The parking lot at Engelmann was packed when we arrived. Nina spent a few minutes cruising through row after row looking for a spot, singing along to whatever song was blasting from the radio. She turned the volume up loud enough to where I could feel the entire seat vibrating underneath me, which was not helping to calm me down.

We finally found a spot way in the back. I let Nina lead the march into school, feeling a bit like her awkward shadow. She looked like a knockout in the red sheath dress she wore with dangly gold earrings and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. It was a simple and elegant look, and she carried herself with a confidence I tried to mimic as we walked through the parking lot. Just because I was a nervous wreck didn’t mean everyone else needed to know it too.

Once we got inside, Nina gave our tickets to the front office receptionist who had the bad luck of chaperoning, then wiggled her way into the gym, itching to start dancing. There were strands of twinkle lights cascading down from the gym ceiling and a lot of dark blue and black balloons everywhere. Pretty much everyone was already dancing or stuffing their faces with snacks from the refreshment tables in the back of the gym.

Nina was shouting something to me, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying because the lighting was too dim to lipread. She caught my wrist and led me across the dance floor to the refreshment tables, and I quickly figured out why. Beau was there.

I felt awkward and uncomfortable wearing a dress as nice as this one, but it looked like Beau felt the same way in the dress pants and red button-down shirt he was wearing. His face was all screwed up in a frown as he ate a cookie, giving a side-eyed glare to the nearby couple dancing a little too enthusiastically.

He dropped the second cookie that was in his hand when he saw Nina and me approaching and swallowed down the rest of the cookie in his mouth. It was too dark to tell, but I was sure he was blushing.

Nina greeted him with a friendly punch to the shoulder and must have commented on his appearance by the way he started fidgeting with the collar of his shirt. His eyes moved to me as he gave Nina a response, and whatever he was saying fell short.

I almost started squirming under his gaze. Why was he looking at me like that? I stared back defiantly, signing, WHAT’S UP?

Beau didn’t seem to think twice about signing the word for beautiful, a circular motion with the fingers around the face, and then pointed to me.

I didn’t know how else to respond but to sign, GOOFY, and point right back at him.

Beau cracked a smile at this and signed, THANK YOU.