The Short Demon King

Chapter 17

While I was distracted, Alice stopped her wiggling. She stood still with both hands on her hips and glowered at me, full of disappointment.

"I brought you over here to dance with me, ME! The most popular girl in school! So stop just standing there and start dancing! You're being so rude!" She stomped her foot as she yelled at me.

"So?" I shot back, rage boiling through me. "I never asked to be dragged over here!"

"Well you obviously wanted to dance with me! I mean, look at me. Who wouldn't? And that's fine, if you actually danced with me instead of wasting my time like this! You, a random nobody who no one's even seen at school. You should actually be thanking me here, I'm saving your reputation. What? Do you wanna be seen hanging around that Maya girl instead?"

"Yes! Absolutely yes! She at least cares about my opinion and doesn't force me into things!"

"Ugh, whatever. Stop being so dramatic. Just shut up and actually dance with me this time!"

Her smile returned, as if completely blocking out everything I just said. She bounced on the balls of her feet, then snatched my wrist to pull me towards her. I stumbled, almost falling over, but she giggled like it didn't even matter and refused to let go of me.

I tried to carefully slide my arm out of her grasp to avoid using too much strength and hurting her, but Alice tightened her grip even more. It took every ounce of self-control I had to not lash out at her and rip my arm out of her grasp.

Grinding my teeth together, I asked bitterly, "Could you let go of me?"

"I will once you do what I want. Start dancing and I will gladly let go of your arm! Come on, it'll be fun!"

She clearly couldn't have cared less about my opinion. Now that was the last straw. I would not be disrespected like this.

"Well, I tried," I growled as I used my full force to yank my arm free.

Alice screamed as she fell forward, barely able to stay standing upright. She stood there, frozen for a second from shock. Then she looked up at me, her face turning a vibrant crimson.

"What's wrong with you?!?" she demanded. "You could've hurt me just now! Do you even know what would happen to you if you had hurt me just now?"

I snapped back, "I don't even care! And you need to stop grabbing me!"

"Why, you... Ugh! You'll pay for that," she threatened.

Alice paused for a brief moment, breathing in deeply. Then, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "BROTHER!!!"

Everyone froze around us. Actually, everything in the entire house seemed to stop as she kept screaming, as if entranced by the noise.

"Brother, brother, brother! Get your stupid butt over here RIGHT NOW!"

Travis shoved past the others until they made a path for him. He looked super annoyed but stopped to address his sister as she pouted at him.

"What is it this time?"

"Jaye's refusing to dance with me! He even yelled at me, can you believe that? He's being so RUDE!"

Travis sighed as he rolled his eyes. He turned his attention back to me, "You shouldn't be mean to her, it ruins the whole vibe of the party. Can you just apologize so we can all move on from this?"

"Apologize? Why should I have to apologize? She's the one causing all these problems!" I shot back.

He rubbed the sides of his nose, "All you gotta do is apologize. It's not that hard."