𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖 ༄ ᴘercy ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

middle school dances are life-threatening

Balloons littered the gym floor, and bright, multicoloured streamers hung pathetically from the ceiling. Boys from my class (really it was just Oliver and Tyler) were currently practicing headlocks on one other. Tyler did it too tight. Oliver punched him.

Some of the girls in my year fluttered from person to person, with dazzling grins and soft eyes. They'd leave the person looking dazed and with lipstick graffiti all over their face. I pressed my lips together in a weak attempt of not laughing, but honestly, how was I supposed to help it?

I spotted my best friend Kai in the middle of the dance floor. Well, I say dance floor as if there were actual people dancing.

There weren't.

Currently he was shimmying whilst trying to convince a group of kids in party hats to join in with him. They just stared blankly, looking the furthest from amused.

I laughed and ran over to him, throwing my arm around his shoulder and leading him away.

"I'm amazed. You've got this far without being punched yet. It's truly a miracle." A group of girls caught my eye and waved at me, I smiled (resisting the urge to give in to the pride inside me - they waved at me! they like me!) and waved back.

He snorted and threw my arm off, only to put it back after. "Yeah well, we just got started." Then he turned to me, a mock serious expression on his face. "I have a mission for you. Upmost importance. Don't fuck it up."

I stood up straighter and gave a mock salute in response.

He scoffed but continued speaking, leaning towards me conspiratorally. "I need people to dance, so that eyes are on them, and I can get to the Punch. For the plan." As he said plan, he blinked harshly staring at me with wide eyes. Now, in any other occasion, I would most certainly mock him for his incapability to wink. But on this occasion, where I had a mission, I would refrain.

Mocking could wait. Mischief could never.

And so I spent the next 30 minutes roaming from group to group, charming and persuading them to show me their moves. All of them did (once again, I tried to not let that get to my head. Once again, I failed).

Somehow, whilst trying to get everyone to dance, I myself had been thrown into the snakepit too, dancing with person to person as I was twirled around.

You see, this in itself was... strange?

I had been an outsider most of my life. With my lack of a permanent family. My mum who was in a mental hospital. My other mum died. At school, nobody ever wanted to play with me. Rather they scoffed when they saw me, calling me names. So I vowed to be better. I promised to be the best, the most popular, the cleverest girl, the sportiest, the coolest.

I had tried and tried and tried, and then I was sent to Westover and I met Kai and my plan worked. People adored me. Everyone loved me, they all wanted to be my friend, they always asked me if I wanted to hang out with them, they always came to me for help with an especially hard maths question. I was on the track team and had already won dozens of medals and awards. Teachers smiled and always wanted to help me out somehow.

And I embraced it. I could lie and tell you I didn't fit in or feel comfortable with all the love and attention, but what would the point of that be?

I sometimes felt like I was born to be adored.

Go on. Laugh at me. Scoff. Judge me all you want, but when you spend your whole life hated and then suddenly, you're popular NO. 1, it's easy to fall into the endless trap of it.

I fell into it.

Speaking of falling.

Another hand gripped mine and suddenly I fell into the arms of a stranger. A fairly pretty stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.