Screaming Colors || Erica Jones

18. first (and last) school dance

[season 1, episode 13: jesse's girl]
‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

"What's the theme again?" Serena asked as she walked down the hallway, Aaliyah by her side.

        Aaliyah's mouth dropped open, "What do you mean, 'what's the theme again?'" she asked, rolling her eyes incredulously. "Serena, this has been like the talk of the school for the past two weeks," she continued, as they rounded the corner to the hallway where their lockers were. "Have you been, like- in a trance or something?"

        Serena frowned, "Sorry," she said quietly. "I've had other things on my mind," she admitted. "Between all the people going missing in Whitechapel, and whatever cryptic warning I got from Benny's grandma, I have a lot on my plate, which doesn't include worrying about the under-the-sea dance."

        Aaliyah huffed as the two stopped in front of their lockers, "Okay, one, it's called the Fly Off to the Moon dance, and two, why are you worrying about the missing people? We didn't use to do that," she reminded Serena.

        The banshee sighed, "That's because he didn't use to be supernatural creatures who were involved with all of Ethan and Benny's antics. And don't you think it's a little weird that there's an uptake in missing persons in the last few weeks?" she asked Aaliyah in hushed tones.

        Aaliyah opened her locker, checking herself out in the mirror before she answered her friend's question. "Well have you been screaming lately?" she asked her, in a completely serious tone.

        Serena furrowed her brows, "Uh, no," she said slowly, opening her own locker and pulling her chemistry textbook out of it.

        "Perfect," Aaliyah said as she slammed her locker shut. "Then they're not dead," she decided.

        Serena frowned, "How did you just come to that conclusion?"

        "Because you didn't sense it out with your magical death scream," Aaliyah stated, flinching as the locker next to her slammed. "No scary death scream plus no broken glass equals no death. It's simple addition," she finished.

        "I think you mean subtraction," Wes chimed in, appearing behind the two girls.

        Serena and Aaliyah exchanged confused glances, "No, no I didn't," Aaliyah affirmed. "I meant addition."

        Wes pulled his brows together, "I think I know what I'm talking about, Aaliyah."

        Aaliyah clicked her tongue, "Sure you do," she said.

        Wes scowled before turning to Serena, "Serena," he said, trying to ignore Aaliyah's remarks. "You're going to the dance right?"

        Serena sighed, "Why are both of you so obsessed with this dance?" she asked. "It seems very trivial," she admitted. "We have bigger things to worry about." This was true. Serena had spent so much time thinking about what Evelyn's warning meant. More like, she was trying to figure out who was going to die, which was a difficult task. It seemed like they were always in danger here at White Chapel. She only knew it wouldn't harm the vampire, Erica and Rory, because they couldn't actually die. So that narrowed it down to practically every single student that attended the school, so the last thing on Serena's mind at the moment was a silly high school dance.