Unpredictable (A Dance Story)

Epilogue

Layers of tulle swished around my waist as I ducked out of the icy wind and into the warmth of my old school building. I held tight to Holden's hand.

"This is weird," I murmured, looking around at the foyer I'd known so well.

I'd chosen not to go back to public school, taking all my classes online instead. That way, I could help Miss Sarah run the dance studio. It would be all mine for a few months after she had her baby. Crazy, putting a teenager in charge of a business instead of one of her other trusted staff members, but I'd been teaching since the new season started up. AND I'd been offered college scholarships already. I planned on opening up my own studio in a few short years, so this would be good practice.

"You're weird," Holden whispered in reply.

I stuck my bottom lip out in a mock pout and he laughed, kissing the top of my head. "HEY, I didn't say you could touch my hair! This took me an hour!" I protested, pushing him away playfully.

He stepped closer and twisted one of my curls around his finger. With him this close to me I couldn't think of a witty or sarcastic remark, so I rose up on my toes and kissed his cheek. "Ready to go dance?" I asked.

He nodded and pulled the tickets out of his coat pocket. There were clusters of people, girls in sparkling dresses shooting me strange glances. I wasn't exactly a regular at school dances, even before I left the school. But I clung tight to Holden with my one working arm; he was forever my anchor.

The cafeteria was dark and decorated with hundreds of paper snowflakes. The Events Committee had obviously worked hard to make this Snowball Dance look good. One of the walls was blank and they were projecting music videos onto it, a popcorn machine directly beside the projector. People were already on the dance floor, but I scrunched my nose at the kind of dancing they were doing.

"Ugh. So not my style," I groaned.

Holden wrapped an arm around my waist. "Don't worry, not my style either. Hey, you don't happen to be wearing pants under that pretty dress of yours? We could show them all up with some risky lifts or something."

"You're such a dork," I laughed, shaking my head. Looking around hesitantly, I smoothed down my blue skirt. I felt a little out-of-place.

"Don't worry," Holden whispered in my ear, "You're the most beautiful girl here."

The words sent shivers down my spine and I closed my eyes, already expecting the quick brush of his lips against mine.

"EW get a room," drawled a familiar voice.

"EW get a life," I retorted, grinning widely at my best friend.

Abbie's blonde hair had been twisted into an elegant updo, pearly hair clips shining in the dim lighting. Her strapless dress hugged her tiny body, a pretty gold-and-white color. It was the polar opposite of mine, which Abbie called the "cupcake" dress. The pleated skirt of my cupcake dress was a peculiar shade of blue. There were gems splattered across the chest and the neckline was made of lace.

"Where's your boyfriend?" I demanded, looking around for Tristan.

Abbie snorted with laughter. "You're gonna love this. So we're walking in and he sees a giant pile of snow and decides it would be a super cool idea to make a snowball and throw it at me. But as we all know, this-" she gestured to herself, "-took several hours to create. So I pushed him backwards into that pile of snow and now it kinda looks like he peed himself."

I giggled at the story but Holden seriously lost it. When Tristan himself walked in (barely looking wet, Abbie was one for exaggeration), Holden was nearly on the floor.