Free A Step Toward Falling by Cammie McGovern

other. That’s called love.”
    This is what I dream will happen when I meet my Mr. Darcy. That at first we don’t see each other’s flaws because we are blinded by love. Then the clouds will clear away and we will see them. No one is perfect. But we will focus on happiness because we know we are meant to be together.
    That’s how I felt the first time I met Ron. It was at a Best Buddies homecoming social. I was wearing my prettiest pink shirt with pearl buttons and a lace collar and skirt but my tights were crooked. One heel was on the front of my ankle, so I was in the corner of the room with my shoe off trying to fix my tights when a new song started and Ifelt a tap on my shoulder. “Would you like to dance?” Ron said. I knew he was a football player because our teacher told us some football players were coming to the dance. That made us all a little more nervous.
    Before that moment, I’d never had anyone ask me to dance. I’d never had anyone hold out their hand so I could stand up and put my foot back into my shoe. I’d never had anyone touch my back to walk me across the room. There were other people dancing, but I didn’t know how to dance the way the other people were dancing. I only know how to dance from watching Pride and Prejudice. Those dances are called waltzes.
    I was too nervous to tell Ron I didn’t know how to waltz. Instead I put my hands on my own shoulders. I made a triangle with my feet and moved around it. I laughed because it was my first time dancing and I was great! I put my head back and closed my eyes and smiled. “Are you okay?” Ron said because even though the song ended, I hadn’t stopped dancing. I wanted it to keep going on forever. “Maybe we should go sit down,” he said. He took my elbow to walk me over to the side of the room.
    That made two things I’d never done before: dance with a boy, and walk with one holding my elbow. My heart started to beat blood up to my face and my ears. I felt a little dizzy so I sat down. I couldn’t look Ron in the face, so I stared at his shoes, then his belt buckle, then his hands.
    I couldn’t think of anything to say. I remembered the dance parties in Pride and Prejudice where people talk about the weather and ask about each other’s health. Sometimesthey get so nervous they faint. I didn’t want that to happen to me.
    I tried to sit the way Jane does in Pride and Prejudice , leaning forward a little bit in my chair. I’ve learned a lot about men and romance from watching Pride and Prejudice . Another thing Jane does is never look directly at the boy she’s talking to. Instead she talks to the air around his shoulder which is what I do naturally when I’m nervous! It’s lucky, I guess.
    Ron looked around the room like he was nervous, too. He had come with a group of other boys who were all bigger than everyone else in our school. In a group, they seemed very handsome and exciting, even the ones who weren’t so handsome.
    In my opinion, though, Ron was the handsomest one of all. He had blue eyes and hair that was red and gold at the same time. It’s hard for me to describe his face because it was hard for me to look at it for too long. I can describe his hands because I was looking at those mostly. His hands were beautiful. On one side, they were covered with freckles and blond-gold hair. On the other side they were tough with cracks and calluses. This is because he plays football and has to catch hard balls with his bare hands. Judging by his hands, I assume this must hurt.
    I wanted to hold one of his hands, but not the way some couples do around school, with their fingers all mixed. I wanted to put the tips of my fingers onto the tips of his. If everything had been perfect, I would have been wearing gloves. But we were sitting after our dance andthere wasn’t any reason for him to touch my hand so we had to talk. For a long time we both