"Aren't you afraid of embarrassing yourself?" Jodi sounded concerned.
Vincent laughed. "No, are you afraid of me embarrassing you?"
Jodi's face darkened. It had been a typical dinner until Vincent mentioned wanting to become the Flower Queen. Now his parents were tense and uncomfortable, and Sam was holding back giggles.
"Son, why exactly do you want to do this?" Kent asked.
"Okay." Vincent put his knife and fork down. "Ever since I was a kid, I thought it would be awesome to get to dance the last dance and wear a flower crown and get fussed over. As I got older, I realized that putting a guy in a dress is kind of a silly thing to do, so I wanted to get in on that part of it, too. But there's more!"
Jodi took a big gulp of her wine.
"When I was a little kid, I looked up to Sam. I wanted to be just like him."
Sam interrupted Vincent for a high five.
Vincent continued. "Sam taught me that it's okay to like flowers, and it's okay to be too scared to watch horror movies, and it's okay to cry if something really upsetting happens. He taught me how to clean a fish, how to write down when my homework is due, how to cook an egg, all that stuff."
"I taught you how to do those things, too," Jodi said.
"I know, Mom, thanks, but it made more sense and it just seemed more worth doing when Sam taught me. Anyway. You guys know Sage, right? The farmer and Harvey's little boy? Azalea's little brother? Lately he's been following me around whenever he sees me, asking me a million questions, giving me pictures that he drew in crayon, you know. He thinks I'm cool."
"Nice, that's one person in the world!" Sam laughed. Jodi and Kent glared at him. "I mean, three people!"
"Shut up, Sam! Anyway, you guys, Sage is getting picked on in school because he likes flowers and musicals. Because that's what his big sister is into. He goes to private school in Grampleton, right? So his kindergarten class is taking a field trip to the Flower Dance! I want Sage to see a big guy in a dress, dancing and enjoying flowers, so he knows it's okay. And I want those little fartheads who pick on him to see it, too, so maybe they'll lay off the poor kid!"
"That actually makes sense," Kent said.
"Thanks, I know it does! Sage has told those kids that he has a big strong macho buddy who plays gridball, so now they'll get to meet me."
"What are you going to wear?" Jodi asked. "My dress is too small for you, we can't afford to buy you a new one...maybe Marnie or Abigail would have something that fits?"
"Oh, remember all that raking I did this fall? Saved the money. I can't afford anything custom, like, I'm not going to Emily...but I can afford to go into the city and get something off the rack."
"You've put a lot of thought into this." Jodi fidgeted with her food. "You really have your heart set on it, don't you?"
"Absolutely."
"How are you going to learn the dance?"
"Maybe Jas could teach you," Sam said.
"Nah, Jas is pissed about this whole thing. She also wants to be the Flower Queen, since it's her last year here before she goes to college. She said she's not gonna help me. So I'll just ask Haley or Abigail, and if they won't teach me, I can look at recordings of last year's dance and kind of reverse engineer it."
"That's right, she hasn't won it yet, has she?" Jodi refilled her wine glass.
"Nope," said Sam. "The first year that Jas danced, Haley won. Then Haley stopped dancing and Penny won after coming in second for years and years. Then Penny stopped dancing and Maru won. Then Azalea was old enough to dance, and she's won the last two, because she's just ridiculously gorgeous."
"Poor Jas," Jodi said. "I never won, either. You know, Vincent, if you go for it, you'll probably be a shoo-in because everyone will be so shocked. Do you really want to do that to your best friend?"
"No." Vincent looked down, seemingly fixated on a piece of basil on his plate. "You know, I vote for her every year. She really is the prettiest one out there. I mean, I'm not gonna tell her that because that would make things weird. But she's also the best dancer. While Azalea and Juliet are out there missing steps and being awkward, Jas is the only one who doesn't look all stilted. If people would vote like they actually should, Jas would have won at least a couple times."
"We're not talking you out of this, are we?" Jodi asked.
"Nope." Vincent stood and started clearing plates. As he set the plates in the sink, there was a knock on the door.
Sam answered. "Jas! What's up?"
"Gotta study," she answered plainly.
Vincent jogged through the living room. "Hey! I'm surprised you're here."
"Me too, honestly." She stepped inside and took off her backpack. "But I told you I'd help you pass geometry at the beginning of the semester, and I'm not gonna back out just because you're pissing me off."
"That's a good friend, Vincent," Jodi said She gave him a pointed look.
Jas sat down at the coffee table and pulled out a three-ring binder. "Thanks, Ms. Jodi."
Vincent sat down with his notebook. "And thank you, Jas. Listen, I'm sorry about the Flower Dance thing-"
"I said I'm done talking about it," she snapped. "Now, we were working on arc length and radian measure, right?"