THE DANCE
Chuckie Finster grabbed his lunch tray and took the seat next to his best friend Tommy Pickles, he began to eat in relative silence, occassionally stopping to make small talk with Tommy, mostly about class and such, until Tommy brought up the upcoming school dance
"Hey Chuck, have you got a date for the dance yet" Tommy asked, but he was overheard by the schools resident bully Michael.
"Finster? A date, Damn it Pickles, that's a funny one, like anybody would wanna date this massive loser" Michael guffawed loudly, Chuckie looked down at his food, hunching his shoulders over. Tommy stood up and stood toe to toe with Michael
Leave him alone" Tommy snarled at the bully, defending his friend. Michael backed off and walked away, muttering something about them not being worth getting in trouble.
Tommy and Chuckie's other friends, the twins Phil and Lil DeVille who had heard the whole thing, came over and sat next to them.
"Hey Chuckie, you okay man?" Phil asked him.
"I'm fine" Chuckie sighed, not looking up from the table
"Thanks for that Tommy, I owe you" Chuckie added, looking up at Tommy and smiling weakly before getting up and walking away from the group of friends. Phil and Tommy looked at each other, unsure whether or not to go after him. Lil rolled her eyes and muttered to herself
"Boys" She ran off after Chuckie and due to her soccer playing caught up with him pretty quickly.
"Chuckie?"
"If you're here to try and make me feel better, don't waste your breath" Chuckie sighed, turning away from Lil and walking away again.
"Chuckie Finster, don't you dare walk away from me!" Lil snapped, causing Chuckie to stop where he was was. She moved to stand next to him.
"I don't wanna try and make you feel better, I know sometimes you just need to be sad and let it out, I was just wondering if you could do something for an old friend?" Lil told him
"What is it?" Chucked asked
"I know it's kinda silly, but I have a huge soccer game coming up where scouts from pro clubs are coming along to watch us and I don't wanna ask Phil to come cause I'm worried he'll put me off, but I want a friendly face so I won't be so nervous" Lil explained, blushing slightly, not looking directly at Chuckie. He gave her a small smile and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Of course I'll come and support you" Chuckie agreed.
FRIDAY
Lil sat down next to a team mate and took a deep breath. Her coach entered from the office next to the changing rooms where the soccer team was sat.
"Right girls, listen up, last season we did what no other girls team in this school's history, we won our league and the cup, this of course had caught the attention of some professional soccer clubs. outside in the stands now are scouts and coachs from a host of soccer clubs from around the world. Now this is a massive oppotunity for you all and I know you all want to get out there and show them all the best you have... But before you do... I just want to say one thing. No matter what happens out there, I'm still proud of you and just to go out there, relax and have fun and if you can do that then you'll show off the best you have to offer"
Lil listened intently, nodding in agreement at what her coach was saying, putting her boots on as she listened, the right first, being as superstitious as she was she believed that it'll help her play better, she swallowed the lump in her throat and stood up along side her team mates, touching her shoulders and then running her hands through her hair, another one of her pre match rituals. She left the changing room and made her way out to the soccer pitch, noticing a group of men and women all in different coloured tracksuits, representing different soccer teams. Sat just below them was Chuckie, Lil smiled to herself, grateful that he had kept his word.
"Okay girls, we're gonna start with our regular warm up, so on my whistle we're gonna run laps" her coach announced, putting her whistle to her lips. She blew on it hard and her girls set off running down towards the other end of the pitch, some of the girls we're silently complaining but Lil plastered a smile on her face, showing a positive attitude to the scouts in attendance.
Chuckie watched intently as Lil completed her warm up and took part in a few light intensity ball control and passing drills, cheering her on under his breath, noticing that nobody else was around barring the scouts sat a few rows above him. Chuckie watched as Lil's coach blew the whistle and called her squad of girls around. Bibs were passed around and the squad split into two teams of eleven girls each. Lil's tam kicked off first, Lil recieved the ball, looked up to see who was available to pass too but was clattered hard from behind before she could make her pass, she pounded the ground before getting back to her feet, a little shaken to have been hit so hard so early into the match.
Lil's confidence seemed to disappear after that early challenge, misplacing passes and taking too long on the ball and getting caught out of position, Chuckie watched on in horror as Lil continued to play below her usual standard until he couldn't stand it any more
"COME ON LIL! YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS" He shouted out from the stand. Lil looked up and saw him, something about him made Lil feel better, she cleared her head sprinted over to her opponent and successfully tackled her, picking out a running team mate and threading a inch perfect pass for her to score with. smiling and running over to her friend to celebrate the goal. Hearing Chuckie cheering her on caused her smile to grow even more.
From that moment on Lil grew in confidence and everything she tried came off, even bagging herself a goal. She watched the ball sail over her head and listened as the whistle blew to signify the end of the game, she walked off with the rest of her squad mates back towards the dressing room. Lil sat back down and joined in the excited chatter along with the rest of her team mates and squad mates. After getting changed Lil left the changing room to find Chuckie outside waiting for her.
"Hey Chuckie, you didn't have to wait for me" Lil smiled
"It's fine, I um... You played really well today" Chuckie complimented
"Only after you started cheering" Lil admitted, cheeks going a slight shade of pink, Chuckie smiled shyly. Lil looked up at him, the sun gleeming off of his purple glasses at an angle causing his green eyes to light up.
'Wow, he looks so handsome like this' Lil thought to herself, vaugely aware that her cheeks continued to grow a deeper shade of pink. Allowing her mind to wander back through all of the years she and Chuckie had known each other. From the time Angelica had 'married' them when they were babies, to every time that Chuckie had always been there for her, these memories seemed to unlock hidden feelings in Lil. She glanced up at Chuckie and looked into the face of one of the persons she loved the most,
'Love' Lil gasped in her mind, 'that's why I'd never been interesting in dating before, cause nobody has been him'
"Umm Chuckie?" Lil began
"Yeah Lil?" Chuckie answered
"I know that you wasn't planning on going to the dance, but umm... I was err wondering if you'd umm go with me?" Lil asked, uncharacteristically nervous
"You'd really wanna go with a loser like me?" Chuckie scoffed
"You're NOT a loser Chuckie!" Lil snapped
"You're only saying that cause you're a friend" Lil growled in annoyance at Chuckie's self pitying attitude
"NO! I'm not 'just saying it cause I'm a friend' I'm saying it because you are without a doubt one of the nicest, sweetest, kindest, honest, guys I know. You are one of my best friends and I can't imagine what life would be like without you in it" Lil explained to him, wrapping her arms around his neck
"Lil... I've had a crush on you like forever, ever since we were young, I really like you and if you still want to I wanna go to the dance with you" Chuckie admitted.
AT THE DANCE
Phil, Dil, Tommy, Kimi and Suzi were stood over to one side by the punch bowl talking amongst themselves when a slow song came on and Kimi grabbed hold of Tommy's hand
"Come on Tommy, I love this song, let's dance" Kimi pleaded, pulling Tommy towards the dance floor, he rolled his eyes playfully and allowed himself to be dragged away from the group.
"Looks like Chuckie isn't coming at all" Dil noted, pointing out their absent friend
"Speaking of people who aren't here... Phil, where's Lil?" Suzi asked.
"She said she was gonna be a bit late" Phil answered, as he did the doors behind them opened and in walked Lil arm in arm with Chuckie, Lil wearing a light blue strapless dress, with a matching blue streak dyed into her hair, Chuckie was dressed in a pair of black trousers wearing a matching blue shirt, his hair slicked back. Phil, Dil, Suzi, Tommy and Kimi who had re joined the group since the song had ended all turned around to see who was entering. They stood speechless as Lil and Chuckie walked towards them, they looked down at their interlocked arms and just smiled.
"You two are together?" Kimi asked excitedly, Lil nodded in response to her best friend's question, Kimi threw her arms around them both and squealed happily
"Oh my god, I'm so pleased for you both"
"Congrats man" Tommy smiled, fist bumping Chuckie, Lil let go of Chuckie's arm and he turned nervously to face her twin brother Phil, Phil pulled Chuckie close to him wrapping a arm around him.
"I'm glad it's you man" he whispered to Chuckie, Chuckie hugged his friend back and whispered back to him.
"I promise I won't do anything to hurt her"
"I know, you're a good guy Chuck" Phil let go of his friend and moved next to Dil once again, grabbing the younger boy's hand.
"Speaking of announcements... Umm yeah" Dil stated, holding up his and Phil's hands, everybody looked at Phil, everybody knew of Dil's sexuality but they had all assumed that Phil was straight.
"What? He's my kinda weird" Phil exclaimed happily, noting that he and Dil were both considered 'weird' causing the entire group to burst out laughing. As the laughter died down Bon Jovi's "Thank you for loving me" began to play over the speakers, Lil and Chuckie, Tommy and Kimi, Dil and Phil all looked at one another and walked out to the dance floor and began to dance with their partners.