Witch Lights (Nanowrimo)

Chapter Nine- Duke it Out

Chapter Nine

Cole leads the way, weaving through small clumps of teenagers, some dancing and some just talking in the middle of the gym floor. We were right, there aren't very many girls here. I look around and see a few boys staring and grinning at us, their expressions reminding me of Jenna's when I finally agreed to write her Biology report with her.

Charlie walks beside us, twirling the hem of her skirt between her fingers as we walk across the floor to nowhere in particular. I watch as the dress spins in and out for a few moments before Charlie notices me staring and lets go of it with a guilty grin. I smile at her, feeling ridiculously happy that we actually managed to sneak out of the inescapable school. Cole glances at me shaking his head at my excitement. "I guess you guys can see that we don't get a lot of girls to come to these mixers. Mostly just a few of the guy's girlfriends who come out to visit them. Are your dances the same way?" He asks me, laughing as I sway to the music in my heels.

"Yeah, pretty much. What boy would be crazy enough to come to the Mac?" I shrug, looking to Charlie for confirmation and she laughs quietly. "I'm surprised you never snuck out to visit me, Cole." I raise an eyebrow at him, and he shrugs my teasing off with a grin.

"Well, I never had Charlie to help me escape, now did I? Now if you'd leave her with me for the night--" His tone is mischievous and I know he's only joking, but I cut him off, not wanting Charlie to get the wrong idea about him.

 "Cole!" My eyes spell out a warning and he grins at me, looking wholly unrepentant. I turn to face Charlie and shake my head. "He's just messing around. Don't pay any attention to him." The words tumble out of my mouth on their way to reassure her, but she doesn't look angry.

 We dance to the rhythm for a few signs until our feet start to hurt and I can't seem to stop my lips from the grin that they've been molded in for the last hour. A new song comes on and a few teenagers begin to scream the words of the song around me. I grin as I realize that I heard this song on the radio this morning, and I begin to dance along, throwing my hands up and dancing to the song like no one is watching me, although in truth both Cole and Charlie are looking on in amusement.

 I begin to dance my way towards both of them and bump my hip into Cole to make him start dancing with me. He laughs, grinning at me, and begins to move his feet in time with mine. Charlie is watching us and shuffling back and forth, her eyes alight with amusement. "Oh, Charlie, I know that you said you weren't a dancing type of girl... but I didn't think you were serious." I hold back a laugh as she scowls, covers her eyes with her fingers, and then peeks through them to glare at me.

 "Shut up, Amara." My smile widens at her voice because she probably doesn't realize how absolutely adorable she looks right now.

"It's not so hard, Charlie. Just kind of move around to the beat and then just sway." I grab her arms and force her to dance, but she tries to resist, moving only her arms with her feet firmly on the ground. "Now move your feet." I grin as she begins shuffling them around, looking ridiculously cute. "A little bit more wrists." I demonstrate, twirling around and moving my arms and knees in time to the music. She bites her lip, following my motions to the tee but not really getting the idea. "Do you have a few moves of your own?" I ask, raising an eyebrow as she continues to play copycat.

Charlie groans covering her eyes with her hands again, and I laugh, pulling them away from her face. "I told you, I can't dance." She tries to move away from me, but I follow her, shimmying my shoulders just to annoy her. "Amara, stop." She looks away from me and I grin as she bites her lip. She's totally flustered, and I don't think that's a sight I'll see very often on her.

"Aww are you blushing, Charlie?" I click my tongue, grinning at her, and she shoves me away.

"You suck." She crosses her arms, going back to Miss Statue, and I giggle to myself, turning to look for Cole. He's standing a few feet away from us, staring at us with an appraising eye. I open my mouth to ask him what's up when a hand wraps around my waist, squeezing me painfully tight. I look down, feeling angry, and the large hand clenches tighter around me, leaving me gasping.