CHAPTER 4: "THE JOINT IS JUMPING" and "DANCING WITH THE GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS"

A few weeks had gone by when finally, the night of the Fall Formal had arrived. I was wearing my best tuxedo for the Formal. Janice's parents had rented us a limo so we would be going in style. Linus Janice, and myself had gone to pick up Heather. When Heather came out of her house, I was amazed at how beautiful she looked. She had on a new pink dress with matching shoes and a large bow in her hair. Linus urged me to get out and escort her to the limousine. I walked up to her, nervously.

"Y-You look beautiful, Heather," I said, stammering.

"Thank you, Charlie Brown," Heather said with a giggle. I placed a corsage on her dress and walked her to the limousine where Linus and Janice were smiling at us.

"How are you, Heather?" asked Janice.

"I'm doing good," Heather replied.

"Driver, on to the Formal," said Linus. And the driver drove us to the school where the Formal was happening. When we got to the school, all of the kids were looking to see who was in the limo. They greeted Linus and Janice, who were the first to come out. But when Heather and I came out, we were greeted with surprised gasps.

"Charlie Brown actually has a date!" said one kid in the back of the crowd.

"And it's Heather Wold!" exclaimed another.

"Good for Charles, I'm happy he has someone to go with!" That was Marcie, obviously happy that I was happy.

"What's so special about her?!"

I thought that was Peppermint Patty, but I wasn't sure until I heard Marcie say, "Don't start a scene, sir."

We walked inside the school and into the gym where the dance was being held. The DJ behind the booth looked very familiar, especially when I saw some bird assistants helping him out. I recognized him as my own dog.

"Only Snoopy would land a gig like this," I said, shaking my head.

"I wonder if he's getting paid for this?" said Janice.

"Looks like he's getting paid in cookies," said Heather. And sure enough, Snoopy had a huge cookie jar next to his DJ rig. The birds were having kids "donate" a cookie for requests, with Woodstock supervising.

We walked in and Linus and Janice found a spot on the dancefloor and they started dancing immediately. My sister, who came by herself, was watching Linus and Janice dancing. She had a frown on her face, obviously jealous of the two of them enjoying themselves.

"She's not so great!" I heard Sally say to Eudora, who also came by herself, but had a date that was meeting up with her. I shrugged it off and went with Heather to the dancefloor ourselves.

"I'm not that great of a dancer, Heather," I said.

"Nonsense," said Heather. "You remember the Homecoming Dance when you swept me off my feet?" Truthfully I didn't remember as that memory is still fuzzy at best. "Come on, Charlie Brown, let's cut a rug." And we started dancing. And it was magical. Here I was, dancing with the girl of my dreams, a world's away from everything. And, for once, I had no problems or embarrassing things happen to me.

Linus and Janice saw Charlie Brown and Heather dancing together. Linus was especially proud that Charlie Brown was dancing with his dream girl and things were going right for him, for once.

"He can really dance, can he?" Janice said to Linus.

"Yeah," agreed Linus. "When you think you have him figured out, Charlie Brown can surprise you. That's one thing I've always agreed with Lucy on."

"Speaking of, why isn't she here at the Formal?"

"After what happened with Schroeder, this was the last place she wanted to be. She opted to stay at home and watch TV."

"I hope she can get past this."

"Me too, Janice. Me too."

Snoopy had put on a slow song, and Heather came in close to me. I blushed. Never had a girl gotten this close to me, let alone the one I had a crush on for like forever. I saw Snoopy watching me. He gave a wink and a smile. I was lucky to have my dog's support on this. Next to Linus, he's my closest friend.

"I'm enjoying this night," said Heather softly.

"Me too," I said.

"Especially with a boy I like."

"Y-Y-You like me?!" I was surprised. Heather actually said she liked me! The shock was broken when I heard my sister in the distance say some familiar words.

"KISS HER, YOU BLOCKHEAD!"

NEXT CHAPTER: ON THE BRINK AND "IT'S YOUR SECOND KISS, CHARLIE BROWN!"