Chapter 3: Say You Will
October 1988, Flatbush Central High School, Brooklyn, New York
The homecoming dance was coming up that weekend, and Luanne was dreading it, since she assumed she would likely be without a date, and there was a decent chance that her overly religious parents might not even let her go—not that she was really going to let them stop her.
Luanne unlocked her locker, and put all of her books into it, as her best friend, Philip J. Fry, walked up behind her.
"Hey!" he greeted, as he unlocked his own locker, and shove his lunch and books in, and slammed it shut.
"Hey…" Luanne trailed off. "What's going on with you?" she asked, checking up on him.
"Nothing yet today." Fry shrugged in response.
Luanne closed her own locker, and turned to him. "Can…can I ask you something?"
Before Fry could respond, the school's resident "Boy Genius" Josh Gedgie walked up and leaned against to the adjacent locker to wear Luanne was standing.
"Helloooo Miss Nichols." Josh said with a cocky smirk, and an undeserved swagger, tilting down his thick glasses as if they were cool-guy shades. "I have a potentially desirable proposition for you." He crossed his arms and his cocky facial expression increased in magnitude.
"Um…okay?" Luanne raised an eyebrow, her mouth slightly agape in a grimace.
"You. Me. The homecoming dance." He stated "You accompany me, as my date." Before he even finished his sentence, Luanne was already scrunching up her nose at him.
Why did this dork—who'd been nothing but rude to her before this, treating her as if she was dumber than rocks—think she would ever want to go anywhere with him?
"Yeah, uh…No thanks." Luanne immediately replied, the disgust in her voice thick enough you could cut it with a knife.
Josh seemed genuinely surprised at her rejection of him. "Pardon me?" was all he could say.
"You heard me." she said flatly. "I'm not interested." she reiterated, grimacing more.
"What?! So you have a date already?" he narrowed his eyes, and then immediately looked at Fry, assuming he was the date in question.
"Well, I—" Luanne tried to say, and was surprised by Fry putting his arm around her shoulder.
"Yeah, actually. We are going to the dance together…You have a problem with that?" Fry said, glaring at Josh.
"Pfft, fine. But if you crave a more intellectually stimulating companion. You'll know where to find me." He was about to walk away. "By the punch bowl. Drinking punch. Gedgie out." he finally left, and Luanne turned to Fry.
"You…you would go to the dance with me?" she seemed genuinely surprised. She was about to ask him, before Josh rudely interrupted, but didn't think he actually would.
"Of course! We're best friends, always and forever." Fry replied shrugging "I didn't have a date either, so…I figured it'd make sense for us to go as best friends."
Luanne accidentally blushed a bit. "Yeah, as best friends…" she giggled a little.
"Oh wow, Luanne, your face is all pink, you alright?"
That just made her blush harder. "No I'm fine, I'm…I'm fine."
The next 2 days until that Friday were full of thoughts and preparations for Luanne—she had saved up some of her allowance, allowing her to buy a cute party dress, in a plum color, with black, fluffy ruffled tulle over the bodice and skirt, accented with a large bow over the right hip. She hid the dress in the back of her closet after buying it.
Her plan was to say she was going over to Fry's to work on a school project, and she would get ready for the dance at his house in order for her parents to not catch her leaving in the dress. She also bought some lipstick and eyeliner, and before she would leave to next door, for Fry's house, she stole her sister's iron and hairspray in order to do her hair for the dance.
That Friday evening, she headed over to the Fry household, where she had left the dress and makeup earlier that morning, and got ready in their guest bathroom. After she felt she'd gotten her hair properly big and fluffed, and her eyeliner perfect enough, she went downstairs, where Fry had been waiting, in his dorky little suit and tie.
Yancy came out of his own room, also in a suit and tie, but he looked a lot less thrilled.
The moment he saw Luanne, his eyes lit up slightly, but he immediately tried to hide his expression, trying to look more cool and aloof. He approached her.
"You know, Lulu, if you wanted a date, I could have been your guy." He said with a bit of a smirk, crossing his arms. "I'd probably be a better date than Phil, at least." he added on, with a laugh.
Luanne looked at him, squinting and grimacing. "Don't call me Lulu ever again if you ever want to have children."
"Okay, jeez." Yancy backed up.
"I uh…got this for you." Fry said, handing her a daffodil, his other hand behind his head. He was slightly blushing a bit.
"You dweeb, did you steal that from Mrs. Johnson's backyard?" Yancy said incredulously.
"No! I asked her first! I told her I had a date and everything!" Fry said angrily.
"Pfft, yeah, I doubt she'd believe that" Yancy said, poking Fry.
"Well she did laugh at me for several minutes….but then I offered to pay for it and she let me have one…" he whined. He looked back at Luanne, and she accepted the flower.
"Phil…you're so sweet." she smiled, and blushed a bit. She was starting to be really, really glad Fry was her date. This was definitely a much more preferable option than going with Josh Gedgie, or even just going alone.
Fry's mother walked in. "Oh you all look absolutely adorable." she said, and got the family polaroid camera out of a drawer. "Now you three, scoot in real close, and make sure to get the football poster in view in the background." she said, and the three teenagers did as told. She snapped a few pictures. She shook each polaroid, and was satisfied that the three teens weren't blocking the view of her prized signed Packers poster. "You kids have fun." she said, and nudged all three of them out of the door.
Luanne and Fry giggled and started heading for the high school, and Yancy followed not too far behind.
What Luanne didn't know, however, was that because she literally lived next door to the Fry household, her parents saw her leaving for the dance.
At the homecoming dance, the gym was dark with the exception of some colorful lights and a disco ball, and the DJ was playing all the latest hits, while teens danced together, drank punch, and pigged out on junk food.
As Fry and Luanne entered, the DJ played a Foreigner track.
"Oh! I love this song!" Luanne squealed out, and grabbed Fry's hand to pull him over to the dance floor to dance with her.
The two friends danced to the rock track, Luanne even head-banging a little bit. Fry and Luanne laughed at each others' dance moves, which were trendy, but nonetheless goofy, and all in good fun.
Josh Gedgie approached the two, cup of punch in hand. "Hm. So you weren't both just pulling an elaborate joke. You were actually going together."
"I don't joke around when it comes to my best friend." Fry said, crossing his arms.
"That's all she'll ever be." Josh laughed at him.
"And what's wrong with that?" Fry said, raising an eyebrow "We're a great team!"
"Why do you care about our relationship status so much, you little creep." Luanne spat at Josh, and shoved him. The commotion got the attention of the other teens, causing them to all react with "ooh"s at Luanne's bold action.
"Tch. Because Fry here, is a detriment to our species." Josh rolled his eyes "He's dumber than a chimpanzee."
"Hey!" Fry said, frowning "Just because I got tricked out of my allowance by Mr. Bananas doesn't mean I'm dumber than him! He was a very crafty monkey." he whined.
"Chimpanzees aren't monkeys." Josh replied, crossing his arms.
Fry grunted angrily. "Yeah well…uh…you're….smelly." That's all he could come up with.
Josh smirked smugly. "In a battle of wits, it appears I won."
"Well…I know a challenge you can't win!" Fry poked him in the chest, causing the crowd of teens to let out more "ooh"s.
"What could that possibly be?" Josh raised his eyebrow, tilting his head down at Fry, doubtfully.
"A dance-off!" Fry yelled out.
The other teens all found that idea very fun and started chanting "Dance off! Dance off! Dance off!"
"What a stupid metric of measuring superiority." Josh scoffed "But if you insist." He took off his own suit jacket and tossed it aside. "Let's make it interesting. Whoever wins is Miss Nichols' date for the rest of the evening." he smirked.
Luanne leaned over to Fry. "You're a great dancer, and I don't doubt you for a second…but are you sure this is a great idea? If you make even one mistake, I'm stuck with him for the rest of the dance…" she said, her voice tinged with concern.
"Oh, don't worry Lu. I have this for sure." he said, and opened his suit jacket, and pulling out his 7 leaf clover, showing it to her. "I can't possibly lose when I have my lucky charm." he slid it back into the inner pocket of his jacket, and stepped into the center of the circle of teens, all intently watching.
The DJ started playing a Michael Jackson tune, and Josh went first, doing a little jig, throwing in some robotic moves. He was a surprisingly decent dancer for a skinny little nerd, but he definitely shouldn't quit his plans to go to MIT to pursue a career in dancing.
But then…It was Fry's turn. He started off with the Moonwalk, and some of the members of the crowd whistled at his talent.
Luanne was at the front of the crowd, clapping along with the song, watching Fry dance, grinning widely, and blushing…He was such a good dancer, but something about him fighting for her honor was…very cute?
Yancy walked up beside Luanne with a cup of punch in his hand. "Pfft, you're impressed by that? I can dance way better." he said
"Shaddup Yancy, he's getting to the good part!" Luanne waved him off.
Fry was doing nearly gravity defying moves, his breakdancing practice he spent his weekends doing was really, really paying off. And then Fry did it. He did the single most impressive, visually impossible move, so majestically that there was no describing it.
Josh stood there, shocked, his mouth agape wide, unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
The crowd were just as shocked, and yelled out and cheered for the visual spectacle they had just witnessed.
Luanne put her hand to her own chest, her mouth also agape, staring at Fry, who was now standing with his arms raised above his head, panting loudly from the intensity of the dance moves he just pulled off.
Even Yancy was shocked and impressed, punch dribbling out of his mouth, back into his cup.
The crowd started cheering for Fry, chanting his last name.
Josh blinked. "Well…fine. You win this round…" he groaned, and walked back over to where the snacks and punch were, fully giving up.
Luanne ran over to Fry. "What…what was that! That was amazing!" she laughed, and grabbed his hands.
"I'm…not really sure" He laughed "I just came up with it as I was dancing."
"That clover really works!" Luanne giggled. "I mean, your skill and talent did the heavy lifting but…that was amazing" she said, and her face was blushing bright pink.
Now that the dance-off was over, the DJ played a slower tune, for all the couples to dance together. Fry and Luanne were still in the middle of the floor.
"So Lu…you…wanna dance? Or would that be…would that be too awkward for best friends?" he laughed nervously, putting his hand behind his head once again.
"Hey, you more than earned it buddy. You saved me from having to hear Gedgie talk my ear off about, like, atoms or something" she giggled
Fry smiled at her, and the two started dancing together, her arms around the back of his neck, and his hands on the middle of her back.
"Seriously…you doing all that for me…that was so sweet of you…" she blushed more
"It was nothing, really…" he shyly turned his head to the side.
Luanne shook her head and leaned in to kiss his cheek….but he had turned his head back to face her, and her lips accidentally met his. The two looked at each other shocked, and Luanne pulled back from him and started laughing awkwardly, blushing a whole bunch. "Oh…oh my god…um…I'm sorry…" she said, laughing and panicking.
"No, no it's okay! I know you meant to kiss my cheek…I uh…I shouldn't have turned my head…" he said back also laughing nervously.
"Haha…yeah…us…kissing?" Luanne said incredulously, blushing even more fiercely. She hid her face in her hand. She liked it. She liked the kiss…oh god why did she like it?
"Yeah…hah…imagine…imagine that…" Fry said, also blushing red as a tomato.
The rest of the night was a little awkward after their accidental kiss, with Luanne avoiding eye contact, but stealing glances at Fry…there was just something about him. She was feeling…something. Something deeper and more intense than friendship.
She looked away from him, and caught a glance of the clock on the wall of the gym and saw it was almost 11 pm. Oh crap!
"Fry, I…uh…I gotta go, before my parents notice I'm not home yet…" she said, standing up from the bleachers. "I'll see you Monday, okay?" she said, and kissed him on the cheek correctly this time. She ran out of the gym, to head for home.
After she left, Fry touched his cheek, his face warm from blushing. Yancy sat next to him.
"Wow, a girl kissed you." Yancy teased him.
"Not just any girl! My best friend!" Fry insisted.
"Mhm. Yeah." Yancy rolled his eyes. "I doubt she's into you anyways." he added on.
"Of course not! The kiss was an accident!" Fry doubly insisted. "Why…why are you trying to make things weird?"
"I'm not." Yancy replied flatly. "But…since she's not into you…Nothing stopping me from going out with her, right?"
"You wouldn't!"
"What? Are you in love with her?" Yancy knew this would get a rise out of his younger brother.
"No! It's just…a crappy thing to date your brother's best friend!" Fry crossed his arms.
"We'll see about that on Monday, pal. I'm asking her out." Yancy snickered
"No! Don't do that!" Fry said angrily.
"I'm going to. Hell, you can even be the best man at our wedding." Yancy continued to prod and tease Fry.
Fry just grumbled under his breath, and glared angrily at Yancy.
Yancy laughed.