Asking Aiden – Part I

Emma forced herself to not bite her lip. It was her most unattractive nervous habit. “Hey, Grace. Um, can I sit here?”

Grace bumped Hannah, who slid down. Grace filled her spot, leaving the seat at the end of the bench open. Emma smiled and set down her lunch bag.

For one long minute, no one said anything. Emma tried to come up with one of the conversation starters she practiced last night, but her mind was blank. This was her chance to get in with Grace’s group of friends and she was totally blowing it.

Grace picked up one of her chips. “So, Emma. Have you asked anyone to the Sadie Hawkins dance?”

Emma wrinkled her nose. “No way. Why are they having a Sadie Hawkins dance on Valentine’s Day, anyway? I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”

“Come on.” Hannah leaned over. “Who would you ask?”

Emma stared at the girls. Being the new kid her junior year had been the worst, and this was the most popular group of girls. Maybe a little girl talk would be the start of an awesome friendship.

“Um, I guess I’d ask Aidan.” Her heart pounded. Why did she say Aiden? She should have picked someone she didn’t actually care about. Suddenly trusting them with the real name of the guy she had a crush on seemed like a mistake.

The group of girls burst into laughter. “Aiden Porter?”

Emma nodded, her face on fire. “Yeah. Oh wait. Sorry. Did one of you already ask him?”

“Well- “

Grace grabbed Hannah on the arm and gave a wide smile. “No. No one has. That’s a great idea. You should do it.”

Emma shifted on the hard bench. “Nah. I could never just walk up to him and ask.”

“Then text him. That’s totally cool. Even if my mom says it isn’t cool to ask that way. She’s old.” Grace spoke with the confidence that Emma had dreamed of having her whole life.

“But I’d need to ask him for his number first. And if I do that, I might as well just ask him to the dance. And there is no way I’m gonna do that. He probably doesn’t even know who I am.”

Grace pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “I have his number. What’s yours? I’ll text it to you, and then you can text him.”

Emma rattled off her phone number before she lost her nerve. Her phone chirped, and she stared at the new text.

Hannah tossed a wadded-up napkin at her. “Just do it. Make it super simple. ‘Hey Aiden, it’s Emma from math. Wanna go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me?’”

The whole group chimed in with their encouragement, so Emma typed out the text and hit send.

“Done.” Emma gave the table a triumphant look, and they all burst into laughter. Emma laughed along with them, sure she had passed some kind of test. She was in!

When the bell rang, Emma waved goodbye to her new friends and hurried to her next class. It was on the opposite end of the building and she needed to hustle, or she would be late. She burst out of the cafeteria and slammed into someone.

“Oh, sorry!” Emma gasped as someone grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling. Aiden Porter stared down at her. Emma gasped again. “Aiden.”

“Yeah?” Aiden dropped his hands off her shoulders.

“I’m Emma. From math class?”

“Yeah, okay.” He nodded and backed away. “See you in math.”

Emma stood, confused. Then she shook her head and took off for class. He must have left his phone in his locker and hadn’t gotten her text yet.

She was almost to her next class when someone called out her name. She slowed down as the short kid from drama ran up. He was the kid who always thought he knew the right answer and who always talked over the drama teacher to tell other kids how to act their scene. No one liked him.

“Hey, you’re Emma, right? We’re in math? And drama?”

Emma nodded and kept heading to class. The next bell was going to ring any second.

“Yes, I’ll go to the dance with you! Gosh, thanks for asking. My mom is going to be shocked that I got asked. I mean, usually I ask the girls, but since this is a Sadie Hawkins you had to ask me, right? Hey, maybe I can ask Mrs. Leak if she can pair us up during drama today.” He pushed his out of style glasses up his pimple-ridden nose.

Emma came to a stop and her throat closed up. “Um, what’s your name?”

The boy honked out a laugh. “Duh. Aiden. Aiden Turner.”

Emma felt the blood drain from her face as the tardy bell rang.

*******

To be continued…Part II coming Wednesday!