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Standing in the gymnasium, floral dress on and fruit punch in hand, Winnifred’s eyes wandered around the large, decorated room and looked across all the tightly-packed groups of her peers. There was a lot of noise around her that she wasn’t too fond of. The chatter of people, the cover band that was too loud for comfort…
“Hello!”
Winnifred blinked, turning around at the sound of the somewhat unfamiliar voice. There was a girl she could swear she recognized standing in front of her. Maybe she just sounded like someone else? Since this girl had wavy, red hair that Winnifred assumed went down her lower back and these lovely, hazel eyes—
“I’m Saturn! I just noticed you standing here all by yourself and thought, ‘why don’t I make my way over and ask you to’— Are you alright?”
Winnifred just stared at Saturn. She’s not sure what, if anything at all, gave away her anxiousness over the situation. Could it be the way she just stood there, frozen? Maybe it was the pink-colored, warmness in her cheeks?
“Y–yeah, I’m, uh, fine,” Winnifred muttered, hoping her cheeks wouldn’t grow an even brighter red.
Saturn raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure? I can go if you aren’t—”
“No no no! You’re fine,” Winnifred said, forcing a laugh. “I’m… I was just, uhm… getting ready to leave!”
She then, without looking back, rushed out of the gymnasium and made her way out the front doors of the school.
Once she got outside, Winnifred leaned up against the building and slid down onto the ground. She felt so weird. It wasn’t everyday someone came up to talk to her. Most of her peers had their friend groups and stuck to them. She was especially not used to talking to someone as pretty as Saturn. She buried her face in her knees, which were being hugged to her chest. She shouldn’t even be feeling things for girls! Her father had told her so and Winnifred trusted his words more than anyone’s.
“Hey,” said that same, now a truly not so unfamiliar, voice. It was Saturn. “Are you sure you’re alright? ‘Cause if you’re not, I can totally throw hands with whoever did this to you!”
Winnifred let out the breath she was holding in, “No, it's fine. No one did anything to me. I just get, uh, nervous around people.”
Saturn looked at her awkwardly, “Oh, uhm, sorry.”
“It's not your fault, you couldn’t have known,” Winnifred replied, letting her legs unfurl from her chest.
A pause. Winnifred looked up, towards the stars and studied them. She knew them better than anyone. They changed with the seasons, too, but the stars wouldn’t get mad at you for just being nervous.
“Do you wanna know why I went over to you?”
“Huh?” She brought her attention down, towards Saturn.
“I went over to you because I wanted to dance with you. I thought you might be good at it,” Saturn shrugged.
“Oh, uhm,” Winnifred’s face went pink. “I only know ballroom dancing…”
Saturn grinned and reached out for the other’s hand, “That’s fine. You can teach me.”
“Really?”
Saturn gave a warm smile in response and helped Winnifred stand. The two then walked back to the gymnasium just as the music for the slow dance began to play.