Elle of the Ball by Elena Delle Donne

Author:Elena Delle Donne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

7

A New Partner

Of course I will go the mall with you today,” Avery said, as we waited for homeroom to start the next morning. She took out her phone. “Let me text my mom.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t have a dress yet,” Avery said. “I got mine back in August, and that was pushing it. A lot of girls had claimed the best dresses already.”

“What do you mean, ‘claimed’?” I asked.

Avery tapped her phone. “There’s a FaceChat page set up for this year’s cotillion,” she said. “Whenever somebody gets a dress, they post it on the page. That way, you can make sure you don’t have the same dress as anybody else.”

“Seriously?” I asked. “What does it matter?”

“Of course it matters,” Avery said. “You definitely don’t want to show up in the same dress as somebody else. Then everyone will compare the two of you.”

She started scrolling through the photos. “See? No two dresses the same.” Then she stopped. “Here’s mine. Isn’t it cute?”

Avery held up the phone so I could see the picture. She was posing in front of a mirror in a sleeveless red dress with lace on the top and kind of a puffy skirt.

“I saw this adorable pink dress, but it was two inches above the knee,” she told me. “And that’s against cotillion rules.”

“There are rules?” I asked, once again in disbelief.

Avery nodded. “Girls’ dresses have to be one inch below the knee. They didn’t used to allow sleeveless dresses, but they changed the rule a few years ago.”

“Well, I want sleeves,” I said, looking at Avery’s exposed neck and shoulders in the photo. She looked great, but I couldn’t imagine dancing around in a dress like that. “I definitely want sleeves.”

“There are lots of cute dresses with sleeves,” Avery promised, and then the bell rang.

“Avery, put the phone away please,” Ms. Ebear said.

“Sorry, Ms. Ebear,” Avery said. “It’s school-related, though. I’m showing Elle the cotillion dresses.”

A bunch of girls started talking excitedly when Avery said that. Ms. Ebear rolled her eyes.

“I have an opinion about that event that I am not allowed to express in class,” she said, and from the way she said it you could tell that she didn’t like the cotillion either. And that’s just one more reason why Ms. Ebear is the best.

Principal Lubin’s voice came over the speakers.

“What did one autumn leaf say to the other? I’m falling for you,” he said. “And I’m falling for our Spring Meadow basketball teams. See you all at the pep rally tomorrow!”

Ms. Ebear took attendance. “No Dylan? No Alex? No Colette?” she asked, frowning, and then looked down at her desk. “Looks like there’s a cold going around.”

“Your dance partner is missing,” Avery whispered to me, and once again I felt a surge of hope. I couldn’t dance without a partner, could I? I mean, I felt bad that Alex was sick, but I was definitely relieved that I wouldn’t have to dance with him.

I figured I’d be sitting on the bleachers during gym.

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