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“I overhead him say that he would go to the dance if somebody asked him,” Hannah said to her friends. “But I don’t have the courage to ask him.”
From a table over, Marie heard Hannah talking to her friends. Marie sat with her own friends, trying not to stare as she daydreamed of going to the school dance with Hannah.
“Oh, if I had the courage,” Hannah wondered aloud. “If only, then I could ask Oliver to the dance. I am a cheerleader, I am on the debating team, and I’m a house captain. But still, I cannot build up the courage to ask him.”
“I want to go to the dance with Hannah,” Marie thought to herself. “Day after day, I have seen her, but after all that time I have been too shy to just say hello to her. Day after day my friends told me I should just go for it and speak to her. Class after class, I have admired her hair that looks like short, dark blonde waves, her skin, the shade of cool bone, and her eyes of soft stone. But I do not know if she would like me back.
“The dance is this weekend,” Hannah told her friends dreamily. “If I ask him out, we could dance together all night to whatever pop music is playing, and when the DJ plays a slow song, we will sway to the music with his arms around my waist and mine around his shoulders. If only, if only, if only I had the courage.”
“There she is, she is the only one I would go to the dance with,” said Marie as her friends listened. “Oh, to see her, it pains me to know that she would not see me the same as I see her. I would trade anything for her to like me back, but human emotion isn’t something that can be bought, sold, or even traded, and even if it could, the price would be undeterminable.”
“Marie, you could do it if you tried,” Bee encouraged their friend.
“The DJ would play the worst of pop,” Hanna sighed, “but we wouldn’t care because we would be dancing together. I will float across the dance floor like a balloon and he would be the only one keeping me from drifting too far from the ground. There will be a rainbow of polyester satin shimmering around us. But if only I had the courage to ask him out.” Hanna stared at the ground.
“Why does Hannah look full with sorrow?” Bee asked. Marie’s friends looked over to the next table at Hannah and her friends.
“Hmm... I wonder,” Vivian said to Bee.
“She wishes to go to the dance with somebody,” said Marie. “But she doesn’t have the courage to ask them.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Vivian replied. “She’s so popular; I’m sure anyone would want to go with her!”
When Marie went home that afternoon, she thought of Hannah. She thought of all the ways she could ask her out. She opened her phone, the artificial rays beamed at her. Marie opened her Instagram.
“I could direct message her and ask her to the dance,” she thought. But when Marie tried to write a message, the words would just not flow onto the screen. She searched her heart for the right words and the right order, but they did not come. There was no way she could hit send even if she did find the words. So, she turned off her phone and pondered how she would ask Hannah to the dance.
“Okay, class, for this activity everyone will need to pair up,” the teacher instructed the next morning. It was a science class. Maybe she could ask her out if they were science partners.
Marie looked around the chatter of students for Hannah. “Hey, Hannah, would you like to be partners?” she meant to ask, but her words jammed up and got stuck in her throat.
But it was too late to ask anyways. “I’ll be your partner, Sarah,” Hannah announced to her best friend.
At recess that day, Marie, Bee, and Vivian returned to their table. “Oh, I missed my chance,” Marie cried.
“You could ask her out at lunch today,” Bee suggested.
“Yeah, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s worth a shot,” Vivian added.
“I mean… she could reject me,” Marie feared. “But she might also say yes. It would either end in rejection or us twirling together under the strawberry, violet, and azure lights glowing in the hall. I can already imagine the two of us in dresses of bubble-gum and tangerine, hand in hand. But I know asking her out could easily go south in seconds; what if she doesn’t want me because our genders match and she thinks that it would be wrong?”
“Then you know you should not waste any of your time on her,” said Vivian. Marie decided she would do it, even if she had just a tiny sliver of hope.
The next two classes dragged on like the clocks had been moving in slow motion. Once the bell finally rang, Marie went to find Hannah.
“Umm… hey, Hannah,” Marie said shyly. “Do you have a date to the dance?”
“Not yet, Marie,” Hannah answered. “But hopefully I will!”
“Well, would you like to- “
“There he is! I’m so sorry, Marie, but I have to talk to Oliver.” Hannah hurried off with any hope that she could have a chance with her. Marie stood in the hall and watched Hannah disappear into the sea of school uniforms. She had taken her shot and missed; but it was all worth it. Even though Hannah had wanted to dance with someone else, Marie knew that it was better to try than to only admire from afar for ever. But most importantly, she had courage.
Hannah weaved through the crowd of students. “Oliver!” she called. She collected all the courage she could and put it into her words. “Will you go to the dance with me?”
“I already have a date,” he answered. “Sarah and I are going together.”
“Sarah? As in my best friend?” Hannah asked.
“Yes. I guess I’ll see you at the dance,” said Oliver as he carried on with his day.
Hannah wandered back to her lunch table, she stared at the ground. When she got there, she saw Marie at another table. Their eyes locked, Hannah saw Marie’s courage.