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Nekota felt herself tense up as El held a rose out in front of her. “Vas a ir al baile?” El asked in a thick accent. Nekota stayed upright, unsure of how to respond to someone speaking a different language.
Cautiously, Nekota replied. “Wha-?”
El stood up straight from her flamboyant pose, seemingly beating herself up for thinking that using Spanish would work here. Putting a fist up to her mouth and coughing, El tried again. “Are you going to the dance this weekend?” El’s accent was still there, but at least Nekota could understand her now.
“Uhm… not at the moment?”
Nekota looked down at the floor, her blush growing slowly darker.
“Is there a reason why?” Nekota looked up at El, who had gotten closer.
“Not really…” Nekota looked away.
“Then, could you go to the dance with me?” El asked, brushing her hand up against Nekota’s cheek slightly.
Nekota stepped back, trying to look anywhere that wasn’t directly into El’s eyes. “Why do you want me?”
“Because to me, you’re more than just a shy nerdy girl in the back of the class. You’re a hermosa to me, a shining star in the sea of the mundane.”
“Alright then… Nekota felt herself building a nervous sweat. “Will you let me have some time to think it over?” She asked with a slight stutter.
El beamed a warm smile, pulling her phone out quickly. Putting the rose into her mouth, El brought up her contacts, waiting for Nekota to do the same. “Please just don’t be mad at me if I say no…” Nekota thought to herself as they exchanged numbers.
Taking the rose from her mouth, El slotted it into the hair above Nekota’s left ear. “It looks perfect, compañera.”
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Nekota rolled back and forth on her bed, nervous to text El back a response. Usually, events like a school dance didn’t matter to her since she had never really seen the point in going when she had nobody to go with. But with El’s politeness and forwardness, she felt guilty if she didn’t accept the offer.
Nekota buried her face into the pillow, screaming internally. Setting the phone down, she got up and calmed herself, before walking towards her closet. The closet didn’t have much of anything that would fit for a dance, mostly just old items from her room that she no longer uses.
Suddenly, Nekota’s phone started to ring, causing the girl to leap towards her bed. Slamming her head into the wall with a thud, Nekota landed on her bed, rubbing her scalp. Reaching over for her phone, she picked up the number and brought it to her ear. The soft sound of El’s voice came through the speaker. “Is this the lovely señora, Nekota?”
Nekota immediately hung the phone up, blushing with a dark red. Opening her text messages, all she sent to El was a simple, “Yes.” Bringing the phone to her chest, she hugged it tightly and tossed around in her bed, both excited and embarrassed
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Nekota nervously shuffled into the formal wear department, looking around for a dress. A long row of button up dress shirts and polo shirts greeted her to her right, but the left seemed to have a group of female sweaters. Trying to hide herself behind the clothes, Nekota trembled as she saw the area for dresses. A long rack against a metal divider held a colorful collection of dresses, slowly changing shades from one end to the other. Nekota stepped towards the end away from the back wall, looking at a vibrant red dress.
“Sticks out too much for me.” Nekota stepped further down the line, talking to herself about how all the warm colors were too bright for her. Some of the early greens were a little on the bright side, but the dark green ones made it hard for her to imagine it working well with her flowing blonde hair.
A longer line of bright and dark blues followed before Nekota found one that stuck out to her. A dark blue dress with a purple gradient to the bottom, its tag sticking out like a sour thumb with its bright white color. Nekota picked it up from the rack, holding it up to herself in a mirror nearby.
“I guess I could try it on…”
Heading to the changing rooms, she had a quick talk with an employee, before stepping into a changing room. Looking around the tiny room, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, just a wooden bench, a small rack to hang stuff on, and a large mirror.
Hanging the dress on the rack, Nekota started to undress. Even without anyone watching her, she still felt embarrassed to undress in a place that wasn’t her own home. Picking the dress up once more, she let it fall over herself, catching the straps as it fell. Zipping up the back of the dress with her long arms, she twirled around, almost like the fantastical stories that she read as a child. Blushing slightly, she investigated the mirror.
“Wow…” Nekota nearly jumped, surprised that she had started talking out loud. “Maybe things won’t be so bad with her…”
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Nekota looked around the gymnasium nervously. Their high school had always been struggling in the money department, leaving them no choice but to make do with what they had. The gym was the largest room they had, and the lighting system was thankfully easy to modify. So far, she had been there for 30 minutes, trying not to be approached by anyone sketchy looking, and trying not to get lung cancer from the one ancient smoke machine.
Suddenly the doors opened, letting in a warm yellow glow into the neon darkness. El walked through, grabbing the attention of everyone with her quite frankly vibrant red dress. Even in the darkness of the dimmed multi-color lights, it still stuck out like a star in the night sky.
Soon most of the dance floor was cleared out, as people had begun to swarm El with questions and cameras. Calmly, El walked through the crowd, barely giving any attention to the swarm around her as she gracefully strolled towards Nekota.
Nekota’s cheeks were dusted with pink, and she couldn’t bring herself to look up at the girl. El brought her hand down to Nekota’s chin, softly lifting the blonde’s head. Seductively, she ran the back of her hand down Nekota’s cheek. “Care to join me in a dance?” El asked, her thick accent finally matching her outfit.
Nekota nodded, taking El’s open hand with her own as the tanned beauty led them to the dance floor. El leaned in, only a few inches from Nekota’s nape. “I’d show off my tradicional dance, but I wouldn’t want to dejar you out,” she whispered.
El let her hand fall to Nekota’s hip, while intertwining her other hand with Nekota’s fingers. It was an odd sight for anyone not familiar with the two, watching these two opposite slow dancing while modern pop music rang from the loudspeakers. Nekota found herself entranced in El’s faded blue eyes, watching as they twinkled in the light. They swung side to side, slowly making their way around in a circle, completely oblivious to the now empty dance floor, and the multiple people catching their moment on video.
“Do you trust me?” El whispered. Nekota nodded, a slight tear building up in her right eye. El slowly leaned inwards, doing it in time with the dance. Soon she felt herself touching against Nekota’s forehead, their lips mere inches apart. Nekota surprisingly closed the distance first, feeling the warmth of El’s lips brushing against her own.
El finished off the encounter, pressing her lips against Nekota’s. The music and camera flashes seemed to fade away as they felt each other against them. Suddenly, Nekota fell to the floor, her knees giving way as she passed out into a cloud of smoke.
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Nekota banged her head against her desk, her face burning hot with embarrassment. After the dance, the photos of the two of them kissing had spread like a forest fire through the school. Nekota laid her head against the desk, covering everything below her eyes with two crossed arms. Annoyingly, a group of the ‘popular’ girls had formed on the other side of the room, leading to a lot of giggling, and pointing at her.
Soon however, El entered the room, only for her to cause even more giggling. Walking straight towards Nekota, she patted the girl on the head. Looking up, Nekota saw El’s warm smile. Standing up, she followed El out of the classroom, and down the hallway until they found one of the few empty classrooms in the building. Stepping inside and closing the door behind them, the pair could now talk with a privacy that they would never have had while in the other room.
El sighed and looked around the room. “Are you sure we should continue this? Nekota asked quietly. El swung round, elegantly bringing out a red tulip from her jacket. Her cheeks were a faint pink as she slotted the flower above Nekota’s left ear. Touching foreheads, El could tell that she didn’t want this to end either.
“I’ll protect you, so you won’t have a problema with them anymore.” El closed the distance for the second time in 48 hours, pressing her tongue like a spear through Nekota’s lips. Nekota felt her back hit the blackboard as El broke off the kiss. A saliva trail connected the two, and both were panting slightly.
El smiled once more and walked to the door. Trying the handle, it went about 10 degrees down before locking in place. El tried to budge it with her shoulder against the door, but it was no use. They were now locked inside the classroom. El turned around with a sly smile, ready to cause a little trouble. “Want to continue?”