Chapter 24
Right as the referee blew the whistle to end our victory against Norwich Academy, I looked over to see that my Mom had actually sat through our entire game to watch me play.
She smiled and nodded at me as if to show a sign of approval at my performance, and I felt a sense of momentary pride that quickly dissipated by the overwhelming reminder of lingering betrayal.
But I smiled back at her effort for showing up at all.
Hands on my hips and completely out of breath, I headed back across the field to our bench, sweaty but enthusiastic, knowing that this was a difficult team to beat.
As always, our team grabbed the cooler, unscrewed the lid, and dumped some of it on Coach DeLaney and then the rest of it on Courtney for blocking the shot that helped us win the game.
We were undefeated and headed for the playoffs after Christmas break if we kept up our streak.
After that tradition, I assembled my teammates and we offered a cheer of camaraderie to the opposing team as they gathered to leave, then we went to greet our families, who were waiting for us to congratulate our win.
Isabelle’s mom hugged me in front of my own, which caught my Mom off guard.
I think she was surprised to see me being supported by someone other than her.
“Congratulations on another tough win! I always love watching you play, Allie!” Mrs. Wharton exclaimed loudly. Wake Forest will be lucky to have you!”
“Thanks, Mrs. Wharton!” I said as she pulled me in for a hug. My mom looked pensive as I pulled away and headed in her direction.
“You’ll have to come out to the farm for another trail ride sometime soon!” she said as she put an arm around Isabelle, squeezing her shoulders tightly.
“See you at your house at 6:00 tonight!” said Isabelle, and I nodded as they turned to leave.
“Hi, Allie,” my mom said. She seemed out of place in this environment, and I could tell she didn’t know what to say. Sports were not something she ever played, and she was clearly uncomfortable, so I was thankful to see Coach DeLaney heading in my direction.
“How about your daughter out there, Mrs. Wyatt? She’s quite a force to be reckoned with,” Coach said, patting me on the shoulder.
My mom nodded, but didn’t know how to reply.
“She’s going to be a huge asset to Wake Forest,” Coach continued with a smile.
“Have fun tonight, Allie.” Then she walked away to greet other parents.
“I need to head home, Mom. I have a big math test on Monday that I need to study a little more before the dance tonight,” I said with a sense of urgency. Mom looked surprised at my sudden dedication to my school work, which snapped her back into her element.
“Oh. Yes, of course, dear. That’s very important, let’s get you home right away,” she said, trying to stay calm, but I could tell that on the inside, she was pleased that I was taking academics seriously.
Once we arrived home, I showered as quickly as possible and got to work studying for the test. Calculus was something that I had struggled with the entire year, and there were a few concepts that I still didn’t understand.
My only option was to ask my mom. She had helped my sister occasionally with her AP math classes, and I figured it was worth a shot.
“Mom? Could you please have a look at one of these chapters?” I called from the top of the stairs. She appeared at the bottom of the stairs in a flash.
“Sure, sweetie, why don’t you bring them down to the kitchen table and I’ll have a look,” she said with a wide smile.
I gathered my materials and brought them downstairs.
We sat together under the green floral chandelier at the kitchen table while she showed me how to work out problems that gave me difficulty until I was able to solve them with ease.
I was finally confident enough that I could study a few more times over the weekend and would be ready for the test on Monday.
It was time to get dolled up for the dance.
“Thanks, Mom, I really appreciate your help,” I said quietly.
It was hard for me to say, and she understood why.
Asking for help never came easily to me, and we never had a close relationship, especially with the recent development, so I think she was surprised that I came to her in this moment of great tension between us.
“You’re welcome, Allie. You know you can always come to me. I’ll always be here for you,” she said, then she pulled me in for a hug that I didn’t resist.
“Thanks for coming to my game today. That really meant a lot to me.”
“Your Coach said it was something that I needed to see for myself. I think you’re going to have a great time at Wake Forest,” she said, as she put her hands on my shoulders, pushed me away slightly so that she could look me in the eyes, and then pulled back in for a tighter hug.
“Really?” I said, enveloped in her arms.
“Really. You’ve earned it, and I’m proud of you,” she said.
“I’m sorry that I haven’t supported your passion.
Sports aren’t something that I can relate to, but it doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t have tried harder to relate to you.
I love you, Allie.” And then she let me go and told me to go get ready for the dance.
Even though I heard her words and I appreciated them, I was still hurt by the secret that she had kept from me for my entire life, and it would take time for me to overcome the betrayal that sat deeply within me. Regardless, tonight I would push it aside and have fun with my friends.
At 6:00 exactly, the doorbell rang, and Isabelle came barreling through the door carrying a dress in a clear dry cleaning bag over her shoulder. She sounded like a windstorm as she blew past me.
“Where should we get ready?” she asked.
“Upstairs in my room,” I said, as I led the way up the stairs and shut the door behind me.
“Your room is so adorable!” she said, as she laid her dress on the bed and stood in front of my full-length mirror, admiring herself.
“Show me your dress!” Then she spun around and noticed it hanging from the top of my closet door.
“Allie! Oh my God! Wait until Chris sees you in that!” she exclaimed.
“Can we turn on some music? What do you have?” She kept talking until she finally took a breath, and I was able to answer her.
“A little bit of everything. The CD Book is beside the stereo. Look through it and pick whatever you want,” I said, pointing to the black leather CD book on the white wicker console across from my bed.
“Whoa, you have a lot of Dave Matthews Band, Allie,” she said with wide eyes.
Let’s skip that, it’s too sad. How about some No Doubt Tragic Kingdom?
” she said, as she pulled it from the plastic sleeve, popped it into the stereo, and Spiderwebs came blasting through the speakers.
Isabelle started dancing crazily around the room, singing along to Gwen Stefani.
“Okay, come on, let’s do hair and makeup first,” she said.
“Sounds good,” I replied, as I led the way to the bathroom. When we walked in, Amy and Brooke were in there curling their hair. They were going to have to put up with it.
“Hi,” Isabelle said, trying to be nice.
“Hey,” they replied, trying to be civil, but both of them seemed less than thrilled that we were sharing their space.
We did our best to ignore them, having our own conversation as we applied our makeup and fixed our hair, and then headed back to my room to finish getting ready. Isabelle put her hair into an elaborate updo, and I decided to wear mine down, knowing that Chris loved my unkept wild waves.
“I’m going to apply some lotion. Do you want some, too?” I asked.
“Ooo, yeah! What scents do you have?” Isabelle asked as she made her way to my dresser.
“Well, I raided Bath and Body Works when they were having their sale last week, so I got Sweet Pea, Peony, and Cucumber Melon. Which one do you want to use?”
“I’ll do Peony. Which one are you going to do?” she asked, as she reached for the bottle and popped open the lid.
“I’ll do Peony too, so we aren’t clashing scents in the limo.”
“That’s genius.”
“Okay, it’s dress time. I’ll zip you up if you zip me,” Isabelle said as she reached for her dress on the bed. But first, I have to put on this awful strapless bra. Can you clip the back for me? I can never get it tight enough,” she said, holding it out to me like it was a dead fish.
“Sure. Turn around.”
Isabelle took her shirt off and held her hands over her breasts, then turned around as I snapped the clasps for her.
“You know I’ve seen those a million times in the locker room, Is.” I laughed at her sudden modesty.
“I know,” she replied, but kept her hands covering herself. Then I clipped her bra, walked across the room to my closet, and reached deep into the corner to pull out the pink and white Victoria’s Secret bag, and Isabelle’s eyes lit up.
“Yes, girl! Get some! I love that you’re wearing that sexy lingerie tonight. Wait until Chris sees it! Wait. Are you going to let Chris see it?” she asked eagerly.
“I don’t know. Maybe,” I said, with a sultry look on my face. “Turn around,” I instructed so that I could put it on, and she did as I asked.
I put on the bra and panties, told her I was done, and when she turned back around, her jaw dropped.
“Holy shit,” she said slowly. “If you don’t show him that, then you bought it for nothing. He’s going to literally drop dead from a heart attack when he sees you in that.”
“Well, I do feel pretty sexy in it. We’ll see, I guess,” I said, but I already knew that my plan was for him to put his hands all over me.
Once our dresses were on, we checked the clock.
We had ten minutes left before the limo was scheduled to arrive.
That meant we had a little time to do last minute touch ups to our makeup before our feet were going to be crammed into our heels that were so high, our toes were going to be tortured all night.
The things we were willing to do for fashion.
It was time. The doorbell rang, and my mom answered the door.
“Girls! The boys are here for you,” she said loudly from the bottom of the stairs.
“Ready for the grand entrance?” Isabelle said as she put her hand on my bedroom door knob and flung it open.
“Let’s do it.”
As we walked to the top of the stairs, both Chris’s and Watson’s jaws hit the foyer floor.
They were clearly taken aback by our outfits, which meant that we had accomplished our goals.
As we made our way carefully down the stairs, the heels of our stilettos wobbled on the carpet runner.
Once we got to the foyer, we separated to greet each of our dates and then exchanged corsages with one other.
Chris brought me a wristlet made of red roses, and I pinned a small arrangement of white carnations on his lapel.
Then, my mom took pictures with her Polaroid camera.
“Okay, everybody, one final picture before you leave. We have to document this, get together!” she said.
We all grouped together, she pressed the button, and the moment was memorialized forever. I turned to Chris, and he bit his bottom lip as my mom finally left the room.
“I can’t breathe at the sight of you,” Chris said, as he looked at me in awe. “I don’t know if we’re going to make it to the dance with you looking like this,” he continued, with a hungry expression. “I could just eat you alive.”
“Save your appetite,” I said as I grabbed him by the hand and led him out the door.