I received two asks from anons on Tumblr about similar scenarios, so I put them together!
Milo had been a good dancer, she had to admit. Even when a roll of toilet paper tripped him, he managed to make stumbling around the gymnasium while trying to find his balance look great.
His moves that night wound up inspiring a new dance craze on social media.
Being in charge of the planning, the decorations, the cleanup, and food? Easy.
Dealing with Murphy's Law when everything slowly unraveled from her color-coded schedule? Not as easy, but she was learning to be more flexible.
Learning that a Girls' Choice dance would be held Friday night and Melissa had somehow taken over her job for the planning committees before she could blink? Frustrating didn't begin to describe it.
Then there was the fact that Girls' Choice dance meant the girls had to choose their partner for that night. Lydia had been not-so-subtly hinting that Amanda should ask Milo to the dance.
If she hadn't saved Amanda from soul-crushing anxiety countless times before, then Amanda would've taken her revenge by sending her poorly written fanfiction of Christine and Raoul.
Curious, she typed "Girls' Choice Dance: How to Ask Boy" into her search bar. A blog post on the official Fireside Girls' website was the first result. Sighing, she clicked on it and settled back in her chair.
Fireside-Chihuahua: Hello! I know this blog is used for showing off patches and how to succeed in all your Fireside Girl endeavors, but today I'd like to share with you advice on how to ask a boy out to a Girls' Choice Dance. See links at bottom for asking boys out to summer cotillions and holiday celebrations.
The first and most important rule: Do not panic. It won't be the end of the world if you try to ask him. Is there a possibility you'll be met with disappointment? Yes. But it's better than never trying at all. And hey, if he can't see how awesome you are than he ain't it worth it girl!
Number Two: Timing. If the boy you want to ask is in space trying to locate that new star he got from the Internet, then it's better that you wait until he comes back to Earth. Also, do not console teenage girls over their romantic woes with a rocket's videophone.
Number Three: Patience. Life gets in the way. Both of you have obligations, and that's understandable. Keep trying, never give up, and you can do it!
The Fireside Girl Troop 46321 supports your efforts! Go for it!
Amanda sighed. Unless Milo was trapped in a rocket and launched into space at some point this week, there was no way it could be applicable to her.
She pulled an empty schedule out of her drawer.
Or was there?
"Milo and I are in 3rd period history together," Amanda murmured. "We also share music class. Either one would work. If he's late to history, I'll ask him when class is over. If that doesn't work, I'll ask him while we're putting our instruments together."
Yup. She was certain this was going to blow up in her face.
After all, what could possibly go right?
Just another case of the Monday blues. The ones where the students collapsed in the hallway and panicked because they procrastinated over their essays for the past 48 hours as they made a half-hearted effort to scribble something that was technically legible.
The coffeemaker in the teachers' lounge broke for the seventh time in the past two weeks, so they all knew to tread lightly around Principal Milder for the day. When she didn't get her caffeine, not even the staff was safe from withdrawal-induced 'I once knew a student' stories.
She was doomed.
"Cheer up, Amanda," Lydia said. "What are you gonna do?"
"Ask Milo," Amanda mumbled, wanting to curl up inside her locker forever.
Lydia huffed. "Okay, not the delivery I was hoping for. Where's that confidence I've seen you muster up when you're planning your day out by the second?"
"Confidence can't answer you right now," Amanda said. "It's buried somewhere in an elephant graveyard."
"Relax. Look. It's easy as pie!" Lydia exclaimed. She whirled around, jumping in place as she commanded the attention of the rest of the class. Amanda wondered if she could turn a shrink ray on herself. "HEY, CHAD! WILL YOU GO TO THE GIRLS' CHOICE DANCE WITH ME?"
Chad gaped at her before fainting with a lopsided grin.
Lydia snapped her fingers. "Told you it was easy."
"You made him faint!" Amanda protested.
"A technicality," Lydia shrugged. "And here comes Prince Charming in three, two, one."
Amanda inhaled deeply as Milo entered the classroom, humming a light tune as he headed to his desk. "Hey, Amanda!" he said.
"Hi, Milo. Um, I was wondering if you would, that is, if you want to-"
Several loud screams cut her off.
Jodi and Crystal scrambled for the door as a huge swarm of bees slowly trickled in through the half-open window. Amanda grabbed her bag and hightailed it after them, the rest of the class following suit.
Except for Milo, who remained in the classroom while he donned a beekeeping outfit. The class watched through the small window on the door as Milo carefully guided the bees outside with two sugary drink cans.
When the last of the swarm was gone, Milo shut the window. He flashed a thumbs up at the rest of the class.
Before any of them could return to their seats, a smoker dropped out of Milo's backpack, the lid undone. White smoke poured out of it, setting off the sprinklers and triggering the fire alarm.
Amanda clapped her hands over her ears, shuffling towards the nearest exit. The voice inside her head was almost screeching as loudly as the fire alarm.
She hadn't planned for a fire alarm. She would have to restructure her schedule for the rest of the school day, which left no time for asking Milo to the dance.
And to think there was still four days of despair to get through….
Since Amanda and Melissa shared their lunch period on Tuesday, Amanda thought it would be good to ask if she could plan something for the dance, if only to get some steam out of her system.
"So do you need help with any of the committees?" Amanda asked. "I mean, it's a lot of work and there's only so much time before the dance."
Melissa shrugged. "Well, there is one committee that still needs a head. Nobody's been up to the task so far."
"I'll take it!" Amanda exclaimed. "You have no idea how much I need this right now! Where's the paper?"
Melissa set the official sign-up form on the table with a sparkly magenta pen. Amanda hastily scribbled her signature, slamming the pen down with a satisfying thud.
"So what am I in charge of?" Amanda asked.
Melissa smirked. "You're the Head of the Ask Milo Out to the Dance Committee. And I structured it so you're the only member."
Amanda glared at her. "How did you even get that past the main office?"
"It's easy to sneak things past Principal Milder when she doesn't get her coffee," Melissa said.
As if that explained everything!
"Milo doesn't know about this by the way," Melissa winked. "Girl secret."
At this point, Amanda didn't know what was worse. Calming her nerves so she could ask Milo a simple question, blatantly straying from the schedule, or that she didn't read the fine print for the sign-up.
How did Melissa even know that she was trying to ask Milo? Did Lydia blab? Maybe they'd bugged her room over the last week. That had to be it. They must've snatched a schedule, snuck into her room at a time she'd be out, and bugged the place.
Seemed plausible enough.
"And speaking of Milo…." Melissa nudged her. "…here he comes!"
Melissa moved to her left to make room for Milo. As he sat down, his foot got caught on the metal bar that held the tables together. Amanda leaned back as he tugged his foot free, almost hitting her with his backpack.
"Sorry about that," Milo laughed. "Didn't mean to almost hit you."
Amanda stared at her rice, slowly clamping the lid on the container as she slowly lost her appetite. "It's fine," she said meekly. "So, would you like to-"
Violent retching came from several tables.
Students quickly rushed for the nearest trash cans and restrooms. One boy wasn't so lucky and threw up directly on Milo's head.
Amanda and Melissa gagged at the sight of the mystery meat. It was a revolting shade of brown, and was that a piece of plastic in there? And Milo didn't seem to care that someone vomited on his head!
Maybe he'd been through worse.
Milo pulled out a large paper bag and gave it to the poor soul behind them. He nodded his thanks and rushed off, heaving the rest of his lunch into the bag.
"Sorry, I'm gonna go wash up," Milo said, standing up. "Maybe we can chat tomorrow!"
"Yes, tomorrow," Amanda gasped, plugging her nose at the horrid stench.
And there went her chances.
She reminded herself to check the cafeteria menu and make sure the so-called food was compatible with people's digestive systems so she could pick a more ideal day to conduct important business.
The less said about Wednesday, the better.
She couldn't take her disappointment out on Mrs. Murkawski's desk no matter how much it was that stupid piece of wood's fault.
It was Thursday and she was running out of time. But her plan was simple. Ten minutes biking to Milo's house, an hour to chat, another ten minutes biking home. If she couldn't ask during school due to unforeseen circumstances, she would try after.
Amanda rang the doorbell, fixing her headband as she waited for Milo to answer.
The door opened.
Amanda inhaled sharply, then blurted it out. "HiMilodancewithmeplease?"
"Oh sorry, Milo isn't home right now."
That's it. She was crawling under a rock and never coming out. On second thought, she decided to make it a huge boulder in the Himalayas.
Sara waved her inside. "So, what's this about my brother?"
"Well, the Girls' Choice Dance is tomorrow and I wanted to ask Milo out but Murphy's Law happens. Without fail. Every single time," Amanda said, burying her head in her hands.
Sara patted her back. "Milo should be coming home from his band practice soon. Just Getting Started's gonna be the next big thing, just you wait! But in the meantime, grab the bubble wrap out of the closet and start putting it over the couch. We'll Murphy's Law-proof the living room so you can ask Milo out!"
"You'll help me out here?" Amanda said, surprised.
"Amanda, right?" Sara grinned. "Milo talks about you a lot. He says you're really good at organizing stuff. And that you rock magenta."
Amanda blushed. "He talks about me?"
Sara clapped her hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles, a strange look in her eyes that said she knew something Amanda didn't. "You heard me, girl. Bubble wrap everything!"
She grabbed a roll and unraveled it, throwing one end over the couch as she started tying it around the legs. Why would Milo talk about her? Unless he complained about her obsession with order to his family….
No, Milo wouldn't do that. He was far too nice for his own good.
He thought she looked good in magenta? But she had to wear magenta. No ifs and buts about that.
He looked good in a tuxedo. He helped save the last school dance. He was a good opera singer.
Just as she finished covering the couch, there was a loud bang from outside.
"I'm back!" Milo exclaimed, throwing the door open so hard it broke off the hinges. "Whoops, don't know my own strength. Anyway, there's a purple bike out there that got fried by the power lines. Do you know who owns-"
"My bike!" Amanda yelped, rushing outside.
"Amanda?" Milo said, surprised when she flew past him.
Two power lines had fallen across what was supposed to be the handlebars of her bike, now reduced to a pile of heap of charcoal and ash.
Amanda could only stare at the wreckage while Milo still seemed confused. "Sorry about your bike," he said softly.
She couldn't take it anymore.
"That's it!" Amanda screamed, facing away from Milo. She wiped a tear away, removing her headband to let her hair fall in front of her face. Less embarrassing to cry that way. "I tried, I really did! I can't plan this dance, my bike is ruined, and I got interrupted every time I tried to put myself out there! What else is going to go absolutely, catastrophically wrong?"
A fence board fell over from a house across the street.
"Thank you for proving my point," she mumbled angrily.
Then Milo was in front of her, offering her a handkerchief. She sniffed, quickly brushing her hair aside as she took it.
Their hands briefly brushed.
Was it just her imagination, or was he…no, that light tinge of red was unmistakable.
Milo was blushing.
Amanda carefully pressed the handkerchief to her cheek, wiping her tears away. She wasn't sure why, but suddenly she was feeling so much better.
"Sorry. I-I wasn't mad…at you," Amanda murmured.
Milo smiled. "Sometimes you just need to let it out. No worries."
"Now that's it quiet, mind if I ask you something?" Amanda fumbled with the handkerchief, bracing herself as she made eye contact with Milo.
He nodded.
"Would you go to the Girls' Choice Dance with me tomorrow?"
Milo grinned. "Yes! I'll go! I'll wear my best tux! And we'll dance until we drop! Sara, I'm dancing with Amanda tomorrow! Is this a date? This counts as a date, right? Do we need something that matches?"
Sara was rapidly typing on her phone, her fingers moving in a frenzy. She squealed loudly.
"Oh my gosh this is just like the anime with the bike and the handkerchief and the dancing and the hints and it's so romantic! Blogging about this straight away while I remember all the details!"
She flew upstairs, almost tripping on the last step in her haste.
Milo and Amanda laughed.
The Girls' Choice Dance wouldn't be a disaster after all!
It took a few minutes, but Milo and Amanda were able to figure out how to hold each other's hands while on the dance floor. They fared better than Lydia and Chad, who kept tripping over each other's toes.
Even Murphy's Law couldn't dampen her spirits.
"Okay, everyone!" the DJ exclaimed. "Taking it down a notch for any budding couples out there!"
Amanda blushed.
The frantic beat of the techno music faded away, replaced by a rock ballad. As the opening melody played, Milo grinned.
"May I have this dance?" he asked, bowing low. A true gentleman.
Amanda pressed a palm to her cheek, taking his hand and putting it around her waist. There were gasps from the dance floor as everyone turned to watch them.
"I should've known, from how I felt, when we were together,"
Though they didn't speak, there was a balance. Milo pulled her gently away from the beat, encouraging her to transform the song into something new. Amanda brought them back to form, so that they moved at just the right tempo. Not too quickly to outspeed the music, but not too slowly that they were bored.
"And even more when we were apart,"
Every girl dreamed of a fairy tale dance. This was hers. Maybe not with the Prince Charming she envisioned as a child, but there was no need for Milo to be one.
"You tiptoed in, and you got under my skin,"
Murphy's Law was a common annoyance, but Milo always tried to do whatever he could to help his classmates. The majority of accidents weren't his fault. Some understood that, others didn't. It would be understandable to lash out at the world and be angry with his constant bad luck, but Milo never did that. He was the most optimistic, kind-hearted person Amanda knew.
"You snuck your way right into my heart."
They broke apart when the power suddenly cut off after the end of the first verse, but Amanda didn't care. Good karma had caught up to her at last.
The Girls' Choice Dance had been worth the wait.