Autumn
A junior, one year away from college and graduation, two years after being a freshman, and of course, one last year to raise your GPA those few hundredths of a point. I never really looked at school as a chore, I found it more relaxing, and a kind of neutral zone. But this year changed it, as the Deans spoke about how much this year would mean I worried if I would have time to see John after school, if I would have time to see all my friends, look for my mother when she went away, and care for Eric. It was kind of an uneasy feeling, almost sickening, but then I turned to look at John who was just smiling at me. When I asked him why he said I looked cute when I was concerned. All of his friends were giggling or going aww! but that didn't matter. As we walked towards our assigned lockers, I realized that all of ours were right next to each others, and in the perfect location, upstairs, and in the corner.
As the first few weeks went by I had totally forgot about Homecoming, and the dance, the King and Queen. I was just buried with homework, and I was lucky if I could successfully pull a comb through my hair before I had to hit the CTA to get to school. I usually had the same bus driver, and she knew that if I wasn't there I was coming, and would usually wait for me to come. As Homecoming approached I began to see posters being hung up for the girls and guys running for King and Queen. As I saw them hang on of the posters, I almost dropped my books. It was a picture of me from Hawaii. John had nominated us for King and Queen. As I stared, a few guys looked at the picture and then at me, and just sort of shook their heads in total disbelief that was actually me. I wouldn't have minded John nominating us, but now I had to look like I did back when the picture was taken. I had to start wearing some makeup again, and fixing my hair in the morning, reducing my five hours of sleep to four.
The next weekend, Susan and I went dress shopping. I had found this beautiful blue one, that reminded me of the ocean, it went from a light almost white, to a deep ocean blue at the bottom. It was held up by two slim spaghetti straps. I loved it, and though it was perfect, it showed off my thin figure, or so Susan said. The next week at school I wore makeup, and looked my best for John. I knew he wanted to win this, so I decided to do it for him. We were running against Peter Benton, and his three year girl friend Cleo. It was going to be pretty close, I had known that from the start. But that night at the dance I was in for the surprise of my life. I had gone to a beauty school called Camio on the south side, to get my hair done, and it looked perfect. My make up was perfect, and my mother had said I looked like I had stepped out of a painting. I joked with her and said yeah, "First time at homecoming" with a silly grin.
John had picked me up in a limo, and Susan and Mark were inside. When I had walked out to the limo I saw John in his tux. He always looked wonderful in them, he said it was from years of Carter Foundation events. At the dance, we all laughed, sang karaoke, and danced. Most of the songs were for grinding, which John willing took part in with me, and then there were the slow ones, where John and I just kind of melted together. By the end of the night, I was tired. But I couldn't be, they were going to announce the new homecoming King and Queen. So as the student council president, Kerry Weaver opened up the envelope, we stood there, on the dance floor squeezing each others hand. "And the winners are John Carter and Abby Wyczenski." John lifted me up, and hugged me. As we walked up the stage people started chanting CARBY! It was kind of weird, but I went along with it. As John and I received our crowns, and sashes, he smiled. It was a smile that I had never seen before. He did it again as we got to dance our first dance as the King and Queen of homecoming. As we danced, he tried to explain his chaos theory again. It was kind of amusing how he kept incorporating everything that happened to us as a couple. And then he said Carby too. After the dance was over, and the make out session in the limo, I had him explain it to me. He just said Carter and Abby, its simply Carby. As one person we are Carby.
After that John and I got really serious, almost a little to serious. Once or twice we had almost pulled each others clothes off, but we had promised each other that we wouldn't, not until we were ready. I was already on the pill because I hated my period, and just the four I had with the pill were four to many. So we were safe if we decided too. On Halloween we decided to dress up as a Doctor and a Nurse. We went to a party and had some fun. Some of the guys kept calling for me to go over to them, as asking me where I had gotten the "cute" outfit from. I couldn't believe they thought I was wearing something out of a lingerie store. I had actually bought this at a party store. John and I were fully decked out though, we had the IDs, the equipment, and everything. The party had gotten kind of boring towards the end, so we had decided to go trick or treating, I mean we really weren't in Chicago anymore, we were in Mount Greenwood, a small part of Chicago, that really was almost a suburb, it didn't look anything like the Chicago I knew.
In November John had invited me over to Thanksgiving dinner at his Gamma's house. He told me to dress casually. I did, but now I regret thinking of what my casual was. I wore a pair of khaki pants, and a white blouse with a black tank top on underneath. It looked very nice, and I put on some makeup. When I had walked over, I was stunned to see all of John's family so dressed up for the event. When I walked in, someone I swear gasped. But it was alright, we had a lot of fun anyway. John's uncles had a little to much bourbon, and were singing songs, and playing children games. Stumbling and trying to tag each other.