Me at 10's Arc

Chapter 9 of 9

She goes back to school on Monday and sits at her desk in the middle row where nobody notices her. The teacher talks about fractions and she copies numbers into her notebook without thinking about what they mean. At lunch she sits at an empty table near the window and eats her sandwich in four bites. Two weeks later the teacher announces that graduation is coming and there will be a dance in the park. She doesn't think about it until Mom says they need to find her a dress. They go to three stores and Mom keeps pulling things off the rack that are too short or too pink. Then Mom holds up a long yellow dress with flowers all over it and says this one. She tries it on in the dressing room and when she comes out Mom nods once and says it's perfect. She looks at herself in the mirror and the dress makes her look older, like someone who matters. On the night of the dance Dad says he'll drive her. She comes downstairs in the yellow dress and he's standing by the front door with his keys. He doesn't say she looks nice but he opens the door for her and walks to the garage. She expects him to get the regular car but he opens the garage and there's the Model A with the green paint shining under the light. He says get in. She climbs into the passenger seat and the leather smells old and the whole car feels like riding in something from a museum. He drives slow through town and parks right in front of the park where the lights are strung up in the gazebo. Kids from her class are already there and they turn to look when the Model A pulls up. Dad gets out and opens her door and she steps onto the curb in her long yellow dress. Everyone is staring at the car and at her and for ten seconds she feels like the only person who exists. Dad drives away and she walks toward the music. JP comes over and says that car is incredible and asks if that was her dad. She says yes. JP asks if he always drives cars like that and she says no, just tonight. She realizes Dad didn't bring the Model A because she asked to come to car shows. He brought it because it was graduation and he wanted to. He picked her first for one night. It won't last and she knows that but right now she's standing in a yellow dress and everyone saw her arrive in a car that looked like it drove out of a picture book. She doesn't need it to mean forever. She just needs to remember that tonight it meant something.