Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 420: Dress Shopping

May 2032

Work got easier once Keeley hit phase II because she was no longer the only researcher working on the project. DOMA didn't get FDA approval for new therapies terribly often so everyone was asked to momentarily drop their projects to make this happen.

A lot more trials were running concurrently so she was able to relax a bit. Just in time, too. Junior prom was coming up and both of her children were going. She wanted to be as supportive as possible and help with the process.

As an asker, Kaleb was in charge of providing the limo and boutonniere. He also needed a pocket square and tie that matched his date's dress. As an askee, Violet needed a dress, shoes, hair styling, and a manicure.

Keeley wasn't at all surprised that her son asked a cheerleader to be his date but she was very surprised that Violet had a date. Not that she was asked but that she had accepted the invitation. She had never gone to a high school dance before because she wasn't interested.

"The kind of dancing they do at those things is barbaric and nothing like real dance," she said simply when her mother asked her why she didn't go to homecoming her freshman year.

That had been the end of those kinds of questions. It had never been brought up again until Violet happened to say she had a date off-handedly at dinner one day.

Kaleb had been thrilled. "Vi, that's great! We can double if you want."

She had smiled brightly at him in return as she agreed. And thus began Keeley's frantic planning to make sure everything went well for her kids since they were finally on the same page about something.

Kaleb's tie and pocket square were red to match his date's dress but Violet needed to pick hers out soon to let her date know what to wear. Matching was very important at these sorts of dances. Everyone did it.

"I don't know about this color, Mom," Violet said with a frown as she turned around in front of the mirrors to examine herself.

She was wearing a dark blue dress that made her eyes stand out but it was more daring than anything she usually wore because of all the geometric cutouts. It made her eyes look good but it also made her look pale as a ghost.

"You might look a little better in something lighter," Keeley admitted. "Do you want to stick with blue?"

"I honestly don't know."

Violet wore a lot of pastels because they were typical ballerina colors. Lavender. Baby pink. Ice blue. Leotard colors, basically. Aside from black, which she thought washed her out.

Keeley decided those might be a good place to start. Violet tried on an ice blue mini dress, a baby pink mermaid dress, and a floor-length lavender gown that looked somewhat like a toga.

Personally, she thought her daughter looked good in all of them but it wasn't her choice. Violet was free to pick the one she liked best.

"I might go with the lavender one. What do you think?" she asked.

"The lavender one looks beautiful on you. You'll knock him dead," Keeley said supportively.

Violet smiled so wide her eyes crinkled at the corners. "Hopefully not because then I won't have a date anymore."

She knew exactly why her daughter was so happy about this. It was her very first date.

Only one other guy had asked her out before and she said no because he gave her a weird vibe. It turned out to be the right thing to do, since that guy ended up stalking some other girl and getting a restraining order against him.

If she had gone out with him, that might have been her. He apparently began the stalking shortly after they went out together twice. The girl wasn't feeling it and tried to let him down gently but that didn't work.

The incident freaked Violet out a little bit and she had Noah teach her some self-defense moves afterward. He taught her the best ones for taking down an opponent larger than her.

"Take a picture of me in my dress?" she requested, handing her mother her phone.

Keeley saw that there were two missed messages from Noah while opening the camera. "Noah texted you."

"I'll text him back in a minute."

Violet grinned for all she was worth while striking a couple of poses. It was a very girly thing for her to do. Despite being a ballerina, she really didn't act like a typical girl for the most part.

Keeley handed the phone back and she texted away furiously before heading back into the changing room. She came out with the lavender dress in her arms a couple of minutes later.

"Mom, Noah needs homework help again. Can you drop me off at the Singletons' house?"

Normally Violet drove herself places but since they had come together they only took one car. Her mother agreed easily enough and kept the dress with her in the car to put in her daughter's closet.

She was over often enough that Jennica didn't even bother calling for Noah to come down anymore. Violet simply made her way up to his room.

Feeling playful because of her good mood from finding the right dress, she put her hands over his eyes and said "guess who?" in a very good imitation of Logan's voice.

"Nice try, Vi, but I know it's you."

She pouted. "How? My Logan impression is really good!"

"It is but Logan would never play that game with me. It's pretty girly," Noah said rationally. "So, are you ready to help me tackle algebra? Because I don't get this at all."

"Algebra is a piece of cake for me. I've got your back."

They ended up working on his assignment for the next thirty minutes, slowly plodding along since Violet had to stop frequently and explain things Noah didn't understand. They had this down to a science by now. She was his de facto math tutor.

After finishing about half of the problems, he looked up at her with an unusually serious expression on his face. Did somebody die or something?

"You went dress shopping today, right? For prom."

Violet had told him about her good fortune weeks ago. She had been trying so hard the whole time she was in high school to be normal. She kept on with choir and orchestra, became a part of the yearbook staff, and even tried going to football games with her friends despite hating anything to do with sports.

Kaleb finally got less weird around her as she took on the appearance of a normal high school student. Having him back was great. She realized she had been right that he resented her for having to take care of her all the time.

Now he didn't! She was plenty popular all on her own. But still, no one asked her out. She wondered if Kaleb had something to do with it. Like he was threatening anyone who had eyes on his sister.

It sounded like something he would do. Violet had to live with an entire houseful of overprotective males. Oliver and Nathan were pretty bad too. And don't get her started on her dad.