Pulled in by the Current ~ Steven Conklin

~ Dancing with you ~

Unfortunately, our sleep was ruined by the morning sun painting our faces with a golden light. We had fallen asleep on the roof last night, snuggled up against each other.

Conrad came to my window, sticking his head out and yelling for us to get up, reminding us that we had the dance rehearsal today with Ms. Covington. Way to ruin the mood.

He twirled me under his arm as we danced a lap around the room.

"Hey Belly," I spot her, standing alone in the middle of the room, on her phone.

"Hey," She looks up, "I'm so sorry I was such a mess yesterday, I really hope I didn't screw things up too bad with your mom."

"It's okay," I smile.

"Yeah, but you were a Tasmanian devil though," Steven chuckles, wrapping his hand around my waist.

"Be nice," Since last night he had been a lot touchier, probably because Conrad told everyone where he found us sleeping, and how close we were. So now everyone thinks we are serious.

"We've all been there," Shayla joins our conversation, "The first time I got drunk, I Facetimed each one of my exes, one by one, and made them tell me why we broke up." I laugh at the memory.

"Attention everyone." Paige addresses the room, "Please welcome our debutante waltz instructor, Ms, Covington. All the way from Ms. Covington's School of Ballroom Dance, in Newton." Everyone gives polite applause, I smirk at Shayla, raising my eyebrows.

"Thank you, Paige," She starts, with an annoyingly posh accent, "As you all know, the waltz is the most highly anticipated part of the ball. So, please join your partners now." I turn to face Steven, who leads me over to a space, and place my arms on his shoulders. "We will begin with the fundamentals, starting with the box step."

"It's a simple step," She continues to talk, "Forward with the left, slide to the right, and then the feet close together."

Ms. Covington was not the nicest person to hear yelling this early in the morning, but, courtesy of Susannah, Steven and I were both decent at dancing so at least she wasn't yelling at us.

I see Paige leaving the room out of the corner of my eye, I can't imagine how much she must be dealing with, trying to get thirty girls or so to be presentable.

"Now we have the steps, let's pick up the pace," Ms, Covington claps her hands in the air.

Steven groans in front of me, "How long do we have left, I don't think I can deal with this much longer."

"Well, looks like this might just become more bearable," I giggle as my brother takes over from Nicole and begins to dance with Belly. He whistles at Steven who grins and slips off his jacket for Jere to cover up his lifeguard uniform.

"Does Jere ever take anything seriously?" Shayla laughs as she dances past me.

"Yeah, food and flirting," I laugh back.

"He told me he doesn't do deb balls." I hear Dara say. "I asked him to escort me twice." Another girl says.

"Hey, Alexa. Play "So Pretty." Jere says to the speaker.

"So Pretty, by Reyanna Maria, sure." She responds, how can a robot be so polite?

And so, Jeremiah starts dancing, shimmying, twerking and so much more, in the center of a Debutante rehearsal, with everyone cheering him on and joining in. He chucks Stevens's jacket back at him, while I laugh at the shocked look on Ms. Covington's face.

"What is going on here?" Paige interrupts us, "Alexa, stop. Jeremiah Fisher. Why aren't you at the pool?"

"We had a code brown." He shrugs, "And we lost the keys to the chemical closet."

Paige sighs, finds the keys, and chucks them at him, "There you go."

"Thanks, catch you later Bells."

"Get going, Jeremiah." She says as he walks passed her. "Alright, everyone. Let's get going again, this time without the theatrics."

"Oh... That's all breast meat with the special aioli sauce, right?" Jere asks as he gets handed his plate.

"I'm not your personal chef, all right?" Steven rolls his eyes, "But yes, I walked all the way to the kitchen to get it. And for the lady, A portion of nachos." He places mine down, stealing a chip.

"Hey." I slap his hand.

"You know it's all love." Jere fist-bumps him.

"Steven," Gigi walks up to the counter with Dara, "Can we get two slushies please?"

"Mm. Yeah, Yeah," Steven nods, his mouth still full, "Coming up, ladies."

"That was the most fun waltz rehearsal in the history of waltz rehearsals," Gigi flirts with Jeremiah.

"Yeah, you came just in time. Your girl Belly is a disaster in heels." Dara agrees.

"You know, Belly's actually a good dancer. The waltz is just dumb." He defends, I hide my smile as the girls remain silent.

"Here you go ladies," Steven returns with their slushies.

"Perfect thank you," They grab them and walk away.

"What's their deal?" Steven asks us.

"Well, Gigi wants a boyfriend and Dara bit me once." Jere answers. "Yeah, it's a long story. You want to get out of here?" I nod hopping down from my stool.

"I can't." Steven shakes his head.

"You're not fun." Jere stares back.

"Not all of us have a trust fun, all right? Some of us need to work."

"Steven," Another worker comes up to him, "Someone important must like you because you've been promoted to the card room."

"The club has a card room?" I ask, confused.

"Yeah." Steven grins, following the man back into the kitchen, sticking his middle finger up at Jere as he leaves.

"Hey Billy," Jere chases a little kid around the pool, "Stop running. All right? It's bad enough we had to shut down the pool because of you."

"It wasn't me, jerk face." The kid calls back as he runs away.

"Watching Jeremiah fight with his child nemesis never gets old," Shayla says, sitting on her lounge chair in between me and Nicole.

"God! That kid is demonic, I swear." Jere shakes his head, sitting on the end of mine.

"Where's your brother been all day? He's not texting me back and Amaya has no idea," Nicole asks him.

"Conrad is too much drama, Nicole," Shayla warns her. "Oh my god! Frank Ocean is playing at the Yarmouth Music Festival," Shayla exclaims.

"Stop!" Nicole gasps, "My dad's firm reps him, I could totally get us tickets."

"For real?" I put in.

"Yes!" Nicole smiles.

"Well, you know Conrad's actually been wanting to go to Yarmouth."

"Does he love Frank Ocean?"

"Loves him" Jeremiah insists, "He's just been dealing with a lot of stuff with our dad, you should take him"

"Yes, and Amaya could invite Steven, and we could be cheesy and rent a limo." Shayla gushes, "Jere do you want to go too, save me from being a fifth wheel? We could all go together!"