Time Wounds All Heels
By Mark
Trixie Belden rushed into the lunch room, barely missing several students as she hurried to the table she shared with her best friend Honey Wheeler. “Guess what! Guess what!!!!!” she exclaimed.
“Principal Stratton has declared that all homework for seniors has been canceled for the rest of the year,” Honey teased.
Trixie sat down with a sigh. “Of course not, silly. Although that would be heavenly. . . . Think of no homework for the next eight months.” Trixie shook her head and returned to the present. “Trent asked me to the Homecoming dance in two weeks.”
“Oh, that is wonderful news! I told you that you didn’t need to worry about getting a date for the dance. And see? I was right.”
“And Trent is such a hunk, too,” Trixie sighed.
“Don’t let my brother hear you say that.”
“Honey Wheeler, you know my heart does now and will forever more belong to Jim. But if all he is going to do is give me fond looks, I am going to go out on dates. Maybe that will convince him to finally ask me out. And as long as I am going on a date, I might as well go out with some nice looking guys.”
By the time Trixie finished, Honey was laughing at her friend. “You’re preaching to the choir, sister. I’m just glad you brother finally asked me to date him. It’s hard with him at college, but I’m thrilled he gets to come back to take me to the dance.”
Just then, Trent entered the lunch room. You could tell because all of the girls stopped talking to stare. Trent was a senior, but an unknown quantity, since he had just moved to town at the beginning of the school year. He’d immediately gotten a place as quarterback on the high school football team, something fairly easy to do since the team had always struggled. Now, however, they were actually winning games and everyone was so excited for the upcoming Homecoming game.
As all the eyes followed him to the corner where the jocks sat, Trixie whispered to Honey, “And of all the people here, he asked me to the dance.”
Honey just smiled. It was useless to tell Trixie how pretty she was, but everyone else knew it was true.
A few hours later, Trixie’s tune had changed. She called Honey that night just after dinner, distraught. “Trent just called to cancel on me.”
“What? Why?”
“He said when he got home from practice, he found out that he had family coming into town for the big game, and his mother is making him spend time with them that night.”
“Instead of going to the dance?”
Trixie paused. “Yeah, that is a little mysterious. His mother must be very strict or something.”
“Maybe it’s family that they haven’t seen in years.”
“Could be,” Trixie agreed. “Either way, I’m back to being stuck home.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Honey said. “I’m sure someone else will ask you out.”
But things changed again the next morning on the bus into school.
Diana Lynch had landed the lead in the school play again, and she was at rehearsals during lunch and after school every day. As a result, about the only time she could see her friends was on the bus ride into school each morning. When Trixie and Honey sat down in their normal seats in the back, Diana quickly started talking.
“Guess what! I got a date to the Homecoming dance.”
Trixie could feel a stab of disappointment, but she put on a smile for her friend.
“It happened last night after rehearsal. We were leaving about the time that the football players were leaving. I was talking to Jane Morgan for a moment, and next thing I knew, he had come over to ask me to go.” Diana sighed. “Maybe this will finally get Mart to ask me out on a date.”
Trixie was finding her smile more forced as a realization began to dawn on her, but Honey was oblivious so far. In fact, she was laughing as Di echoed what Trixie had said yesterday.
“And the guy who asked me out was Trent,” Diana squealed.
Trixie’s smile left her face as it turned white while Honey groaned. Diana looked in confusion at her two friends. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
Trixie was quickly going into full on fire breather mode. “That, that heel!” she stammered. “Family coming into town indeed! I can’t wait to see him fourth period so I can give him a piece of my mind.”
Diana’s look of confusion was beginning to turn to horror, and Honey quickly confirmed her fears. “Trent asked Trixie out just before lunch yesterday and then called last night to cancel, using family as an excuse.”
Diana was as quickly upset as Trixie. “How dare he! Doesn’t he realize what good friends we are?”
Honey found herself being the voice of reason. “Actually, with as busy as you are with the play, the three of us aren’t hanging out at school that much right now. He probably didn’t know. Not that it excuses his behavior in the slightest.”
“It certainly doesn’t,” Trixie thundered. “There is no excuse for breaking a date because you got a better one. Isn’t he aware what a small school this is? People will find out.”
Honey shook her head. “This is high school. Many of the girls won’t care what he’s done to others as long as they get to go to the dance with the charming football star.”
“Well, I’m not one of them.” Diana turned to Trixie, “We should confront him together. That would put him in his place.”
But it was Honey who replied. “No, I think I’ve got a better idea,” she said with a smile.
It didn’t take long Honey’s plan to go into action, and on the day of the dance, the three ladies spent the day at the Lynch mansion getting ready for their dates.
When the time came for Trent to pick up Diana, they were all ready. He arrived promptly on time and rang the doorbell. Trixie, looking stunning in a blue formal that matched her eyes, answered the door.
Trent’s face froze. “T-Trixie?” he stammered. “What are you doing here?”
Trixie smiled. “Diana and I happen to be the best of friends, so, naturally, we are getting ready for the dance together. Our dates should be here any minute.”
“Well, yes, I…”
But Trent’s stammering was cut off when a limo entered the driveway. The car stopped, and Tom Delanoy exited the driver’s side. He went around and opened the door for the young men inside to exit. First came Brian, then Dan, and then Mart. In the greetings that followed, Trent was almost forgotten. Finally, Brian corralled Honey and let her to the car so the other couples could confront Trent.
Diana was the first to speak. “I’m so sorry to hear you couldn’t make it tonight with family in town. When I learned this, naturally, I got a date for this evening. I don’t believe you’ve met Mart Belden yet, have you?”
Mart shook the dumbfounded Trent’s hand. “I really hope you have a great visit with your family,” he said.
Then Dan stepped forward. “And I’m Trixie’s date for the evening, Dan Mangan. I’m rather glad things didn’t work out for you, since I’ll get to enjoy the company of a very charming lady this evening.”
As the four friends turned toward the waiting limo, Trixie looked back over her shoulder and winked at Trent, who was still standing in the driveway, holding the corsage he’d brought for Diana in his hand.
The six friends laughed as the limo drove away. “That was priceless,” Diana exclaimed. I never thought we’d pull it off, either.” She turned to Mart and Dan. “I’m so glad you were both able to come back to help us out like this.”
Mart snuggled up next to his date. “Believe me, it was our pleasure.”
Dan gave Trixie a sideways hug. “Anything to help out a friend. Although I do understand I wasn’t first choice.” He laughed when Trixie blushed and looked in her lap. “Don’t worry. I’m not in the least bit offended. And Jim would have been here if he could, trust me. But with that mid-term on Monday, he just needed to study.”
Brian got serious at that point. “I know what he did was horrid and rotten, but I must admit I feel a little sorry for Trent. He at least gave Trixie some notice when he stood her up, so she wasn’t out any money.”
Honey leaned her head against Brian’s arm. “And Trent won’t be either. We’ve pooled our money and will slip some anonymous cash into his locker at school first thing Monday morning. If he wants to go to the dance stag, he’ll get a free evening. And if he goes home, he’s not out any money. Now, let’s relax and enjoy ourselves.”
Ten years later…
The door to the Sleepyside Junior Senior High gym opened, and the three couples walked in laughing and talking. They didn’t need a high school reunion to see each other. Granted, it helped that they were all now related. Mart and Diana Belden were the first ones in the door, followed by Brian and Honey Belden. Bringing up the rear were Jim and Trixie Frayne.
It was the ten year high school reunion for all three ladies, and the couples were using it as an excuse for a night on the town. They actually gotten grandparents to baby sit the cousins and had enjoyed an early dinner before showing up to the cocktails-only dance taking place in their old gym.
The men had taken the ladies coats and were off getting drinks, when Trixie spotted a face that surprised her. “I can’t believe he had the nerve to show up here,” she growled.
“Who?” Diana asked. When she turned to follow Trixie’s gaze, she immediately knew who it was. “Oh.”
Trent was standing by himself over in the corner. No longer the stud he’d been in high school, he was developing a nice little beer gut. And his hair was fast heading for the hills at only 28.
“And to think we all drooled over him. Well, at least before he showed his true colors,” Honey added.
“Who did you drool over?” Brian asked, returning with their drinks.
“Trent,” Trixie replied with a nod of her head in the man’s direction.
Mart did a double take. “I never would have recognized him. Time has not been kind to him at all.”
“So that’s the famous Trent,” Jim said as he studied the other man.
The subject was dropped, and the three couples began to mingle, at times alone and at times in groups. Many of their friends had stayed in the area, but it was still fun to see them. And it was great to catch up with the friends who had come from out to town.
Just as the dancing was going to start, everyone congregated at their table again and began to share the news and gossip they had learned. Amidst the “Did you hears,” Trixie said, “By the way, I understand that Trent is still single. Seems he didn’t learn his lesson in high school and still considered himself quite the ladies' man. He and Ruthie Kettner went to the same college, and he tried the same routine he pulled on Diana and me there several times. Finally, women stopped accepting dates from him.”
Normally compassionate Honey said, “I might feel sorry for him if he had learned his lesson and stopped. But obviously, he’s just a heel.”
“I actually stopped by and talked to him for a few minutes,” Jim said. “I played innocent concerning who he was. I do think he’s finally learned his lesson. Maybe he will find someone eventually now that’s he’s humbled some.
“Anyway, when I finally introduced myself, I thanked him for making me realize I was taking my special girl for granted.” Then he gave Trixie a fond glance, which he followed up with the kiss that still curled Trixie’s toes. When he finally pulled away, he said, “It was after that whole fiasco that I finally asked Trixie to be my girlfriend. Best decision I ever made.”
Trixie blushed as the band started up the first number. “Still, what do you say we three ladies save one dance each for Trent? We are dangerously close to being poor winners, and then we’d wind up being the heels.”