Survival Of The Fittest

Bishop paused as the song came to its conclusion. It had been awhile since he'd had that much fun. Dancing was one of the pleasures in life that he enjoyed the most, doubly so with a girl. Triple, perhaps even quadruple that amount of said girl knows how to either dance or follow. And Tiffany was, to Bishop's pleasant surprise, fixed squarely in the latter category. She seemed to be having no trouble at all following along with his movements. He even managed to pull off a fancy trick or two.

"Let's go request a song" Tiffany whispered in his ear, leading him from the dance floor. Nodding in assent, Bishop followed her to the DJ table. He honestly did not much see the point in requesting songs, since in his experience the DJ would rarely actually pay attention to requests. But of course he would never say this out loud. And besides, this DJ just might surprise him.

"Is there any song you want to dance to?" Tiffany asked when they had reached the DJ. Bishop rubbed his chin and pondered. They had been mostly playing faster-paced songs so far, so maybe a slow song would be good to break up the action a bit.

"How about 'Your Song' by Elton John?" he suggested.

"Well, now this is an easy dance, The best kind, because there's no way to mess up...Am I right?"

John chuckled and nodded, feeling glad she was here with him. Not that he'd have come if he had no date. Sure he had a ticket already, but he would have faked a stomach bug or something.

"How many songs do we dance for...?" he asked after a few minutes. He didn't want to wish this time away, but dancing like this wasn't the most fun they could be having together. He wasn't going to try and get sex out of her, but if that was the way the night went...

There was only so long that one could just sit in the corner and mope. Fuck Bishop, fuck Tiffany... Brook wasn't about to let them ruin his night. Just because they were having fun, having the time of their lives with each other...

Shit... those are seriously angry thoughts. I... need a drink.

Brook shrugged off such angry thoughts, looking for anybody that he knew to hang out with. They didn't have to be the best of friends or anything, but even a slight acquaintance could help take his mind off of things with the enlisted help of a cup of punch or two.

Janet's heart thumped hard in her chest as Chadd asked if she was looking for her date, yelling out the question for all to hear. "Oh god, he's figured it out! I'm sorry Chadd, I didn't mean to cheat!" she cried out in her head, the water works were ready to burst and shower Janet's face with guilty tears. Then she saw him smiling down at her. Thank God; it was just a joke! Just a joke, and she could relax! There was no way he'd know about Rizzo, and even if there was – well, he just couldn't! No-one knew about it except them!

So what if Rizzo pulled off something stupid?

Shit, what about that?! What if he did something out of a movie and got on stage, confessing his massive love for her?! God, couldn't he get over her already!? I mean, she was probably the best thing he'd ever get in his life, but for fucks sakes she'd made it clear that she wasn't interested! Creepy little rat could fuck off already!

"Okay; calm down Janet, nothing's happened yet." she told herself, trying to calm her down without worrying Chadd, who she was not inches away from. The nervous face she was wearing a few seconds ago may have tipped him off of course, but for now she would just have to try and pass it off as something else, and hopefully he wouldn't catch on. After all, there wasn't any reason for him to know, so she would just have to relax. Relax.

Try as she might, Janet was still dancing nervously against Chadd's warm, loving body as the two shared the dance floor, and even as she tried to lose herself in Chadd's wonderful eyes, that short senior kept flashing across her clouded mind, poisoning her thoughts with his presence, ruining her Prom night with the ever-growing guilt inside Janet's heart, threatening to kill the evening forever.

"Why Janet? Why did you have to sleep with him?"

((Janet Claymont continued in The Dance Must Go On!))

"Mm!" Raine could not meet Ridley's gaze before but when she looked at him now, a blush ran across her face. It wasn't one of her being embarassed for feeling inadequate to be with Ridley, and it wasn't nervousness that she felt either. She was blushing because she was happy. For the first time, Raine felt like she was wanted by someone. She didn't feel like she was a burden on someone.

Raine extended her arm and slipped her hand into his. She delicately made her way out of the car and locked it behind her. "Ridley I...I feel so happy right now...My heart's beating so fast."

"Ha, sorry for running off like that."

William's voice chimed in as he returned from his trip; no more than five or ten minutes after departing. A quick trip, indeed, but at least it was out of the way and hopefully would stay that way. But earlier nervousness made such a trip inevitable; perhaps now that William has relaxed among friends, such trips will no longer be needed.

"You miss me?"

He flashed a smile as he rejoined the three at the snack table, looking to the cheese cubes that Maddy had taken from the table, chuckling slightly before looking back to Everett and then to Peter. A quick scan of the dance floor soon followed before William spoke up again, finding it necessary to clear his throat to make his voice work again and stave off any awkward silence, and nervousness, that might occur.

"Doesn't look like everyone is here, but it does seem to be a nice turnout for being so early in the dance."

He looked to the watch on his wrist for a moment before turning back to Peter, Everett and Maddy.

"How long do you guys plan to stay?"

Elton John wasn't on Tiffany's music library; she didn't recognize the song at all. That didn't mean she had any objection to the recommendation though. She nodded her affirmative to Andrew, and went and wrote the song name on the request sheet for the DJ. She noted there weren't many other songs on the list yet. It was still early in the night, so it kinda made sense.

"They'll probably start playing it soon," Tiffany said as she turned back to face Andrew, "so we'll just wait here until they start it up?"

As nice a person Andrew was, or maybe because he was so nice, Tiffany couldn't help but draw comparisons between him and Peter. She hadn't spoken with Andrew as much since he began sporadically skipping mass. Even then, at least it seemed that Andrew had learned a few things about being polite and gentlemanly. That was never Peter's strong point. Occasionally, Peter would soften up and show a nice side, which coupled with Peter's other abilities, like being proactive, just gave Peter a greater sense of depth and mystery.

Then again, Andrew had been the one asking her to prom, so it wasn't like he wasn't being proactive either. Maybe she was just a little bit biased.

---

---

Peter chuckled again at Everett's flustered response; hell, it even looked like he was blushing. "Relax man. It's just a joke," Peter said with a grin. "Though the way you're acting now makes me think I hit a little too close to the truth…." Peter just laughed again and shook his head to ward off the silly thoughts. Maddy was laughing too, presumably at his feeble attempt at humor.
Solution to bad jokes? Does it even need to be said?
Maddy was offering a cheese cube to him, but he politely waved it away. Peter didn't really like the taste of cheese; also Maddy needed to eat, not him. "Are you sure that's going to be enough, Maddy?" The plate looked quite sparsely populated, and cheese probably wasn't the best choice of filling snack food. "I'm sure you're not going to faint or anything, but stomach growling isn't a nice sound when you're dancing."
Clearly being drunk isn't a requirement to being crude
Everett offered a standard piece of conversational inquiry. Peter and Maddy hadn't even been in the prom hall for very long, so there wasn't much to tell. Then again, conversation was never about being honest and straightforward; it was why Peter didn't find small talk very interesting most of the time. "It's a pretty nice setup they have going on here," Peter replied, without really answering the question. "I like the curtains. It looks a lot more classy than just leaving the walls bare."

They traded conversation on similarly unremarkable topics for a few minutes. Peter rarely made eye contact with Everett during the conversation, preferring instead to scan around the hall to see who had arrived. At some point, he caught sight of William returning from wherever it was he had went to, and waved him over to rejoin them. William came back with a wide smile and a cheesy one-liner that elicited a few dry laughs from Peter.
It's because I can't loosen up normally that I need to rely on the alcohol
"I actually was under the impression more people would be here by now," Peter said in response to William's comment. "It's not like the run-of-the-mill dance where people are dropping in just to pick up girls." Peter gestured vaguely towards several of the couples already dancing on the dance floor. "Although that doesn't mean you guys can't do just that."

As William moved to check his wristwatch, Peter subconsciously felt the urge to follow suit and checked his own watch. It had only been about half an hour or so since the prom had officially started. The night was still young. There was time for beverages later.

"I don't have any plans on leaving early, unless Maddy wants to." Peter tilted his head in the direction of his date. "But it also depends on how much booze will be at the afterparty and how early they're starting it." Peter laughed at the silliness of the suggestion. He wasn't going to get drunk tonight.
How can I expect others to believe that when I can't believe it myself?
There was a reason that the word "moderation" was engraved on the flask in his pocket.

"How many do we dance for?" Celeste echoed back up at John, making a tiny face. She soon poked her tongue out from between her lips though, to show she was only playing around by making such a face. Didn't want him to get the wrong idea, after all. "You're the man, right? So I'd guess we dance for as many as the man likes."

Celeste laughed a bit, pulling away slightly as the song dwindled to an end. "Though I suppose if you're asking, you must not want to go too long, riiight?" she teased lightly. To be honest, Celeste hoped they didn't dance the entire time--well, one needed food and drink, of course, but her feet would probably drive her insane if she took that route. "Would you like a break then, Big Guy?" she asked, tilting her head a bit and smiling at him, looking up from beneath her lashes. Whoa, girl, careful what you imply there...

Bishop leaned against the wall, idly tapping his foot to the beat of the music, as he waited for their song to come on. In his idleness, he attempted to wrap his head around the idea that senior year was almost over. It seemed as though it had been, if not yesterday, then some very short time ago that he'd started off as just a little tot going to his first day of kindergarten. And now he was all grown up, and had to go to college, and get a job, and have a life, and-

"What are you going to do when you graduate?" he asked Tiffany, suddenly realizing that he hadn't heard about her aspirations yet.

Will returned to the group, sparing Everett more embarrassment. He wanted to sigh in relief, but restrained himself. When Will asked how long he was planning to stay, he consulted his watch, as Peter did the same, then said, "Actually, I'm going to be going pretty soon here. I wanted to come just to, you know, be here, but I still need a good night's sleep. And, well, there isn't that much here that interests me."

He listened to Peter's comments about the afterparties, and the inevitable alcohol. Somehow, he couldn't even muster up any disapproval tonight. It was Prom. People were allowed a little indiscretion. Heck, if he wasn't so set in his morals, he might have indulged too. He was a little envious of those who were going to. They would have memorable nights, and here he was, considering bailing after only half an hour or so. He could suck it up for at least another hour. He had to, just for the experience.

Of course, there was no way he'd loosen up enough to actually ask a girl to dance. Especially not after what had happened to Will earlier. That would just be embarrassing. And he didn't really have his eye on any girl in particular, and it was almost the end of the year, and he would probably go to college out of state if he could, so why even bother? Why start something he couldn't possibly take anywhere? It would just end badly. That, and it was a convenient excuse to avoid taking a chance, avoid the all-too-real possibility of failure.

"I hope you have fun at the parties," he said with a smile to Peter and Maddy. I bet there'll be a bunch of good ones to pick from tonight."

Actually, he had no idea how those parties even worked. Were they invite-only? Were there a bunch, or just a few big ones? Everett had never been to the sort of crazy party most of his classmates seemed to revel in, and, much as he occaisionally wished otherwise, he was in no hurry to change that.

"How many do we dance for? You're the man, right? So I'd guess we dance for as many as the man likes."

John loved how she made it so clear that he was the male in the relationship. But that way, he didn't know if he was doing something wrong, something she didn't like... It made it sound like he should be so certain all of the time. He very clearly wasn't.

"Though I suppose if you're asking, you must not want to go too long, riiight? Would you like a break then, Big Guy?"

John swallowed, looking down at her. She had her ways of turning him on so very quickly...

"Uhm, sure." he nodded. "Yes. We'll have a break."

If she expected him to take charge and be the alpha-male of the pack, then he had to start doing so. Even if she was hinting that she wanted to have sex...

"We'll go get a drink, then we can have a talk about whatever..." he shrugged. "Then we'll see what we want to do."

Maddy grinned at Peter, brushing a strand off hair out of her eyes with the punch free hand. "Ah don't worry, I'll go back get seconds later!" she took a sideways glance at the buffet table, the food was declining a bit and she shrugged at Peter. "Or maybe sooner..." She almost turned to go and get some food when Will came back and she felt that it would be rude to depart just then. Listening to the conversation about when to leave, she nodded occasionally.

"Well, the later we stay out the more likely it is that my parents will have gone to bed by the time we get back..." she said softly, not worrying whether Peter would get the hint or not. She was going to drag him to an afterparty whether he liked it or not. She'd been tempted to sneak some chloroform into her purse, or maybe a syringe full of whatever it was they would sometimes use in movies to force a character to collapse. Then she realised she didn't want Peter to hate her, and also that she had absolutely no idea where to get either of those substances from.

Also it was looking like she would have to drag Everett along. Not that she knew him especially well. The atmosphere in the Prom hall was making her feel more outspoken than she usually was. She shook her head at him as he mentioned heading home early, a grin coming on to her face.

"Aww, come on Everett!" she said enthusiastically. "You gotta come to an afterparty, it's the Prom experience!" At least that's what her older brother said. Her sister hadn't gone to an afterparty, Eve was far too conscietous to attend a house party. Generally Maddy was too, she generally didn't attend those raucous parties that ended up in the cops being called. But tonight was different, tonight was Prom! "Even if you don't drink, they're still fun. You can mess about with the drunk people!"

Alriiiight, Celeste thought, smirking inwardly. She had been hoping there could be more fun during Prom...or after. And it sounded like John was asserting himself too! (Celeste had to admit, the thought of being dominated by "her man" was kinda sexy...)

"Alright then!" Celeste smiled, squeezing John's arm tightly for a moment before relaxing her hold. She pressed even closer to him, making sure to let her breasts brush against him. Just don't over-do it, honey...Let him take charge tonight, see how it goes. "You lead the way?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, smiling with half-closed eyes. Despite her asking the question, she took a few paces forward hersellf.

Sarah slunk into the prom hall quietly, brushing past a few students as she did so. The music was loud, but not deafening... yet, but she didn't expect that to last all night. While she didn't have a date, she still brought something to entertain. She was comforted by that thought and the fact that she knew that she looked stunning in the ice-blue silk tailored dress that her parents bought.

She scanned the room, noting where the punch and snacks were, making a beeline for them.

"Alright then! You lead the way?"

John nodded and stepped ahead of her - he was going to take charge. He led the way to the side of the prom hall, dodging around people and keeping a firm hold of Celeste's hand despite their linked arms. They left the dance floor a few feet from the tables full of food and drinks.

"Let's get some punch." he said, pulling her over to the stacked cups and bowl. He let go of her hand and arm, picking up a cup. He then poured some of the punch into a cup and handed it to her before turning to get one for himself.

When he had a cup, he turned back towards her and tried to look relaxed and cool. Not an easy task even when not at prom with the only girl he's had sex with.

"What do you wanna talk about?" he asked, sipping his drink.