***ALEX***

Inside, the ballroom is small but cozy, looking very old-fashioned - just as its name suggests. The whole place looks almost like a barn, complete with dirt floor and wooden walls. The story goes that it was actually built on the skeleton of an old Victorian that burned down in 1962, when the fireworks at Bearville's centennial celebration backfired right into the house. Some fire-elemental lost their wings over that one, I'm sure.

Onstage, there's a band getting ready to play - they all look sort of like they could be any of us, except their formalwear is a bit different. Very definitely old-timey, almost goth-like. I freeze up a bit as I see one of the band members - she's kinda small and mousy and unassuming, but she bears a pretty noticeable resemblance to Clara from Doctor Who. I can't help but stare at her - until Juliet snaps her fingers in front of my face.

"I'm right here, you know," she says, smirking.

"I know," I say. "Looks like Castledown picked a great band, don't you think?"

According to tradition, at prom time, the class presidents of the two schools flip a coin, with the winner picking the location and the loser picking the entertainment.

"I think they're called Midnight Daydream," Gideon says as he takes his seat.

I sit between Juliet and Gabe, shedding my jacket to show the pinstriped vest underneath. "Interesting. What, are they a cover band or something?"

"I think so," Gideon says. "I don't know too much about them. You should ask Juliet. I think she saw them live once."

"Sort of," Juliet says. "They opened for Graviga on their Left Coast Tour, but that's it, really. That's all I know."

Luca lowers the menu he's been consulting. "Funny, they don't look like a good fit for Graviga. These guys got actual instruments."

"It worked a lot better than I thought," Juliet says. "Put it this way - what Graviga is to Avicii, Midnight Daydream is to Imagine Dragons."

"Cool," Kyle says. He's a pretty big Imagine Dragons fan, so he must be looking forward to hearing this band now.

"You know what else?" Luca says. "My sister used to date this guy who was in a band back in the Bay Area - and the guitarist looks a lot like him. I think they're brothers."

"So was the bassist your sister's boyfriend or something?" I ask.

"No, he was the drummer. Mattia's boyfriend, I mean."

"Interesting. Whatcha gonna have, Juliet? Chicken or fish?"

Juliet laughs as she consults her own limited menu. "What, no T-bone steaks? Waste of a hundred-buck ticket, if you ask me."

"At least the music should be good," I say, turning to the stage as the singer approaches her mike.

"Okay," she says. Because of her Clara Oswald resemblance, it's a bit jarring to hear her talk with a plain old American accent. "Testing, one, two, three. Everyone hear me?"

A few scattered responses of "yeah" and/or "uh-huh" filter up from the crowd.

"That's what I thought," the singer says, grinning cheekily. "Okay. Most of you probably don't know who we are, so let's just get the intro out of the way. I'm Annie Troy-" Here she stops to let a few of us, myself included, chuckle at her name. "Yeah, I'm not a crazy Community fan. That's my real name, people. Um, all right, and these are my musical cohorts - Seamus Gravely on guitar" - Luca snaps his fingers and says that, yes, the guitarist really is his sister's boyfriend's brother - "Andy Toombs on bass, Jaye Tyler on drums, and Dale Cooper on keyboards. Together, we're Midnight Daydream, and we're here to...ehh, you know the rest. I guess we'll just start our song now..."

Everyone laughs at her disinterested routine. Behind her, the band starts playing their first song of the night. It sounds sort of familiar to me, but it's not until Annie starts singing that I figure out what it is - "Uncharted." Annie sings the song in a lower register than the original Sara Bareilles version, reminding me strongly of Lorde. They play "Uncharted" while we wait for our meals, and then a number of other white-zone songs with a slight electronic twist. I still have yet to see how Juliet can compare them to Imagine Dragons, but that's about to change.

The first song they play after dinner is "Rhiannon." I think they model it after the 1997 live version, starting off slow with just Annie singing while Dale, the keyboardist, backs her up.

Juliet and I look at each other, and she asks, "Usually they save the slow dance for last, don't they?"

"I wouldn't know," I say. "Never been to one of these before, remember?"

"It's gonna get hella fast, isn't it?"

I smile. "You read my mind."

Annie gets to the "don't leave me" part of the song, then when she finishes singing, Dale keeps playing the same chords on the keyboard for a little longer. Annie says, "Wait for it, guys," then stands back, raising her fingers and then lowering them. Three...two...one...

The spotlight flashes on Seamus as he launches into the instantly recognizable (at least, to me) guitar line, on which he is soon joined by Jaye's loud, frenetic drumming, Andy shredding his bass, and finally, Dale's fingers flying across the keyboard, outshining everyone with a synth riff that definitely wasn't in the original song.

Dancing couples flood the floor, eagerly strutting their stuff. I look at Juliet and say sheepishly, "I have no idea what to do right now."

"Dance our asses off?" Juliet suggests.

"Best idea either of us could've come up with."

She lightly punches my arm, as she usually does when I nickname her. Then we hit the floor, just doing our own thing. I'm not sure there's any kind of rhythm or pattern to either of our moves, but then again, never let it be said that Juliet and I are champion dancers. The main point is, we're enjoying ourselves, having the time of our lives.

Since Gabe, Luca, and I are among the few here who actually know the song, on account of it being an old classic that most of our classmates wouldn't even know about, I'm surprised we're not the only ones on the floor. I guess there's enough of a line for prom photos - which are being taken in the back corner of the room - that people figure they might as well make the most of their wait time. The extremely high-quality cover helps - it's practically made for a big arena show already. Where did Castledown find these guys, I wonder?

Annie and Dale harmonize on the chorus for the second time...and then, out of nowhere, all hell breaks loose when a lone gunman bursts into the ballroom, shooting a single bullet into the air - just enough to cause everyone to hit the deck, screaming in fear. Midnight Daydream comes to a nightmarish screeching halt as they do the same.

Juliet and I take cover near the punch bowl, with Luca and Gideon to my right, and Gabe and Kyle to Juliet's left. I keep a close eye on the shooter - a pudgy guy with greasy hair and an ill-fitting sweater.

"Annie!" he yells up at the stage. "You know what I'm doing here!"

Annie gets to her feet and swallows nervously. "What the...Who are you?"

"Hah! 'Who are you,' she says! You honestly don't remember, Annie Troy? You XO'd me! Saturday, April 18, 4:53pm. You sent me that e-mail! You said thanks for the support and the love! That's what you said! 'Love, Annie Troy!'"

The gunman's practically spitting with rage at this point, not to mention waving his gun wildly. Any wrong moves and people are going to get hurt - or worse. And then this party really would be a waste of a hundred-buck ticket.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to come out of this night saying it wasn't money well spent.

I turn to Juliet and think, When I tell you, give this guy a good gust of wind.

What?

You heard me.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Gideon thinks. What are you doing?

I do believe he's got a plan, Gabe says.

Sort of, I think. Turning to Juliet, I add, Just do it. You're the one for this. I wish I was special like you.

"Special?" What does that mean?

Just trust me.

"I-I'm sorry," Annie stutters. "I still have no idea who you are. I'm not the one who writes those e-mails, anyway. That's all automated-"

"LIES!" bellows the gunman.

I roll my eyes, sick of this whole debacle. Then I stand up and start doing the first thing that came to mind when I was on the floor - I sing.

"When you were here before, couldn't look you in the eye," I begin, cautiously stepping forward. "You're just like an angel, your skin makes me cry-"

"What? What's this?" the gunman shrieks, training his weapon on me with shaking hands.

I hold one hand behind my back, feeling the tightly-packed wires of the ice chunks from the punch bowl, summoning them to me. When they reach my hand, I use my elemental sense to pull apart the wires, melting the ice and keeping the water circulating around my hand.

All the while, I continue to sing the old Radiohead ode to obsession. "You float like a feather in a beautiful world. I wish I was special..."

Behind me, I faintly hear Juliet's thought. Oh yeah. That's what he means.

"Oh what, you're trying to taunt me? Huh?!" The gunman cocks the hammer. "You have no idea, boy! I! LOVE! ANNIE! TROY!"

"You're so fucking special..."

I can almost hear the crashing grungy guitars kicking in as Juliet leaps out from behind me and produces a 40-mph gust of wind from her hands. Her power passes me by before connecting with the gunman. He loses his balance and drops his gun. I'm forced to quickly turn the water back to ice and throw it at the gun, freezing it just as it goes off.

Fueled by yet another burst of rage, the gunman throws himself at me, making me duck to the side. He ends up rolling over himself a couple of times, scattering the crowd. Gabe, meanwhile, jumps in and unfreezes the gun, then darts over to the gunman, holding the ice in one hand before laying it down on his wrists, freezing him to the floor.

We may have learned this technique from a horrible serial killer, but we can't deny its effectiveness. If nothing else, it gives me the chance to - literally - dance around him, weaving up and around over his supine form, gathering more ice to keep him down with - the guy keeps kicking, which is plenty annoying.

And, just for laughs, I finish off by laying a big chunk of ice on his crotch - and then melting it. All the while, I sing the chorus: "But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here..."

The gunman stares up at me, lost for words.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I say with as much ironic sincerity as I can muster. "Was that offensive to you, perv? Or should I call you Psycho-American?"

The chaperones rush up to us, a security guard trailing behind them.

"Finally," I say. "Take out the trash, guys!"

All around, people laugh along with my one-liner, then break out in applause as the gunman is hoisted to his feet (Gabe and I return the ice to the punch bowl where it belongs).

Onstage, the members of Midnight Daydream huddle together for a moment, whispering amongst themselves. When they break apart, Annie takes the mike and looks directly at me. "Wow. Um, thanks for that, dudes. What's your names?"

"Uh..." I pull the collar of my shirt, nervous as I usually am when I'm getting all the attention. "Alex Snow."

Gabe looks at me for a second before saying his name too.

"Thanks again, guys," Annie says. "And may I say you've got a great voice, Alex?"

My eyes practically pop out. I mean, it's not like this is the first time people have said good things about my singing, but Gabe and Mom hate it so much that I have reservations about demonstrating my talent to people. Sure enough, I can see Gabe making a "gag me with a spoon" gesture out of the corner of my eye.

But now I've got a real singer complimenting me. I guess that means I'm doing something right.

"That's really nice of you," I say.

"You wanna come on stage with us for a bit?" Annie asks. "We've all agreed you should sing the next one. How's your Imagine Dragons?"

"Which song?" I ask as I hear Gideon laugh behind me.

"It's 'On Top Of The World.'"

"Oh, good," I say. "But I dunno if I can really-"

Juliet chuckles, then pushes me forward, up to the stage.

"Hey, have Gabe join you!" Luca calls out, then he starts laughing into his hand. Gabe, meanwhile, shakes his head vigorously. He really is an incurably bad singer.

Annie steps aside with a flourish, inviting me to stand behind her mike. "Okay," I say, still a bit twitchy. "Well, I've never done this before - but some of you might remember my awesome Aerosmith air-guitar moment from November, so after that, I guess I shouldn't be allowed to be afraid of this sort of thing."

The crowd laughs politely.

"Okay, so 'On Top Of The World,' then," I say. "I hope all of you guys are feeling like that tonight, too!" More laughs. "If not, I don't think you're gonna be getting your money back. Let's go, guys!"

The band chuckles and starts playing. "Oh, by the way," I say, rapid-fire so I can get in one last comment before I have to start singing, "if I get the words wrong, I'm not sorry." I get in one last grin before leaning in close to the mike as the lyrics begin:

"If you love somebody, better tell them while they're here
'Cause they may just run away from you
You'll never know quite when, well, then again
It just depends on how long a time is left for you..."

To my surprise, everyone starts dancing like nothing's different, like they don't have a classmate serenading them with a kick-ass band backing him up. Still unsure how I ended up here to begin with, I keep on going until the song is done, then take a bow.

"Okay, that was fun," I say when I'm done, "but now it's time for the pros to take over again. Besides, I don't wanna miss the inevitable slow dance with my girl!"

I get off the stage, my entire body buzzing as I get back to Juliet. "How was I?" I ask.

"Awesome," Juliet says. "What about you guys? You all agree with me?"

"Hell yeah," Luca says.

"Killed it," says Kyle.

"Don't ever do that again," Gideon says, frowning so deeply it has to be fake. Surprise, surprise, it is. He punches my shoulder, grinning even more widely than I am. Thanks to his intensive workout routine, he's got some major-league guns to punch me with. And to give me two for flinching, the dickhead.

Gabe, meanwhile, pouts at his date for real. "I thought we had so much in common," he says sadly.

"Not that, I guess," Kyle laughs, then gives me a high-five. "Seriously, dude, great job."

Gabe does a facepalm and groans, "The Lord is testing me."

With the gunman gone, and my special song number finished, the prom has quickly gotten back to normal. Everyone gets their picture taken. Everyone gets to do a slow dance (to "Northern Downpour") - this is probably the only dance Juliet and I do right all night. Everyone gets to kiss and hug and have a good time, then go off in their respective party buses somewhere else - like IHOP, where we go for a midnight breakfast.

Luca and Gideon break away from us after that and return to Balthazar for one more night - we're all going home tomorrow morning. Gabe and I, meanwhile, go to the King Schultz Hotel in Bearville with our respective dates. Luckily, we're not next door to each other, not even close - for which we're all grateful, because we don't want to hear each other having sex through the walls. That would be a major mood-killer.

No mood is killed with me and Juliet tonight, though. Understandably, we're both nervous at the start, but I think beginner's luck is on our side. That, and the fact that our recent explorations have allowed us to each get a decent idea of what turns the other one on.

There are still some surprises to be had, though. I don't think I expected her to be so catlike in bed. She's hella flexible (from years of gymnastics and, more recently, yoga classes), she draws small amounts of blood when she scratches my chest (which, for some reason, turns me on even more), and, best of all, she makes these cute mewling noises when she comes (way more graceful than my own deep, inarticulate grunts, which happen way sooner than I would like).

After it's over, I spoon her, kissing her neck and basking in her radiant afterglow. (No, seriously.) She reaches behind me in a way I wouldn't have thought possible (flexible, remember?) and uses her air elemental to cool my wings, which are plastered to my body with sweat because I'd been on my back the whole time.

"If we'd done this next weekend," she laughs as I play with her shiny brown hair, "I'd be a criminal for sleeping with an underage boy."

"What? When were you gonna tell me you were eighteen?"

"My birthday's the twenty-sixth, actually," she says. "Next Thursday. I just didn't want you making a big deal out of it."

"Then consider this your birthday present," I say, turning her head so I can kiss her on her flavor-glossed mouth (mmm, pink lemonade). "Criminal. Yeah, that's my new nickname for you now - you brought it on yourself."

Juliet's entire body trembles with laughter as she sings a little Fiona Apple. "'What I need is a good defense-'"

"No!" I cover her mouth - not that she's a bad singer, but I don't want her new nickname associated with that song and its dark inner meanings. "Not that kind of 'Criminal!'"

"You brought it on yourself," Juliet says through my hand. I let go of her mouth and she cranes her neck so she can whisper directly into my ear, her breath raising goosebumps on my neck. "I love you, Alex."

"I know," I whisper, rubbing my cheek against hers so my stubble gently grazes her skin. I nibble her earlobe, making her squeak with laughter for a second, before saying, "I love you too, Juliet."

That's the truth right there. I may have fallen for Fionna, but I never really got to know her. Not like I have with Juliet. As we've spent the last few months growing closer, we've learned a lot about each other. There are so many things we've never realized before. For instance, she knows the story of my scars - which she especially felt bad about because of how it got started. Similarly to Gabe, she took a long time to accept that she was a member of Heaven's fledgling LGBT community - and it was, in part, his example that inspired her to come out to all her friends, and not just her family. I learned that her deepest, and most admirable, ambition was to be a movie star. And that, as a little girl, she had an alarming tendency to suffer serious injuries. Some were brought on by falling off balance beams in gymnastics class. Some came from sliding the wrong way into home plate playing baseball in grade-school PE. And then there was the car accident ten years ago, in which her family's Outback was T-boned at an intersection in Anaheim - it was a miracle nobody died. That's just how beautiful Juliet is - she has all those scars, but they're barely noticeable. And when I did notice them, I felt that they only accentuated her looks, instead of detracting from them.

We hold each other's gazes for a moment, but then we really start to lose consciousness. She rolls onto her back, while I remain on my side, half my body draped over hers. She falls asleep quickly, but I don't. I spend as much time as I can watching her breathing slowing down and the flush fading from her skin until I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

But then, when I can't see Juliet, that's when my subconscious paints blurry images of Fionna on the insides of my retinas.

Hey, I'm happy that I've got someone special in my life again. But what about my first someone special? Why am I not able to let her go? I start to wonder if there wasn't some significance to the fact that I was chosen for that specific song earlier. Is that God's way of telling me to pay attention to the fact that the one I loved is all over my thoughts and dreams? I never did tell Fionna I loved her before she died. Is that why she's still haunting me?

I struggle to drift off to sleep, worrying that I'm going to have to endure another weird sex dream-turned-nightmare before tomorrow morning.