Better to Dance Together

Peter had already taken off his suit. As he followed Felicia downstairs, he asked in confusion.

"You want to attend the Homecoming Dance? And you want me specifically as your dance partner?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

Felicia looked as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "I'm not saying there's no one else I could invite, but since I have to invite someone anyway, why not invite someone I know?"

"What about the previous years? Didn't you have a dance partner then either?"

"Good question. I didn't attend Homecoming at all in the previous years."

Peter was stunned. "Not even once?"

"I went in my freshman year, but nobody says freshmen have to join the Homecoming Dance, right? School had only been in session for a month, and you didn't know anyone. In sophomore year, I pretended to have a fever and skipped it. By junior year, I was still in Europe, so Homecoming was even less of a possibility."

Only then did Peter remember that around this time last year, Felicia had indeed been in Europe investigating her father's whereabouts. She had not been in New York at all.

"So this year..."

"This year, quite a few friends have asked me whether I wanted to attend since I'd never gone to Homecoming before. They said never attending a single Homecoming Dance made high school life seem pretty pathetic... things like that. Thinking about it carefully, they had a point. It really wasn't easy to refuse."

I think you should still refuse...

Peter grumbled inwardly, but said nothing more. He was thinking—or rather, refusing to think about it—but Felicia had clearly thought this through very thoroughly.

"Oh, right. If you think it'll be hard to bring up, I can tell those girls that you've already been spoken for