The Beautiful You

Eleven - Lights Up

"Well, what if we just go bowling instead?" Lee asked, glued to his phone.

"Noo, come one. We missed out on the spring fling, so we have to go to homecoming," Mei said.

"We're going to prom, so that should count us out of dances for like the rest of high school." Lee continued playing his game.

"Lee, come on! I already picked out our outfits!" Mei pleaded. Lee put down his phone and stared at Mei.

"Our outfits? I never asked you out!" He said.

"Lee! You know that we look great together, so just do this. For me," she said.

"No, I'm tired of being used as your little show pony, " he said, "Find a different date."

"Think about it," she said, pushing his bangs to one side, exposing some of his forehead. "Now imagine this face in some formal wear. Wow, what a beautiful man."

"Forget it. Last time you made me wear makeup," Lee said, shaking his head.

"You did look beautiful," April said, grinning.

"I could barely notice," I said.

"Stop it! Mei, I'm not your kid brother. You can't dress up and play princess with me against my will," he said.

"Fine! I'll find some other boy who'll like it."

"No guy would like that," Lee said, shaking his head, clearly annoyed. He fixed his bangs and continued playing games on his phone.

"Good luck doing AP chemistry on your own," Mei said, standing up and marching off. Lee ignored her and continued to stare at his phone.

"She's crazy, we have to finish a lab report," he said, suddenly getting up from his chair and following after her.

April and I were alone at the lunch table. I was dreading this. I couldn't tell her why I didn't want to go to homecoming, so I only had one option. Right?

"So are you doing anything after school?" She asked.

"Yeah, I was actually going to work on an assignment with a friend. So I don't think we can hang out," I said awkwardly, playing with the torn paper of my milk carton.

"Who?" She asked.

"Amory," I said. She looked at me confused, and then I remembered.

"He goes by Levi. He's the new kid," I said.

"Ohhh, you mean the blonde guy. He came up to me last week asking about you," she said.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"Uhm, just about where he could find you. He was wearing a soccer uniform, but he doesn't look all that impressive for an athlete. Is he good?" She asked.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him play yet," I said. She nodded, and then there was more silence. I debated whether or not I should tell her. Would she feel the same way I did?

"He asked us to come to his game on Saturday. The first one of the season, he said he'd like it if we came. You know, for support," I said.

"We don't know him," April said.

"Well, most of us do. Mei and Lee met him last week, and he seemed to like them. He asked us all to go," I said.

"Oh," She paused. "Well, we should go!"

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, he's new and probably doesn't have many friends. We should go and support him," She said, smiling.