“Not if Sammy has anything to say about it.”
“There’s nothing happening between us.”
“Okay, but there will be. You heard it here first!” Her friend laughed and waved. Robin waved back and turned down the sidewalk.
Really. Nothing was going to happen with her and Sammy.
When she got back home, Robin pulled the infamous dress out of the closet again. Hmm, maybe Lena was right. The A-line dress boasted classic lines and a long skirt. With just a little adjusting, including removing those wings, taking off some other glittery bits, and shortening it to tea length, this dress could be perfect for the dance in two days. Easy enough for her to do quickly.
A good thing, too, because she really didn’t have time to go shopping. Her life was complicated enough. She jotted down a plan to alter the dress in her idea sketch book.
If only everything in her life could be that easy.
* * *
This was definitely nothow he remembered high school. Of course, back then he’d been the odd man out. Always on the fringes, never getting the girl. Even Colleen, who he’d idolized from afar, had never seen him as more than a lab partner.
When Sammy walked into the gym for the Snowball Dance Saturday night, he couldn’t keep his eyes off Robin. Her navy dress hung in simple lines around her, hugging at all the right places. And, yeah, maybe it was the twinkle lights and the cupcake-scented air, but it seemed to him that this would be a night to remember.
At the other end of the gym, the band, made up of six students from the school orchestra, tuned their instruments. Sammy had heard through the grapevine that the band would play for the first half of the evening—something about needing the practice before a solo and ensemble competition. Then a senior student who worked part-time at the radio station would DJ the last half.
“Hey, stranger.” Robin put her hand on his arm. “You’re right on time.”
He cleared his throat. “I didn’t think this old gym could look so good.” Balloons and silver streamers were tied around the room, and in a display just shy of garish, snowflakes papered the walls, bleachers, and anything else with a vertical surface.
“Right? The decorating committee did such a great job.” She let go of his arm and twirled. Her blue dress shimmered under the lights. “Megan said they are expecting around a hundred students. Mr. and Mrs. Dahlquist and Principal Chase and her husband—and of course us—are the chaperones, but they don’t expect much excitement. The guys on the basketball team have to behave.”
“Yeah, I heard they are on thin ice, metaphorically speaking, after a series of pranks against some of the hockey guys.”
“I seem to remember another group of high-school guys getting into trouble.” And then she shot him a wink.
Around them, the gym full of students dimmed. In that moment, he only saw Robin. How had he not noticed her before? In all the time they’d worked on projects for science and she’d tutored him in math, how could he have missed how beautiful and smart and funny she was? She’d walked back into his life and changed everything.
They’d lost so much time, but maybe tonight could be the start of something new.
He chuckled. “Yeah, we thought we were such hot stuff.”
“And for a tiny high school in the middle of nowhere, you weren’t wrong.” She shrugged, a one-shoulder lift that spoke volumes.
He laughed at that. “Big fish in a very small pond.”
“Something like that.”
He sobered. “This may sound a little weird, but I wanted to thank you for doing this.” He gestured to the room already filling with young people, boys stiff in their dad’s ties and girls dressed in all the colors of the rainbow. “The kids in this town are special. It means a lot to me that you would help out tonight.”
“It’s no biggie.” She waved off his compliment. “All I did was bake some cupcakes.”
“Not to mention giving up your Saturday night to hang out at a high-school dance.”
“I’m not sure I’m giving anything up. After all, I’m out with Deep Haven High’s starting linebacker.” Robin put her hands on her hips.
“True, most girls would kill for a date with me,” he deadpanned.
Wait. Was this a date? Because if he was going to date Robin, he was pretty sure he could come up with something more romantic than a room full of teenagers, even if the room was covered with enough twinkle lights to cover twenty-four Christmas trees.
Robin hooked her arm through his. “C’mon, football star, let’s go pour some punch.”
They stood next to the display of cupcakes Robin had provided. “These look amazing.” Sammy reached for one. “There must be, like, two hundred here.”
