It’s a junior high school dance. Lots of people here. I don’t need to be afraid. Just go up to one of the girls and ask her if she wants to dance. Just ask. Just ask.

“Hey, Sylvia…”

“No thank you, Skyler. Not now, not ever.”

She didn’t even wait for me to ask. I slink away. Now, I can hear Sylvia and her friends laughing behind my back.

“As if…”

“He’s the dorkiest guy at school.”

“Who wants to dance with him?”

“Ugh.”

It’s the story of my life. Once a dork, always a dork. I tripped a lot the past few years. Mom and Dad said it was because I was growing a lot. So fast that I did not know how to adjust. But I’d get the hang of it eventually. I’d get the hand of my growing body. That’s what they said. But now, I’m the dork. The tall boy who can’t walk and chew gum. Sigh.

“Hey Skyler.”

“Hey Jolene.”

“Struck out with Sylvia, huh?”

“You saw that?” I look down at an interesting spot on the floor.

“Yeah. And now that she’s talking so loud, everybody knows.”

I put my head in my hands. “Oh no.”

Jolene is my best friend. She and I have known each other since my family moved here in second grade. She lives a couple blocks down and we used to hang out on the playground in the park a lot. We still do. Just not quite so often.

“Hey Jolene.” She looks into my eyes with a look I’ve never seen on her face before. I stammer, “Uh… You wanna… You know… Dance? You and me?”

I don’t think I’ve seen her smile like that before. She grabs my hand and away we go.

We dance the night away. I’ve never done that before. Dance. I’ve always just stood on the side. Me and Jolene. Just talking. Just being alone together in a crowded room. It’s similar now. But we’re on the dance floor. We’re still alone together, but we’re not standing with our backs to the wall. We’re not the wallflowers we usually are. Or maybe we are. The dork and his best friend. Wallflowers on the dance floor. Ha. Wallflowers on the dance floor.