First Impressions

"I will see your two Oreos and raise you five Skittles." I say, pushing out my edibles. Brad checks my face to see if I'm bluffing before laying his cards face down on the table, signaling his defeat.

I yip with joy before gathering the sweets up in my arms, shoving a couple in my mouth. Today was officially the third day of our absence at school. The sumac was starting to clear up, but now we were both covered in scabs which gave off a sort of rotting-of-the-dead feeling. We've tried making our own fun, playing poker and making cookies, but poker is only so much fun for awhile and the cookies were always charcoal by the time we'd take them out of the oven.

Mac, Dannit, and all of my other dogs have grown accustomed to our presence and mostly just laze around the joint. Brad and I haven't really made-out since that one time, but we do kiss here and there. He lets me play with his hair when I get bored and, after some persuasion, I get to dress him up in women's clothes.

Shale and Trev have been by every day to bring us homework and itching cream. School has been out for about a half hour so they should be by any minute. Mom has been so busy with the real-estate agent that she hasn't really been home. She really is set on owning a flower shop, already starting to create designs for the shop and picking out a name: The Time Capsule. She says that people will appreciate it and that the time is trapped in the flowers, because they will bloom, spread seeds, and continue to grow.

"Wanna watch a movie?" I ask, hoping onto the back of the couch. Brad stretches his long legs over the coffee table so he can seat himself on the couch with me, brushing his fingers against my legs.

"Sure, what do ya got?" He asks, searching for my DVD collection.

"Actually, I have no idea. I haven't seen most of these for awhile." I reply, running my finger across the spines of the covers. Just as I was getting ready to pull out a comedy show, my front door bursts open, smacking my head. I told my mom that she shouldn't have put the bookshelves there.

"Oh my God! You will not believe it!" Shale squeaks, looking all wide eyed and rabid. I back up and lean against the book case while grasping my head painfully, watching Shale up and down, completely oblivious to my current status.

"Shale, do you have to scream? I could hear you a block away." Trev says in a tired voice, trailing through the door. He stops and eyes me. "What's wrong with you?"

"Door, Shale, excitement?" I say, questioning the last part. I honestly don't know if Shale was going through some emotional distortion or if she is excited. I am thinking, emotional distortion.

"Of course I'm excited! You should be too!" Shale jumps at me, making me back up and hit my head again. Then again when she shoves a paper right in my face. I rip it out of her hands and glare.

"Shale, if you don't stop you're going to give me brain damage." I scold.

"Can't get something you already have." Brad scoffs, nibbling on an Oreo. I feel my eye twitch and, automatically, he smirks.

"You," I point at him. "Stay out of this." I then look down and read the main bolded line. "So what? It's a dance, big deal."

I toss the paper away from me only to see Shale flail around to catch it and stare at me with wide eyes.

"It's not a dance. It's the dance. It's prom!!!" Shale screams in my face, causing spit to land on me. I take a hand and wipe it off while pushing her away with the other.

"Prom is still a dance."

"Autum, have you ever been to a dance? Fall Ball, Winter Formal, Valentine's Day Dance, Prom? Any of those?" Shale asks skeptically. I shrug.

"It never really suited me."

"OH MY GOD!!" Shale screams for the umpteenth time today. Her hand suddenly shoots out and grabs me by the front of my shirt. "WE ARE GETTING YOU A PROM DRESS RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

"B-but I still have poison ivy." I stutter out, completely scared shitless.

"THEN WE'LL GET IT WHEN YOU GET RID OF THAT!"

"You do realize that poison ivy is contagious, so you'll probably get it now for touching me." I say, eyeing her hands on my shirt. She flings me away from her with an 'Eep!' and runs to the bathroom to wash her hands. I sigh in relief and turn back to see Trev and Brad sitting together on the couch, stealing my Oreos.

"Eat 'em and you're dead." I snarl. Trev slowly pops one into his mouth and I growl, stampeding towards him. I tackle him off of the couch and we wrestle for a couple of minutes, stopping when he starts choking on the cookie.

"Told you, you'd be dead." I snort, going back to the couch and sitting beside Brad, Trev still rolling around on the floor. Brad snickers before looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

"So, you've never been to a dance." He concludes, the corner of his lips twitching upwards. I turn and face him, my eyebrows drawn together.

"No, why? Does that come to your distaste?" I ask, wrinkling my nose. He lets a chuckle out before touching noses with me.

"Doesn't matter. You wouldn't care anyways."

"Damn straight." I jerk my head into a nod. "Have I told you that I can't even walk in heels? I'm like the Leaning Tower of Autum!"

Brad laughs and kisses me on the cheek before looking back at Trev, who managed to swallow down the Oreo without cutting of his air supply.

"Enjoy it?" I sneer at him. He shakes his head, look at the ceiling and heaving for air.

"No, there was too much pain involved."

"Good. You deserve it." I smile at him.

I walk into the school the next day, being escorted by Brad to my locker. He pecks me on the lips when the first bell rings, leaving me to go to my class. When I walk in Gerby comes up to me. He is a nice enough guy, but a little on the nerdy side. He wears big coke bottle sized glasses and his pants come up to his belly button with his shirt tucked in.

Not to mention that he's a head shorter than me.

"H-hi, Autum." Gerby stutters out, pushing his glasses up. I smile at him.

"Hi, Gerby. What's up?" I ask casually. I watch him sputter for words before he blurts his entire sentence out.

"Will you go to prom with me?"

I blink in surprise, not quite sure what to do. I am supposed to go to a dance with someone, I know that. Is Brad going to the dance with me? He never asked or even said that he was going. And Gerby just got the guts to ask me. Hm.

"Yeah, sure." I smile at him kindly. He blinks at me.

"Really?"

"Yeah. We can go as friends." I nod, still smiling. He smiles back and says that he'll pick me up at seven after I give him directions to my house. My class periods whiz by and soon it's lunch. I sit down beside Brad and we start talking, Shale going on and on about prom.

"Oh, guess what." I say with a smile. "I got a date to it."

Everyone stares at me. I turn and look at Brad and see his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed dangerously, making me wince a little. I've never seen him so angry before, no, not angry. Pissed.

"What?" He growls out. I stutter for words, not sure how to respond. "What do you mean you got a date?"

"I-I was asked and I didn't know if we were going together or not." I tell him. "So I said yes."

"Who is it?" Brad roars at me, causing my mouth to drop open. I glare at him. How dare he yell at me! He didn't even ask me yesterday if we were going together, why should he be mad if I go with someone else?!

"Excuse me, but you didn't ask. The boy I'm going with is very nice and we're only friends." I titter at him. "It's Gerby Taterunce."

"Autum, I shouldn't have to ask! I'm your boyfriend, it's a given!" Brad yells back at me, making closer lunch tables look at us.

"Well, I'm sorry!" I shout back, throwing my hands up in the air. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do! You know that! It shouldn't be a given in the first place, you should just always ask and not assume!"

We glare at each other for a moment as Shale, Tash, Shelby, and Trev watch with wide eyes. Brad's lips pull back to bare his teeth.

"You're cheating on me." He snaps lowly. I blink at him, my eyes wide for a moment before they narrow.

"I am not cheating. You didn't even listen to me. We're just friends and we're going as friends!" I state loudly. "Do you really think I'd do something like that?"

He doesn't say anything.

I shake my head at him with a hurt expression and push my food away, grabbing my books and standing up.

"Fine. If that's how you feel then maybe we should stay away from each other for awhile." I whisper softly, turning around and walking out of the cafeteria doors. I go to my locker and get my Algebra book. I stay at my locker until the bell rings, and then the late bell. One sacrificed tardy wouldn't hurt if it meant that I wouldn't have to get into another argument with Brad.

I enter the classroom, not bothering to give Ms. Shanks and explanation, and take my seat. Every time Brad would turn around in class, he was called on it. Every note he tossed over his shoulder, I tossed over my shoulder.

When the bell rings I hurry out of the classroom, being the first one out while Brad is left behind to fight the crowd. I manage to avoid him for the rest of the day, even when I walk home from school.

But the fact that he's my neighbor doesn't help much. When Mom let him into the house, I locked my door. I disconnected my phone. I shut my curtains.

After I get done eating dinner, I take a shower before heading to bed. Dannit is sprawled out on my bed, making me have to push him over. Once I'm settled, Mac and Sharada jump up on me to snuggle. I sigh and go to sleep, hoping to escape into dreamland.

But God has other plans for me.

My dogs jerk up at the sound of my window opening and when I look over, half scared that it's a killer, I groan in dissatisfaction and grab one of my books, throwing it at the person. He catches it and sets it back down, clearing the distance from my window to my bed in two quick strides.

Mac, Sharada, and Dannit all jump down, wagging their tails.

"Autum, please." Brad says as I pull the covers over my head and turn away from him.

"Go away." I say, muffled by the covers. I feel the bed sink a little on his side when he sits down and move away a couple of inches.

"Autum." Brad whispers to me. With my anger intensified, I sit up swiftly and yank the covers off to glare at him.

"Go away, Brad. You hurt me." I watch him wince when I say those last three words but he doesn't move. He stares at me with sad shining eyes.

"Please, Autum. I came here to apologize." Brad pushes. I bite back a comment.

"Fine. You have exactly two minutes." I growl at him. He sighs, looking away and then turning back to me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you its just . . . I really like you, Autum. You don't understand how much you really mean to me. And when you said that you were going with someone else, I . . . I don't know. I thought you knew we would go together." He says. I keep on my mask, not letting him know anything.

"Remember when I said I never had a boyfriend and I didn't know how to be a girlfriend? Yeah, that still applies." I point out. I watch his shoulders slump.

"I'm so sorry. I just . . . please don't leave me alone." He whispers the last part. He says it so emotionally and with so much meaning that it melts away my mask. I uncross my arms and lean over to him, hugging him and holding him.

"Okay. I won't." I mutter as I rest my chin on his shoulder. "But I'm still going with Gerby."

"I can deal with that. As long as he doesn't make any moves." Brad says, pulling me closer. "But I'm still tagging along with you. There's no way I'd miss a chance to see you in a dress."

I roll my eyes and smack his arm lightly, letting him hold me this time.

"Are you serious? You're really going to make me do this?" I ask in disbelief, watching Shale mix the liquid wax together. It's been two weeks since I first found out about 'prom' and now it's the day before. My dress hangs on the back of my bathroom door, glaring at me with its hideousness as Shale hums away.

"Autum, its time that you've been beautified. Now is the time." Shale says, whirling around on me. "Now, just lean your head back, close your eyes, and don't move."

I hesitantly do as she says, completely scared of the results. I press my lips together when she places the hot wax on my eyebrow, gripping the top of my jeans. She tears something and places it on my eyebrow, smoothing it out and pressing her palm to it before whipping it off painfully.

"Holy crap-load shit!" I curse, sitting straight up and clutching my eyebrow.

"Let me see." Shale orders, pulling my hand down to look at it before getting some more wax. "Hold on, it didn't work."

I bite my lip this time when she puts the wax on, digging my fingernails into the palm of my hand when she rips it off.

"Shit shit shitity fuck fuck!" I yell my profanities loudly, thankful that Mom isn't home yet. I hear Shale gasp and open my eyes to see her staring at me in horror. "What? What did you do to me?!"

"I-I didn't-Oh God." She holds a hand mirror in front of me, making my mouth drop open.

"YOU WAXED OFF MY EYEBROW?!!!" I screech at her. There isn't even a trace that an eyebrow had been there in the first place! "Wax the other one off, wax the other one off!"

I hear Mac whine and scratch at the door through my screams and yelps of curses. I yank open the door and run into my room to grab a pair of scissors. I cut bangs straight across my forehead to cover my nonexistent eyebrows, hoping that no one would notice at all.

"I'm so sorry!" Shale wails in misery, coming in after I cut my hair. "It must have smeared completely over."

"You are never to do my eyebrows again." I confirm, not looking at her while I mess with my new bangs.

"At least you have a beautiful dress." Shale adds, trying to look on the bright side of things.

"Beautifully hideous. Shale, this is why I hate dances that involve dressing up." I snort, finally looking at her. I give her a hug when she looks like she's about to cry.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine, see? Now no one will know." I smile at her, trying for comfort. She nods, examining my new hairstyle.

"Yeah. No one."

Brad holds in his laughter when he sees my bare, hairless forehead, pressing his hands to his mouth. I glare at him and let my bangs fall back down.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I didn't think it'd be so funny!" Brad bursts, doubling over into a laughing fit. I kidney punch him and get up off of my bed.

"Just for that, you don't get to see my dress." I snort, crossing my arms as I lean against my door to block him, just in case he tries to get into the bathroom for a peek.

He gets up and walks over to me, leaning over so he's blocking me from any escape routes.

"I'm sure it'll look better on you than it will on a hanger. That hanger doesn't have anything on you." He snickers at his own little joke. I go to kidney punch him again but he grabs my hand this time along with the other one. "You know, someone always has to lose their virginity on prom night." He whispers roughly in my ear. I roll my eyes and push him away.

"Yeah, I bet it'll be some freshman this year. You know that really skimpy looking one? Yeah, her." I hypothesize, starting to move away from him. He chuckles but continues holding me and pulling me closer.

"Or . . ."

"Not a chance." I snicker, pushing him away and walking around him. I hear him sigh and walk back to the bed.

"That's fine. Guess I'll just have to wait." I don't even have to turn around to know that he's shrugging. I dig through my closet, trying to find the shoes that Shale said I would have to wear, but there's no sign of them. I sigh and stop searching, moving back to the bed to cuddle with Brad.

"I knew you'd come around." Brad teases, swinging over me and ravaging me with kisses. I squeal and giggle, trying to push him away; this goes on for a couple more seconds before his lips press against mine softly and then pull away. I sigh in contentment as he gets up.

"See you at seven." He winks before going out my window and into his.

"Yeah, see you." I whisper happily. I lay there, daydreaming until I realize that it's six thirty. I run to the bathroom to start doing my hair and fumbling with the curling iron, burning myself enough for third degree burns. By the time my make-up is done and my dress is on, I manage to only catch a glimpse of myself in my full length mirror.

My dress is an ugly shade of green, not to mention shiny. It wraps around my neck like a halter and cuts down into a V shape to my chest. In my opinion, it shows too much leg, cutting from the middle of my thigh into a diagonal that ripples and waves. It makes me feel like a hoochie mama.

Just as I finish tying my combat boots, the door bell rings.

I hear Mom's footsteps hurry to the door and her voice cheerfully saying something. I stomp downstairs just as the door bell rings again, stopping on the fourth step. Brad is standing straight up in a rented out tux holding a small box in his hands, smiling so brightly that I wanted to go back upstairs and put my sunglasses on.

Gerby comes in through the door and stops when he sees Brad. He slowly turns to look at me with a questioning gaze, not bothering to take in my appearance yet. I smile at him.

"Gerby, Brad's going to join us, okay?" I tell him in what I hoped is a sweet voice. He just nods before looking at me and my dress. I stumble down the last four steps even though I am trying to be graceful. But Grace and I don't really get along.

I hear Mom sigh and look at her.

"I guess there are some things you just can't change." Mom tisks, shaking her head while staring at my combat boots. Just in spite of her, I pose. I earn a smile from her and drop the modeling act, turning to Gerby and Brad.

"You look gorgeous." They say at the same time, glaring at each other at the end. I giggle and they turn back to me.

"You guys look handsome yourselves." I compliment them back. They smile at me.

"Thank you." They reply in unison again before glaring at the other one. Brad is the first to step forward and give me a corsage, pinning it to the spot were my strap and body of my dress connect. He pecks me on the cheek and steps aside reluctantly to let Gerby give me his corsage.

"May I see your hand, please?" Gerby asks shyly, looking up at me. I grin at him and place my hand in his. He slides the corsage on my wrist with shaky fingers, showing me just how nervous he is.

I bite my lip anxiously, thinking further into the future of the evening. Hopefully Brad and Gerby didn't start assaulting each other, but what if they did? Would Brad just knock Gerby out? Would Gerby take any hard feelings at the fact that Brad is here, with us?

I sigh and try shaking the thoughts out of my head, turning around and smiling with my two dates so Mom can get all of the pictures she wants. There's a slight knock on the door during the middle of a picture and Mom turns around to answer it to be greeted heartedly by Mrs. and Mr. Flitcher.

"Well, hello!" Mom exclaims, clearly surprised. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, we just wanted to see how well everyone looked." Mrs. Flitcher says, waving off the question. Mr. Flitcher rolls his eyes at her.

"Yeah right," He scoffs. "You wanted to see Brad for more pictures for your stupid scrap book."

"Hush up." Mrs. Flitcher scorns. I stare at Brad's dad.

He really has changed quite a bit since our first encounter. Brad has told me so much about how his dad is better and home more. He's nicer and Brad says that he takes Mrs. Flitcher out every other Saturday, a night for just them to do whatever they want. I heard they went mini golfing last time.

"Oh, Autum! You just look wonderful!" Mrs. Flitcher squeals when she sees me. I blink, coming out of my thoughts, and smile at her, only to be showered in flashes of light.

"Whoa." I blink a lot when I see all of the different colored stars and dots. Brad snickers.

"Tell me about it." He whispers to me as the pictures keep coming. "At least you didn't have some one taking 'em as you're getting ready. I ran into the wall at least six times."

I giggle at the thought and look over at Gerby who is just staring as the pictures are being taken, the lights reflecting off of his glasses. I grab both of their hands and starting heading to the door, wanting to escape the torture of camera flashes.

"Be back by one!" Mom shouts after me as we make our way across the yard. That's when I see two different cars. An old black Lincoln and a black pick-up truck. What a dilemma.

"Hey, who's car are we taking?" I ask. I hear Brad sigh at this, not quite sure what to do.

"I think we should take mine." He says, almost childishly. Gerby doesn't say anything, too nervous to. I purse my lips, thinking for a moment, before coming up with a solution.

"How about I ride with Gerby to the restaurant and dance, then I'll ride home with you? Since we live by each other and all." I suggest, compromising. I see the reluctance on Brad's face and stick my bottom lip out towards him, turning my head more so Gerby doesn't see. He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

"Okay. Fine." I give him a smile and hook arms with Gerby, heading towards his Lincoln. "Wait, where are we eating?" I hear Brad ask. Gerby turns around to face him.

"I thought we'd go ahead and eat at this Italian restaurant. It's a little expensive, but I have enough money to cover us." Gerby says, sniffing a little and whipping his nose. He also pushes up his glasses, making me laugh on the inside.

"Well, I was thinking about this Chinese restaurant . . ." I hear Brad trail off. I look over at him and he's staring right back at me. "Is it okay if we go there? It's not too expensive and it's sort of symbolic."

"O . . . Kay." Gerby replies with a raised eyebrow. I feel my face flush at the first time Brad and I ate there, remembering it clearly. Gerby opens the car door for me, helping me in, before going over to his side. As we start driving, he follows Brad at a fair distance, keeping both of his hands on the wheel.

"So, are you excited?" I ask, trying to make conversation. The radio isn't enough. Beethoven is playing and, why I don't mind classical music, I prefer something that I can sing to. Not hum.

"Yes, but more nervous actually." He confesses, never taking his eyes off of the road. I glance over at him.

"Why?"

"Because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do." He states sheepishly, following Brad as he takes a right. I quirk an eyebrow.

"You dance of course!" I reply with a smile. Then I realize that he probably doesn't know how to dance, even if there isn't any specific way to dance. "I'll dance with you until you get the groove of things. Then you'll probably be so good that you'll get the confidence to ask a wall flower."

"I-I don't know. I'd like to dance with you." Gerby says quietly as we pull into the parking lot. Brad is at my door right as we park, already opening it and grabbing my hand.

I take both of their hands as we head inside, some people casting curious looks at us as we enter. Brad says his last name and a middle aged man with balding hair leads us to a window booth. I make both of my dates sit on the same side so I can have the whole other side to myself.

I order teriyaki chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and crab legs. It may sound a lot, but the bill only comes to fifteen-thirty. Gerby orders chicken fried rice and Brad asks for the sweet and sour chicken with pork may en rice.

Dinner is nice. I help Gerby with his chopsticks, which takes much longer for him to eat but I want him to get the whole Chinese thing going. I have to keep tossing Brad warning looks, so he doesn't make fun of Gerby.

We leave the restaurant an hour later and drive to school. We arrive a little late, but it's good because there isn't such a long line anymore. I step out of the car, hearing the music blaring from inside the school gym. Lights are on everywhere outside of the school and the student parking lot is completely filled up.

Brad and Gerby come up beside me at the same time as I start walking towards the entrance. I spot a fairly familiar car with fogged up windows. Taking the detour, I bend down to look inside, tapping on the window.

The car moves for a second with a bang along with some string of profanities coming from the inside. Trev rolls the window down.

"Autum, what the hell? We're kinda busy at the moment." Trev says as Shale sits up, her dress already unzipped. Trev's shirt is discarded on the steering wheel while his belt is undone. I snicker at the sight.

"Aren't you supposed to do that after the dance? Come on, the dance is this way." I say, jerking my thumb towards the school. "Besides, you guys can do that all night long afterwards."

I step back, hearing them grumble as the start dressing themselves again. After a minute or so, they step out of the car with their hair disarrayed. We all make our way to the front entrance, laughing and joking together. Brad hands out his ticket with mine and everyone else follows suit, breaking through the door.

"Wow. It's amazing. A gym with streamers." I roll my eyes at the poor decorations. "Oh well." I grab Gerby's hands and whirl him out onto the dance floor with me. I laugh as he stumbles a bit and start dancing. He just stares at me, standing stock still.

"Come on, Gerby. Just copy my moves." I say. He watches me a little while longer before starting to move his hips. "Good." I smile. I start doing old moves, like discoing, the sprinkler, the lawn mower, the swim. Mixing my moves in with them too.

He copies all of them, starting to loosen up, and laughs with me. We dance for three more songs until a girl comes up and asks him to dance with her. I wink at him and set off to find Brad, spotting him by the punch bowl.

"Well, hel-lo, good lookin'." I smirk, checking him out. "What's a handsome fellow like yourself doing at the punch bowl?"

"I came here with a date, but she seems to be off doing better things." He chuckles.

"Well, then you can dance with me. But, shh," I press a finger to my lips as I grab his hands. "It's our secret."

He laughs and we run out to the dance floor, him placing his hands on my hips as I press my fingers through his hair, smiling at him as the song plays.

'We get it on almost every night, when the moon is big and bright. It's a supernatural delight, everyone is dancing in the moonlight.'

Our hands and fingers intertwine as we continue dancing, doing a couple moves but still staying connected at the hands. Some people around us laugh and compliment us as we smile at each other and make faces.

'Dancin' in the moonlight, everybody's feelin' warm and bright. It's such a fine and natural sight, everybody's dancin' in the moonlight.'

I spot Shale and Trev making faces at each other too, but pecking each other on the lips happily. Brad and I continue to sway and dance to the song before we put our hands in the air, clapping them to the beat.

The song comes to an end and we laugh at each other, having fun, and dance into the next song. And the next.

And the next.