MADELINE, dustin henderson

|017

I put on my light purple dress that goes up to my knees and look into the mirror. I smile to myself and walk into Max's room, where our mom does my sister's hair.

"How do I look?" I ask, spinning around.

"Wow, Maddie," Max says, eyes widened.

"You look beautiful, Madeline," Mom smiles at me and I sit on Max's bed.

"Ow, Ow. That hurts," Max says, almost touching her hair.

"It's gonna be worth it, Max. You'll look so pretty," I state and Max playfully rolls her eyes.

"Exactly what I want," she jokes and I smile. Suddenly, Billy gets in view of the opened door. Me and Max just look at him and he walks away.

"See? Pretty," Mom says when she's finished with her hair. Max has a braid on the side, keeping the rest to naturally fall down.

"Come, Maddie. You're next." our mom smiles as Max stands up.

"Um, Mom? Can Max do my hair?" I ask and Max gives me a confused look.

"Yeah, just be ready in at least ten minutes," Mom responds and I nod. She gives a small smile and walks out of the room. I stand up, closing the door and sitting down on the stool Max was previously sitting on. She starts brushing my hair.

"Why did you want me to do your hair? I know it's not because I have 'a talent' or something," Max says and I sigh.

"Yeah, I was gonna talk about... guys," I mutter and her eyes light up.

"What?" she asks, chuckling.

"Max, I can see that you have feelings towards Lucas," I state and she slightly blushes.

"Well, what's the problem?" Max asks, carefully pulling a part of my hair up.

"I think... I think I have feelings too," I reply and Max smirks.

"That's only a good thing, Maddie. It's Dustin, isn't it?" she asks and I blush.

"Yeah, I mean... He's pretty awesome. And I love wearing his hat," I mutter, closing my eyes in embarrassment.

"I've noticed. I think he feels something for you too," Max states and I open my eyes again.

"You think so?" I ask and she just nods. Max grabs a scrunchie and makes a ponytail with the smaller part of hair, making a half up half down style.

"There." she smiles and I smile too.

"Thanks, Max," I say, stand up and hug her.

"You look absolutely beautiful," Max states as we pull away.

"You too, even if you don't have a dress," I say and we both laugh.

"Let's go or we're gonna be late," I add and open the door, heading to the living room.

-

Billy drops us off in front of the school's gym and we get out of the car.

"Have... fun," Billy says and I turn to him, a confused look on my face.

"Thanks, Billy..." I mutter as Max grabs my hand, pulling me inside of the gym. We walk inside, seeing a table on our right, Mr. Clarke sitting there. Me and my sister smile at each other, walking towards the table.

"Oh, look how beautiful you both look," Mr. Clarke says and me and Max shortly laugh.

"Thank you, Mr. Clarke," I state and turn to Max.

"Are Dustin, Lucas, Will, or Mike here yet?" Max asks.

"Mike and Lucas are," he replies and I sigh in relief.