Getting ready for the winter dance was a nightmare. Ann Simmons decided that she, with the help of Mary Beth, would be personally responsible for getting me ready. I was planning to wear my hair, which had finally started to brush my shoulders again, in some kind of updo.

Ann Simmons was having none of my updo ideas. After mourning the lack of time to have my hair cut into a "bob", she set to work with old fashioned sponge rollers and most of a can of ultra-strong hairspray. My hair got tortured into a stiff mid-century bubble. She couldn't plop a bow on top because she didn't have one to match the dress, thank unnamed Patron Goddess.

Mary Beth slathered my face with matchy-matchy powder blue eyeshadow, baby pink lipstick, and blush that made me look like I might be coming down with an infectious disease.

"She needs some mascara," Kim said, doubt about my makeover writ plain on her face.

"She does not. They didn't even have mascara when this dress was made." Mary Beth's smirk at Kim was so smug, I was afraid to look in the mirror.

"They did too!"

"No," Mary Beth insisted.

"Whatever," Kim said. "Aren't you going to be late?"

Ann and Mary Beth squealed simultaneous squeals of alarm. Mary Beth was on the dance committee and needed to be at the school gymnasium an hour before the rest of us mere mortals. They hurried off as soon as Mary Beth had her dress zipped.

"Come on. Let's fix you." Kim dragged me down the basement steps.

"Ann will kill me if I ruin her bouffant creation." I looked in the mirror and winced. I looked worse than I thought.

"We can fix your makeup, though. Jesus. What was Mary Beth thinking? You're not going to a costume party, and even if you were, this isn't anything close to what they wore back in the day."

"And you know so much about vintage makeup?"

Kim sighed and her expression drooped so much that I wanted to rip my tongue out.

"I'm sorry. I'm really nervous. This is my first high school dance, you know."

"I know. Let me fix this!"

Kim handed me a pack of makeup wipes and I went to work destroying Mary Beth's paint job. While she worked, she chatted non-stop about Rodney. He was a football player from another high school. She'd had to get special dispensation from the principal to bring a date that wasn't a local student. He was meeting her at the door instead of picking her up for reasons that she didn't quite explain. She was going to get a last-minute ride with me and Toby.

She finished the new makeup with enough time to freshen her own. Kim gave me silvery eyeshadow with cat eyeliner that I never would have been able to do on my own, plus ice-blue lipstick with a glittery gloss on top that made me look like an ice princess. It was kind of pinup and kind of goth. With the fake pearl necklace we'd rummaged out of the junk jewelry at Thrifporium, I looked like an evil Cinderella.

"It's perfect."

"Well, get your ass upstairs so we can take some pics. Toby's here." Kim squealed like an excited toddler as she sped up the stairs.

We arrived in the Simmons' "great room". Kim answered the door, shoving me by the towering white on white Christmas tree with a command to stay.

Toby, bless his heart, had dug up a powder blue suit somewhere to match my grandmother's dress. It was hopelessly dorky 1970s polyester, but he looked adorable in it. He'd even brought me a corsage of tiny white roses entwined with silver ribbons.

"Hey. I made this for you." He shoved it into my hands and blinked owlishly.

"Thanks. It's perfect."

"Aren't you going to pin it on her?" Kim asked.

Toby took a step back, bumping into an over-sized ottoman. "Do I have to?"

"Kim can do it!'

Toby calmed down as Kim handed him our phones to take pictures. Soon we had quite a few dorky pics of us being silly, and a couple of glamour shots. Then Toby loosened up and pinned on the corsage for me after all. He took some pics of Kim and me together, and then Kim seized control of the phones and did some threesome selfies.

"We gotta go or we'll miss the first dance," Toby said finally.

He held out both arms to escort us, finally back to his full normal self. As we climbed into his subcompact it occurred to me that Kim must have planned this because she knew how hopeless both of us were.

The gymnasium was a seething mess of students in formal dress and crepe paper streamers. Behind a barricade of tables, chairs, and police tape, a DJ played too-loud music. Kim introduced us to Rodney, a six-foot-five, 250 pound African American guy from our rival high school. The plot around Kim and her date thickened.

"Hey! I know you!" Toby blurted. "You played really well this fall. You could go pro!"

"I know." Rod smiled. "But first I'm going to college."

"What are you going to study?" Toby asked.

"Engineering."

"Oh no," I muttered to Kim.

Kim tugged on Rod's arm, but it was too late. The nerds launched into a conversation about their preferred STEM disciplines while the line to the official photo booth crept onward. After a couple of hopeless, stiff poses with the school photographer, we were free to mingle.

As we moved farther into the gym, I could feel a ripple in the energy of the room. Not from the students, who were mostly oblivious to our nobody presence, but among the teachers and chaperones who were old enough to remember my grandmother. Marching straight at Toby and me was Principal Waring, with a terrifying-looking older lady on her arm. The crowd parted like the sea before Moses to let them through. This was partially because the older lady had a cane and wasn't afraid to slam it on toes, and partially because nobody wanted the principal smelling booze on their breath and getting ejected from the Winter dance.

"That's Belle Gillespie's Winter Queen dress," the older lady half-yelled at me over the music. They stopped in front of Toby and me, blocking our escape.

"Yes it is," I agreed while Principal Waring looked at me wide-eyed and the old lady glared.

"Miss Mator, Mr. Stone, this is my mother, Mrs. Eva Waring."

"Pleased to meet you," Toby said. He put out his hand and let it drop when Mrs. Waring ignored it.

"You stay out of this, young man," Mrs. Waring said. She moved in closer to me, thumping her cane with enough vigor to make Toby take a step back. "Now, girl, you explain what you think you're doing swanning around in Belle Gillespie's dress. Who gave you the right?"

"Mel gave me the right," I blurted. "It's her dress now. She lent it to me."

"That dress should be in the museum, not lent out to God knows what sort of girl," Mrs. Waring continued while Principal Waring tugged on her arm.

"Mother, it's just a dress. Let's let the kids have their fun."

"Who does she think she is? She has no right."

"I think I'm Belle Gillespie's granddaughter. But if she was such a miserable person that she wouldn't want her granddaughter wearing her dress this one time, then I'm ashamed to be seen in it." I fled for the girl's bathroom, refusing to let the old hag or Principal Waring or Toby see me cry.

I managed to blot what few tears had leaked out without ruining Kim's makeup. The bathroom door bumped open, letting in a blast of music before sliding shut again. It was Principal Waring, looking tired and not all that young herself in a red sweater set and black yoga pants.

"I'm sorry, Kelsey. My mother is getting on in years. I don't always know what's going to set her off. I never met your grandmother, but you look beautiful in her dress and of course, she'd be proud of you."

"Thanks," I said. I was still seething. Some of that must have shown on my face because Principal Waring looked at me for a long moment and then her expression grew determined.

"Come with me."

There was a bang and a giggle from one of the stalls.

Principal Waring sighed. "Ava, Raylee, you girls dump the rest of that whiskey right down the toilet and I won't tell your parents or suspend you," she called out in the general direction of the handicap stall. The Principal had a nose like a prime hunting dog, unfortunately for those girls.

A couple of terrified shrieks and some flushing later, Ava and Raylee scampered by red-faced. They didn't escape from the bathroom until they'd deposited Ava's father's silver whiskey flask into Principal Waring's gigantic handbag.

Principal Waring walked me out of the gym and into the dark front foyer of the school. There, she pointed to a photo in the back of one of the lighted trophy cases. I spotted it right away. My dress was on a tall blonde girl with a hairdo not far off of my over-sprayed mess. She was wearing a towering diamante tiara and holding an armload of white long-stemmed roses. She looked like a millionaire's daughter.

"This was back when everyone still took the idea of Homecoming Queen and Winter Queen and Prom Queen very seriously. Back when the name Gillespie meant something in this town. Hayden, too." Principal Waring nodded at the names below the photo.

Miss Belle Hayden escorted by Mr. Frank Gillespie, Senior Winter Court. Below their bold print names were the names of the others. Princes and princesses, Junior class attendants.

Now, there wasn't even a Winter King and Queen anymore. They only did that stuff for Homecoming and Prom. Belle looked radiant, and not like anyone I was related to, though I  thought I could see a resemblance to my mom.

"It was the match of the year," a crotchety old voice said from behind us. Mrs. Waring tottered up, leaning on her cane. "I apologize for my rudeness, young woman." Her eyes found mine. "You youngsters can't understand what Belle and Frank meant to us back then. They were the closest thing we had to celebrities. Did a tour of Europe for their honeymoon. This dress reminds me of better times."

I looked over at Principal Waring, hoping she received my mute plea to rescue her from her mother. No luck there. Mrs. Waring continued.

"Belle and I had something in common after all. We both had only daughters. Well, I beat her in that because I had two! And then your mother. . ."

"Excuse me, Principal Waring?" Toby's voice cut in. "Can Kelsey come dance now?"

"Yes, of course, Toby," Principal Waring said. "Have fun, you two."

Toby was mercifully silent on the way back to the gym. We joined the dancers shuffling around to "Jingle Bell Rock" and I surveyed the crowd. Kaiden had asked Trae as his date. I approved this choice as it kept some random loser girl like Sally from getting beat up. Trae was perfect in a sparkling white gown with a plunging neckline that barely made the dress code.  Kaiden was too cool for school in the sort of black dress shirt that doesn't take a tie and pinstripe black pants.

Gaby, Harv, and Sally were going as another threesome. This was due to the fact that neither Harv nor Sally were brave enough to ask the other, so Gaby was playing cupid. I couldn't find them in the seething masses. The music changed.

"Do you know how to waltz?" Toby asked.

"Kinda. Not exactly."

"Let's try anyway!"

At first, we tottered around like we were doing a three-legged race. By the time cartoon Anastasia started singing we smoothed it out into something competent, if not beautiful. Kaiden and Trae spun by doing fancy steps.

"Lookin' good, you guys!" Kaiden called out as they passed. Then the whirling mass of other kids attempting to waltz among the snowflake projections swallowed them again.

"I loved this movie as a kid," Toby said.

"Anastasia?"

"I wanted to be her. Not a girl," he added hastily. "Just somebody who discovered that they were secretly royalty. It sounds like you're that."

I shrugged and it threw us off our steps for a couple of measures. What's the good in having famous relatives if they're all dead or something? But I couldn't say that out loud.

"You know old people. They like to dream of the glory days. I don't think it means all that much," I finally said as the song ended.

"You're the coolest girl I know, Kelsey. If I liked girls, I'd fight Kaiden to be your boyfriend. And I'm sorry I didn't ask you to a dance before."

I settled down in a chair and wriggled my aching toes in the beautiful but uncomfortable shoes Kim and I had picked out.

"Do you have your eye on some lucky guy instead?" I teased.

Toby flushed. "I don't like boys. I'm just not interested in all that stuff. I feel like maybe I never will be." He sat down next to me and sighed.

"Hey, it's okay. We're having fun, right? I'll be your sorta girlfriend without benefits any time you want."

I patted Toby's arm and he beamed at me. Our on the dance floor, Kaiden peered over Trae's shoulder and gave me a weird stare. Whatever. I had too much going on to worry about his mood of the moment. Did having a fake boyfriend count as cheating on your secret boyfriend? I had no idea, but I wasn't going to worry about it until school started again.

*&*

A/N:

Is Kaiden going to be jealous over Kelsey's growing friendship with Toby? And what about Kelsey's long-gone relatives? Will she ever learn more about them? Are there any left living, and if so, why is Kelsey stuck in Foster Care?

Header pic by chelseighmillar on pixabay