious of that ugly purse. So just get it out of my face." I think we were all surprised. I didn't know I could have such a snooty attitude. Ashley jerked the purse away from me so hard it almost flung out of her hands.

"Well I hope your voting for me to be prom queen. I am the only real prom queen." She was full of herself.

"No I was thinking about voting for Suzanne." It wasn't a total lie. I definitely wasn't going to vote for Ashley and Suzanne is Haley's best friend. Why not?

"Yeah I'd vote for Suzanne, for pimple queen. Have you seen that girl's complexion?" Ashley laughed, happy with her mean joke.

It was Ashley's turn at the checkout. I wondered if the clerk heard our conversation. If she did, how much? Did I look like the bad guy to her? Ashley left the store without even looking back at me. It was probably a good thing.

After leaving that store, Kate and I began to talk.

"She is such a snob" Kate said as she walked past stores pushing me in my wheelchair. I nodded my head.

"I wish she'd just leave us alone. Hasn't she terrorized us enough?" As I said that we saw a store that might have tuxedos. We went inside the small store.

It was very organized inside. Girl stuff, like prom dresses, on one side and boy stuff, tuxedos and suits, were on the other. Feeling awkward and out of place we headed towards the men's section. Everything we needed was all lined up.

There were so many tuxes I didn't know which to choose. Finally I saw the one that caught my eye. It was black as night. I imagined Greg in it. We would look amazing. I checked the price, which was pretty reasonable.

"Ooh I like it!" Kate said when she saw me holding it. "What do you think of this?" She held up another tuxedo. It was baby blue.

"Um . . I don't think Jordan would like that. I mean, it might be your favorite, but I don't think that's Jordan's favorite color." I tried to say that in a nice way. "You think we should pick out a tie?"

"Yeah! There's a whole bunch over here." She gestured to a rack full of ties. I carried the suit and wheeled over to the rack.

All different patterns and designs were in front of me. There was one that had dogs and cats, and one that had fish. There was one for everything. I looked for a fancy plain black one, but a different one looked perfect.

The tie looked like it was made of money. The design was a bunch of dollar bills. It brought back memories of when my Dad had one. He would always wear it to work and make me laugh. I used to think it was real money. I knew Greg would love it.

As we left the mall, a thought wondered into my head. What did Greg get me? Would it be my dream dress or a disaster? Then my mind went through the worst possible things that could happen. What if he didn't get it? What if he forgot? I pushed those thoughts away.

I guess I would have to wait until the prom.