Free First Date by Melody Carlson

certainly hope so.”
    Abby knew this was her chance. “You’ve always set a great example, Dad. I mean, I see how well you treat Mom and other women. Why would I settle for a guy who wasn’t at least trying for those standards? You’ve set the bar pretty high, but at least it’s something to aim for.”
    “Thank you, Abigail. I guess it’s a little unfair to assume that all seventeen-year-old boys are after one thing only.” Dad sighed. “I’m sure there must be some good young men out there. Especially at Northwood.”
    “Are you saying it’s okay for me to date?”
    “I suppose I’m opening up to the idea. Maybe we can see how it goes with one date—as long as it’s a group date—and take it from there.”
    Abby was tempted to argue this point but realized that might ruin everything. “Sure, I think that would work.”
    “This is so exciting,” Mom said with real enthusiasm. “Your first formal dance. Do you know what you want to wear yet?”
    “Not really.”
    “How far out is the dance?”
    “Three weeks.”
    “Oh, that gives us some time. But we should start shopping soon.”
    “Uh-huh . . .” Abby wasn’t so sure she wanted to shop for her dress with her mom, but after making this much progress on the whole dating thing, and since Mom had been so solidly in her court, she didn’t want to rock the boat. Still, the idea of Mom picking out her dress was a little unsettling. It wasn’t that Mom had bad taste—for her age she dressed pretty fashionably—but Mom had picked out the dress Abby had been forced to wear to Rebecca’s wedding, and although Abby wasn’t actually in the wedding party, Mom had wanted to be sure she’d fit in for the photos. But Abby would never, never wear that awful pink ruffled dress again. Even now it was wadded into a ball and stuffed into her suitcase.
    As Mom continued talking about dresses and corsages and dinners and all sorts of dance-related things, Abby tried to act like she was listening while she was texting Bryn, assuring her that everything was moving along smoothly on her end. This was so exciting!
    Abby leaned back against the seat and sighed happily. She was thankful that the focus on dating and jerky guys had distracted her dad from asking more specifically about the guy she had in mind. Oh, she had an answer ready for him,but it was a relief not to be forced to use it. Not because it was a lie, because it wasn’t. Abby might be comfortable using various tactics to work her parents—who didn’t?—but she refused to flat-out lie to them.
    She imagined how cool it was going to be to walk into the dance next to Kent Renner. She had been seriously crushing on the tall basketball player for more than a year now, ever since he transferred to their school. Of course, she’d known him before he came to Northwood. They’d gone to the same church for years, until her family had switched churches. After that, she’d naturally lost track of him.
    She’d been thrilled to see him again when he’d started school at Northwood last year, and equally thrilled that he recognized her. It seemed they even had something of a friendship. Okay, friendship might be a stretch, or just her imagination. But at least Kent knew her name and spoke to her occasionally. She’d had several classes with him and was comfortable saying “Hey” to him now and then. Not too obsessively, since she didn’t want to scare him off. As far as she could tell, Kent had never had a girlfriend. At least not since coming to Northwood. He was a senior, so this would be his last year in high school . . . his last homecoming dance . . . that alone should be reason enough to make him consider going. But how was she going to bring it up?
    Then she remembered—that was what the DG was for. They were supposed to help each other. But at their meeting on Friday no one had offered to come to her assistance. Probably because Bryn had pointed out that Abby was already on good terms with