Chapter Seven
Allies, Artifice and Annoyance
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Greg Shannon
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I watched the group in front of me rush around to pair up nervously. I'd had experiences where those who didn't get the partner they wanted kicked up a fuss. I flicked a glance at Janelle when I noticed her standing outside the frantic group. She glared at a boy who looked like he was about to approach her and then looked over at me. Her eyes lit with delight when she saw me looking and she sucked her lower lip into her mouth. Was she trying to seduce me? I'd thought that she had realised my disdain for her when she'd been dating Blake. I saw past the attractive shell to the dead heart. It was what I did, I was a hopeless romantic and when I looked at someone I could see if they were in love, or not. I doubted Janelle even had the ability to fall in love.
Haezel, however... I switched over to her, finding her next to a tall boy with dark skin, smoky-green eyes and short hair, and my jealousy flared. Haezel was mine!
I patted down the rage, a technique I'd learnt from my anger management therapist, assigned to me after losing my temper dangerously for the last time. Dr. Richard Lowe was the reason I saw love instead of violence. He had told me to go to a trial dance class. I had turned it down, telling him he could shove his leotard up his ass. But he had forced me along to watch and I found it wasn't ballet, as I had thought, but hip-hop. And I saw the emotion, the revelation of soul in the dancers and my obsession began. But what struck me most was that some of the guys could go through a routine, showing nothing but passion, strength and anger, but afterwards they would go over to their girlfriends with a smile or a playful wink and I wanted that. Not their girl but A girl. Someone who would make my anger dissipate into nothing.
So I had hunted for her. A lot of the guys, even the girls, thought that I was a player, that I used the girls to please myself. In a way, I did use them, but I figured that I would give them a good enough time to stop any guilt. Several times I'd thought I'd found her, I'd look at a girl's face and see her ability to love and I would fall for her, hoping she would reciprocate my love. But, after a time, I'd found that the love I saw in the girl wasn't for me. But Haezel...
I refocused on her and was shocked to find her alone, looking around bewilderedly. Where had her partner gone? I looked around her and saw that he was standing with her feisty friend. I didn't know her name but it could be Roxy because I'd given her the nickname Foxy. She was looking up at me with a frown. I looked around and saw that quite a few people were looking at me questioningly.
"Erm, does everybody have a partner?" I asked, glancing over at the lonesome Haezel. She looked over to me and blinked with surprise when she saw me watching her. She shook her head and I waited for a male to speak up and say that he was partnerless. The lucky bastard would get to dance with my girl.
"I don't," a purring voice called out. Janelle. I shot her a sharp look. Somehow she had orchestrated this, I knew it. I looked around, waited for someone else to call out. No one did.
"I guess I got the number of guys wrong. Or maybe a few pulled out," I shrugged. I tried not to sound annoyed or worried. What was Janelle planning?
I looked over to Blake who was frowning at his phone. I wondered why, seeing as his battery had gone dead at lunch, while we'd been listening to some music.
"Erm, I guess that, for now, Blake and I will have to join in."
His head shot up and his eyes told me a desperate 'no'.
"You and I can't be a part of the dance. We're only allowed to choreograph. And only first or second years can be dancers," he argued.
"This'll be temporary," I said in a light tone. I shot him daggers, out of sight of the audience.
