Innocent Flower

Written by Raven of Darkness Shadows

Eighteen

A few days later, the guys bring home some news I wasn’t ever expecting to hear since leaving high school. “A school dance? Really?” I ask them.

“Yep,” replies Nick. “Something that makes it nicer than high school proms and shit is that our dates don’t have to be from our school.”

“Either way, it’s still a waste of time,” Takeru adds, working on some homework of his.

“So I guess you aren’t going, huh?” Nick asks him.

“No. You’d have to pay me to get me to go there.”

“Whatever, dude.”

I pout a little. “I wish I could go. It actually sounds like fun.”

“Maybe if Anthony asks you…”

“No way. I won’t go with him,” I tell the guys.

Takeru chuckles a little. “I don’t think he’d want to ask you anyway.”

“Why wouldn’t he want to?” I demand.

“I thought you wouldn’t go with him to begin with, Alec,” Nick says to me.

“But it’s different!” I exclaim. “Is there something wrong with me? Something he doesn‘t like?”

“It’s because you’re too feminine for him,” Takeru explains.

I just pout at him. I should be glad that I’m feminine, but then I remember that I’m supposed to be… well, masculine.

“Maybe someone else will ask you then,” offers Nick, but I just pout even more. “Or not, if you don’t want them to…”

Sighing, I tell him, “It won’t matter anyway. Not like I’d be missed if I didn’t go.”

“You’d be surprised,” mumbles Takeru, turning a page in one of his textbooks.

***

Later in the afternoon, I tell Crissy about the dance. “Well, maybe you should go without an invite,” she offers.

“Why? Won’t I get kicked out then?” I ask her.

“Very doubtful, Nana,” she tells me with a wink. “Go as yourself, without the wig.”

“But then they’d figure it out! And I’ll lose the bet!”

Crissy just smiles more. “That bet is getting old, though. I think you can call it quits now.”

“B-but…”

“Listen, don’t you want Nick to love you? Go as yourself, seriously.”

I sigh. I do want him to love me, but… I don’t know if I can just walk up to him during the dance and say something like, ‘hey look, I’m really a girl. Will you go out with me?’ Ugh, that’d just freak him out more, wouldn’t it?

“Then again, there’s always the chance that neither of them will be there,” she then says, and I feel myself frowning. “But you should still at least give it a try, right?”

“I don’t think so…”

“You should go!”

Crissy and I both look over to the new girl, and I recognize her right away. “S-Sakura?”

She nods and sits at our table with us, a strawberry-banana shake in her hand. “If you like one of them, you should definitely go.”

“Who is she??” Crissy asks me, confusion clear on her face.

“Um, she’s Takeru’s sister…” I try explaining.

“And she knows the truth?!”

Sakura smiles lightly at Crissy. “I had a feeling she was a girl, but the guys tried convincing me otherwise. I knew I was right. When she passed out and I took care of her, well… certain things were found out.”

Crissy glares at me a little. “So you already lost the bet anyway?!”

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“Bet?” Sakura asks, looking at the two of us. “Is that what this is all about?”

“Yeah, but it’s coming to an end now anyway,” Crissy sighs. “If Nana is gonna win over Nick’s heart, then she has to be a girl again.”

“Oh, I see,” giggles the dark-haired girl. “Well, I can help out.”

“Can you really?” my sister questions her.

“Yeah. I currently work at a clothing store. I’m sure we can find something really nice.”

I lean back in my chair. People are deciding things for me again… “I don’t think I wanna do this…” I try telling them, but they both just look at me.

“I think it’s an excellent idea though,” Sakura says to me. “As far as I know, Nick doesn’t have a date yet anyway.”

“I can ask him if he’d take me,” says Crissy, “and that’ll get him to the dance. Then I’ll disappear and Nana will go and dance with him in my place.” She grins as she jumps on top of the table. “It’s perfect! The ultimate plan will be a complete successful!! Sister!!” She points at me. “By the time the dance is over, you two are gonna be an official couple!!!”

“You’re nuts!! And get down from there!!”

She laughs and jumps down. “Have I ever been wrong before though?”

Do I really have to answer that?

Sakura sips at her shake. “I think it might actually have a chance of working.”

“You’re both insane,” I sigh, losing yet another battle.

Crissy is quiet for a few minutes, looking so deep in thought about something. Finally, she says aloud, “I wonder if Cherry will be willing to come visit and help us out too…”

“Cherry?! Seriously?! You wanna ask her?”

“Who’s Cherry?” asks Sakura.

“Our dad’s super-young wife,” Crissy explains.

“Ohh.” After a moment of silence, Sakura turns to me and tells me, “Your family is really strange.”

I frown a little. “You have no idea…”