Alice Academy (Rewritten.)

Chapter 8

          Today was the day of the dance.

     However, it was freaking cold outside. Of all places a dance could be held, it had to be held outside. Luckily, there wasn't any snow in the trees, or else I'd die of hypothermia.

     I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, inspecting what I was wearing. My long, wavy dark brown hair was let down. It reached the middle of my back. My bangs were nicely swooped to the side, and my greyish-blue eyes sparkled. I wore a coral red sweetheart line neck dress that pleated out at the ends. It reached just an inch or two above my knees. I also threw on a thick, white wooly cardigan for warmth and my red Toms. I put on my Santa hat and was ready to go.

     Naoki said that he was going to wait at the dance for me, so I was going with Daichi. Hana had been avoiding us since that dance; perhaps she had been traumatized by the embarrassment? There was a knocking at the door, and I opened it up to see Daichi dressed formally.

"Ready to go, my princess?" he acts, bowing down to me.

I giggle at his act. "Take me away, my prince," I go along with him.

     He takes my hand and leads me out of the dorm. A lot of students were filing out of their rooms as well, all dressed up formally and beautifully. Except Haruna. I cringed at her outfit. It was a tight, skimpy, bright red dress that would definitely not ensure her any warmth.

     Daichi walks with me to the dance, still holding my hand. I didn't mind, but I didn't want others thinking the wrong idea. Once enough people were at the dance, announcements were made. I honestly didn't listen in. The announcements were muted for me, and before we knew it, we were allowed to dance.

"Okay, choose your partners to dance with!"

     People scrambled around to find people to dance with. Girls were looking around, and guys just stood there awkwardly as if they wanted the girl of their dreams to just come up to them and ask them for the dance.

"May I have this dance?" Daichi asks, bowing down and kissing my hand.

I giggled, smiling down at him. "Yes."

     Daichi took one of my hands and interlaced it with his, one of his hands on my waist. I didn't exactly know how to dance, so Daichi was basically drilling me through the dance as the song went on. Before I knew it, I was dancing without looking my feet and without Daichi's instructions. The song soon stopped, and I was wrapped in Daichi's embrace, my head rested on the crook of his neck.

     After the song had ended, the dancers left their partner to find new ones and just enjoy their night. A few boys actually came up to me and asked me to dance. I looked at Daichi to see if it was okay. He smiled at me and waved his hand, letting me dance with them.

     So I danced with a few boys. I didn't even know any of them, which kind of scared me. They somehow knew me, but then again, I was the 'new kid.' Dancing with lots of people tired me out, but the guys kept on coming. I managed to escape and make it into the forest.

     I walked around the forest, looking for the specific tree that Naoki had told me about. Lots of them were cut and had engravings with initials on it, but I couldn't find the one that said 'love' on it. I was so absorbed in the fact that I still couldn't find the tree with the engraving, and I ended up accidentally bumping into a tree. I looked at its trunk, and there it was. A carved heart with the word 'love' on it.

     Up on a thick tree branch sat Naoki, looking off into the distance, waiting. Definitely the right tree. I attempted to jump onto a branch, but man, being petite sucks. If  I had my pen and paper right now, that'd be real handy.