The Magic Skirt

Sometimes, a special event actually lives up to its hype.

Dances were SUCH a big deal in high school. I mean, when else do you have an excuse to basically hug a hot guy for 3 whole minutes without it being awkward? Well ok, it usually was still awkward, but at least it was socially acceptable.

The Blonde Squad was big on dances. Did we miss a single one? I don't think we did. They basically gave us an opportunity to pursue our favorite pastimes: spa days and makeovers before the dance, checking out the hotties at the dance, and staying up all night talking about every minute detail of the dance after the dance. I mean, these events literally checked ALL of our boxes.

St. Reeker, hey! The dance!! I am so excited! Yippee!! I love dances. They can be so much fun if you let them. If you don't then they are upidstay!

Jessie- hey! I am so excited for the dance! My mom said I could get ready with you! (That one girl.) Not like it's anything new...

...P.S. You are a fart smeller, I mean a smart feller (I got that off a note of yours I found yesterday.)

Of course the fart smeller thing came from a note of mine. Classic Jess joke.

Although I enjoyed all the dances I attended, one stands out in a BIG way as being this unbelievable experience that felt like it came straight out of Hollywood. It all began with a magic skirt...

When I got home, I slept for hours and then had to force myself to get up so I could go to the stake dance. I just wore a simple shirt and skirt with some cute shoes and bangley bracelets.

The dance started out like any other, except that right away I noticed that a lot of boys seemed to be looking at me. I got asked to dance on the very first song, and then again and again. The asking didn’t stop. I had never experienced anything like it! There just wasn't a break the entire night!

It later unfolded that a group of boys at the dance were even fighting over who got to dance with me the most that night. Sounds like a B-movie plot (or a fanciful flight of the ego,) but actually, staking a claim on a crush was just the way things were done back then. Probably still is! You spot someone you like and then "call" them as quick as you can so the other contenders (your best friends) have to step aside, which basically means they have to be less friendly and charming to your crush than you are. It's a jungle, man. No, what was unusual about the situation is that it was happening to me.

Can you believe it?? Fighting! Over me!!

Somewhere in the middle of the evening, I was asked to dance by an old crush.

I told him that that summer was my favorite ever, and how much his friendship meant to me. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but- was he blushing, or was that just a reflection of my shirt? And is that what they mean when they talk about people having stars in their eyes? What was up with the guys that night??

Oh, crushes!! They are so fun to look back on! And by the way, I later discovered that YES, those WERE stars in his eyes! He totally had a crush on me, too. Unfortunately, one of my girlfriends fell in like with him before I had a chance to wrap my head around it all, so according to the girlfriend code of honor, I had to back out. Staking those claims, man. Brutal.

Anyway, the dance went on and on this way, the whole night through. I recorded in my journal that I didn't sit out a SINGLE ONE. Not only that, but I had guys asking for dances in advance, and doing crazy stuff like actually cutting in, something I didn't think happened in real life. If it had been just a few guys, I would figure that they had teamed up to make my day for some reason, but it wasn't. It was like every guy I had said hi to EVER, all from totally different circles, decided at the same exact second that I was interesting. My girlfriends and I were stupefied. It was a never-to-be-repeated-or-defeated record of pure female magnetism.

I stole away afterwards to take another break, and Manuel found me and asked me if I would save him the last dance. I told him yes and collapsed on the couch. Me and *Stacy* didn't even have to say anything to each other. Her look of amazement mirrored my own, and we let it stay at that.

The night had such a mystical quality to it, we wondered if I had been casting spells in my sleep or something. Then the thought occurred- my skirt! I had never worn it before. Could it be... magic??

I think it was the skirt. I read a story once about this lady who had a dress that whenever she wore it got treated differently. Well that was the deal with the skirt I think. Next week there's another stake dance, and I'm going to wear something completely different...

It's a little deflating to admit that my experiment did work. I always got asked a respectable amount at dances, but NOTHING could ever compare to the night I wore the magic skirt.

Do you have a lucky article of clothing? Tell us about it in the comments! WBS- Jess