The year went on. Dwayne become closer to Roxanne, Crystal, Julia and Carson, they became a sort of family that adopted him in. They spent a lot of time together on the weekends, and sometimes after school. One day a week, Tuesdays, after school, Dwayne would go to see Doctor Winger. Doctor Winger was a huge help to him, explaining that for the past eleven months, Dwayne had been using sex to fill the void in his life that was now being filled by actually having friends. In turn, this is explained instantly to Dwayne why he had had no sexual urges since coming to Florida. Everything was perfect, well, all but one thing. The letters Dwayne was writing to Olive kept getting longer, and longer, as did the replies she sent back. Also, Dwayne was finding it harder and harder to hang up at the end of his and Olive's weekly phone calls.

"Ok, it's about that time of year now!" said Roxanne one day when they were all sitting under a tree in a park eating a picnic-type lunch, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

"Uh, time of year for what?" asked Dwayne, a little frightened at seeing the all too familiar look on Roxanne's face.

"Well let's see, it's December first, so only two weeks until winter break, which consequently also means only two weeks until the winter dance," explained Roxanne.

"Yeah, so?"

"Ok, someone else take the reigns here, he's still impossible, and we've had our fingers in him for almost four months!" said Roxanne, feigning exasperation.

"Well, perhaps that's why he's so impossible," said Julia. "Anyway, what Roxanne was trying to say is that you need a date for the upcoming dance."

"Uh…why?"

"Well, simply my friend, because we, incase you had forgotten, are paired off, so you will be flying completely solo if you don't get a date," threw in Carson.

"Fuck. Chances of me getting a date at this school are nil, trust me."

"Pretty much, but we'll find you someone, don't worry," said Julia.

"How about I just don't go?" suggested Dwayne.

"No, not an option," Crystal interjected. "You've never been to a dance before."

"Wait, no, I've got it!" yelled Roxanne. "He'll take Emilie, duh!"

"Oh my god! How could we have forgotten! Of course he'll take Emilie," Julia said. Dwayne looked at his feet. He had only met Emilie a couple of times, but he liked her ok…as a friend. She was a good friend of Julia's who went to a different school.

"Ok, so Dwayne's taking Emilie, I'm taking Julia, and Roxanne and Crystal, who's taking who this year?" asked Carson, looking at the two of them.

"I totally paid last year, so Roxanne's taking me," said Crystal. Roxanne glared at her playfully before consenting.

"Someone should call Emilie, I think that it might be a good idea to let her in on the fact that she's coming to our dance with Dwayne," said Julia. Carson nodded, took out his phone, dialed the number, then promptly tossed the phone to Dwayne. Dwayne shot a look at Carson that was halfway between 'what the fuck?' and 'I'm so going to kill you for this,' then he took the phone up.

"Hello?...yes, is Emilie there?...Right, of course I know this is your cell phone." Carson, Julia, Crystal, and Roxanne all tried to suppress laughter at Dwayne's last statement. "Uh this is Dwayne, Julia's friend…yeah, that one with the black hair, that's right. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go to our schools winter dance with me…no, you probably don't have a choice considering it's Julia and them," Dwayne laughed a little while waiting for Emilie's response. "Great, well, we will pick you up at, uh, at…" Dwayne looked at Crystal desperately, who mouthed '6:30' to him. "Uh, we'll pick you up at 6:30…yes, that's on the 14th…great…well, bye." Dwayne hung up, then threw the phone back to Carson. "I am going to KILL you for that."

"You do that, and have fun too, because once I'm dead, I'm dead, and then you can't kill me anymore," Carson joked. Dwayne stood up from under the tree where they were sitting and brushed off his pants.

"Well, I have to go. It's Sunday evening, so you know, time to go call Olive." There was understanding between all of them that when Dwayne called Olive he was to be left alone. No one came over. He walked back to his house quickly, contemplating what parts of his week he would tell her about. After he made up his mind, he dialed the number, and was overjoyed to hear her voice on the other end of the line. They spoke for just under an house, talking about their friends, their weeks, and such. When it came time to hang up, it was all Dwayne could do to convince himself to actually say goodbye and hit the off button. Once he did, he held the phone in his hand for a minute, sighed, and then turned it on again. He rifled through all of the papers on the message center before finding the one he was looking for, then he dialed the number on it.

"Speak now or forever hold your peace."

"Hello, Emilie, it's me, Dwayne."

"Oh, hi, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Uh, I just wanted to sort of apologize for my call earlier, it was a little, well, ride I suppose." Dwayne took the phone and walked up to his room.

"Oh, not, it's fine, Julia or Carson or someone probably dialed the number and handed you the phone before you had a chance to think about it, they do that all of the time," said Emilie's voice on the other line. Dwayne could hear that she was smiling.

"Actually, that is exactly what happened. Anyway, you don't have to go to the dance with me if you don't want to. Roxanne was telling me about this guy at your school that you liked, so…" Dwayne trailed off, not really sure what he had been planning to say next.

"Oh, no, it's totally fine, besides, he's not really interested in me…yet. Besides, you and I are just going as friends."

"Oh, absolutely." Dwayne breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she wasn't anymore interested in a relationship with him then he was interested in one with her.

"Great. Hey, can I ask you one kind of weird question?"

"Sure, just remember that I reserve the right to remain silent."

"Ok, this is kind of awkward, but I don't really care. Do you men folk really think it's hot when two girls make out, or is that an urban legend?" For a moment, Dwayne was completely taken aback by Emilie's question.

"Uh, well yeah, I guess so, at least I sort of do. Why?"

"Oh, well, I'm running out of ideas for how to get this guys attention, and I'm willing to take desperate measures. I mean he's IMPOSSIBLE to get through to! He's like a brick wall, with an adamantium inlay, and perhaps a Rottweiler guarding it or something."

"Uh, what'd adamantium?"

"It's a metal, think X-Men, anyway, totally not the point."

"Right, I'll have to look that up." Dwayne thought for a moment. "Ok, shot in the dark here, but is he maybe gay?"

"Oh, huh. I dunno." There was a pause, and Dwayne could hear typing coming from Emilie's end of the line. "Nope, negative on the gay."

"How do you know?"

"I asked him," Emilie said like it was nothing.

"You asked him?" Dwayne laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah, that's the kind of, sort of, maybe friends that we are, it's not awkward for me to ask him stuff like that."

"Huh, hey, why are you telling me all of this stuff?"

"Honestly? It's because you just so happen to be the person on the other line while this is happening."

"Ok, well I'm gonna leave you to that…"

"Sorry if I freaked you out."

"Oh, no, no, not at all, I actually have to go, dinner time."

"Right, of course. K. bye."

"Bye." They hung up, and Dwayne threw the phone on his bed, laughing at the conversation that he had just had. Then he walked downstairs for dinner, wondering what his first dance was going to be like, but hey, he had two weeks to think about it.