xp_logs | Callie and Fred: Asking to Prom (Reply)

During one of their tutoring sessions, Callie manages to ask Fred to prom.

"Okay let me see what you have done," Callie said as she motioned for the paper that sat in front of her tutoree. She slid it slowly across the table and began to read it over. There were fewer errors on the page compared to when they started their sessions. He was progressing, and that made Callie proud. There were a few concepts that didn't seem to be sinking in, and Callie made a mental note to go over these again. After marking where Fred had gone wrong in his calculations and making a few comments she returned the paper to the proper owner with a bright smile. "Good job Fred. A few things we need to work on, but overall, really good!"

Fred smiled back, obviously pleased with himself. Callie had been meeting him for several sessions over the semester, and though it was slow going, the tutoring was really starting to payoff, "Thanks Callie! I know you've gotta be busy with your own finals, but I was still havin' a lotta trouble...."

"You're totally welcome," she replied airily. "It's really no trouble at all. I'm just glad I could help." For while Callie was a bit apprehensive about her upcoming finals, she wasn't too worried about them. Her performance all year had been strong, she knew, and so as long as she studied she was confident that her scores would reflect her abilities.

"I just can't believe the year is almost over! And prom's like, what, a little over three weeks away?"

Fred chuckled a little, "I just can't believe I'm somewhere that has a prom, t'be honest. Never thought I'd be a student again after I, uh, well, left..." and he shrugged. Fred looked back down at the paper he'd be scratching across. Though Callie had pointed out where he'd made his mistakes, Fred still couldn't quite reconcile the math in his head...

As Callie watched him work, she shifted her focus between the problem he was staring at and Fred's face, hoping for some sort of divine revelation to inform him of where he had made a wrong turn. There being no such help, the rose colored girl pointed to the problem and said, "Here you somehow changed the addition sign into a subtraction. Don't worry. I do it all the time."

"And I totally know what you mean," she continued as she leaned back in her chair. "I always thought that I'd be spending prom in Vermont with all my friends. Funny where life takes us. You planning on going? Getting the full high school experience and all that?"

Fred looked at where Callie pointed, and bit the inside of his cheek as he erased and began working again. He looked back at Callie as she asked about his attendance at the prom, "Me? Heh...." Fred put his eyes back on the paper, "Not really, uh...my thing..."

"Yeah, not really my thing either." Callie had been planning on taking advantage of the quiet that prom would bring (at least in her room) and studying. She had attended the winter dance, and while that was fun, it wasn't something that would make her wait with abated breath for prom. It was just another dance, nothing really special about it. Yet somehow she failed to shake off what Manuel had said to her.

"It could be fun though. Bad music, bad dancing.... I mean I've never gone to a prom before, but it could be fun. Just as an excuse to do something here other than go to class or training you know?"

Fred chewed on the top of his pencil as he continued trying to figure out the math problem, "Yea, I mean I've never been to one, so I guess I can't say one way or the other about what it's like..." he said, as he scribbled down more of the equation he was working on.

Callie watched for a moment as Fred wrote down the equation, just to make sure that he had all the signs and symbols correct. So far so good. Even if he wasn't completely confident in his math skills, she had faith in him. As he continued to work on the problem she asked, "Do you want to go to prom with me? As like friends? That way if things are really bad neither of us has to suffer alone and stuff."

"Yea, 'course. No problem," Fred said, as he continued to write. He finally sighed and leaned back, sure he'd gotten the majority of the stupid formulas wrong. Oh well...

His head turned so fast towards Callie his neck actually popped several times, "Wait, what did you just ask?"

Fred's reaction to the question caused her to blink several times in surprise and confusion. "I asked if you wanted to go to prom with me?"

"That's what I thought you said. Uh, no offense..." Fred looked around, "But aren't there about a dozen better, uh, candidates wandering around the school..."

"So you don't want to go to prom with me?" Why couldn't boys just say what the meant? Really.

"I didn't say that! I just figured you could, uh..." Fred wasn't the smartest man in the world, but he knew when to shut up. So he did. After a moment of quiet, Fred grinned and nodded to Callie, "Uh...sure. Why not, you know? Could be fun."

She could sense the hesitation in his voice through the smile he had on. "Yeah? I promise you don't have to wear a tux or a suit or anything, unless you want to. But it could be fun?"

Fred nodded a bit, "A tux...I don't think I've ever worn one of those, t'be honest...but first times for everything, right?" God, what went into a prom? Fred knew he'd have to be having a long talk with Julian in the near future...

"Well I mean like I said you don't have to." Callie shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I'm not planning on going all glam for it, probably just a nice dress. But...," she paused and waved her hand, "we should get back to studying."

Fred blinked, "Alright," and looked back at the paper, trying now to both do math and plan out stuff for a prom. For Frederick Jacobi Dukes, this wasn't the easiest thing in the world...