My First Party
March 16th 2011 01:33
This was my first party in over 50 years. I wondered how my mom would act.
"Are you out of your fiery mind?" she yelled, pacing up and down the kitchen, slamming cupboard doors, and making a general noise out of everything she could get her hands on.
"Mom, you said we need to try to fit in. You said we need to make friends, and not stick out. You said..."
"I know what I said, but going to a party? There's a happy medium between being anti-social and a socialite. There's pleasantries, study groups at school. AT SCHOOL! Not at some high-schooler home, probably while her parent's are away on a vacation, you isolating yourself with her, possibly doing God knows what!"
"MOM!" I yelled out at her, stopping her in her persistent pacing, bringing her back to reality. She was ready to listen. "You raised me better than that. I know the rules. I know the boundaries. Her parents will be there. Besides, she's different from the rest of them."
"So, instead of going with the head of cheerleaders, you're going with the captain of the softball team?"
"No," I laughed. "She's the head of the mathlete team."
I waited to see her expression. She stood there, frozen in thought for quite a while. Trying to form words, she spat out syllables.
Finally, "You're joking." she stated, shaking her head. "You know, you almost had me. I almost believed you. You caught me. Wow… I haven’t been fooled like that in a long time."
"Ummm... I'm not kidding."
“Yes, you are. You can drop the act now. I’m not going to believe you.”
“Mom, her name’s Stephanie, and…”
“A nerd? Really?”
“Yes, a nerd. Really.”
"Tristan! When have you ever stooped so low to go out with a nerd, an outcast, a nobody? Are you eager for a snack? How about a little adventure? I moved us here so that we could start over again, begin yet again a new life, and you're settling for a captain of the chess team.”
"Mathleet's, Mom, and that's why. We're starting over again, starting new. Plus, she said please. Nobody's said please to me in the past seventy-five years. And why not a nerd? I've never gone out with them. This'll be a great change, I promise. So, may I go, please?"
My mom took a deep, reflexive breath in, then out slowly.
"Please, be careful. Have fun, but be careful."
And, that's how I went to my first high school party.
At first, I knew not how to fit in. There weren't many people there, and when I showed up at Stephanie’s house, I seemed to be the center of attention instead of her. So, I worked my magic.
"Stephanie," I smiled, handing her a small package that my mom and I had picked out. "Happy Birthday." She nervously giggled. I forgot how refreshing a young girl's giggle could be. It had been better than 75 years since I heard that. Then, more giggles, then whispering, then thinking. My powers started to work overtime, as I tried to regain my calm for the situation.
"Oh, my god!" a girl over at the punch table remarked. I refuse to tell you what went through her mind. "I can't believe that he would come to HER party."
"I thought she was lying, and was about to call her on it before he showed up."
"Well, this place seems a little to dead for my liking. How about adding something to the punch?"
The three of them huddled around the punch bowl. Stephanie had no idea. I had to think of something fast, to get everybody's else attention to them. But, what to do?
Stephanie's dad walked up to me.
"So, you're the Tristan that my little girl's been telling me about?" I smiled, trying to think up something to win his affections, while keeping an eye on the girls by the punch bowl.
"That's me," I nervously laughed. Another small group of girls started to talk rudely about her, across the room. What kind of party was this? I thought that one invited friends to a party, not rude girls who wanted to see her fail... something had to be done. "And, don't worry. Your daughter's virtue is in good hands, I assure you."
"Her virtue? Who said anything about that? Her mother's dying wish was that a nice guy would go out with her."
"Oh, shoot," I said out loud. It had been so long since I had acquainted myself with the other species, that I might have been dismissed as rude or even worse... a pervert. His heart rate increased. "I didn't mean that type of virtue, I assure you. I meant... I mean... Nice! I wanted to be nice to her. You know virtues, and other things?" I tried to dig myself out of the big hole I created. He stood there, and just looked at me up one side and down the other. "Not those types of virtues, I promise you, until maybe someday, we marry... which isn't likely, as she'll change immensely between now and the time she's 25. But... Yikes. That didn't sound right either. Sorry. I'm rambling. Would you like some punch?"
The girls over by the punch bowel had just started pouring the contents of the bottle into the bowl, and he caught them right in the act. My plan worked, as he walked over to them. But, something else happened entirely, something that I didn't account for.
"Party's over. You can thank Veronica and her crones for ending the party early. Everybody, go home!" Stephanie turned a whiter shade of pale, as he insisted that everyone leave. Backing into a corner, I caught a tear fall from her eye. I stood there for a moment, not wanting to leave her alone, knowing that this was supposed to be a nice time. She buried her head into her hands, and I saw all the desperation that fell over her, and a wave of sorrow fell over me. Her entire world collapsed around her. Little did she know that there would be many more birthday parties, and that this one, albeit, one of the more popular one's, wasn't the end.
I made my way through the crowd, toward her, and lifted her head. She fluttered the tears out of her eyes, as all her guests were ushered out. I looked down at her, and smiled. The smile traveled over to her father, which in turn changed his disposition, at least, towards me.
Then, fear inside of him, but not the fear that I was used to. It was the fear of loosing his daughter to some maniac. A boy from her school. He refused to see that his little girl grew up, and blossomed into a woman. Perhaps someday, I too would have a little girl that I would refuse to see grow up. Maybe, if we could ever find any more of our kind.
“Tristan,” he called over to me, breaking our gaze, the magic between us. “Would you like to stay for some cake?” I smiled warmly at the thought. An invitation first, then acceptance second. He saw in me what everybody else did… a popular, good looking kid, and a friend, true friend, for his beloved daughter.
The rumors that ran in school the next week were priceless. I never thought that by falling in love with a mortal nerd would I cause so much strife amongst the classes of people who came by. In the end, Stephanie had the confidence to hold her head high through any circumstance. In her, I feel a certain type of power that only us dragons possess. You can’t harvest it. You can’t improve upon it. You can’t cultivate it. It simply is. And, that’s why I love her.
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