In the Moonlight

by Mandy Yu

Orca was a very boy-crazy girl, like many other girls of her age. She thought mainly about dating, but no one would ask her out. She was a very pretty Gelert, with Christmas-colored fur and golden eyes, quite special because only Gelerts of her family and Divianita's family had golden eyes. Divianita was also a female Gelert, and because of that similarity, they had grown into best friends. Orca's owner was a nice young man, and Divianita's a nice young woman's. They often joked on getting their owners together on a date. But what Orca was really thinking about was dating a very handsome Lupe In her class. His name was Seth, and he was the coolest boy in the whole school. He was currently dating a Uni, the captain of the cheerleaders. Orca was very jealous, as were her other classmates. All the girls liked him because of his smooth attitude and his good looks. He was always in fashion, because his owner was a teenager and knew what was hot. He seldom wore any raincoats if it was raining and had his trio of friends encircle him with their umbrellas.

And yet, the jerk that he was, Orca had to admire him. She'd always hoped that they would kiss in the moonlight. "How romantic," she would think, and then her eyes would stray over to that cheerleader, and she knew she had no chance of winning. One day, the principal announced that prom night was coming, but it was a different one. The girls would have to ask the boys out. All eyes were on Jessica, the Uni and Seth the Lupe. Orca didn't know whom to ask. Seth and Jessica were definitely going with each other, and Divianita had already asked Joseph, the nicest Gelert in class. The girls seemed to be teaming up to ask boys, and a girl's friends would urge her on as she made her pick. Orca didn't have Divianita at her side because she was deep in talk with Joseph. They were chatting about their owners, and were both laughing. "If only I could find someone that I'd like that much," Orca thought. She went home depressed that day, and plopped onto bed. "What's wrong, Orca? Trouble at school today?"

Orca looked up. Her owner smiled at her. "Oh, nothing David... yes, there was trouble at school today..."

"What's wrong?" He plopped beside her and began brushing her hair until it was silky soft and glossy.

"Thanks, David. No, it's just prom night. The girls are supposed to ask the boys out, but I don't know who to ask."

"Why, you could ask anybody! You're so pretty no one could ever turn you down."

"That's what he thinks," Orca thought to herself.

Pretty as she was, Orca was never popular with the boys because that stupid Jessica hated her. They used to be best friends, but then Orca's owner became poor because of the stock market and Jessica deserted her and started making fun of her. They had regained their wealth, but Jessica still treated her the same way.

"Well, what about that nice Gelert that just moved down the street?" David had now started putting perfume on her, making her smell like spring flowers.

"Whatshisname, Soran? He's nice, but..."

"But?"

Soran was very shy, and other boys hated him because he always got the answers right whenever the teachers asked, and no matter how hard they tried to beat him Soran always won. But if Seth acted the same way, and Soran was nicer, why wasn't he popular? She didn't want to risk her reputation by going out with him! As David finished grooming her, he gave her a Rainbow Aisha toy to play with.

"Happy New Year, girl," he said.

"Finish your homework!"

"I will, David."

As Orca started working on her homework, thoughts raced against the back of her mind. "What should I do?"

Two days later...

It was almost prom night, and still Orca didn't ask anyone out. She was looking at Soran almost constantly now, and seemed to like him even more than Seth, who was acting like a jerk to her. When she had found out that Jessica had broken up with him, Orca sped up and tried to ask him to go with her, but he stared at her like she was a dead rat and moved on. But though Soran didn't get asked out, Orca couldn't bring herself to do it. She kept telling Divianita about the feelings she had, but Divianita told her to just "Come out and do it. That's how I asked Joseph out, and Soran shouldn't be any different. Come one, it's Prom Night, you wouldn't want to be the Hallflower, would you?"

But still, as the hours ticked past, Orca couldn't bring herself to ask him. She could now immediately recognize the back of his head, and knew his every habit. Like pulling down his left ear whenever he was nervous, and squeezing his tail when he was angry. Orca had squeezed her tail once too, but it hurt. Probably to take his mind off anger, Orca concluded.

Then, it was finally prom night, and Orca was going to the dance alone. She saw Divianita look at her sadly before being pulled outside to be with Joseph, and Seth was mooning by himself. Apparently no one asked to go out with him because they were sick of his behaviour. Jessica was going out with some Lupe from another class, and Orca didn't see Soran anywhere.

"Probably for the best," she thought as she ran into the school's gardens, where the occasional faerie resided. It was a beautiful night, and the moon was out, almost like a dream. And then, a handsome boy would sweep her off her feet and they would fall in love and kiss in the moonlight. Orca sighed.

"What's wrong?" It sounded like David.

"Oh, you came to the prom?"

"Yeah," he said.

"I wanted..." It sounded like David was trying to speak, but couldn't get the words out.

"Wanted to what?"

"I wanted... to go with you."

Orca turned. "What?"

But it wasn't David's eyes she was looking into, wasn't David's face.

"Soran?" she gasped.

"You sound a lot like my owner."

"I know." He walked around her, all the while talking. "I was actually glad that no one asked me out."

"Why?" Orca was confused.

"I wanted to ask you out," he said, smiling.

He laughed and sat next to her. "Wanna dance with me?" She could see that he really liked her, but he was brave enough to ask her first.

"You... you're..."

"No, it's okay, really." His ears drooped, and he turned to go. "No, wait! It's not that... I wanted to ask you to go with me, but I didn't have enough guts."

Soran was listening to her. "You asked me first."

"It doesn't matter who asked each other, does it?" Orca shook her head. "You know," he said as he walked with her through the moonlight, "I'd like to kiss you right now..." Orca was surprised. "But I'll wait until we get to know each other better." She smiled. "Looks like that kiss in the Moonlight will have to wait," she thought as they danced.

The End