Round Two: I'll primp; I won't be late… Tracy gets ready to go out with Link, with a little help from Penny.
Friday arrives quickly, and she still isn't ready for the party. Rehearsal was in full swing now, which meant she had only a little over two hours to decide what she was wearing, and how she was doing her hair, and what shoes, and if she was wearing make-up…
"Tracy?" Link asks, repeating himself a few times before he's heard.
Her head snaps up, and she blushes yet again when she sees that his eyes are on her. "I'm sorry, my mind was… well, somewhere else, I guess," she tells him, hoping that he doesn't hear the edge of hysteria in her tone.
Link gives her an easy smile, relieved that she wasn't ignoring him. "No worries, doll face. I was just makin' sure we're still on for tonight,"
She nods shyly, looking in his eyes for the first time in a while. The slick, overly-confident Link is gone, replaced with a young man who desperately wants a girl's affection. The new insight gives her the confidence to answer him steadily, "Yup. I can't wait!"
He smiles again… they certainly make quite the pair, grinning like two fools… and touches her arm in farewell.
She glances at the clock bewilderedly, and finds that rehearsal is over, and she still hasn't made any decisions about her attire for tonight.
"Seaweed!" She calls loudly, and a young colored man appears at her side.
"What's up, Trace?" he asks, his teeth looking very white against his dark skin as he smiles.
"Have you seen Penny? I need her help," she entreats, hoping that Penny is outside waiting for her sweetheart.
Seaweed coughs embarrassedly, and nodded. "She's, uh, waitin' outside. In the car,"
She doesn't even have time to smile at his discomfiture before she tears out of the room, knocking things over in her haste.
Penny is sitting in the front seat of Seaweed's beat up old car, a vacant expression on her face.
"Penny!" She exclaims, pulling her best friend out of the car by a pig tail, "Come on! I have a date with Link tonight and I don't know what to wear!"
Penny smiles bemusedly. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can find something in that giant TV star closet of yours,"
She sighs with relief, knowing that Penny is right. She's just being silly. She has plenty of clothes.
They run excitedly to her house, waving goodbye to Seaweed as he stares after Penny sadly.
They make it home with only an hour to get her ready for the big date. Penny heads straight for the closet on the far side of the room.
"How 'bout this?" she asks, holding up a polka-dotted sleeveless dress.
She shakes her head at her friend, inwardly smiling at her friend's short memory. "I wore that for the Miss Teenage Hairspray Pageant, remember?"
Penny winces. "Oh, yeah," her hand dives into the closet again, this time coming out with feetsie pajamas.
"These would be a hit," Penny tells her, a smile on her face.
She glares at her best friend. "This is no time for jokes, Penny Pingleton! I have to be ready in," she checks the clock on the wall, "fifty-five minutes!"
Penny sighs. "I see we've entered the no humor zone," she mumbles, but turns does what she's expected to.
"Ok, ok. Sheesh!" Penny turns back to the closet again, and this time pulls out a red, sparkly, long sleeved dress. The neck is square cut, showing a perfect amount of cleavage, and covering the inches of extra snacking around her middle and arms.
"Perfect!" she squeals, and Penny grins happily.
"What can I say?" she says, "it's a gift!"
Shoes were simple… the red sequined boots from Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway that matched the dress. As she zips them up, Penny starts playing with her hair.
Penny grabs a few hair combs off of the bureau, and, of course, the Ultra-Clutch.
Within minutes, her hair is perfect.
"You're a genius, Penny!" she yells, hugging the pig-tailed girl tightly.
"Tracy? Penny? Are you girls almost done?" Edna's voice floats up the stairs. "I think you should probably eat somethin' before you go, hun. You never know what they're gonna serve at these parties…"
"I'm sure it'll be fine, Ma!" she calls down the stairs.
Penny pulls out her make-up kit, and pulls her big-haired friend down onto the bed.
She obediently closes her eyes so Penny can apply eye shadow and other products to her face, and nearly squeals when the doorbell rings downstairs.
"Let your mom get it," Penny orders, holding her face tightly to finish applying the blush.
"Trace! Link's here!" Edna's voice comes again, and is audible as she asks Link if he's eaten.
She starts to bound down the stairs in her usual fashion, but Penny grabs her arm.
"No!" she hisses. "You have to make an entrance."
She walks slowly down the stairs, hoping she looks elegant.
The look on Link's face is worth it as she proceeds down…. He stares at her like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.
"You look… amazin', lil' darling'," he tells her, and she feels her face flush.
This evening was going to be perfect.