Lucy wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She was wearing her sweatshirt with the logo that was a woodpecker (as a school mascot!). I had suggested, and Lucy was thinking about it, that she start a “school mascot” day at school so she could wear her favorite sweatshirts to school.

“You know I was thinking about how you said it’s good I’m staying Anne in Greenville,” I said, pulling out a sparkly bow tie and then putting it back. Too much. “I think I can be Anne of Greenville too.”

“Yes, you can.” Lucy pulled out something from behind her back. A huge corsage with giant orange roses. “Because they sell these here.”

“ORANGE ROSES!” I squealed. “AHHHHHHHHH! THANK YOU!”

Monty whined from the doorway. Either because she felt left out or because she had to pee.

“I’ll walk her,” Lucy said, releasing me from the hug. “You get dressed.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“And have fun!” she called from the stairs.

Technically a velvet tuxedo wants for a top hat, but I figured my first dance, I would just do big hair instead. So several cans of hairspray later, once I had molded my hair into a shape I was thinking of as “campfire big,” I floated down the stairs. I would say I looked like a Creamsicle. Like a velvet Creamsicle with a cloud of sherbet hair on top.

“TA-DA!” I assumed a jaunty pose at the bottom of the stairs.

Millie said she thought I looked like a fancy cheese stick. Which I accepted.

“All right, then, Fred Astaire,” Millie snorted, grabbing her robe to cover her pajamas. “Come on, Monty. Try not to get too much fur on Captain Orange as we drive her to the dance.”

“Empress Orange,” I corrected, taking a few long steps to make sure the pants wouldn’t split. You never know with vintage trousers. And really the last thing I needed was a crotch incident.

By the time we got to the school, the parking lot was full. Kids were spilling out of cars, posing for selfies, hugging, dancing toward the front door, which someone had decorated with fall leaves and a wonky but effective cut-out pumpkin.

“Have fun!” Millie called out as I stood on the curb, peeling a layer of Monty fur off my legs.

“I will,” I called back.

I strode up to the front steps, adjusting my coat. I passed the kid Marcus who was playing a Lost Boy and a girl named Jennifer who was in my math class.

But no Gilly.

I didn’t want to sit and ruin my pants, so I stood off to the side of the steps, trying to look casual and not worried. Casual but cool.

“Anne.”

Berry stepped up onto the curb.

“Holy COW!”