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“Bethany!” Lucinda called her name from across the cafeteria, waiving her over. Bethany sighed as she picked up her tray and walked over to the table she always used to sit at, before the game.It felt like Spencer, Martha, Fridge and Bethany had basically lived a whole lifetime playing Jumanji, but they came back on exactly the same day they had left. It was impossible to explain why they had all changed so much, so they mostly tried not to ruffle too many feathers. Most days, they didn’t even eat lunch together. Spencer had his friend, Fridge was still trying to make amends with the Football team, and Martha read at lunch, when she didn’t eat with Spencer. The four of them started a thing where they would meet up after school to walk each other home, and Bethany always looked forward to the end of the day, when she could catch up with them.As she plunked her tray down on the table and climbed into her seat, Lucinda beamed up at her, clearly excited about something. “So, have you talked to Perry about tie colors yet?” “Huh?” Bethany honestly did not know what Lucinda was talking about at first. She had been thinking about Alex all day, considering how she wasn’t sad that he was so much older now. It just fit, seeing his childhood home decorated for the holidays. Shocking, but still great. But then it clicked. Winter formal. “You have to make sure he coordinates his outfit. The football players are hopeless without us. Although I’m going to have to tell Fridge I can’t go with him anymore, considering he got kicked off the team.” Lucinda was really on a roll.“Hey, do you even know Fridge? He’s actually pretty funny,” Bethany interjected. Lucinda was looking at her like she grew another head.“You’re the one who said we have to choose dates carefully. For example, I know for a fact that no one is going to be asking Spencer.” Lucinda gestured over to Spencer, who had just walked into the cafeteria with his friend from before the game. They were carrying lunch trays and talking to each other. Lucinda laughed at them, but to Bethany they just looked…normal. Bethany honestly tried to remember a time when she had judged Spencer so harshly, and was glad she couldn’t remember what that felt like. “But, like, how much will it really matter in 5 years who you went with? Maybe I just want to have fun at this dance. Spend time with people I like.” Bethany was finding it hard to explain how she could be aware of high school social rules, but just not give a shit about them anymore. “Honestly, Bethany. You’re like a different person these days.” Lucinda rolled her eyes before she turned to the other girls at the table, clearly still wanting to focus on winter formal logistics. Bethany picked up her fork and mostly tuned out the conversation.All the winter formal talk did give her an idea, though.---Bethany noticed Spencer waiting just outside the main entrance of the High School, and jogged up to him. She was glad she had caught him alone, before the others had gotten there. It was still a little strange that he was so much shorter, now. In his own body.“So, the winter formal is coming up.” She smiled and raised her eyebrows suggestively. “And?” Spencer was not catching on.“You’re going to ask Martha, right?” She went ahead and spelled it out for him. He might be braver and more confident these days, but clearly he was still a little dense in the dating department.He wrinkled his nose, considering it. “I mean, it doesn’t really seem like her scene. Has she ever even gone to a dance before?” Fridge walked up behind Spencer and clapped him on the back. “Dude, it’s not about the dance,” Fridge said. He had obviously heard their conversation. And it was still a little strange that he was so much bigger now.“We are tabling this discussion because, like, Martha could walk up any second.” Bethany looked between the two boys, waiting for them to nod in agreement.“Okay, so how was bio today? Didn’t you have lab?” Bethany turned to Fridge and listened as he talked about his lab experiment. Martha joined them shortly after that, and they started their trek home. She kept beaming at Spencer, and at one point a few blocks from school, she took his hand. Bethany refrained from shouting “You go girl!” and embarrassing the shit out of both of them, but she really wanted to. Then, she took a deep breath. She knew she had to tell Fridge about Lucinda, and now was as good a time as any.“Hey Fridge, how do you feel about Lucinda?” Fridge looked at her, considering her question. “Uh, she’s pretty?” “Well, there’s no easy way to say this but since we faced down death together I feel like you can handle it. I don’t think she wants to go to formal with you anymore.” She looked over at Fridge, not sure how he would react. It was funny, she knew exactly how he would feel about facing a charging Rhino or jumping into a helicopter, but not how he would react to this.He just shrugged. It was pretty anticlimactic.“That’s okay. I don’t really want to go anymore. It’s like, what would I even say to a date? And I don’t think the Football team wants anything to do with me.”She saw Spencer and Martha nodding along with him.“I mean, I never wanted to participate in all that social hierarchy bullshit anyway,” Martha added. Spencer shot Bethany a pointed look. Bethany felt her plans slipping away.“But it doesn’t have to be about any of that anymore. It can just be about having fun. We can be badasses and still go to formal,” Bethany said. The three of them gave her weak smiles, but she could tell they didn’t believe her. ---The next day, Lucinda did indeed “break up” with Fridge. He was walking in the halls to get to his next class, and Lucinda grabbed Bethany’s arm and marched right up to Fridge.“What are you doing?” Bethany hissed.“I need your support,” Lucinda stage-whispered. Then she turned to Fridge.“I don’t have feelings for you anymore and I can’t go to formal with you,” Lucinda said in a rush. Bethany looked between her and Fridge, horrified. “Okay, I understand,” Fridge said, his voice neutral. He turned to walk away, and Bethany broke out of Lucinda’s grasp to catch up to him. “Hey!” Lucinda called to her, but she didn’t turn around.“I’m so sorry, that was cold,” Bethany said once she reached him.“That ain’t your fault. Besides, you warned me. And I don’t even want to go.” Fridge shrugged and walked into his classroom. Bethany groaned and started walking back down the hall, about ready to give Lucinda a piece of her mind for embarrassing Fridge. But as she walked, she realized that embarrassing Lucinda wouldn’t accomplish anything. And Fridge wasn’t heartbroken. In fact, he seemed like he couldn’t care less, which was almost worse. It reminded her of Martha, and how she had been so nonchalant about anything to do with formal. But winter formal wasn’t just for football players or cheerleaders. It was supposed to be for everyone. And even though Bethany found it hard to give a shit about certain aspects of school or self-image now that she had survived the game, she also really thought her new friends deserved to have a good time.Winter formal was a chance for everyone to strut their stuff, have fun with their friends, and enjoy high school before it was all over, so Bethany was determined to make sure her friends didn’t miss out on that experience.---She considered several different plans before she settled on the right one. Some of the other options included embarrassing everyone with a group poster in the cafeteria, but that would have totally put all her new friends on blast and might have made things worse for them socially, so she nixed that pretty quick.She also thought about getting their parents involved, but she didn’t want to take away anyone’s agency. After all, they had all proved during the game that they were each perfectly capable of making their own decisions and tackling any dicey situation. So she was really left with one good option. Give a killer pep talk, and get them all to rally at the last minute. First on her list was Martha. “Spencer thinks that you think winter formal is stupid, which is why he hasn’t asked you,” Bethany said just as soon as Martha ushered her through her front door.“Aren’t you breaking some sort of social rule by showing up at my house?” Martha countered.“Don’t change the subject. Don’t you want to go with Spencer?” “I don’t… I mean, of course I want to go with Spencer. But I don’t need to buy into all the commercialism and the drama and spend a bunch of money on a dress to hang out with him.”“I know. But formal shouldn’t be about spending money. It’s about whatever you want it to be about. This is one of those special right-of-passage moments, and we deserve to enjoy it if we want. Right, Ruby Roundhouse?” “So you’re saying that I should be the one to ask Spencer?” Martha realized, her hand on her hip.“You said it, sister.” Bethany winked and clapped her hands. “And I’m pretty sure I have an outfit you can borrow.” Bethany resisted the urge to whip out her phone and memorialize the moment with a selfie. Since Martha was in, Bethany knew that Spencer would say yes. That just left Fridge.---Bethany broke the rule about no lunch together, and sat down with Martha. Bethany and Martha were partners for the English end-of-semester project, and it was silly to wait until the end of the day to talk about it when she had come up with a great idea during third period. They were in the middle of a discussion about the pros and cons of picking one of Shakespeare's classics to focus on, when Bethany happened to look down at her watch.“Shit, I’m late for the meeting.” Bethany put down her sandwich to hop up from the bench.“What meeting?” Martha looked thoroughly confused. “The winter formal meeting. I’ll be back in a bit.” Bethany waived and stepped outside the cafeteria into the quad. Lucinda was standing up, and a bunch of people were gathered around her in a semi-circle. Bethany walked up after Lucinda had already started talking.“So the limo is picking us all up at my house, right? We need to leave by like 6:30, so come before that for pictures.” Lucinda had gathered all of the girls and their dates, and she was going over her checklist. Bethany looked around at all the familiar faces in the circle, but she realized she didn’t really know any of them. Sure, she knew their names and what sport they played, but that was about all she could recall. None of them had risked their life for her, that was for sure. Lucinda looked up and noticed that Bethany had joined them. “Nice of you to take pity on the losers in there,” Lucinda said as she gestured towards the cafeteria and Martha, still sitting at the table by the window. Some of the members of the group chuckled.Bethany sighed inadvertently, and Lucinda shot her a look. “What? What is it now?” Lucinda asked, annoyed. She hadn’t come to the meeting to make some sort of grand gesture, but now she just couldn’t help herself. Lucinda was being fucking rude.“I’m sorry Lucinda, you don’t have to give me the money back, but I don’t want to go in the limo either.” Bethany turned to Perry, a tall buff beefcake who was wearing his letterman’s jacket. He was easy on the eyes, but for the life of her she could not remember why the hell she had agreed to go to formal with him. “Perry, I’m really sorry, but I don’t want to go with you anymore.” To his credit, he just shrugged like it didn’t matter all that much.“So, what? You’re just going to not go to the formal?” Lucinda’s face was scrunched up like she could not comprehend what had just happened. Bethany got some small satisfaction out of that look. She was her own person, dammit. She didn’t have to go along with all of this anymore.“No, I’m going. But I just want to go with a different group.” She knew she didn’t have to explain further, because Lucinda was already shooting Martha a bitchy look. “Jesus Christ, Bethany. I swear, it’s like you hit your head or something.” Lucinda dismissed her with a wave of her hand. Bethany didn’t even feel bad about it.“No, actually I’m totally seeing much more clearly now,” she said as she turned to go. Lucinda kept right on prattling about the limo and the pictures, but Bethany didn’t feel anything but pride.She marched back over to Martha, whose eyes were wide with surprise. Clearly she had seen something go down through the window. But Bethany just shrugged and continued their conversation from earlier. No need to be all dramatic about it.---It was the day of Formal, and Bethany still hadn’t gotten Fridge on board. She had talked to him about it once while they were studying after school and found out that he already had a suit for the occasion, but he had brushed off her encouragement by focusing on his biology homework. It turned out that Fridge was actually into biology, which was pretty cool. Regardless, she still had time to get Fridge on board. She got ready early at Martha’s, and then walked over to Fridge’s house in flip flops. She carried her sparkly silver heels over her shoulder. She practiced her pep talk in her head as she walked, and she felt fairly confident about the whole thing.But it turned out she definitely over-prepared.She knocked on Fridge’s door, and he swung it open almost instantly. Like he had been waiting in the foyer. “Fancy seeing you here, dressed for formal,” he said with a laugh.She raised her eyebrow, appraising him. He was already wearing a formal black suit, with a gray skinny tie and a silver tie bar and everything. She debated launching into her speech anyway. It was a really good speech. “So, what changed your mind?” She asked instead.“Spencer called. Said I should drive. I do have an SUV,” Fridge explained, smiling.“Well, then. Let’s do this.” Bethany gestured out towards the driveway.Fridge grabbed his keys off the side table, and headed out the door.“I do appreciate the effort, Bethany,” he added. She climbed into the car in lieu of an answer, and they headed off to Spencer’s house.---When they rolled up to the school, the parking lot was already jammed with parents and students trying to snap pictures while avoiding cars. The air was buzzing with excitement. After Fridge parked, Bethany stepped out of passenger's seat and breathed it all in. She felt satisfied about her dress and the way it showed off her curves (and she was never going to take her body for granted every again), but what really made her proud was the sight of the other three getting out of the car. Fridge was teasing Spencer as he adjusted his bow tie. Martha was looking confident in Bethany’s dark blue pantsuit. And Spencer kept glancing shyly at Martha, like he couldn’t even believe she was real. They were a team. A clique. Social consequences be damned.The others looked up and saw her staring. They all grinned at her, like they were ready for an adventure. “Hey, thanks for kickin’ us in the ass, Bethany. I wouldn’t have - well, you know,” Martha said. “We are kinda stuck together now,” Bethany acknowledged as she threw her arm around Martha’s shoulders.“For better or worse,” Fridge joked as he threw his arm around Spencer. The four of them walked towards the gym like that, laughing and joking with their arms around each other. Bethany noticed a few strange looks directed towards them, but so what? As long as there weren’t any killer hippos inside the gym, it was going to be a good night.