Survival Of The Fittest

Maddy smiled at Peter, feeling unable to stop herself from swishing her dress around. It was a deep purple colour, with swirly bits in white and black and little silver stars all over it. And it made swishy noises when she walked, which was the most entertaining thing about it. This, combined with the fact that her mother had actually allowed her to wear heels (which clicked on the floors, another sound effect she was enjoying) , meant that she was feeling surprisingly good about herself. Seeing as she lacked the ability to dance, finding that she could never really enjoy it either, though that would probably depend a lot on how good Peter was at it.

She nodded enthusiastically at the suggestion of snacks. She was ravenous, having missed dinner on account of the fact that she was getting ready, the makeup alone had taken her over an hour and a half (with her mother and Eve trying to help to no avail), partly because she had to pretend she was no good at putting mascara on, even though she wore it every day. Sometimes, Maddy felt her life would be easier if she was more honest about everything.

"Sounds good to me!" she said enthusiastically, feeling that speaking might be a better option than her mute nodding. "I'm ravenous. Mother dearest didn't feed me, though I guess she probably told you that I just skipped dinner because I was getting ready, I would never do that!" Maddy rambled vaguely, making a beeline for a plate of cheese and grapes on cocktail sticks. Truth be told, the thought of being in one person's company, specifically a boy's company, for the whole evening made her feel a little nervous, even if he was a friend. What if conversation dried up? Were they supposed to kiss at any point? And if so how... much? Maddy's mind raced; she tried to ignore it, flashing an impressively peaceful smile at Peter.

"What're you doing Chadd? Not tired on your feet already are you?"

He chuckled under his breath. Such a sense of humor. He made an 'oof!' as she smacked him on the chest. It really didn't hurt, but he always played along. She was strong after all... Why give her reason to hit him harder?

"Nah, but don't you want somewhere to put down your purse? Or guarantee that we can actually sit together when dinner gets served?" He thought quickly back to the story one of his racing friends told him about his junior prom. The two got there, danced the whole time, then when dinner was served, there wasn't a pair of seats in the entire house. Besides, there were two right next to him. He motioned to the chairs. "Just put your purse down, and I'll dance the whooole night away with the most perfect girl in the school." He smiled, and pecked her quickly on the cheek.

He took her hand in his, and led her through the mobs of dancing and grinding high school students. He could barely contain his grin as he tried to lead her right to the very center. That's something he's always felt, he'd loved to be the center of attention. Also, it was the most fun right in the middle... At least so he'd heard. Look in any direction, and all you'd see is other people, having the time of their lives too. Granted, he wouldn't be looking at much else besides the beauty in the crimson dress right in front of him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He shouted over the music. "You're the one that was so eager to dance!"

"Heh, trust me, I have a hard enough time standing here, just speaking with you. I'm not exactly... uhh..."

Think. Where did you put the word?

"Sociable? I don't know, I'm not that great with people..."

Understatement? Yes.

As he spoke with Everett, William began to survey the dance floor once again, looking out on the couple that were there. He hadn't been their long, but he could tell that he wouldn't particularly enjoy sticking around all night. He had worked himself up to come to the prom but now that he was here, now that he had the time to realize he would likely be alone, his resolve was wavering. He returned his focus to Everett as he offered a refill.

"Hm? Oh, no thanks. Heh, not exactly thirsty anymore after the two cups."

He smiled at Everett and turned to look out upon the people once again. He recognized very few and knew even fewer well enough to add some facts to the faces and the names that came to mind. One or two people stood out, some just arriving, others dancing with their dates. The rest were just faces; no names, no history, not even a guess as to their classes or ages. Just faces he'd seen, faces he didn't know.

"I don't think I could name everyone here if my life depended on it."

As he turned back to say something to Everett, something that was unimportant in the long run; an attempt at continued small talk which could be delayed for the moments it took him to spot someone he did recognize. Someone who he knew, and someone who he could at least greet.

"At least I can put a name to a few faces."

He smiled as he took a moment to turn his focus from Everett and place it upon the approaching young man; perhaps if there was no date in sight he would try something more, but for now a greeting would suffice.

"Peter! It's nice to see you."

A rather wide and bright smile crossed William's face as he greeted the only other person he could thoroughly recognize. When it came to his date, however, William drew a blank; not even the first letter of her name would come to mind as he watched her make a break for the snack table. He did take a moment to admire her dress though before he turned his focus back to Peter, glancing over to Everett for a moment; introductions would probably be needed between the four of them, even if they were to just stop for a moment to greet each other.

"Everett, this is Peter. Peter, this is Everett. And... I don't think I know your dates name, unfortunately."

He turned to the girl for a moment, flashing a smile and holding out a hand.

"I'm William."

A bit strange for them to be exchanging introductions at the prom, but hey, it was a big school with a lot of students; not everyone knew who everyone else was, so its always good to play it safe.

Edit on account of leaving for three weeks.

Perhaps before introductions had finished, or perhaps even after they had finished, a feeling hit William with full force; one he couldn't ignore, as it was a rather important bodily function.

"Ah, hell. I'll be back in bit, hopefully. Who knows, I might run into someone on my way back. Enjoy the night either way, if I don't slip back here in time. Nice to see you all, and certainly nice to meet you two."

With that, William slipped off into the crowd, heading off in the direction of the bathrooms. Cause yeah, that happens, sometimes at the worst moments.

"Thanks." John chuckled, grinning. "You're a pretty awesome girl. We should totally go out more often."

"Oh, absolutely!" Celeste nodded, smiling and trying not to sound desperate or overeager. Play cool, girl, play cool... At least he agreed with her sentiment...

"You wanna dance?"

Oh, did she ever...It'd have been a damn boring Prom if they had nothing but stand around, eating and drinking and talking. Well, if they had gone into a restroom or behind the school somewhere and had sex the whole time, that would have been fun, sure...But unlikely to happen. They were here to dance and flirt, nothing else. Well, maybe something else afterwards, Celeste thought with a catlike smile, tongue poking out slightly. Suddenly realizing she hadn't answered John's question, she nodded, arms wrapping around one of John's own arms. "Sure...I bet you're great at it," she giggled, tugging him towards the center of teh floor.

"Just don't make me stand on your feet like a little girl, okay?" she half-joked with a wink.

Jennifer's compliment was welcomed by Maf with a sudden and awkward cough, one he managed to direct into his chest before it was too late. Having avoided splattering his spit all over Jennifer, he smiled and mumbled an apology for the hacking as they got back into the groove of the three-years-too-old meme. It was...nice, Maf determined after a couple of minutes, even if his large bulk and her smaller frame were making things like balance and co-ordination more difficult than they should've been. However, he kept his eyes on hers throughout, tearing them away on briefly to make sure his feet weren't going all stupid on him. Gazing into her brown eyes under the dim lights of the hall, he found himself surprisingly calm, though he didn't dwell on that thought for too long.

Eventually, the silence between the two became a bit too obvious and threatening, something Maf found odd. Silence was never obvious for him - he could go hours without saying a word to anyone and it would never feel awkward or unpleasant for him. But, in the presence of this girl, Maf found himself getting self-conscious. It wasn't a feeling he was familiar with, and he noted how unnatural it felt to break a silence as he asked Jennifer in a low mumble, "It's a very nice dress."

And with that, Maf remembered immediately that there were several reasons he never broke silences unnecessarily, one was that he hated people saying inane things without thinking about them. Inane things like "It's a very nice dress."

Maf coughed into his chest, showing remarkable politeness in avoiding Jennifer's face. She smiled at him. Dancing to the song was somewhat awkward, but not in a bad way. If anything, it was a good kind of awkward, the kind that comes from two people trying something new, something neither of them really knows, and doing their best not to offend or accidentally trip each other up while doing it. The best part, though, was that Maf looked into her eyes the whole time. Nobody ever treated Jennifer like that. She smiled and looked back into his, just admiring them, reflecting on how hard it was to really notice people's eyes, how she never looked people in them this long, how pretty the color of Maf's was.

The silence stretched between them, and it seemed like nothing—absolutely nothing—could break it in a satisfactory way. It was a magical moment, the sort Jennifer almost feared because they always came to an end, always finished in a way that let her down.

Then Maf opened his mouth and paid her the best compliment he possibly could have. He told her he liked her dress.

The magic was preserved.

Jennifer absolutely beamed at him. "Thanks," she said. "I'm glad you like it. I, um... I worked very hard on it."

Grinning as Chadd made his way through the crowds without realising she had slipped out of his grip not seconds after he held on, Janet couldn't help but stifle a laugh as he called out to her from the middle of the dance floor: he could get so ahead of himself so easily.

Tossing her corsage down onto the nearby chair, Janet moved as quickly as she could through the crowd in high heels towards her boyfriend. Arriving at his handsome self, she looked around to realise she had made her way to the centre of the dance floor.

"Typical Chadd" she thought to herself. "Always wants to be the center of attention!"
It was harsher in her head than she meant, but that was hardly a concern for the evening. Tonight was a night for dancing, sneaking booze, and magic.

Actually, hold the booze. She hadn't drunk since that night at the party, and she wasn't really ready to touch anything alcoholic for a little while yet.

Then it daunted on her: what if HE showed up? What if Rizzo showed up at the Prom, and did something right in front of Chadd that could ruin the night forever?!

Trying to be as subtle as possible (And failing miserably), Janet peered around the room for any sign of the small senior she had slept with, but beyond the crowd of people surrounding them she couldn't spot anyone looking even remotely like him. Maybe he just couldn't find a date, and had decided to stay home that evening.

"Relax Janet: enjoy Chadd's company." she told herself, smiling up at the love of her life. Staring into his dreamy eyes, she felt her nerves calm themselves, and thought to the wonderful evening that laid ahead of her.

Rizzo saw Janet enter the prom hall and everything else just dropped away. All he could see was her. She looked beautiful. Strikingly so. But all too suddenly she was in the middle of the dancefloor. With a guy.

"Fuck..." Rizzo muttered as reality slammed right back into place. She had a date. Which reminded him that HE should have had a date. Or some girl at least. Hell, the school librarian would do... He looked around and tried to locate any girls dancing on their own - near to where Janet now stood. None. There were groups though...

He went onto the dancefloor and started dancing slightly as he made his way towards a group of girls. Hopefully it would look like he was dancing with them - or at least one of them...

---

"Sure...I bet you're great at it, Just don't make me stand on your feet like a little girl, okay?"

John chuckled and shook his head.

"I wouldn't dream of it. he told her as he followed her to the dance floor, letting her tug his arm. He didn't care what music was playing, he wasn't planning on dancing to the beat. Just dancing however felt right. Though hopefully he wouldn't look like a complete tool and embarrass Celeste.

The only bad thing about the prom so far, was the fact it was so dark. His beautiful girlfriend deserved to have everyone see her in the light. Even the disco lights were too dim to show her off.

When they reached the spot where she decided to stop, he put his arms around her waist. He started to sway slightly, smiling at her. Hopefully she would know it was dancing, and not him fainting.

Celeste couldn't help turning a bit pink when John held her waist. She knew she had no reason to--after all, he'd held her there and in plenty of other places, but still...She chuckled a bit at his dancing, deciding to just copy him. What was the harm? Dancing was dancing after all.

Swaying a bit herself, hands on his fore-arms, Celeste winked up at him. "Well, now this is an easy dance," she said. "The best kind, because there's no way to mess up...Am I right?" she winked again.

...?

Where the hell did she go?

He looked around for a second, before glancing back towards the table, and saw that red dress running quickly up behind him. Typical Janet... He mentally chuckled, watching her catch up. He made a waving motion with his arm, beckoning her to him.

As soon as she made it there, he took the beautiful girl in his arms. He leaned his head in close, his lips right next to his ear. A whisper would be lost in the loud, booming music, but he raised his voice only just so that she could hear him. "Let's make tonight perfect." He smiled, pulling his head back and looking into her eyes.

He saw her looking (quite obviously) around the room. He yelled out, the humor in his tone obvious. "Looking for your date?" Nothing anywhere remotely close to what Janet was thinking was going through his head. It was their prom. There couldn't be any problems tonight, it was going to be the perfect night! He was actually curious what she was looking for... Meh. There would be time to ask that later. If he even remembered. Right now, the one thing that mattered was her.

Chadd took her hand in his, giving her a quick spin. The two danced the night away. Sometimes slow, and romantic... Sometimes grinding, and sensual. Sometimes, hell, just having fun with it.

((Chadd Crossen continued in The Dance Must go on!))

Tiffany had never really danced before. Sure the cheerleading routines had a lot of jumping around and gymnastics, but that didn't translate particularly well to the dance floor. Clearly, Andrew did not share this problem. He led the two of them in some simple steps, but never failed to lose the rhythm of the music. Occasionally, he would do something that caught Tiffany by surprise, like spinning around to dance from behind her or lifting her off her feet.

They danced for a few songs, and Tiffany was thoroughly enjoying the dancing and the music. She could probably dance the whole night, as long as the music was good. She was getting a little tired of the upbeat songs though. As the next song ended she leaned over and whispered into Andrew's ear, "Let's go request a song."

They walked off the dance floor, which wasn't really crowded yet. Getting to the DJ table was quite the exercise; Tiffany's dress did not make walking quickly an easy task, even though she was used to heels and long skirts. The dress was pretty, but it sure was stiff and bulky too. When they got to the DJ, she stopped to look at Andrew. Now that she thought about it, it was probably too early to request a slow song. It hadn't even been half an hour yet, and there was still a lot of time left in the night. Also, there was a good chance that the DJ would end up playing the song she had in mind anyway.

"Is there any song you want to dance to?"

---

---

Peter and Maddy were approaching the refreshments table when William walked up and greeted Peter with a big smile. Behind him was Everett Taylor, a boy Peter didn't know very well. Peter turned to Maddy and politely drew his arm away from her and said, "Why don't you go and get those snacks? I'll be right here chatting with these guys."
Way to be a gentleman. She may be independent, but I should still be going with her.
Peter turned back to face William as Maddy hurried off to the snack table. "Sorry about that Will. She's a bit hungry," Peter cocked his head in the direction of his date, "I think she skipped dinner." He gave his friend a full look over. It wasn't the first time he'd seen William wearing something resembling formal attire, but he'd done a hell of a job of freshening up and making himself look good.
Look good… and what? There's more right?
Peter had met William back last year. Peter was still fairly new to the school, but the History teacher was compelled to assign a project early in the school year. Most of the kids had paired up quickly, and Peter still didn't know anybody beyond listening to attendance calls. William apparently was also a quiet and reserved guy, and the two of them got paired up for the project in the end. Their quiet project sessions eventually led to them discovering their mutual interest in the outdoors.

He was just about to start off some conversational banter, but William felt it was necessary to make introductions for him and Everett. It was largely unnecessary: Peter and Everett were in the same class for Chemistry and Physics this year. Everett was the kind of guy that Peter didn't find easy to relate to: hard-working but not brilliant. In any case, Peter just smiled and nodded at Everett, hoping he'd get the idea to just play along. Maddy returned from her journey to the snack table just as the initial introductions had been made, so Will turned to her and offered his hand to her. Always the gentleman, Peter offered out his hand to Maddy for her to put her little paper plate on while she shook Will's hand.

"This is Madison Stone. She's more a church friend than a school friend." Peter hoped that Maddy wouldn't take that the wrong way. With his free hand, Peter gestured over to the two guys. "Maddy, this is William. We go hiking and camping sometimes. I don't know if you know Everett. He's in the other Calc class, and also in our Physics class." He watched as Maddy, Will, and Everett exchanged polite greetings with the introductions.
Leave it to Will to be the formal socialite. Introductions really aren't my thing.
Just then, Will got a strange look on his face and excused himself, parting with a few nice words. Will could be so darned polite when it came down to it. It made Peter feel like he wasn't doing a good enough job of his own. This left only Everett standing there, alone with a cup of juice. "So, I never would've seen this coming. You and Will, huh?" Peter gave a low chuckle. "What's there to drink, by the way? Is there any good punch?"

Maddy, having been vaguely startled by the turn of events as she somehow found herself at the snack table without Peter. She suddenly felt very strange and alone, so grabbed a handful of cheese cubes on sticks and hastily made her way back to where he was talking to two guys she didn't know very well. As they were introduced she made a few polite gestures, and added a few words along the lines of "I've seen Everett in Physics, but nice to meet you both properly" which was odd as she was fairly sure she wouldn't meet them again. There was also a high risk of her not recognising them if she did see them, but she was fairly content to smile along beside Peter as some small talk was made, and then suddenly William disappeared. She looked vaguely at his retreating back, sort of guessing why.

"Well I guess if you have to go..." she muttered with a smil under her breath to Peter, before realising that Everett was still there. She gave him a slightly awkward smile, feeling sorry for him being abandoned; she'd felt awkward alone for three seconds at the food table. She offered one of her cheese cubes to him at about the same time that Peter started talking, finding herself supressing laughter at their timing.

"Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I, um... I worked very hard on it."

Maf felt as though a massive rock had been lifted off his head - his brainless comment had been received well, and the moment was not crushed by his uncharacteristic word vomit. He smiled at her and continued moving to the music, the two of them dancing slowly to music that wasn't really appropriate for that kind of dance. Maf wasn't really paying attention, though - his focus was on the girl in front of her, and that was all that mattered tonight.

The music petered out, melding into another high-energy dance track, and Maf decided that it would probably be better to save the next dance for something more appropriate. Leaning in to Jennifer, he mumbled in her ear, "Would you like a drink?"

Over the course of the car ride, Ridley had not looked over at her for fear of embarrassment. He did not know why, himself, but his excuse was that he had to keep his eyes on the road. Without an excuse now, he got to have another good look at his date's dress. He had always seen her as 'cute' more than anything else, but at that moment, he thought of her as 'beautiful.'

Once he closed the car door behind her and locked the doors, he walked up to her and presented his arm. "Shall we?"

Will explained that he couldn't name all of his classmates, and Everett smiled in sympathy. He certainly didn't know everyone in his class, at least, not well. He knew most of the high-achievers, and a good number of the people on the opposite end of the spectrum. Heck, even a large proportion of the people who didn't really stand out. But there were hundreds of students at Bayview, and it would be nearly impossible to keep track of all of them.

Then Peter walked up. Everett knew of Peter, knew they shared two science classes, but that was about it. Luckily, Will introduced the two of them, and Peter introduced his date, before Will headed off to the bathroom. Everett smiled at Peter and his party, shaking hands and trading small talk. Then Peter made a comment about Everett and Will. It took a Everett a second to figure out what he meant, then he flushed red, embarrassed by the situation. How had Peter possibly gotten that idea? Had it been the introductions? Had he been giving off signs?

Everett stammered out, "Uh, n-no, it's not like... that... at all. Will and I are j-just friends."

He realized that his speech, normally much better controlled than at that moment, probably was not going far towards convincing Peter of the veracity of his statements. What could he say, though? "I'm straight"? Because that sure didn't sound like a clumsy denial. Everett wasn't into guys, at least not sexually; some of them he thought were handsome, even very good looking, but he couldn't imagine kissing one or something.

"So," he said, changing the topic, hoping to minimize the damage, "how are you enjoying the dance so far?"

---

Jennifer and Maf continued to dance for a time, making the best of the playlist. Then, as yet another quick-paced thing started up, Maf asked Jennifer if she wanted a drink. She didn't even have to think before replying, "Sure."

It was strange. She had felt so uncomfortable about the prospect of accepting a drink from someone else just minutes before, and now here she was doing exactly that. Then again, Maf wasn't a total stranger. She still didn't know him that well, but what she did know, she liked. A lot.

She turned towards the snack table, ready to go get some punch. Without really thinking about it, she kept one of her hands in his as she walked.