"Remind me again why I let you guys talk me into coming?"
"Because it's fun." Ness smiled. "C'mon, Jeff, did you really want to spend the evening studying calculus?"
"Studying has its merits," Jeff replied flatly.
"But the test isn't for two and a half weeks."
"Nothing wrong with studying as you learn, lesson by lesson."
Ness sighed. "Hey, whatever, I just thought you might want to get away from the books for a change. Besides, you haven't even given it a chance yet."
"You didn't say it was going to be like this." Jeff surveyed the whole of the gym from the corner where he and Ness were standing. Dim lights reflected off of polished bleachers and the decorations that hung everywhere. A couple of DJs were set up on the other side, spinning unfamiliar tunes on their high-tech turntables. The rest of the space was flooded by a sea of kids, dancing in circles, two-by-two. Ordinary dances were just glorified parties. Ballroom dancing wasn't even close.
"Oh, please! So I forgot to mention it was a 1940s dance. I said it was for a fundraiser! Do you really think the school would organize a normal dance for a fundraiser?" Ness indicated the sizable crowd on the opposite half of the gym, made up of adults and senior citizens getting into the swing music. "It's a community thing, they do it every year, and anyone can come. You think older people want to hear any of that hip-hop stuff? Jeff, you don't even like that music, what were you expecting?"
Jeff shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea," he said, replaying it in his mind. Hey Jeff, the school's having this big dance for a fundraiser and me and Paula are going, there's a lot of people going actually, wanna come? It'll be fun! What about that had sounded appealing to him? He drew a blank now.
"You know these kind of things aren't for me," he said, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I'm not -- "
"Ness? If you're just gonna stand there all night, I'll go dance with somebody else." Paula passed by wearing a knee-length gray skirt and a pink sweater, and Ness started after her.
"Never," he said with a grin. He turned back to Jeff for a second. "Seriously, you should give it a try, Jeff. Dancing is fun." Paula pulled his arm and he ran off with her just as a foxtrot was starting.
Dancing is fun. He mimicked Ness's voice in his head. I'll bet it is, if you know how and you have a date. He watched the pairs circling around, twirling and promenading in perfect sync. Even if I were Fred Astaire, no one would wanna dance with me...
"Must be nice." A voice.
Jeff blinked and looked around. Who... that girl, maybe? The only person in his proximity was a girl standing a few feet away, gazing at the dancing scene. "What's nice?"
She looked surprised to have been acknowledged. "Oh, nothing, the people dancing," she explained. "It looks like fun."
"Yeah, if you know all the steps."
"Oh, but I do. I was president of the Ballroom Dance Club at my old school, two years running. I just transferred though. It's hard to get used to." Jeff could feel her looking him over. "I haven't seen you before, you must not be in any of my classes."
"Yeah. I mean, I don't actually go here, I'm just visiting friends. I go to Snow Wood."
"Winters? How do you survive someplace where it's so cold?"
"I manage. I was born there, I think I have ice water in my blood." He realized, in hindsight, that it had been a terrible thing to say. He hadn't meant to make himself sound cold, so he told her so. "I didn't mean to make myself sound cold, that wasn't the right thing to say..."
"Well, you look cold," she replied honestly. "Standing in the corner with your arms across your chest and the storm windows up."
"Yeah, I'm pretty nearsighted," he said, catching the reference to his Coke-bottle lenses. Suddenly conscious of his glasses, he removed them and began to polish them with his sleeve.
She smiled as she watched him. "You should get contacts," she suggested.
"You think? It doesn't really matter, they're the same thing." He looked over at her, squinting in the dark. "I can see you, I can't see things that are far away," he explained.
"I know, my cousin is nearsighted too. He lives in Twoson, but he goes to some private academy in Fourside."
"I know a few people from Twoson." Jeff thought of Paula and glanced over at her and Ness. It was a tango now, or maybe two or three dances had passed since he'd been talking to this girl. He had lost count.
"He's an inventor, his name is Orange Kid."
"Oh, wow, you're kidding? I know him," Jeff said, surprised. "I met him and Apple Kid, his neighbor, a long time ago. Well, two years ago anyway."
"He's not a very good inventor." She laughed a little.
Jeff smiled. "I didn't say anything, that was all you."
"I know." She paused. "So anyway, when are you gonna tell me your name?"
He blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me. Jeff Andonuts." When was the last time somebody asked me that?
"Jeff Andonuts, the scientist's son, the inventor extraordinaire?" He nodded. "Wow, nice to meet you. I've read about you in the newspaper and stuff."
"You have?"
"Well, I know I've read your name somewhere, some article about something."
"Probably." He decided to save the details of the war against Giygas for later.
"Anyway, I'm... well, okay, I'm called Apricot Girl but as soon as I'm eighteen, I swear to you, I'm having my name legally changed to something else."
He stifled a laugh. "Why? Apricot Girl, that kinda has a nice ring to it."
She rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding me?"
"Yes." He realized at that moment how social he was being, and how unlike him that was.
"You have a nice, normal-sounding name. I want one of those."
"Thought of anything yet?"
"I dunno. Look at me, who do I look like to you?"
Jeff swallowed and blinked again. Why do I always do that? "Aww, I dunno, you know yourself better than I do."
"Just barely. Now tell me who I look like."
He blinked again and looked her over from head to toe. Her hair was blonde and hung down to her shoulders, and she had rosy cheeks and eyes that looked dark in the dim light. Short, on the thin side, wearing an outfit that successfully combined multiple shades of purple, blue denim and army green. She looked like an artist, a guitarist, a social activist maybe.
"What color are your eyes? I can't see."
"Blue. What does that matter?"
"It matters," Jeff replied. "You look like a Violet."
"Violet," she said, turning the word over in her head. "Like the flower?"
"Like the flower, the color, the shirt you're wearing, anything, yes, Violet."
"It could grow on me. Violet. I like it already." She kept thinking. "You're smart."
"In some ways."
"But you didn't shake my hand when we introduced ourselves," she said, grabbing his hand, brushing his side.
More blinking. "Well then, nice to meet you."
"Charmed. Now c'mon, I'm going to teach you how to waltz." She started to drag him towards the dance floor.
"Wait, what? Are you sure?" Jeff started to protest. "I'm serious, I have two left feet when it comes to this stuff, I've never danced in my life -- "
"There's a first time for everything," she interrupted him.
"And I'll probably do something really stupid like step on your foot or embarrass you in front of everyone -- "
"Nope, not listening, you're not getting out of this one," she insisted, finally jerking him to a halt on the floor. "Now, it's really easy, I'll show you how. You just put your hand on my waist and the other one on my hand like this." She moved his hands with her own until they were perfectly positioned, then rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Like this, huh?" Jeff blinked again.
"You said you can see without the glasses, right?"
"Just you."
"Good, that's all that matters now. Take 'em off, put 'em in your pocket or something. Here, don't move your hands, I'll take 'em off." She reached out and slid the glasses off his face, revealing his rapidly blinking eyes. "And for goodness' sakes, stop that blinking, there's nothing to be afraid of!" she added, slipping them into his jacket pocket.
"Yes Ma'am." He grinned at her as best he could.
"All right. Now we just take it nice and slow, one-two-three, one-two-three... here, I'm gonna lead, even though you're supposed to, until you learn how, okay?"
"Okay, you're the expert."
"Okay." Slowly, surely, they started to move, gliding along, although Jeff was a little awkward in his step. "Waltz-two-three, waltz-two-three, maybe we can try a turn-two-three, again-two-three, see, you're getting it, you're getting it..." They whirled around and around, and Jeff felt himself easing up.
"Of course I'm getting it. I have a great teacher," Jeff said, looking straight in her eyes for the first time all night.
"Thanks. But I'm still gonna expect you to practice on your own time. The teacher can't do all the work for her student."
The words came out automatically, before Jeff could think about them. "But I don't wanna dance with anyone but you..."
They were still turning, twirling, waltz-two-three, turn-two-three, but Jeff suddenly felt as if the whole world had stopped, like he and Apricot Girl -- no, Violet -- were the only people on the planet. She looked stunned for a moment, and then they stopped turning and he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, and they both felt the world spinning, going in circles -- waltz-two-three, turn-two-three -- and it was nice, very nice.