In Chap­ter Thir­ty of “If These Wings Could Fly,” the nar­ra­tor por­trays a sense of nor­mal­cy amidst their chal­leng­ing life. After her father falls asleep, the main char­ac­ter, Leighton, spends time at the mall with her friend Sofia, try­ing on var­i­ous dress­es for an upcom­ing dance. While Sofia shines in every out­fit, Leighton strug­gles with her appear­ance, often feel­ing washed out in the neon col­ors that are pop­u­lar for the eight­ies-themed dance.

The mood shifts when Sofia hands Leighton a stun­ning black dress with the per­fect cut, com­plete with pock­ets. This dress evokes excite­ment and a sense of belong­ing to typ­i­cal high school expe­ri­ences. Despite its allure, Leighton is hin­dered by the price tag, prompt­ing a dis­cus­sion between the friends about pri­or­i­ties and finan­cial restric­tions. Sofia, ever sup­port­ive, wish­es for Leighton to embrace the oppor­tu­ni­ty.

After their shop­ping escapade, they dis­cov­er a Tiffany Blue bike on clear­ance at a sport­ing goods store. Torn between using her sav­ings for the dress or the bike, Leighton ulti­mate­ly decides that some moments can­not be sac­ri­ficed. When they return home, Sofia helps her present the bike to her younger sis­ter, Camp­bell. Leighton cov­ers Camp­bel­l’s eyes and leads her out­side, where the reveal elic­its an unex­pect­ed but heart­warm­ing reac­tion from their usu­al­ly reserved sib­ling.

As the chap­ter con­cludes, Leighton finds her­self search­ing through old dress­es in her armoire, fac­ing a wardrobe that no longer fits her. In a play­ful turn of events, Camp­bell brings her a bag with a dress from the store, con­vey­ing Sofia’s light­heart­ed ulti­ma­tum: if Leighton does­n’t wear it to the dance, their friend­ship is at stake. This chap­ter encap­su­lates themes of friend­ship, the strug­gles of ado­les­cence, and the small joys in life, while also high­light­ing the narrator’s inter­nal con­flicts and famil­ial bonds.