One minute later, Madeline arrived at the cafeteria, being last as always. And she sat down with her friends, starting the conservation between all of them about the earlier 'incident'.
"Jackson Payne has a girlfriend?" asked Lizzie, unwrapping her sandwich.
"Yeah, apparently," replied Madeline. "He's dating Janine Thompson when Sherry said that he wasn't dating her."
"Come on," said Andrea. "We all know that Sherry says about anything."
"Well, remind me that next time because I'm so embarrassed."
"Hey, asking out someone and getting rejected isn't embarrassing," Skye noted.
"I thought it was," said Lizzie.
"Shh!"
"Either way," Madeline started, "I have no date to the Easter dance. Which is awful because all of you have dates."
"That's not true. I don't have a date."
Suddenly, a boy with long, tan hair covered partially with a gray beanie started to glide over to the girls' table. He stopped himself by laying his hands out on the table between Madeline and Lizzie.
"Hey, Skye," he greeted.
"Hey, Jude," Skye responded. "What's new?"
"Oh, I just got these shoes with roller skate wheels built inside them. Did you see me roll here?"
"Yeah, you were rolling."
"So I heard you don't have a date to the Easter dance."
"Who told you that?"
"You."
"Oh."
"And since I don't have a date, would you like to go with me?"
"Oh, sure, Jude."
"Really?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a blast."
"Awesome! I'll pick you up."
"No, I'll pick you up."
"Cool! Well, see you later."
"Bye, Jude."
Jude glided away from the table with the roller skates from his tennis shoes to his table. Madeline watched him skate away before looking at Skye in confusion.
"Now I have a date," Skye declared.
"We're sorry that you'll be all alone, Madeline," said Debra.
"Hey, why don't you hang out with me and my date, Tad?" insisted Lizzie.
"Because that makes me the third wheel," responded Madeline. "And I'm always the 'first wheel'."
"So I was the third wheel the last time we went to the Easter dance?" asked Skye.
Madeline scoffed. "No."
"Hey, girls, look," said Debra, pointing behind herself.
The girls switched their attention to a nerdy-appearing boy of the same age approaching an attractive, Asian girl sitting with her appealing friends.
"Hi, Josie," said the boy.
Josie looked at the boy in a confused manner. "Do I know you?"
"We're in the same geometry class."
"Okay."
"You borrowed my pencil."
"I borrow everybody's pencils."
"But you said 'Thank you'."
"What do you want?"
The nerdy boy grabbed a little, yellow flower from his left pants pocket and showed it to Josie. "I brought you a flower."
"It barely has petals on it."
"But it still has three of its petals."
"Are you mentally challenged?"
"No, I have an A in every class."
"Good for you."
"So do you want to go to the Easter dance with me?"
"With you? No. With Peyton Michaels? Yes. I'm waiting for him to ask me. So you can go now."
"I enjoyed having this talk with you."
"Whatever, Dexter."
"It's Denny."
"I know."
Denny, still with a flower in his hand, looked down to the floor and slowly walked away, dragging his feet.
"Aw," uttered Lizzie. "That's sad."
"I can't believe she rejected Denny so rudely," said Debra.
"I can't believe we heard all that," said Andrea.
"Now Denny doesn't have a date to the dance," Madeline noted.
"Well..." started Skye.
"Well, what?"
"Well, here's your chance."
"Here's my-- I don't want to go out with Denny!"
"Why not? Don't you like smart guys?"
"Yeah, but I like smart guys who don't look smart."
"That's kind of hard to find, isn't it?" inquired Lizzie.
"Come on, Maddie," said Andrea. "He doesn't have a date and you don't have a date. Like don't be shallow."
"I'm not shallow," said Madeline. "You know what? Denny would never hurt a fly. I'm going to ask him out."
"Is hurting flies a deal breaker?" asked Lizzie.
Madeline took her legs out from under the table. "Sure, Liz'."
She turned around and followed Denny, who was still walking over to his seat. Once she caught up with him, Madeline placed her hand on his shoulder, making him turn around.
"Hey, Denny," she greeted.
"Oh, hi, Madeline," Denny replied.
"Still getting A's?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Forever and always."
"That's nice to hear."
"So, listen, do you want to go to the Easter dance with me?"
"You're kidding, right?"
"Nope. Dead serious."
"Oh, boy! Of course, I want to go to the dance with you."
"Well, that's awesome."
"Oh, hey." Denny handed Madeline the flower from earlier. "Here you go."
"Thank you. I love dandelions."
"Actually, that's a buttercup."
"Even better. Well, see you later."
"Bye, Madeline."
Madeline grinned and turned around to walk away. "What did I do?" she asked herself, still grinning.
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