Banned From The Ball

(I don't own any of the characters from Milo Murphy's Law. This is my first complete Milo fanfic I'm doing for this site, so bear with me...)

The Murphy family were gathered in the backyard, enjoying a nice fall barbeque...or most of them anyway. Brigette came out of the backdoor with the tray of hamburgers and began to pass them around to her husband- who along with his own father was steering clear of all the trees, especially the ones with low branches, Sara, and Grandpa and Grandma Murphy who had came for dinner. Grandpa Murphy then looked around amuzed.

"Say, where's that grandson of mine, anyway?" He asked, chuckling. "Haven't seen him for hours!"

"He's up in the treehouse with Amanda, Grandpa," Sara explained, pouring ketchup on her burger.

"Wha...wait...wait...you mean to say that you let two 13 year olds go up to that treehouse alone?!"

"Dad, it;s perfectly safe," Martin explained. "We're down here, right below them. We can keep an eye on them and give them their privacy at the same time."

"I dunno, he is 13, and he's up there alone with a girl," Grandma Murphy pointed out.

"Better than being alone in a bedroom," Grandpa pointed out.

"Mom, we trust them," Brigette said. "It;'s only an old treehouse up there, just a table, and some benches, and some trunks containing some toys he used to play with when he and Melissa were younger. That's all that place contains. And they know we're down here." She quickly glanced up to where the treehouse was.

"Yeah. Grandma. All they do up there is talk," Sara said.

"So this ain;t the first time she's been over?"

"No, she's been coming over for a while. Either with his other friends or by herself, and they often go up there when they're alone to talk."

"They're in a public place and at the same time they can have privacy," Brigette explained. "It works out that way."

"I dunno..." Grandpa said doubtfully.

"Dad, we trust our son," Martin said. "They're only talking up there, that's it."

"Talking," Grandpa snorted. "That's not what they called it when I was young!"

Meanwhile Amanda and Milo were sitting up in the old treehouse on one of the benches drinking some ice tea Brigette brought up earlier. Milo was just finishing telling her the story of how he got his backpack.

"And after Veronica gave me her backpack, I've been wearing it from that day to this," Milo finished up.

"She sounds like she was a really nice baby-sitter," Amanda said.

"Yeah. She was the best ever. She was really prepared for almost anything Murphy's Law could do, and she never complained about it. She and Dad taught me all I know and I never forgot any of it."

"Wow. No wonder you're so prepared!"

"Yeah. Veronica actually works at that Medevil Themed Pizza Place down the road. We can go there sometime and I'll introduce you to her, I think she'll like you a lot."

"She sounds really nice."

"Yeah, she is." Milo smiled at her. "So, how's the planning going for the Big 8th Grade Dance?"

"It's going very well," Amanda said happily. "We just finished the committee meeting for the decorations and we just ordered the balloons in the school colors."

"I can't wait to see it myself! So what kinds of food are gonna be served there?"

"We're going to have a meeting with the caterers we've selected soon. They're going to serve eggplant parmasian, meatballs and spagetti, roast chicken.."

"Hmm...I'm getting hungry just talking about it!"

"Milo...did you talk to Zack about the band playing?"

"Yep, and we'll be there with bells on!"

"I'm so glad, Milo."

"This is gonna be great. I've been looking forward to this dance since the first day of 6th Grade. It should be a blast."

"We're going to make sure it is! This is one of the biggest events of 8th Grade!"

"I know, every time I passed by pictures of it in the hallway every year I've been looking forward to being able to go myself!"

Amanda smiled. "Me too."

Milo grinned slyly at her. "You're actually gonna be having fun this time, right?" he teased.

Amanda laughed. "Yes. Teresa's already agreed to help me with my dress," she explained, referring to her older sister who sometimes helped her mother with her seamstress work.

"I bet you'll be so beautiful."

"Oh Milo, thank you," Amanda smiled at him. She looked down at her glass of iced tea, suddenly feeling a bit shy. She took a sip from it and looked at Milo again. "Milo...may I ask you something?"

"Of course, Amanda."

"Milo...will you go to the dance with me?"

Milo looked surprised and then delighted. "I'd love to, Amanda! Truth be known, I was getting up enough nerve to ask you."

"Why would it take nerve to ask me?"

"I just...wanted it to sound right."

"No one ever told me I was intimidating before!"

Milo laughed. "You're not. You're really sweet and kind and a really talented organizer and planner. You're really smart and really nice to be around."

"I know I wasn't always that way to you," she admitted, staring at her glass of tea.

"It's OK, Amanda," Milo assured her. "I know you were nervous about Murphy's Law. I mean I can't blame you, I'm the first one to admit that it's completely unpredictable and you never know what might happen from one moment to another. I know how precious your hours are to you, and I understand why you felt you had to avoid it."

"I never should have even tried to," Amanda said. "There were so many years that I lost that could have been spent getting to know you and spending time with you. I'm still ashamed of how I acted before to you."

"Like I said, it's OK," Milo put his hand on her shoulder, causing Amanda to feel warm all over. "Don't worry about it anymore."

Amanda put her hand on his and squeesed it back. "Thank you, Milo," she took another sip of her iced tea before changing the subject. "Milo? Have you ever...kissed a girl?"

"One time," he admitted

"Oh," Amanda said quietly. "Was she pretty?"

"I don;t really remember," he said. "I was blindfolded. It was a long time ago, at a party. We were playing Blind Man's Bluff. To be honest, I think it was only a kiss on the cheek. I don;t think that counts."

"I was kissed twice," Amanda admitted. "One time when I was about six I was learning how to ride my bike in the park when I lost my balance and fell down. And this nice man picked me up and helped me clean my skinned knee, kissing it. Another time my family and I went to a family picnic given by my Papa's work and one of his business partners kissed me on the cheek when Papa introduced me. I don't think either one of those count either."

"I know Sara got her first kiss recently with Neil when they were out on a picnic in the park. She was so ecstatic about it it was all she could talk about for a while."

"Really?" Amanda said.

"Yeah, we could all tell. She didn't mention Dr. Zone even once that entire day!" Both he and Amanda laughed at that.

"Sara's really nice though."

"Yeah. She's a great sister." They were both startled by the clock chiming on the wall of the treehouse. Amanda gasped when she saw it.

"4:00 already?" She stood up. "When did it get to be 4:00? Oh, I have to get back home."

"OK," Milo said, standing up. "I'll walk you to your bike."

"I had a really good time, Milo."

"I did too," he stood up and reached his hand out to her, gentlemenly helping her off the bench. They made their way down the ladder of the treehouse.

"You have to go already?" Sara asked. "Wanna stay for a while and have a burger?"

"I would love to but I can;t, I have to get home, Mama is already making dinner."

"We hope you can come back again soon," Brigette said.

"Thank you, I hope so too," Amanda said politely.

"It was nice meeting you, Amanda," Grandma Murphy said

"It was really nice meeting you, Mrs. Murphy," Amanda said politely. Milo walked her over to her bike. "I enjoyed our talk," Amanda, said, taking his hand gentily. "Your grandparents are really nice."

"Yeah, they like you," Milo said. "So, see you tomorrow?"

"I'll wait for you, Zack and Melissa by the front door of the school."

"OK, see you then!" Milo smiled at Amanda as she put on her helmet and rode off. He knew he should get back to his family, but he couldn't resist pulling out his phone, wanting more than anything to call his #1 best friend and tell her he had gotten a date to the 8th Grade Dance! "Hey, Melissa!" he said.

"Hey Milo, what's up?"

"You'll never guess what!"

"What?"

"Amanda is gonna be going with me to the 8th Grade dance!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah! We were talking in the treehouse and the subject came up and...we're going together!"

"Get OUT!"

"It's true!"

"That's great, Milo! The four of us can all go together!"

"Yeah like one huge double date!"

"Oh this is gonna be so cool! Hey, ya know what we should all do this weekend?"

"A real double date?"

"Ya read my mind! Let's do pizza and a movie to celebrate!"

"Great! You call Zack and we'll ask Amanda tomorrow morning at school."

Meanwhile Amanda was biking back to her home feeling like she was on top of the world. She couldn't keep the huge smile off her face, if this was the movie E.T she was sure her bike would take off flying, with or without an alien in the basket. When she pulled up to her house and put her bike in the garage she walked in grinning from ear to ear. Her mother stuck her head into the living room.

"Oh, good, you're home quirida*, how was your day?"

"OK, Mama," she said, walking up to her room.

"Is your friend doing alright?"

"Mmm- Hmm," she said as the continued to walk upstairs. Along the way she passed by her sister Teresa's room, where she was laying on her bed with her friend Stacey. Teresa saw Amanda dreamily walk past her and she and Stacey looked at each other. Teresa raised her eyebrows at her sister's behavior and she and Stacey both came into Amanda's room where she was staring out a window.

"Amanda?" Teresa said quickly as she walked toward her sister. "Amanda?" She waved her hand in front of her face as Stacey made buzzing sounds with her hands over mouth. "Earth to Amanda! Tierra a Amanda! ** Come in, Mandy! Can you read me?"

"Hmm," Amanda said dreamily.

"Oh and by the way, Gloria Estevan just called. She's coming over for dinner."

"OK," Amanda said absently.

Teresa snapped her fingers in front of her sister, causing her to jump. "Mandy! You're not listening to me at all!"

"Huh?" Amanda looked at Teresa and Stacey.

"Where were you just now, planning a party on Mars?" Stacey asked. "Don't think I've ever seen you like this!"

Just then Teresa's eye grew wide and she said, "Ooohhh!" and covered her mouth with her hand, stifling a giggle.

"What?" Stacey asked, curiously.

"Oh Mandy," she began in a sing-song voice. "Did you happen to be at a certain someone's house this afternoon?"

"I was over at Milo's."

"Oh? Milo?" she grinned.

"Milo?" Stacey asked.

"Her boyfriend," she explained with a sly grin.

"He is NOT my boyfriend!" Amanda said.

"Yet!" Teresa corrected.

"Teresa, he just turned 14, I'm still 13! We're way to young for any kind of a relationship!"

"Oh, I don't think so," Stacey said. "You can like someone at any age, I think."

"And you know what they say," Teresa said, quoting Garfunkel and Oates, "Like can lead to like like, and like like can lead to love!"

"And we saw the way you were looking out that window just now! You can't tell me you weren't thinking about him."

Amanda's face turned red. "Maybe I was..." she admitted.

"I knew it! Sooo...how was your date?"

"We did not go out on a date!" she said. "I went over to his house and we just talked. Nothing else happened. We were just talking, that's it."

"That's a start," Teresa said. "What were you talking about?"

"Things," Amanda said. "We had some ice tea and were..mainly talking about the dance."

"So to review, he bought the refreshments, and you two were talking about shared interests."

"Sounds like a date to me," Stacey said.

"What exactly about the dance were you talking about?" Teresa said.

"A lot of things. The decorations, the music, the food.."

"The dates?" Amanda didn;t reply to that. "Mandy? Did you happen to ask him to the dance, mi hermana pequena***?"

Amanda looked up and smiled. "Yes," she admitted.

Stacey then held her hands over her mouth, "Affirmative, Houston, we have a confirmed boyfriend, send backup!"

Amanda tried to blush or looked embarressed, but to her surprise she wasn;t able to. In fact she felt proud to be going to the dance with Milo. She looked out the window again, smiling from ear to ear.

*- Dear

**- Earth to Amanda

***- My little sister.