Chapter 16

It was three o'clock the next day and Stephanie was trying to decide what to wear to the dance. The phone rang and Stephanie picked it up.

"Hello, this is Stephanie."

"Hey it's Pixel."

"What's up, Pixel?"

"I just wanted to see how things were coming. Are you almost ready?"

"Yeah, I'm just deciding what to wear."

Pixel rolled his eyes. Girls always worrying about their outfits, he thought. Over the phone he said,

"Well, surprise me. Anyway what time should I pick you up?"

"Be over by quarter to five. It takes about ten minutes to walk to the school from my Uncle's house."

"Ok. I'll see you in an hour and a half then." Pixel told her.

"I'll be counting the minutes. Bye." Stephanie hung up and went back to her wardrobe.

"What to wear? What to wear?" Her regular pink outfit had come clean in the wash but she hadn't had time to go to buy more pink tights. She used to have at least ten pairs of tights but when Uncle Milford washed them they weren't pink anymore. They came out a funky shade of purple. She looked at the clock and saw it was quarter after four. I'd better hurry, she thought.

Pixel rang the doorbell. He heard someone come to the door. Mayor Meanswell opened the door.

"Hello Pixel."

"Hello Mayor. I came to walk Stephanie to the dance."

"Oh, well let me see if she's ready. Come in." The Mayor said and he went down to Stephanie's room. He knocked on the door and said, "Pixel's here. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm coming." She opened the door and Uncle Milford said, "You look very nice Stephanie."

"Thank you Uncle." They walked down the hall to the kitchen where Pixel was sitting.

When Pixel saw Stephanie his jaw almost fell off his face.

"Wow!" was all he managed to get out. She had on pink dress that had little glittery pink flowers, and pink strap sandals. Her hair was in a bandana and she had put some pink glittery clips to keep the bandana on.

"I'm ready." She said and put Pixel's jaw back into place.

"Ready as I'll ever be. See you at the dance Mayor." Pixel said.

"I'll see you there. Stephanie, I'm going to pickup Bessie." Mayor Meanswell said.

"Ok. See you there." Stephanie said and she and Pixel left.

They arrived at the school with five minutes to spare and bumped into Number 9 and his wife.

"Ready?" Number 9 winked.

"Ready as we'll ever be." The two said in unison.

"All right, let's dance." Vigdís said.

They entered the school gymnasium. Balloons, streamers, and other party decorations had transformed the gym. "Wow! You guys did a great decorating job." Stephanie said.

"Thank you. We wanted to make tonight special so we thought we had to start with the decorations."

The others began to arrive and soon everyone had entered the gym. They were talking and then Sportacus got up to the microphone.

"All right everyone. Are you ready to dance?"

"Yeah!" Everyone shouted.

"Then let's get started. I'll be your DJ tonight so feel free to request anything you want." Sportacus said and then he started the music. Everyone broke down into their little groups. The Mayor had worked up the courage to ask Bessie to dance. Trixie asked Stingy to dance and he said yes. Number 9 and Vigdís asked Ziggy to dance with them, and Pixel asked Stephanie.

The two danced and laughed together. Trixie looked over at them and giggled. She turned to Stingy and said, "Look at those two."

Stingy wasn't paying attention. He had started to declare that everything in the gym was "MINE!" Ziggy noticed something was happening and he asked Number 9 about it. Number 9 whispered to him and Ziggy turned red and giggled. The Mayor and Bessie noticed something too.

"I think it's cute." Bessie said.

"I don't know she's just…" Mayor Meanswell started.

"Oh, she'll be fine. Besides you have other things to worry about." Bessie said as she spun him around. Everyone was enjoying themselves, especially Stephanie and Pixel. The held each other close and danced. It seemed that no one else existed. Sportacus smiled and put the next song. Stephanie didn't realized what song it was until the chorus:

"I don't want to fall to pieces

I just want to sit and stare at you

I don't want to talk about it

I don't want a conversation

I just want to cry in front of you

I don't want to talk about it

'cause I'm in love with you"

"Oh, I love this song." Stephanie said.

"And I love you." Pixel said.

Stephanie blushed and leaned her head on his shoulder. They were having a good time and didn't realize how late it was getting. Stephanie yawned and asked Pixel what time it was. He replied that it was almost nine o'clock. "I still have three hours." Stephanie said.

"Well why don't you sit down and I'll get you some juice." Pixel offered.

"I'd like that." She smiled. When Pixel left, Sportacus came over.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"Very well, I hope. How do you think my Uncle is taking it?" Stephanie asked.

"Well I'd ask Bessie. She's been keeping him occupied." Sportacus told her.

"Oh well I'll have to thank her later." Stephanie said.

"Indeed. Well I'll let you and Pixel get back to your evening." Sportacus got up and Stephanie stopped him. "Thank you so much." "Your welcome, Stephanie, anytime." He smiled.

The rest of the evening went fantastically and Pixel walked Stephanie home. They laughed and talked the entire walk home.

"I want to thank you for tonight. You know Uncle Milford will probably want to talk to you tomorrow." Stephanie said.

"Yeah well don't worry. I look forward to it. Good night Stephanie." He kissed her on the cheek. She however grabbed his face and planted one right on his lips. He smiled and turned red.

"Good night Stephanie. Sleep well." Pixel smiled.

"Good night." She smiled back.