Survival Of The Fittest

Acacia and Max had been dancing for a while. The evening had gone well, and somehow she had managed to avoid Tom for the entire evening. In fact, she wouldn't even had known he was there if she hadn't spied him once earlier and dived behind a pillar before he could see her. Now she was always keeping one eye on him and one eye on Max, which was frustrating as she had better things to do than watch for a man spurned. She took a moment off from her guard, and looked at the various couples around the room. James and Thea were dancing nearby and she smiled; they looked happy. She didn't know either of them particularly well, but had a strange feeling she would miss seeing their faces in a crowd of people. It was weird that come the Autumn she wouldn't be coming back here, ever, as a student, and knew that it would never be quite the same again. Come summer, and they were aliens in the school they had known for so long.

Feeling her eyes begin to mist over, she pulled away from Max slightly as a song ended and one she didn't particularly like started. She grinned at him, and fixed one of the clips in her hair. They were silver diamantes, that matched the silver on her heels and that laced her pale blue dress. Her Mom had splurged, probably because David had gone to his high school prom in an old suit of their father's.

"Can we go get a drink or something? My feet are killing me!" she said, feeling the need for a distraction from the nostalgia waching over her.

((Sapphire McLeod continued from Girls Just Wanna Have Fun))

"So ladies, are we ready to strut out onto the dance floor and show them all how it's done?"

"Yeah!"

Screw it. They were here. She was here. Breathing in and smiling, Sapphire started nodding to the beat. Time to just relax and have fun, tonight was time to party, celebrate finally reaching the last year of their old life.

...although it still wou-

Sapphire shook her head. There was no point worrying about that.

Enjoy. Dance...

Aislyn craned her neck to see who Sammy was going to go see. She wondered if perhaps the lovely Miss Franklin was going to go show herself off to whatever young man had caught her eye. Perhaps she was going to rub it in his face that he could have had her on his arm if he'd had the testicular fortitude to ask her. Eagerly tracking her friend's movement, her smiled faded as Sammy threw herself at…Mr. Kwong. Wuh…Mr. Kwong? Hard-ass Kwong? Wow, really? Sammy likes Mr. Kwong?

A little unsure how to process Sammy's…enthusiastic greeting of Bayview's most infamous teacher, Aislyn was thankfully distracted by Sapphire's cheerful answer to her question. "Well then, let's get our groove on." Tossing a saucy smile at the other girls, Aislyn slipped out onto the dance floor and began moving in time to the beat.

---------------------------------------------

"That was real smooth. You know I could go powder my nose, if you wanted to go back and try that again."

Hearing the unrealized laughter in Samaya's tone, Roman felt his ears burn but he had to acknowledge the humor in the situation. Reaching up to straighten his tie, he gave her a knowing smirk. "Well, if you're so eager to lose your date to another girl, I could go back and talk to her some more. But since my mother would flay me alive for not leaving with the girl I came with, I think I'll just stay and keep you company."

Leaning over, Roman whispered into Samaya's ear, "Besides, if none of these guys could get it together to ask you to prom, why should I give them the opportunity to swipe one of the hottest girls here? You're my date, even if we're just here as friends and man code dictates that I defend my territory."

Speaking of man code, I haven't seen either Meghan or Jimmy. Standing on tiptoe, Roman stretched to try to get a better view of the room. As he looked around, he realized that there was one other person he hadn't seen yet. "And where in the hell is my sister? She left way before we did, and as far as I know, she didn't have dinner plans with her date."

Alex practically bounced as she walked in to prom next to Jason. They were late, but Alex didn't mind she's had a wonderful time during the drive with Jason. They'd missed their exit the first time and decided to drive a little further before turning around and heading back. Then they'd hit traffic and well now they were late. She dragged Jason over to get their picture taken, knowing her mom would demand it and she was planning on using it as her entry into the scholarship program. She looked around and was disappointed to see that her brother had beaten her there. Great she thought. Now I'm gonna hear about it.

**********************************************************
"Oh come on. I'm not that bad, am I?" James laughed, feeling a tiny shiver run up his back as he felt her hands around his neck. He let out a soft laugh, buried under the music. "You enjoying yourself?"

Thea smiled and moved closer to James allowing her arms to rest on his shoulders. "Of course, this is better than I hoped." She leaned in and kissed him lightly, then sighed as the song ended, not wanting to end the closeness they now enjoyed.

*******************************************************************************
Leaning over, Roman whispered into Samaya's ear, "Besides, if none of these guys could get it together to ask you to prom, why should I give them the opportunity to swipe one of the hottest girls here? You're my date, even if we're just here as friends and man code dictates that I defend my territory."

Samaya blushed at Roman's compliment, however she quickly covered it by raising her eyebrow. "Man code really?"

"And where in the hell is my sister? She left way before we did, and as far as I know, she didn't have dinner plans with her date."

Samaya looked around the room sharing his concern, while she didn't know what it was like to have a twin she did have two younger siblings at home. He scanned the room in time to see Alex drag her date over to the photos. "There she is," she said pointing to Alex and Jason. "Umm, what is her dress made out of?"

((Sarah Xu continued from Promase))

Sarah walked back to the out of the way table where she and Reiko were sitting, carrying a small pile of junk food stacked on a flimsy plate. She set 'dinner' down between the two of them and sat back down next to her. She grasped Reiko's hand under the table with her right, leaving her left hand free to pick out a brownie.

"Right, where were we? Yeah, I don't get the hype, yes the special effects were cool and it had some action and techy sci-fi stuff, but the whole consensus reality plotliney thing is old as." She took a bite from the brownie to punctuate. "N wosh wib Neo-shu?"

They'd done little else for the past hour, sitting there, holding hands, bouncing from topic to topic... they'd started off with LGBTI rights and somehow... ended up discussing The Matrix. Sarah couldn't be happier.

((Maxwell and Vera continued from Let the Dance Begin!))

For the next hour or so Maxwell and Vera spent the night dancing together as a couple, each of them trying to keep up the charade that they were actually enjoying themselves. Anyone observing them would assume that they were both having the time of their lives dancing away to the music; after all they certainly seemed happy enough to be with each other. However, both of them by this point were feeling immensely bored and tired, and wanted desperately to get away from each other to get a break from all the dancing. The only thing stopping them from doing so was the fact that they both assumed that the other didn't want to stop yet, and that it would seem rude to do so at this point.

Eventually, however, Maxwell finally saw his chance after he noticed that Vera seemed to be drifting off.
"My dear, is something the matter?" he asked, feigning concern.

"Oh, nothing… I'm just a bit tired, that's all" replied Vera, who put on a fake smile. At first she mentally berated herself for almost falling asleep, but then saw this as the perfect opportunity to at least temporarily get away from this bumbling idiot.

"I see… If you'd like, we could take a break now. Maybe have a drink or two?" He asked, praying that she'd agree.

"Sure! Yeah, that'd be fine…" she agreed. Thank Christ, about time he suggested we stop and have a drink.
"Good! I'll, um, go fetch the drinks then… anything you'd like in particular?"

"Oh, I really don't mind… A coke or something, maybe?" she suggested.

"Right then, just wait here and I'll be back in a jiffy…" And with that, Maxwell headed towards the snack table in order to obtain the beverages in question.

Christ, he didn't just say jiffy did he? My god, how pathetic must you be to actually say that in front of someone... Vera thought to himself as he walked away. She stood for a moment, observing the prom around her as it went on. She hadn't taken the chance to take note of all the fellow students who were here, and she was wondering if there was anyone around she could perhaps have a conversation with to pass the time. She doubted most of her friends would be here, after all most of them where either too old, too young, or simply too much of a loner to come to a place such as this. However, she did notice that a certain Sarah Xu had decided to show up in what seemed to be a beautifully woven Chinese qípáo. At first she assumed that it must have been someone else, after all there's no way Sarah would ever wear a dress as feminine and beautiful as that. But there was no absolutely doubt that it was definitely her wearing that beautiful red dress, which made the simple alizarin dress that Vera had hastily chosen to wear look relatively plain. Vera couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Still, at least she finally had someone to talk to who wasn't a bumbling moron, and decided to take the chance to go and speak to her.

As she walked over, she couldn't help but notice that Sarah was already sitting down at a table talking to someone. Well, hopefully she wouldn't mind me joining in the conversation.

"Well, well…didn't expect to see you of all people here" she said with a genuine smile, after all she was glad to finally get the chance to speak with somebody who was actually intelligent tonight. "And in such a fantastic dress as well! Where did you get it?"

((Vivien Morin continued from Girls Just Wanna Have Fun))

"So ladies, are we ready to strut out onto the dance floor and show them all how it's done?"

Vivien was born ready to show up everyone at everything. However, he wasn't the type to run ("no running in heels!") onto the dance floor without surveying the area properly.

"I'll just be a sec, gotta say hi to just about everyone!"

It really was an excuse for him to show off to everyone, and he made very little effort to hide it. He toured the room, letting loose with the "You look fantastic!" 's and the "Oh this thing? Isn't it pretty?" 's until he had no one left to brag to. After placing his purse on the girls' table, he headed toward his next destination: the dance floor.

((Carol Burke continued from Girls Just Wanna Have Fun))

"Ah, shucks! We arrived late!"

Carol tore off her shades dramatically, as she surveyed the dance hall. Some people were already dancing like maniacs, while others... well, Sammy was now tossing herself at Mr. Kwong, clearly taking her time to fangirl over the man. Carol chuckled to herself, shaking her head. Then, she spoke, answering Aislyn's question.

"Well, I agree. Let's get this party started, yes? But first, to make a request!"

Running towards the DJ's table, she soon enough was staring at the list. For some reason, it contained a lot of stuff from before she was even born. The DJ seemed to be aware of this, judging by the words now scrawled on the paper; "PLEASE CHOOSE MODERN DANCE MUSIC- DJ". She chuckled to herself again, out of amusement. She almost had the urge to make her request "Take On Me" or whatever it was called, but... got to give the DJ something a little more modern.

But, one of the songs she had in mind was from the 90s. On the other hand, to her credit, she was alive when it came out. And so, Carol grabbed the pen, and wrote "Will Smith- 'Men In Black'". To be honest, the suit she was wearing made her want to play that. And, to give the DJ a little more hope, she then made another request, this time "Rihanna- 'Umbrella'". There, she hoped that helped. It was a song that had to be played at every school dance these days, and if it hadn't played yet, it soon will. And Carol had to make sure that happened.

Seeing the rest of the group walk over to the dance floor, Carol ran over to them. Placing her sunglasses back on, once again dramatically, she gave off her biggest grin.

"Alright, let's do this!"

And so, Carol tried her best moves. To be honest, she wasn't a very good dancer, and likely, by the end of the evening, she would either be tripping on something, knocking someone over, or both, but just because she wasn't that good and kind of clumsy didn't mean that she couldn't have fun, right?

((Marty and Joshua continued from Let the Dance Begin!))

"I'm telling you Marty, 300 is one big metaphor for guys being insecure about their own homosexuality!"

"And I'm telling YOU Josh that it isn't! The only subtext found in 300, if any, is the fact that the entire thing is just one big propaganda movie about the Iraq war"

"Well, duh! I never said it wasn't. I'm just saying that's not the only message it's trying to get across"

"Oh? Well do share how on earth it does get the message across then if its so obvious!"

"Well, think about it... The Spartans are meant to represent gay guys who don't want anyone else around them to think they're gay, so they hide it by being all macho and stuff, y'know?
Then, when the gay guys who don't mind people knowing they're gay, in other words the Persians, come along the closeted gay guys act all homophobic and stuff in order to make sure they don't look gay in comparison..."

"If that's the case... why does Leonidas have a wife?"

"Because he's trying to hide his actual sexuality of course! What better way to claim you're not gay then by having a wife! And you know how they don't allow that ugly looking guy..."

"Ephialtes?"

"Yeah, him... You know how they claim that the reason they don't want him along is because he can't use a shield properly?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I think that the real reason they didn't want him to tag along was because, unlike the other Spartans, he wasn't a sex god with huge pecks was he?"

Marty thought for a moment about Joshua's argument. As much as he didn't want to, he couldn't help but admit that Joshua did back up his argument with some more-or-less decent theories about the sexual undertones of the movie. Plus, it wouldn't have surprised him if it turned out that Leonidas was actually was gay the whole time, after all why else would he insist all the Spartans wear loincloths as opposed to the far more effective body armour that the Athenians used?

"And I suppose when he goes over to join Xerxes' side that it represents how he's finally coming out of the closet..."

"You see! YOU SEE! I told you the evidence was right in front of you!"
"Yeah, yeah… don't get so full of yourself…" Marty replied jokingly. He took a sip out of what must be his seventh lemonade as he observed the crowd. Not much seemed to be happening tonight (What a surprise) and everybody seemed to be having a good time, more-or-less. It wasn't until later that something interesting happened, namely the entrance of five dateless girls who appeared to have come late to the prom. Well, four dateless girls anyway, one of them turned out at second glance to actually be a guy in drag (Which, considering that he'd just been speaking to Joshua about the homosexual undertones in 300, somewhat spooked Marty out a little). As for the other four (actual) girls, only one of them really stood out for Marty. Namely, a certain girl Marty happens to have a thing for by the name of Carol Burke.

"Hey Marty look, its that guy you told me you had a crush on once!" Joshua whispered to Marty jokingly.

"Shut up Josh!" Marty said quietly, feeling somewhat embarrassed. After all, he knew everybody thought Carol looked a lot like a guy with her hair cut short like that (Plus, the fact that she decided to come to the prom in a black suit didn't help). But to Marty, if anything that made her even cuter. He always had a thing for girls who cut their hair short. Not necessarily as short as his hair (Which could practically count as being a buzz cut) but short enough that is isn't draping past their ears or shoulders. It wasn't because he preferred more masculine women or anything; it's just that Marty always found short hair more practical than long hair. Long hair always gets in your way, and it always has to be tied back into ponytails and stuff whenever you're doing anything important. They're far more trouble then they're worth in Marty's opinion (Plus there's always the simple fact that some girls just happen to look really cute with their hair cut short, at least in Marty's opinion)

But it wasn't only her hair of course. Marty always admired her optimistic personality (probably because of how pessimistic he is by comparison), and the fact that she happens to be one of the friendliest students in the cooking classes happens to help a lot (Especially seeing as during those lessons he also has to contend with that pretentious French bitch Alice Boucher, who sadly also happens to be attending the prom). Plus, personality and hair aside, she happens to be fairly cute in the traditional sense as well.

"Nah, I'm just kidding Marty… Still, I can't blame you for liking her. After all, I can't think of many girls who would make a good compromise…"

"...Compromise?"

"You know, for guys who usually prefer other me…"

"Screw you!" Exclaimed Marty, although he couldn't help but chuckle as he did so… after all, no matter how irritating Joshua could be sometimes, he almost never does so in a way that actually pissed Marty off. Moderately annoy him; yes, but never anger him. Still, Joshua of cause had to laugh along with him.

"AHAHAha… Seriously though dude, If you really like her that much why don't you just ask her out? Hell, you could do so right now, whilst she's still dateless!"

"I dunno Josh… What if she's waiting for someone?" asked Marty. He looked over at her to see what she was doing. Seems she had written something down onto the requests sheet, and was now making her way over to her friends in the middle of the dance floor. "Besides, I barely know her. Hell, she probably doesn't even know my name…"

"Then TELL her what your name is! You know, whilst you're asking her to dance and stuff"

Marty sighed and looked back at her briefly. Seems she was dancing with her friends now. He shook his head and took another sip from his drink. "Nah, I probably shouldn't… after all, she's here to spend time with her friends, not with some skinny bastard like me who can't cook to save his own life…"

Joshua shrugged and took a long glug of his own drink. "Suit yourself…"

((Reiko Ishida continued from Promase))

Reiko had probably just had the best hour of her life.

"Yeah, the concept is old, but they just pulled it off so well. I mean, just look at all the metaphors that you can find within the movie itself. Plus from the technical stand point, where would we be without bullet-time?" Reiko responded, using her free hand to grab a strawberry tart from the plate.

She had been surprised that over the last hour just how much they seemed to have in common. Naturally, they're opinions still differed on many thing, but friendly debating was healthy.

As soon as Reiko noticed someone was coming towards them, she immediately let go of Sarah's hand. She wasn't quite ready for others to know about her and Sarah. It wasn't that she was afraid or anything, but it would just be too soon for it to be out in the open. Since this new comer seemed to be content with talking to Sarah, Reiko preoccupied herself by eating her strawberry tart.

"Thanks," Kimberly replied with a smile as a boy complimented her dress. He was gone before she could really get a good idea of who he was, though, perhaps dragged off by his date. She was still pleased. She didn't want to steal anyone's date or anything, but being admired, well, that never hurt.

She took a second to move away from Maria a little, edging along the side of the dance, watching people trickle in late. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Even the teachers were chilling out, which was a pleasant surprise.

Finally, getting a little bored of lurking around the edges, Kimberly moved to the dance floor, and began to dance by herself. It was a little bit awkward, because her dress jingled with every move. She hadn't really planned on moving too much, but standing around was just so dull. Still, she wasn't making that much noise, especially compared to the music. It was still horrible, but if she focused hard enough she could pretend something actually decent was playing. Of course, this meant she was dancing off-beat, but if anyone had a problem with that, Kimberly couldn't have cared less.

((Quincy Jones at Prom))

Quincy wanted a drink, badly. He'd been excited ever since he'd asked Felicia out, but now that they were at the Prom itself, he felt more and more nervous. He'd put way more effort into this than he had almost anything else for a long time. Now that he was here, the reality of it just wasn't living up to the hype.

Still, the night so far had been successful. Mister Costelli had proved true to his word and helped him arrange everything. He was wearing an outfit that he'd never imagined he see himself in, a tuxedo with a white jacket and a black tie. He felt uncomfortable being this formal, but Mister Costelli had assured him that he looked exactly the part. Felicia's reaction to it had astounded him as well.

He'd been dancing with Felicia for a good part of the evening so far, but now he had made his excuses to go and catch his breath. Apart from anything else, all the dancing was more of a strain on his endurance than the short rounds with recuperating periods he was used to. This just seemed to be non stop. Taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his head, he threw back the non-alcoholic punch in his hand, and looked around to see where Felicia was just now.

The kiss didn't really come as a surprise to James. He held his ground as their lips connected, keeping himself firm but not forceful. James closed his eyes reflexively, another shiver running up along his back. And as quickly as the kiss had come, it ended just as abruptly. James couldn't help smiling like an idiot right then and there. He bit his lip, pulling Thea closer. James wanted to speak, he wanted to say something, anything, but he could force no words out.

If there was one thing that James couldn't come out about, it was his own feelings.

"Umm...T-Thea?" He stammered. Well, that was a start at least. That dumb smile that was on his face dissolved. He didn't like talking about himself, it made him nervous, like a fumbling mess. James normally didn't care so much about looking like a fumbling mess, but that was before Thea came along. He didn't want to look bad in her eyes.

This is why he didn't speak. He pushed a wayward thumb against her chin, silently telling her to lift her head back up. James kissed her again, shivers running up his back as they connected a second time. He kept their lips locked for longer. His eyes were closed as he broke the kiss, their lips now about an inch way from each other. James smiled again, the boy's hands still on Thea's hips.

"...where would we be without bullet-time?"

"Hadn't someone already done that though?" Sarah could have sworn she'd heard about that, and it being in a kung fu movie or a videogame or something. Her thoughts on the matter were distracted by Reiko suddenly withdrawing her hand. This perplexed her for all of a millisecond when she realised Reiko's attention was elsewhere. Sarah looked to see what Reiko was gazing at in time to see Vera coming up towards them.

This excited her on two counts. Firstly: Vera was a good friend, their discussions were always fun and she might just be able to tell her about Reiko; Secondly: Finally someone was going to pay her out for not wearing overalls or something and being horribly un-proletarian, something that had so far been sorely missing from her evening. She waved and smiled vigorously.

"Hey Vera!"

"Well, well…didn't expect to see you of all people here, and in such a fantastic dress as well! Where did you get it?"

That was unexpected, wait, no, it had to be coming. Vera was probably just luring her into a false sense of security.

"Yours is quite nice too! My grandma found it for me, How's it going?"

"Yours is quite nice too! My grandma found it for me, How's it going?"

"Quite well, actually. The music's a bit boring and mainstream, but apart from that I'm doing fine" Vera answered politely. Her grandmother found it? Huh, perhaps Sarah's family is more wealthier then I first thought...

She looked over to the short Japanese girl Sarah was sitting with, who seemed quite content with quietly eating her strawberry tart. She could of sworn she'd seen her around school a couple of times, although she may be mistaken seeing as the girl she saw had completely a different haircut to her (A bobcut to be precise).

"So… I hope you don't mind if I ask who your friend here is?" she asked inquisitively.


As she did so, Maxwell was making himself busy in acquiring the drinks for him and his date. He had decided on providing himself with some punch, whilst at the same time getting a plastic cup of cola for Vera. Not exactly the most elegant drink I've ever gotten for a lady, but I suppose it'll have to do…
It was at that point that Vivien had gone up to him and complimented him on his appearance, before moving on to the next person in the room. It took a lot of willpower to stop Maxwell from strangling the man on the spot, and even more willpower to stop him from retorting in a negative manner. After all, if there's anything Maxwell can't stand in the world its flamboyant transvestites who go around telling everyone how fabulous they look, whilst assuming (most likely) that they happen to be the belle of the ball themselves. Plus, the fact that Maxwell himself was an outright homophobe didn't help. Still, he knew better then to say or do anything about it, and decided to keep his mouth shut and his focus on gathering the drinks together.

After all, I can't risk looking like a bigot in front of her, let alone the entire school.