I've been wanting to do something for a while now, but I've been too nervous to. I should listen to Aunt Carlotta and just close my eyes and leap more often, probably. Buuut, that's not happening today, so instead, I timed my breakfast to where I'd have a chance to talk to Uncle Ed about his life as a professional painter.
"Do you think I've got what it takes?"
"Oh, kid, yes," he said. "More than I ever did. I'll put in a good word for you at the consignment shop. Why don't you go register and then drop off all those canvases you've been hoarding."
"You know about those?"
"Well, yeah. It's not like we're awash in space in this house."
So I did! Oh, can you believe it? I felt like I'd swallowed a fistful of butterflies!
The consignment lady was very nice and gave each one of my paintings an appraisal. She called me later that night and told me, congratulations, I'd already been promoted ... four times!
Well, that certainly gave me a wake up call. I need to stop hiding from life so much! Like Ophelia, who gets up early to hack at a block of ice with a chainsaw because she loves me.
Then shouts at an older man that his bum looks fantastic in pink scrubs and makes him giggle a bit.
Oh, I'm so amused, can't you tell? Just extra delighted by their oh so charming and witty banter. It's a wonder I can smile with my teeth clenched so hard together.
I want to be in love like Mama and Daddy. Like Carlotta and Ed. What if we get to young adulthood, 'Phelia manages to steal Goopy from me, and I'm the odd man out? Gah, that'd be awful.
Well, I had some hope. At school, the day before Leisure Day, they announced a prom! Now, I know already that Ophelia will go, and will be amazing at it because she already won Spring Queen at the festival. Maybe, if we're lucky, she'd meet some boy and stop giving me so much competition!
Everything seemed to be coming up roses! Aunt Carlotta finally caught a deathfish. (I named it Carson. He's in the fridge until it's time for ambrosia.)
And the family went for this great big Leisure Day festival trip! We never get to do stuff like this, except for when Goopy graduated, because everyone is always skilling. But Mom got her Speedy Writer reward and thought it was time for a break (AFTER she bought moonlight park and upgraded it + photobooth).
Uncle Ed was hilariously overzealous about winning the hotdog competition. Notice my mother and I stayed well away from this particular challenge.
We also avoided the water balloons, because we're prissy princesses.
Instead we opted for learning to skate. We both took to it well. I'm glad Mom's back was turned when we snapped this photo so she didn't see that horrifying, deformed cat down there by her hand.
I even saw my teacher there and skated with her a little!
Dad and Goopy got super sweaty playing soccer. I tried not to watch the goal post too obviously.
It was a great day, the perfect lead in to prom. We missed our limo, so Ophelia and I took a cab to the school. It was sunset, and the weather was perfect, and I just had a good feeling about the dance. Tonight Ophelia would meet her soul mate and get on out of my way with Goopy.
Well, some of my predictions were right. She got prom queen. I got rejected when I asked for a dance with this one guy, and a mean girl threw punch at Ophelia so I got into a fight. Or three.
Okay, so something unexpected happened too. I um ... well, I met this boy. Named Emmett. I KNOW, I KNOW, I'm meant for Goopy, but it was nice to have someone to dance with at prom. Really nice. I got home and hung up the prom picture in my part of the temp museum.
The next morning, I heard Goopy rustling around pretty early, so I forced myself up so we could have breakfast.
"How was prom?" he asked.
"Oh, spectacular! 'Phelia got queen!"
"Of course she did! That Ophelia is something, isn't she?"
"I have a date."
"What?"
"Today. I have a date. With a boy. Who likes me. We're probably going to kiss and stuff."
"Oh. Well, congrats, Mona. That's ... that's great."
Well, I didn't actually have a date. I called Emmett and asked if he wanted to maybe go to the park or something. He said yes, mercifully, so I didn't have to go out and pretend to be on a date. This is him.
I only kind of knew him from school, so we chatted a bit. It turns out he is super family oriented. He started chatting away about all the nooboos he wants someday. It was a little odd.
"I'm .. um. I'm so glad you danced with me, Mona Lisa. I've liked you for a really long time."
"What, me? Really? That's ... that's so nice."
"Well, it's true! I even turned down a prom invitation just so I could ask you to dance!"
"Really? Who did you turn down?"
"Um ... your friend. The one with the red hair."
"Say what, now?"
Okay, that shouldn't have pleased me as much as it did. And honestly, for a lot of the date, I kind of felt like maybe I was betraying either Ophelia or Goopy or both or something.
Somehow, though, we ended up at a movie and then at the pizzeria and suddenly it was past curfew and I was agreeing to be his girlfriend.
Maybe that whole thing about jumping without looking was horrible advice after all. Or great advice. I don't know. I have no idea what I'm doing.
Crap.
