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"I did until I saw lamorous of Mrs

Matthewsʼs prom creations It was cut to oddess and was dyed the exact sa in perfect, shiny spiral curls "Poor Ja to knohat hit him" A hint of red colored her crea to seduce hiht to feel like he belongs, in his entire high school career"

"Saint Talley," I teased

A knock on the door prevented Talley fro off the co a speech on hoe should always do the right thing, whichever she was preparing It was okay; I had heard theiving us a rare look of approval "Well, you girls look just as pretty as a picture," she said, her Appalachian accent beco more pronounced in her obvious cheerful state "I canʼt believe hon up youʼre getting" He eyes glistened in the light and I feared that she was going to shed an actual tear

"Thank you, Mrs Matthews This dress is a my manners

Mrs Matthews eyes critically trailed over me "I shouldʼve put a bitto be proud that youʼre showing off your breasts to God and everybody" Okay, noas blushing Mrs Matthews shouldnʼt talk about my boobs and who could see them Ever And she really shouldnʼt try to readjust the top of my dress so they were better concealed, but I was too mortified to mention that to her

"I reckon that will have to do," she said, sighing aton you two out there"

"Dates?"

"What? Is that not the right thing to call them nowadays? Are they hooker-uppers?"

"Hooker-uppers?" I didnʼt knohat that was supposed to be, but it sounded dirty

"Scout is going stag, Mom That means that she doesnʼt have a date" It also meant I was pathetic, but whatever

"Well, so roo down the hall Mrs Mattheasnʼt kidding There were, indeed, dates Jae of the loud floral print sofa like he was prepared to bolt out the door at a ood, but better His hair had been washed and brushed, and he wore a tux as opposed to his normal too-short Wal-Mart jeans and Nintendo T-Shirt Of course, the tux looked two sizes too big and the angry red reasy hair to hide theuy looked like a GQ an Charles Hagan," he said in a rather re here?"

He stood up and straightened his jacket "I am here to escort you to the dance,Okay, here we go" He took a deep breath and affected a look that reeked of fake sincerity "Scout, will you please go to pro you anyway"

"Listen, I know Jase put you up to this--"

Charlie executed a snort-chuckle hybrid and shook his head "Jase didnʼt putI drove four hours, rented this stupid ht some rather attractive flowers because I wanted to take you to the proo withCharlie to Timber this particular weekend, but I let it slide "Let me see those flowers"