"Dylan? What are you doing here?", my question made him jump in the already cramped space and hit his head. Whether it was because of the question or because he hadn't been expecting anyone, I dunno.

"Uh... would you believe me if I said that I'm playing hide and seek?", he gave me a sheepish smile while rubbing his head.

"That depends.."

"On what?"

"No, on who you are playing it with", I grinned. I had a guess, but hey, we can't be too sure, can we?

He grimaced, "Celine?"

"Then I suppose it's more of a permanent hide and never to be seek-ed ?", I couldn't help the cheeky grin.

"Yeah, you got that right", he said with a relaxed smile, "But what are you doing here?"

That was totally expected...not.

Well my big mouth just had to start a conversation, right? Now my poor brain has to work. And my jaw muscles. And my vocal chords. And-

"Earth to Juliann! Are you gonna answer before... what do they say.... yeah - before I die?", Dylan waved his arms in front of my eyes. That gesture alone brought me back to where all this started.. or more precisely, a who- Markus Stupid Steale.

Idjit.

The second the music changed, I knew I'd dug my own grave. That boy was a pro!! And apparently a person who had no bones. So before he could publicly sham my dancing, I'd sneaked off to hide under the table, where Dylan already was.

But Dylan doesn't need to know all that.. right?

"Oh I'm here on a diplomatic mission.... y'know, to avoid a battle?"

"Battle?", then his eyes shone with mischief- uh oh -"What kind?"

Dump it! I really thought he would miss that!

"Uh... a dance battle", I muttered.

"With?"

Such a pushover! Oh well - "Your stupid Marky Dorky", I mumbled. And right on cue, his voice came floating, all high pitched and whiny- "Where's my opponent? My rival? My Maleficent? My Than-"

"Finish that sentence, and I'll Hulk-smash you!", I yelled coming out of my hiding place. 

How dare he Thanos me?! 

And then I slapped my forehead- "Oh, ship! What have I done?" I huffed under my breath.

Lesson kids, Think before you leap out from your hiding place.

Apparently Mark was distracted too.

"DG?! What are you doing there with her?", Mark wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Discussing strategies on how to solve the impending crisis", Dylan replied matter-of-fact-ly.

"In English?"

"We are gonna dance back", he said looking straight at me as if daring me to deny.

Wait...We?!!! When did that happen?!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

"Music, please!", I vaguely heard Dylan shouting. My mind was more focused on not blushing, not tripping and not blabbering. Who said being a girl is easy?

Never mind- we have more pressing issues here!

Everybody stopped to stare at us as we walked hand-in-hand to the dance floor. And I could feel two holes in my back, courtesy to Celine's glare. Dylan guided me to the center of the dance floor, and that's when my mind started functioning again. I was just about to protest when I felt him gliding his hand to my waist and guiding one of my hands to his shoulder. The other, he decided to keep it in his hand.

I feel like a spectacled Cinderella!! And just to make it clear.... that's a living nightmare!!!!

The music was slow paced at first.

During that phase, I was slightly reminded of my short-comings. But before I could open my mouth, Dylan interrupted, "I'm pretty sure that you are even less stable while dancing than when you are walking on solid ground... That's why I'm doing this ." And the traitor tightened his arms around me. Do I really have to explain what followed? My heartbeat picked up speed, and I became .... completely blank, except for a girly voice (that I didn't know I had) squealing "Ohmygosh!!!!"  in my head.

But nothing was as bad as everyone's.... stares? Or glares, as far as Celine was concerned. Not that I could really mind it- my eyes were too busy watching blue and green swirl in Dylan's eyes.

What? He was staring first!

Of course that Idjit just had to interfere - "You call that dance? Let me show you some real music!" and without any further ado, pushed the DJ out and fumbled with the things before...

The music became fast. Real fast. 

But Dylan wasn't worried at all. He merely smirked at him and said to me, "Hope you can keep up" and twirled me around. Then he led me through a series of movements I never even knew of. He threw me around like a rag doll, I was amazed how much my body could handle without getting a fatigue.

Though the weirder thing was that I never faltered in my steps, or stopped to think what was going on. The loud music acted as some sort of a trance-inducer, and all I did was follow my instincts which were incredibly attuned to his.

I wouldn't have noticed the end of the dance, if it weren't for the people hooting and applauding. And yet, all I felt was a startling disappointment that Dylan no longer had his hands around me.

Weird!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

After that whole 'weird' scenario, I found myself in the center of the solar system. All the girls were glaring (especially, you-know-who) or staring as if they couldn't believe what happened. Zara and Becky finally broke off from their partners and horded me, only to keep up the endless bickering on how pissed Celine looked and how red I looked. Seeing that my justifications only made it worse, I shut my mouth and let them rant all that they wanted. 

There was something real wrong about my eyes, they kept wandering to a certain person, and I didn't even realize until Zara said, "You really can't take your eyes off him, can you?" to which I immediately flinched and responded with an indignant, "No way!", but only made them snicker harder.

"What?", I asked thoroughly confused.

The snicker escalated to giggles. I rolled my eyes at their antics, but when they started gaining attention, I intervened-

"Cut it out!" I whisper-yelled.

"S-sorry, that was just sooo cliché! I can definitely see where this is headed now, and Oh boy, did I guess it right-" I cut Becky off with a "Stop that!"

Nonetheless, my face was all red again, and they started laughing even harder, while I stood in the middle of those crazy buffoons, trying to lash out at them. Sadly, seeing their choked faces, I could literally feel my anger fading away...

Oh no! I am loosing it! Someone, help!

And the night ended with us choking uncontrollable laughter.

Seriously, this is the second time this is happening?! 

__________________________________________________

Thanks a bunch for sticking up with me all the while, you guys- at times I felt fed up with this myself, like seriously, get a move on!

But I appreciate your persisting confidence that this story will continue.

MOLTO Thank you to every single reader - you make my day!

luv,

ceredeneTT

[Grinnier, thanks for the vote! I appreciate it a LOT! :)]