Monday came bright and early. Nancy, Bess, and George had just reached school. A brilliantly white banner with bold lettering hung in front of the school. The message was asking someone to the upcoming winter formal.

"Oh my goodness! I completely forgot formal is coming up!" Bess said.

"Oh great. Another dance where the popular kids take over the bathrooms and trash talk everyone else, then I'll have to dance and wear a dress." George said a bit less enthusiastically.

"I think it's just the girls that take over the bathrooms and it won't be so bad if we go together." said Nancy.

"We can even go shopping for it!" Bess added. "I heard Burt Eddleton is interested in asking you out. Maybe he'll ask you to the dance."

"Oh like I have to have a guy to enjoy the dance….wait how do you know Burt is interested in me?" George asked.

"I overheard him telling Dave Evans. He was asking for ideas on how to ask you."

"Even IF that's true, I'm not going to get my hopes up about that. It does sound like it could be fun to go together." George admitted.

"Then it's a plan! When should we go look for dresses?" asked Nancy.

"We don't have much time. Do you think we could go after school? Look for at least an hour or so?" Bess asked.

"Alright, but I have a lab report to get done so we can't be all night." George said.

"Okay, but it may take a few days." said Bess.

"Let's meet up after class and we can get going to the mall." Nancy said. "But for now, we really need to get going before the bell rings."

The girls continued making plans for their adventure as they reached their lockers. Before they knew, the five minute bell rang. Nancy, Bess, and George parted ways and went to class. For Bess, the day dragged on slower than a snail race. George's day, however, flew by.

Finally, the last bell of the day rang. Bess went skipping to her locker and out to meet Nancy and George. Nancy was on her phone. As Bess got closer, she heard Nancy say, "Thanks! Love you. Bye!"

"That was my dad. He was just telling me that we need to be home in time for dinner and you both are invited to join us." Nancy reported to her friends.

"Awesome! What's for dinner?" George asked.

"No idea, really. My dad wouldn't say."

"Well should we get going? We only have so much time to look." Bess chimed in.

'Yeah let's get going."

The girls made their way downtown and began wandering through the shops. Finally, the trio found their way into a shop filled with different styles of dresses. Even George, who isn't big on dressing up, was having fun looking through the dresses. It didn't take long before all three of them had a large pile of things to try on.

Every few minutes, they'd step out of their dressing rooms and get feedback from each other.

"I think I found a winner!" Nancy exclaimed.

"Me too." said George.

"Oh my goodness! This dress is incredible. Let's step out and show each other!" Bess said.

Nancy, Bess, and George stepped out and looked at each other. Bess had on a pale pink number with enough ruffles for 3 dresses. George picked out a sleek black dress and Nancy had on a silvery dress.

"You two look fabulous!" said Nancy. "Those are the best you've tried on."

"You look great too, Nancy!" George added. She looked happier than she had this morning. Little did the trio know, things were going to go a little sour. Another group of girls walked in talking loudly about how everything they'd seen so far was tacky and out of date. The girl at the head of the pack was Deirdre.

"Look at what we have here, girls! A couple of wannabes trying to look cool." The two girls following her snickered.

"Hi, Deedee." Bess said.

"It's DEIRDRE. Seriously, I've told you at least a dozen times. You should have it by now or are you really that dim?"

"Cool it, Deirdre." Nancy said with a scowl.

"Well, well it's Nancy Drew! Oh guess what? I got asked to the winter formal! You'll never guess. Go on, guess!" Deirdre said.

"Colonel Saunders?"

"Nope. Ned Nickerson. The hottie over at Emerson."

"That's nice. Hope you have a good time." Nancy said nonchalantly.

"What? You don't care? I thought you had a crush on him?" Deirdre looked slightly deflated.

"Why should I care?" Nancy chuckled. "He's welcome to go with whomever he wants."

"Well fine! We're going to look for dresses, although judging by the ones you three are wearing, we're just going to find more garbage. Come on, girls!"

Once Deirdre was out of range, George sighed, "Man, she is annoying!"

Bess and Nancy both laughed. "Are you okay, Nan? I know you really like Ned." Bess said with a worried look on her face.

"It's whatever." Nancy said with a shrug and she checked her phone. "It's almost time for dinner, should we get the dresses or keep looking?"

Bess and George took another look in the mirror. There was a slight pause before Bess spoke up. "I really like this dress."

"I really like mine too." George said.

"Alright then let's get our dresses! Forget those girls. We're going to have a great time at the dance."

Nancy, George, and Bess made their purchases and headed to the Drew residence. As they turned to the front of the house, the girls paused. The path up to Nancy's front door was lined with lit candles. The trio looked at each other, confused.

"Nancy, is there some big event you forgot about?" George asked.

"I don't think so. Let's go find out what's going on."

Nancy reached the door first and opened it. When they stepped inside, they saw more candles weaving throughout the house. The trio found their way into the living room, where there were three figures waiting for them.

Ned, Burt, and Dave were standing there in the middle of the living room, each with a bouquet of flowers.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nancy asked.

"We've been waiting for you three. Can I talk to somewhere else?" asked Ned.

"Bess, can I talk to you over here?" Dave asked.

"Uh huh." She started following Dave, but turned to give her friends an excited smile and two thumbs up.

"I guess that leaves us here." Burt said to George.

Nancy followed Ned into the kitchen.

"So, Nancy. I know you have your winter formal coming up. Would you like to go with me?"

Nancy was confused. "But, I heard you're going with Deidre."

Ned looked like a deer in the headlights. "Wha-what do you mean? Who told you that?" said Ned.

"Deirdre."

Ned sighed. "Of course. Nancy, she made that up. I've always planned on asking you. Burt, Dave, and I were just waiting so we could ask the three of you at the same time. We thought it would be fun. So I'm going to ask again: Will you come to winter formal with me?"

Nancy smiled and hugged Ned. "Of course! I'd love to."

Nancy hadn't ever seen Ned smile so big. "Really? Great! Should we go see how the others are doing? We brought pizza too."

"That sounds good to me."

Nancy and Ned walked out to find the other two couples smiling from ear to ear.

"I take it things went well?" Nancy said.

"Very well." Bess said with a grin.

Ned gave Burt and Dave fist bumps and then they led the girls in for pizza. The group had a blast eating and talking until late into the night.