Middle School Heroes

Chapter 24 - Snowballs and Poodle Skirts

The first week of December not only brought out the Holiday decorations all over the school, but also the first snowfall. It wasn't much, but enough for the entire school to have a giant snowball fight during PE, and return for lunch and their next classes soaking wet and freezing. The weather had been a real adjustment for Skye. Not that it didn't get cold in Los Angeles, but it got much colder here and snow was mostly something that you saw when you visited the mountains, which was something that Skye never did. She carried a sweater with her everywhere, and the fact that she was always cold was something of a joke among her friends.

Along with snow, the first week of December also brought the announcement that the New Year's Eve dance was going to be a 1950's theme. Peggy had hinted at it when they had the lessons back in November, so it came as a surprise to no one. Aunt May was excited about the theme, and opened her classroom on weekends and evenings for anyone wanting to make costumes. The boys had it much easier than the girls as jeans and t-shirts were easy to come by.

Of course, it wasn't just the costumes to think about. All of the girls were giddy over who they would go to the dance with, and it was a favorite topic of conversation in the girl's dorm. Skye didn't know what the big deal was. The fact was that there were more boys than girls, and everyone who wasn't away with family would be there, so she wasn't sure she saw the point to having a date. It seemed like they'd still have to switch partners to give everyone a chance to dance. Still, it was easy to get caught up in all of the drama of it, especially as girls began to be asked.

Jemma was the first of her friends. Apparently, Rhodey cornered her at PE the day the announcement was made. She was giggling so hard that she could barely tell the story. Carol was next when Clark finally got brave enough to talk to her in the hall between classes. Diana was asked by Arthur Curry, but since he was sort of her boyfriend, that was expected. Nor was it a surprise to anyone when Oliver asked Felicity.

It wasn't just her friends, though. Skye had to stifle a laughed when she overheard Adrienne Frost in the bathroom, telling Sylvie about how she decided to ask Brock Rumlow to the dance, and that he was going to wear his Halloween costume again, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to wear hers. Remembering his Danny Zuko Grease costume from Halloween, Skye was pretty sure that Adrienne wasn't going to be sweet little good girl Sandy to Rumlow's Danny, convincing him to change his wicked ways. Maybe more like the bad Sandy at the end of the movie.

Skye finally managed to convince Peter to ask Wanda, by bringing her to Sunday dinner and talking non-stop about the dance before leaving them alone and taking Fitz, who had come with Peter, into the kitchen to help Aunt May wash dishes. Fitz wasn't going to be there for the dance. His mom was taking him on a trip to Italy over the break, and he wouldn't be back until the day before school started. He seemed okay with it though, as he said it was just too much pressure. Skye couldn't help but agree with him.

Skye had been purposely avoiding Grant Ward, and so far, it was working well. Anytime he was around, she made sure that she was in a group of people. She hoped that she was making it clear that she was not at all interested.

Happy though she was to not have to deal with Ward, as the days rolled by she started to wonder if she'd be asked at all. She was sort of hoping that Clint might ask her. After all, he was her re-occurring dance partner anyway, and they always had a lot of fun together, but he seemed to be purposely avoiding situations where he was alone with her, while she could have sworn that Natasha, who was thrilled to be going with Bucky, was purposely trying to push him into those exact situations. She finally decided that she was imagining things, and let it go.

During lunch on Friday, their chatter was interrupted by Joker, who burst into song loudly in order to invite Harleen to go to the dance with him. It was a catchy little song and dance number that had everyone in the room watching and laughing. He received a standing ovation from the entire room, and of course, Harleen said yes.