He walked toward us slowly. Aaron saw him and rose.
“I did not know,” Ben said.
Aaron’s expression remained guarded. “You never asked.”
Ben swallowed. “I thought you were trying to shock everyone. I thought it was some kind of statement.”
Aaron looked down at the dress. “It was a statement. Just not the one you decided it was.”
Ben’s eyes filled. “I am sorry.”
Aaron did not answer immediately. Some apologies need a little silence around them before they can become the beginning of anything. Then the principal stepped down from the stage.
Part Seven | What the Room Finally Understood
The principal approached us with a face that had lost all its earlier formality. She looked at Aaron, then at the note in my hands.
“This morning, we asked you to choose something more conventional,” she said. “We were wrong to decide what was appropriate before asking what the dress meant. I am sorry.”
