Ghosted

Princess Dance Parties

Julie's pov

To nobody's surprise, I run through the school's hallways again and into the gym and see Ms. Alden leading the warm up for dance class.

"Oh, Julie, how nice of you to join us," she says, looking at me through the mirrors.

I sigh and stop running, trying to catch my breath. "I'm so sorry, I overslept."

"Take your spot," she says, making me walk beside Flynn and start warming up with the rest of the class.

"Sooo, why didn't you wake me up?" I ask Flynn, slightly frustrated. "I missed my first three classes."

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "You said you were never gonna show your face at school again," she says, bringing what I said last night back up. "And I'm a very literal person. You should know this by now."

I sigh. "It's okay. It's those stupid ghosts that I'm really upset at. I'd kill them if they weren't already dead," I say through a clenched jaw.

"Having a band is supposed to help your social life, not ruin it," she says.

"Ex-band," I say, correcting her as I stop dancing.

"Right, sorry," she says before she stops as well.

I shrug as I crouch down to follow Ms. Alden. "It's just all so messed up. I thought they were in this with me. But obviously, I was wrong, like usual."

"Hey, don't blame yourself," she says as she nudges me with her shoulder, almost making me fall over. "You can only be so strong when four cute ghosts ask you to join a band. And speaking of cute, have you talked to Avery lately? There was totally something there between you two when y'all were singing that song to me."

My eyes widen and I look down at my feet before looking back at her, trying to hide my smile. "Yeah, last night," I say, making her widen her eyes and nod. "Yeah, it wasn't good. I may have said she was the worst out of all of them," I say, knowing I went home and cried about saying that last night.

"Damn," Flynn says before looking back up at me quickly. "What about Nick? He seemed pretty chatty at the dance," she says, shrugging with a scary smile on her face.

"No, and I'm kinda dreading it," I say, being completely honest. "At least I know I won't see him in this class," I say before we go into downward dog and I see Nick and the rest of the lacrosse team walk into the gym. "You have got to be kidding me. What are they doing here?" I say, looking at the boys through my legs before standing up.

"So, students, Coach Barron and I have decided that his lacrosse team will be part of our class for a few weeks," Ms. Alden says, walking over to stand next to Coach Barron. "Many pro athletes have used dance to help them with coordination and mobility."

"This isn't about flirtin' with girls," Coach Barron says to the embarrassed looking boys, making them snicker and laugh. "It's about making us better so that we can actually win a game. We lost against Burbank. Burbank!" He yells, losing his composure and making all the boys duck their heads.

"Well, let's all remember that composure is a big part of dance," Ms. Alden says, making Flynn and I snicker. "Everybody pair up!" She yells to the boys, making them all walk toward us.

Flynn and I look at each other before a guy comes up and grabs her arm, pulling her away from me. "Don't leave me," I plead, grabbing her hand. She looks to the side then shrugs with a smile on her face before running off with the guy.

"Hey," Nick says as he walks up in front of me.

"Hey, you," I say, feeling very awkward about this whole situation before it goes quiet between us.

"So, ladies, let's do what we learned last week, and we will perform this with the boys on Friday," Ms. Alden yells to us, making us get into position. "Coach Barron and I will demonstrate," she says, making him look at her. 

"No. I don't dance," he says, not looking at her.

She looks up to him and makes an odd face. "You do now," she says, pulling his arm to stand behind her.

"And jump out, and bounce, and snake," she says as we all follow her. "Reach up and turn around. Boys, jump out," she says, making Nick jump but then fall, making me laugh. "Let's do it again, half-time, no music," she says before starting to instruct us again.

"You ready for this?" I ask Nick, seeing how nervous he is.

"Sure, uh, my little sister throws a lot of princess dance parties," he says before he moves behind me as we both start to dance.

"Nice," I say to him as we move back and forth. "Not to bad, Your Majesty," I tease, making him laugh.

"Thank you," he responds, he's cheeks turning red. "Um, so about last night's dance," he says, saying the one thing I wanted to avoid today.

"Yeah, I was kinda hoping that if I didn't talk about it, it'd be like it never happened," I say, grabbing his hands as he crossed them in front of my face.

"You'll be fine, okay? You're tough," he says, lifting my arm over his head. "You've been through way worse," he says before spinning me a little too hard, making me trip and fall into him.

"Whoa, um, sorry- I-," he says, stuttering before Ms. Alden starts playing the music and telling us that we were going to dance with the music this time. "I'm just- I'm not used to dancing like this."

"You and Carrie never dance together?" I ask.

"No, and we never will," he says, lowering his voice, almost like he doesn't want people to know what he's about to tell me. "We broke up."

"Oh," I say, my eyes widening with surprise. "You did?"

"I'm done with the drama," he says, scoffing. "And I don't know if you've noticed, but she's not the nicest person."

I roll my eyes and smile. "What? I never noticed," I say, acting like I'm shocked.

He does the jump again but slips and lands on his side before looking up at me through his hair. "You sure you wanna be partners?" He asks from the floor.

"No. I-I want you," I say before I widen my eyes. "To be my dance partner!" I say, laughing awkwardly, trying to brush it off. "Let's just go over it again. We'll get it eventually," I say, bending down and offering my hand to help him up.

"Whatever you say, Jules," he says, smiling before he goes behind me and grabs my hips once more.