About Last Dance

by Lee Benoit
17 pages / 4000 words
Ebook zipped file contains - html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub

High school teacher Suyai has spent months helping his school’s Gay-Straight Alliance members win the right to attend Prom with the dates of their choice. Now none of them will get out on the dance floor until Suyai goes first. What’s an out and proud, but very single, teacher to do?

Sample

Since Suyai's own days at the school, no one had objected to queer students coming to prom in groups, even dancing in little rainbow-tinted clusters. But Billy and his peers wanted more. Prom was about kids playing at pair-bonding, and these kids wanted to bring dates like everyone else. Suyai's dads had shaken their heads at what a big deal the whole thing became.

But then, Suyai's dads wouldn't have asked anybody's permission to dance together in public. With that thought, Suyai turned his mind to the last hurdle of the campaign -- actually making it through Prom without any fuss or fights. He'd vouch for most of his students -- though he had a squirrely feeling about tattooed, pierced, scowling Bo and Bo's date Tran, who was the local youth MMA champion.

Suyai stopped in front of the door to the school gym, preventing his students from entering just yet. "Listen, guys. I'm insanely proud of you, and I know you want your hard work to stick for the future, so no bullshit tonight." His kids loved it when he swore, so he only did it when he needed to make a point. "I'm a chaperone tonight, so I'll be watching. Now let's go cut a rug." His kids loved it even more when their Rainbow Posse advisor got 'all old-fashioned' so he endured their groans and eye rolls as his amazing eight preceded him through the doors and into the fairy-lit gym.

The kids maneuvered the formal receiving line with as much grace as you could expect from seventeen-year-olds in rented tuxes and overdone gowns. Suyai followed them, greeting his colleagues, until he reached the end of the line right behind Bo and Tran.

"What pronoun do those two prefer?" Tess Ritter, Sister City's principal and one of his dads' best friends, spoke exaggeratedly out of the side of her mouth.

"We're all too scared to ask," Suyai stage-whispered back. He leaned in and gave Tess a once-over and a leer. "You're a vision, Dr. Ritter. Save me a dance?"

Tess shrugged as if she habitually swanned around the old school's halls looking like an extra from Breakfast at Tiffany's. "This old thing? I've been…"

"Trawling thrift stores with my dad again," Suyai finished for her.

They both turned to watch Suyai's Rainbow Posse settling themselves at one of the round tables that ringed the room. "This going to be all right, you think?" Suyai let all the uncertainty he hid from his kids color his voice. Tess was his boss and his mentor, but also someone who used to babysit him. She'd understand he wasn't as strong as his kids needed him to be.