Chapter 11
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The next two weeks went on as usual: school, friends, home. I prepared for the dance, planning about what I could do to make it the night of Sierra’s life, and maybe after the music died down, I’d tell her how I felt about her.
The dance was on a Friday night. That day, during lunch, I asked if she was ready.
“I’m ready to roll, literally and figuratively. I’ve got a surprise for you I think you might like,” she winked.
“OK, thanks for the heads up. I can’t wait to see how things go.”
Homecoming started at 8:00 PM, and I got there a bit early, anxious to see what would happen at the dance. I was chatting with Tom and his date Tara when Sierra wheeled into the gym. I saw what her surprise was.
I was used to seeing her in jeans and a t-shirt, but for tonight, she had on a very attractive light blue dress, and her hair was tied back with a matching hair tie.
The gym’s colored party lights caught the fabric of her dress, and suddenly the whole room faded away and it was just Sierra in the spotlight. I had to make myself breathe again, and my throat went so dry, it took me a minute to speak.
“Sierra, you look great,” I said, smiling.
“Thanks, you clean up pretty good yourself,” she said, gesturing to my best dress shirt and pants.
“Thanks. I only break them out for special occasions.”
We stayed on the sidelines, then I had an idea.
“Hey, let’s dance…sort of.”
“OK, what’s the plan?”
When the next slow dance music came up, I took the handles of her wheelchair, and pushed her in a slow circle. Sierra smiled, Seeing her smile like that made the nerves completely vanish. For those few minutes, we were just two people sharing a slow dance; it was as if the wheelchair didn’t exist.
After that, we headed to the snack bar to get something to munch on.
“Thanks for that,” she said. “I didn’t think that I’d ever be involved in any form of dancing again.” The look of sheer happiness on her face made my heart speed up again.
“You’re welcome. It’s not fun being left out of things. Everyone deserves to have some fun.”
The rest of the evening went by like a flash, I don’t think either of us wanted it to end.
I wanted it to be the beginning.
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