September in Salus

September 12th

 The few days between Salus Day and Semi passed quickly. Caelum's time was taken up with soccer practice, studying Latin, and, of course, questing. Dom also had soccer, but, much to Caelum's chagrin, he'd been recruited for Eli's team, the Dragons. Between that and Dom's magic lessons, Caelum didn't see much of Dom- or Eli. Despite his business, it was a respite from the stress of Dom entering Salus and Caelum's dragon-inflicted injury.

On Friday evening, Caelum shrugged out of his sweater, put away his homework, and dressed for the dance, tying and retying his tie to get it exactly right. As usual, he slipped his charys gun into the belt at his waist. It wasn't as though he would need it that night, but he made it a habit to always have it with him.

Caelum had agreed to meet Victoria in the lobby of the Saarinen building, where they would enter the gym together. Caelum still hadn't managed to figure out why dances were held in the gym when they had a serviceable ballroom, but he supposed it added to the normal-high-school atmosphere.

After Mrs. Sharp took enough pictures of Caelum and Victoria to fill an entire photo album, they walked into the gym and looked at the seating list tacked to the wall. Caelum groaned. "They put Eli at our table?"
"It's us, Eli, and Dom. It'll be nice, Caelum." Victoria's reproachful tone made Caelum feel a little guilty for his resentment. The guilt lessened when they spent much of dinner in stony silence, broken only by Victoria's attempts at conversation and emphasized by the soft pop music playing over the gym's speakers. As soon as dinner was over, the music was cranked up and there was a mass migration of students to the dance floor. Caelum almost got up, but he wasn't a fan of dancing at the best of times, and now, with his skin still raw from his burns and exhausted from his recent missions, Caelum was really not in the mood to get up and join his friends.

Victoria cocked her head at him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Caelum traced a finger along the edge of the table. "Do you mind if I don't dance? I'm not feeling so great."
Disappointment flashed across Victoria's face, but she quickly erased it. "No, I don't mind. Dom and Eli are dancing, and some of my friends are over there." She gestured to one of the loose groups of teens spread across the gym.

As his friends left, Caelum remained sitting at their table, arms crossed, looking off into space. Half an hour later, he was bored of people-watching and his head was starting to throb from the volume of the music. He perked up when a slow song came on, curious to see which couples formed. A slow dance would be alright, he thought. Maybe he would find Victoria and ask-

His train of thought abruptly derailed. Victoria was already dancing. With Eli. He could feel his fists clench. What was Eli doing, asking Victoria to dance? Surely she wouldn't willingly dance with him? He narrowed his eyes, watched them sway back and forth, and tried to look at the situation objectively. He didn't like Victoria as anything more than a friend, but she was smart and pretty. Of course she would attract Eli's attention. And, despite his personality flaws, Eli was good-looking and, Caelum loathed to admit it, nice. Nice to other people, that was.

The song ended, and Caelum watched Eli remove his hands from Victoria's waist and head in the direction of their table. He stood up when Eli arrived. "Hey. Why were you dancing with Victoria?"

"I asked her to dance and she said yes. You aren't dancing with her. Why are you being so possessive?"

"What? I'm not being possessive!"

"You sound like it. Victoria can dance with whomever she wants."

"Of course she can! I never said-" Caelum broke off, his hands clenched into fists. "Stop putting words into my mouth!"

"I'm not!" Eli took a deep breath to calm himself. "Listen, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"