Cool. Awkward. Black.

To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Jasmine is late.
It’s kind of my best friend’s thing-being fashionably unpunctual to events. Usually, I don’t mind. It’s part of what makes our friendship work. She rolls up late, we bicker about it, then she ensures I will have the most memorable time ever in a sincere attempt to apologize. It typically works. By the end of our hangouts, I’ve long forgotten her poor excuse for keeping me waiting in the first place.
But why’d it have to be tonight? The one time where I want-no, need– to be somewhere other than inside my own head.
I check my phone: 7:56 p.m.
The ball started almost thirty minutes ago.
Minutes before the sun sets, the city is bursting with nerdiness. I love downtown this time of year. When, at any moment, sidewalks are teeming with mini parades of people in costumes. Anime characters to all the best sci-fi creatures. Harley Quinns talking to Ewoks. Peter Parker holding hands with Miles Morales. Everyone braving the insufferable heat to show off their craftsmanship.
Infinity Con brings out that loud, proud geek we rarely show off the other fifty-one weekends a year.
Outside the Rosa Parks Freedom Museum, kids who don’t look much older than me excitedly climb the stone steps toward the annual Geeks in the Night teen ball. As always, Infinity Con has gone all out for this evening’s spectacle. Moving spotlights. A long red carpet leading inside. All my favorite music pouring into the late-summer air like a siren’s song. My heart races with anticipation. It’s like that first kick on a skateboard where you’re unsure if you’ll fall or glide.
I can’t wait to dance the evening away with my people.
Well, I think they’re still my people. I’m not too sure anymore. Somewhere in my head, the announcer’s voice from earlier today
repeats:
“And in fourth place… Jalen Harding!”
Fourth place. Not even runner-up. I wasn’t good enough to stand with winners.
“No, no,” I whisper while pacing the sidewalk outside the museum. “You’re fine. Remember Gramps’s words.”
“Don’t you dare let them dim your shine.”
Easier said than done, I think.
Maybe I would be fine if Jasmine were here. Especially because this isn’t just any Infinity Con. It’s our first adult-less Infinity Con. An entire ball for teen geeks like us.
Yet, here I am, alone.