Chapter 13

Monday morning rolls around. C wakes up bright and early to get prepared for the day ahead. C showers, brushes her teeth, puts product in her hair because she is too lazy to straighten it today, then dresses in the outfit she and Micah picked out together for the presentation. Once she feels ready, she grabs her bag, grabs something from the kitchen, and heads out the door to see if she beat Foster and whether she will be picking him up or if he is already out there waiting for her.

Outside the last couple of birds are cheeping and the leaves rustle in the morning breeze. C shivers. It's starting to get nippy in the mornings. After another scan of the area, she is surprised to see that she did in fact get ready first, so she heads over to the café to chat with Dawn and wait for Foster.

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I sit up in bed and check my clock to see how much time I have to get ready. Crap, I overslept. Just as I hop out of bed, I hear knocking at my door.

"Hey Foster, are you ready to go?" It's just C. I open the door.

"Not yet dude, I literally just woke up. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night." I say with a tired smile. She comes in and sits on my bed to wait for me. I go shower and brush my teeth and then walk back into my room. I start putting on the clothes that we picked out a few days ago and while I'm doing this, C packs my backpack for me. Once I am dressed and my backpack is packed, we head downstairs to leave. My mom waves us on and we head to school. Halfway through the walk, I see that C is shivering. I stop her and wrap my arms around her to warm up.

"Can't have you freezing to death now, can we?" I can feel her smile against my chest. We stand like that for a few more minutes before I feel her start to pull away. I squeeze tighter. I'm not ready just yet.

"Just a little longer," I rest my chin on the top of her head and take a breath. It feels nice to hug her like this. I can feel her nails raking up and down my back. With that, I let go. It's too early for me to deal with her shenanigans. She sticks her tongue out at me and walks a few steps ahead of me. Typically, I would want to catch up to prevent her from 'winning.' I let it go. My eyes drift down from her beautiful hair, down her back towards-I shake those thoughts from my head and decide to catch up to her. When I am near enough, she grabs my hand. We reach the school ten minutes later than usual, but we still have plenty of time to put our things away and get to first period.

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Foster and Claudia make it through the day like they usually do, getting their work done quickly so they have time to goof off at the end of each period. In the hallways, they walk with their hands interlaced, earning a few questioning glances from peers but no one says anything.They make it to fifth period. Strangely enough, Foster's partner is nowhere to be found. He shrugs and decides to go on with his presentation anyway. His presentation is a hit, earning some cheers from C and others. Then it's C's turn to present. She and Micah stand up and head to the front of the class.

"Ready Jones?" Micah says. Mr. Rennet waves his hands at them, signaling them to start. They begin.

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The day ends as it typically would, the two of them in the library doing whatever homework they have and then reading until Barb throws them out. She can barely handle these two. They are so nosey.

"So, are you two going to winter homecoming this year? I hear the theme is 'cottage core' as you kids call it." Barb pries, feeling justified in her actions as it only keeps things fair.

"Oh. I forgot about winter homecoming," Foster rubs the back of his neck and looks over to C for an answer. He normally wouldn't be going but if she's going to go, there is no way he would miss out.

"Sure, why not? I haven't been to a school dance in years." C looks back at foster. He nods and it's decided. They are going to homecoming. "When is homecoming?" C asks Barb. Barbs eyes widen.

"It's this Friday night. Haven't you guys been paying attention to the announcements?" C and Foster both shake their head no and then share a laugh. That's coming up soon.

"I should probably figure out my dress then," C jokes. Barb sighs and shoos the kids out of the library.

"I'm kicking you out early. Go find appropriate clothes for homecoming and don't forget to buy tickets tomorrow at lunch. Kids these days," she grumbles under her breath.

With that, Foster and C leave the school. They end up deciding to hang at Claudia's place again. When they climb up the stairs, L barrels towards them, headfirst, and lands on Foster's foot. He scoops up the vicious thing and gives him a few ear scritches. Sylvia is on the couch, on her laptop, still ironing out the details of what will be a new craft store. Claudia talks to Sylvia about homecoming this weekend and her mom cheers.

"That's so soon! You need to go get a dress ASAP!" Sylvia closes her laptop and rises from the couch. Foster and C watch as she prances around the room, grabbing keys, a wallet, sunglasses, her purse, gum, and a million other things. "Alright kids, drop your bags. Let's go."

Foster and C do as they're told and then follow Sylvia to the car. C and Foster sit in the back seat because the front seat is occupied by some of the boxes that haven't made it up yet. Sylvia chatters the entire way to the mall. She recounts each and every high school dance that she went to as a kid. Foster and C follow along diligently, interested in what the enthusiastic woman has to say.

Walking through the mall, they spot a small dress store. They head inside and start picking through the different homecoming dresses. After looking through every rack, they managed to find five dresses that C was interested in. Every dress was picked by Sylvia except for one. The one that wasn't picked by Sylvia was chosen by C. C carries her dresses back to the dressing rooms. As she walks back, she sees a group of 6 girls, all around her age, all stunning. Seeing them walk out in the dresses they tried on was intimidating. C wasn't sure if she was capable of pulling off a dress as well as those girls could. While she was lost in her thoughts, the dressing room attendant motioned for C to enter one of the rooms. Sylvia and Foster remain outside, sitting on one of the benches for guests.

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C exits the room in her first dress. It's gorgeous. It's long in the back, about knee length in the front, and covered in this pretty frilly stuff. It's mostly a tanish color but the frilly stuff is black. After looking at the dress, I look up at her. She doesn't look comfortable. She looks like she hates it. Her arms are crossed tightly over her chest, her face is down at her feet, she looks so small. Sylvia has C look in the mirror and after some soothing comments, C stands up straight and puffs out her chest, almost like she is headed into battle.

"I don't know how I feel about it." She faces me with pleading eyes.

"It's okay, I guess. It looks nice on you, but you don't look happy. That probably means that it isn't a good fit? I don't know. I think you should choose whatever you will feel comfortable and happy in." I share my answer and C nods before turning back to the dressing room and trying on the next dress. After a few minutes, she reappears in front of us. This time, she wears a short dress. It has tiny straps and the back of it is open. The length is above the knee, like way above the knee. I look back down at the ground, afraid to look at her for too long. It feels stuffy in here. C chats with her mom about the pros and cons and then goes back into the dressing room. When she's gone, I feel like I can breathe again.

The third dress is the same length as the second dress. This time, however, it has long sleeves and isn't open in the back. It sparkles. It also hugs her body nicely. I can see every curve. I look back at the ground again, ashamed of myself. I shouldn't be ogling her right now. She is trying to find a dress and I am being a creep just staring at her beautiful body. That's not right. She heads back in to change into the fourth dress. Her mom and her decided that the long sleeve dress might be too warm for homecoming. It is going to be in a gymnasium full of sweaty, dancing teens. Not the best place for long sleeves.

The fourth dress is long in the back and short in the front, similar to the first dress. It goes above the knee at the front, but not as short as the last two dresses. It has little sleeve things? But they aren't really sleeves. They drape over her arms nicely, leaving her shoulders exposed. She looks stunning. C is grinning from ear to ear. She does a few twirls and looks at me for my opinion. I smile and try to say something but honestly, I'm speechless. She takes that as a good sign. This is the dress. She doesn't even try on the last dress. This is the one.

She changes back into her clothes and leaves all of the dresses neatly hanging on their hangers except for her dress. She and her mom walk over to the register to purchase their prize. I stand behind them, hands in pockets, feeling kind of awkward but overall happy that C is happy. Once C has secured her dress and a receipt, we walk back to the car.

"Foster, what are you going to wear?" C asks right as we squeeze into the back seat together, our thighs touching due to lack of space.

"I'm not sure. I guess I could wear what I wore to our oral presentation?" I shrug.

"Nope, I already have a plan in mind." Sylvia steers back in the direction of the house. Once we arrive, she runs up the stairs ahead of us. C and I take our time making our way up there. C talks about all the things she loves about her dress and I listen along, barely understanding any of it. As we pass the threshold into the house, Sylvia is already holding some things for me to try on. I take them and head to a nearby room to change.

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Mom and I sit on the couch, impatiently waiting for Foster to come back out. He takes forever to change his clothes. Is he part sloth or something? Just as this thought passes, Foster enters the living room. He is wearing black dress pants, a black long-sleeve button-down shirt, black dress shoes, black and white striped dress socks, and a solid white tie. The sleeves of his shirt are rolled up exposing his muscular forearms.

"Come on, do a twirl so we can take in everything," I joke. Foster does as I asked. As he is turning, I see just how well the dress pants fit him. My face flushes and I stand to go put my dress away in my room, trying to escape whatever I'm feeling. "You look really nice," I sputter as I pass Foster.

Once I am safely out of the living room, I hang my dress on the back of my bathroom door. I sit on my bed and hug my knees to my chest. Why does Foster have to be so gosh darn hot? We are friends, maybe even best friends, I'm not supposed to think dirty things about him. It's not my fault I could see everything. Those pants fit him too well. My face flushes harder.

I'm so caught up in everything that I don't hear Foster entering my room, clothes folded nicely in his hand and backpack slung over his left shoulder. He sets his things down. I hide my face as best as I can against my knees. Foster sits next to me. As he sits, the bed shifts a bit and I lose my balance. Leaning on his shoulder but still curled into a tiny ball, I keep as still as possible. I'm so embarrassed.

"Are you alright C?" Foster places the back of his hand against my forehead and immediately withdraws it, "You are burning up. Do you need me to go get your mom?" He is so thoughtful. I wonder how many girls at school swoon after him. Any girl would be lucky to have him.

"I'm alright," I mumble barely loud enough for him to hear.

"I don't think so C." He leans me back up and tries to unfold me. I struggle to keep myself curled into this tiny ball. He eventually gives up and just lays back on the bed next to me.

"I'm such a baby. This is so embarrassing," I squeak. I like him. That's what this is. I really really like him. He is cute, kind, funny, attractive, cuddly, warm, all the great things. I don't deserve someone like that. I'm the exact opposite. I'm rude, boring, ugly, and a big baby. Thinking about everything wrong with me, a pit begins to form in my stomach. I'm so scared.

"What are you talking about Claudia?" Foster sits back up and tries to unravel me a second time. This time, I lay limp but keep my face covered. Letting him do what he wants. I give up. What's the point in trying to pretend like I don't like him? It's going to end badly either way. Either I tell him, and he stops being my friend, or I don't tell him and hurt a little more each time I'm around him. I don't think I'm strong enough to withstand pain like that.

Foster moves my arm away from my face, but I keep my eyes closed. I can't look at him, it's too much.

"C'mon C. I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong." I open my eyes. His face hovers directly over mine. His hands pin my arms at either side of my head so I can't hide again. A few tears manage to escape my eyes and slide down the side of my face. His brows furrow and he lets go of my arms. I take a deep breath and before I know it, he envelops me in his arms, lifting me from the bed onto his lap. I hide my face in his chest. I take another deep breath, inhaling that forest smell that I love so much. I pull my face away from his chest but remain in his arms. I look up at him. His eyes are dark and cloudy. I can't tell what he is thinking. I continue to stare into his eyes, helpless. I'm trapped. Eventually, I give in and tell him what is going on.

"Foster, I like you. Like, more than like you." As soon as those words leave my mouth, I hide my face in his chest again. I feel his arms tense and then relax. I shake a bit, waiting for his response. This time he pulls me away from his chest. He places his hand under my chin and tilts my head so that my eyes meet his. His eyes aren't as dark anymore.