+ The Dance +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Yasogami HS gymnasium
When: Evening of Wednesday, July 16
Rating: PG(-13)
Summary: It's your chance do your dance
The Story: After the culture festival wraps up on Wednesday afternoon, all students are invited to a dance in the gymnasium! There are snacks and drinks (non-alcoholic, of course!), as well as cheesy paper decorations made by the student council members.

There will be no top-level threads for this log, so feel free to post open or closed threads for your characters. Just make sure to mark them appropriately, please!

Comments

Bela | OTA

[onsilksheets]

The dance was going to be one of the highlights of the school year- which is why Bela had spent a considerable amount of time getting ready for it. Elegant dress, killer shoes and perfectly coiffed hair with some jewelery to set the outfit off.

When she isn't on the dance floor, Bela can be found by the refreshment table. She's also mingling as much as possible to gossip with her classmates as well as checking out any cute boys that might be around.

((ooc: Feel free to respond with action or prose. Send me a PM if you want to work a scenario out!))

[nascensibility]

Evelyn sidles over in an undoubtedly subtle fashion - she has so few friends that are girls, it's nice to be around one she can trust - and offers Bela a grateful cup of punch.

"Thank you for helping me with my hair," she grins a little sheepishly, leaning up against the table with her. "I'm frightfully bad at it."

[onsilksheets]

Bela had a close knit group of girlfriends within the school, but Evelyn was probably her closest one. She accepts the offered punch with a smile, pleased to see her friend.

"You're welcome, Evelyn." Bela replies, turning slightly to look at her. "I enjoyed doing it and well, you look amazing." She takes a sip from her punch then adds slyly: "Who knows what kind of attention you'll attract?"

[nascensibility]

Evelyn is just about to return the compliment (because Bela, as per the usual, looks ridiculously glamourous), but the first word is hardly leaving her mouth when her friend cuts her off with a sly remark. Evelyn has the social grace to clear her throat, smooth her dress, and say, "Surely, I don't know what you're talking about," while reaching for a crisp to nibble on.

She knows exactly what Bela is talking about.

It's no secret that Bela dislikes 'going stag' at parties, as it were, and Evelyn has always been averse to the 'asking someone out' process, so this evening's situation is beneficial for everyone involved.

"Besides, not all of us come off looking like film stars."

[onsilksheets]

To that, Evelyn gets a brow raise from Bela. Then a small smile. Maybe she was being a bit sneaky but there was a bigger goal in mind and it involved a certain Mr. Graham. It hadn't taken Bela very long to realise that Evelyn and Will had an eye for one another, but never done anything about it.

She wanted to nudge them both in the right direction through having them at the same gathering where they were bound to run into each other and converse. No telling what would happen in such a setting.

"Oh, come off it. You're bloody gorgeous and intelligent to boot, darling. Anyone would be lucky to have you." Bela pauses so that she could grab a mini quiche from the table, popping it into her mouth. "I mean that."

[nascensibility]

Bela isn't being very subtle about her attempts at playing matchmaker, which leaves Evelyn feeling a little standoffish as she tries not to smile too wide.

"Small-talk isn't my forte, Bela," Evelyn reminds her cheekily, smiling into her cup. "Boys aren't usually excited by the prospect of conversing about historical events."

Or dead people. She learned that the hard way the other day.

[onsilksheets]

"Maybe you just haven't met the right boy yet, Evelyn." Bela replies, unable to stop herself from smiling in return. "But if you're really worried about making the wrong first impression then you can leave discussing history for another time."

She drinks some more of her punch, quickly looking around the room then back at Evelyn.

"You'll be fine. I know it."

[nascensibility]

"Hm."

Evelyn moves in, looping one arm through one of Bela's, bumping their shoulders together. It is comforting to know that she always has a friend in someone who has much better taste - and skill in flirting - than she. Saves her some embarrassment.

"You wouldn't happen to be playing Matchmaker this evening, would you?

[onsilksheets]

That 'hm' from Evelyn was possibly not a good sign. It gave Bela the feeling that her friend had figured out her scheme and she was now going to bust it wide open.

Bela does her best to look innocent as Evelyn slips her arm through hers and gets closer.

"If I was, would you be cross with me? It isn't the worst thing that I could do after all." Play it cool, Talbot. Don't give the game away.

[luckynumberthree]

Simon hadn't been so sure about the dance at first, but he' a sociable sort and having more fun than he anticipated, especially since the girls are less reluctant about heading out on the dance floor than most of the guys, so he figures he might as well use that to his advantage.

He wanders up to her on the fringes of the room between one song and the next, shooting her a dimpled grin in invitation and looking not at all shy about approaching an upperclassman.

"Hey. Wanna dance?"

[onsilksheets]

Confidence was an attractive trait to Bela and the student who approached her didn't seem to be lacking it at all. Apart from that he was pretty cute with a nice smile. Enough to pique her interest.

"Hi." She smiles at him in return, giving her full attention. "Yeah, I'd love a dance." No one else had asked Bela so she wasn't going to deny herself the opportunity. "What's your name? I don't think I've seen you around the school."

[luckynumberthree]

"Simon," he answers easily, lifting one shoulder in a faintly sheepish shrug. "And I'm a first year, so I probably don't pop up in your social circles just yet. I'm working on it though," he adds with a wink, offering his hand in invitation.

[onsilksheets]

"Really? You look older than that." Bela sounds surprised by his admission but she's finding him to be kind of endearing. "My name is Bela." She adds, taking his hand so that he could lead them both to the dance floor. "And I'd say you were off to a good start, Simon."

[luckynumberthree]

"I try," he answered with a grin, leading her out onto the dance floor as the next song started up. "Then again it's not all that hard to get noticed when most of the guys are hiding by the wall still."

[onsilksheets]

She laughed lightly. "I'm beginning to think that they're a little bit shy." Bela doesn't think she has given them a reason to be afraid of her. "It's a dance. You're supposed to be social and mingle with people." That's how Bela saw it at least.

[luckynumberthree]

"Some guys think dancing and girls are pretty terrifying," he counters, looking as if he's not one of them. "Put them together and it just gets more so."

[onsilksheets]

"Not for you though." Bela can tell by the expression on his face and the confidence in his voice. "So, what are your classmates like?" She asks, beginning to dance to the song- it has an up tempo beat.

action;

[glumshoe]

Bela's date to the dance hasn't the slightest clue how to dance or be a date. They're in different classes, but never seemed to have problems having lunch with one another or exchanging various bored expressions over school assemblies. Why wouldn't anyone ask a girl like that to the dance? Aside from intimidation. It was on his mind since Will is the kind to get intimidated when asking a girl to the dance, but as a favor to a girl that really, really wants to go, Will can suffer some discomfort for a chance to check the room for Evie Carnahan.

Well. He asked her to the dance, not to dance yet. Asking someone as a friend does put a bit of a damper on cruising the room for dating material or the rumored game of spin the bottle later, but Bela must be fine with being seen with him regardless. Who knows why. Getting nicknamed "Spooky", after Fox Mulder, would hurt her status by proxy if Bela wasn't already immune.

He comes back double-fisting drinks, offering one to Bela with a smile full of nerves.

"I'd ask if it's a good party but I have no metric."

[onsilksheets]

When it came to dating, Bela was keeping her options open. There was no shortage of available boys, but she found it difficult to just pick one to pursue. Will was cute in an awkward kind of way but he was also a good friend and someone Bela liked to hang out with when they had the opportunity. She suspected that he had his eye on someone else; it didn't bother her in the slightest. If Will was happy, then she was happy too.

It was obvious that she didn't want to go to the dance alone because it would be just awful and probably something that some of the school would gossip about.

"Thank you." Bela smiles when Will returns with the drinks, gratefully accepting the one that he offered to her. "I think it is too early to tell. People are still arriving."

She takes a sip from her drink, watching him for a moment. "Are you okay, Will?"

[glumshoe]

It's strange and likely inevitable that he ends up caring more about what others think of his friends than him. Not that he wouldn't date Bela given he thought about it further and made sure it wouldn't be irreparably damaging her social stock, but he's been perfectly fine doing what he can as her friend without having the desire to speculate about other avenues to trade that in for.

And why risk it when some of the other boys already look this side of awed/jealous? That does mitigate some of the mental fatigue it takes to simply be here, nodding back.

"Nothing to worry about except getting home before I inevitably spill something on the shirt. How're your feet holding up?"

[onsilksheets]

"My feet will probably hurt tomorrow but I think the pain is worth it." Her shoes were fabulous looking and she was willing to suffer for one evening. Still, it was rather sweet of Will to ask.

More people began to trickle into the gymnasium, much to Bela's relief; it wouldn't be much of a dance with just a handful of students. She had heard rumours of some games being played close to the end of the dance but they were unfounded.

"Don't be afraid to have fun. Dance. Mingle." She wants Will to have as much as possible and seize any opportunity (or anyone for that matter) which came along his way. "It's pretty much the point of these kinds of gatherings, you know?" And that's her sound piece of advice- the first of many perhaps.

[glumshoe]

Were there? He'd heard similar murmurings about the punch being spiked that have yet to pan out, but that may have been yet to come with the gym's capacity slowly filling.

In taking Bela to the dance he's also charged her with being his lookout, he realized early on. He could have shrugged and continued playing his very real apathy for the whole thing alongside anxiousness, but the sooner he proved he'd be be fine the sooner Bela could go on enjoying herself. Will winced slightly, a long moment spent finding the right balance between his real feelings and what would meet with Bela's approval.

"I'm not afraid to have fun," he said slowly, "I'm afraid of what fun will find me. Lots of people means lots of different definitions of fun, like... mooning TV cameras." That was Grease, Will.

[onsilksheets]

"I doubt very much that will happen." Considering there weren't any TV cameras around them and most people would probably find other ways to keep themselves entertained. "Although sometimes, people can get carried away in situations like this." Which probably wasn't helping but she wanted to keep him aware of the possibility.

Bela sipped from her punch (it didn't taste spiked so maybe it was only a rumour) and looked around the room, trying to spot Evelyn without giving Will an inkling of what she was up to.

"Would you like a dance after we've finished our punch?" It was part of the reason why they were here and it would give him good practice for any future dances. "It'll be fun."

[glumshoe]

"Not afraid I'll step on your toes, metaphorically or otherwise?"

It was a fair question. Bela was well aware of what kind of reclusive beast Will was and he'd be promptly concerned at the state of her feet if she's asking such a thing of him. If she had considered and thought it for his benefit a) she's a better person than he gave her credit for and b) it may have been a more calculated move than he was perceiving. Bela is smart. Was a certain someone watching...?

Will's fingers tapped anxiously on the side of his cup. "I - maybe? Yes?" This is how you accept, right.

[onsilksheets]

"Of course I'm not."

While it was indeed a fair question, she didn't want Will to lack confidence when it came to dancing with someone else. Bela would happily guide him if he asked, being the good friend that she was. Of course, she did have another agenda in mind- which she was trying very hard to disguise as much as possible.

Bela is positively beaming when Will accepts her offer, bouncing on the balls of her feet and clasping her hands together. "Fantastic! You won't regret this, I promise."