Chapter 1.21 - The Dance

  For many days, Chantia couldn’t find the nerve to ask her mother for permission to attend the gathering. She knew her mother was way too overprotective to allow her to somewhere where there were firstly, no adult supervision and secondly, hormonal teenage boys present.

  In the end, it turned out it was might be much easier for Chantia to go to the gathering than she had thought. Evelyn had won a free vacation for two days to the beautiful Isla Paradiso from a raffle she had entered at a whim, so the woman had to decide whether she was going to use the tickets or give them to a friend.

  “I’m not really sure if I want to use these tickets,” Evelyn admitted to her girls. “It would be great to have a small breakaway, but I’m not really comfortable leaving you two alone for that long.”

  Chantia immediately jumped at the chance. “I think you should go,” she suggested innocently. “Mia’s birthday is the day before you have to leave, so we’ll both be old enough to look after ourselves. Besides, you really deserve to have some time to yourself,” Chantia told her mother.

  Evelyn gave her daughter a sceptical look. “You seem awfully eager to get rid of me,” she accused suspiciously.

  Mia took pity on Chantia and decided to help the older girl out. Chantia had already told Mia about the gathering and even invited her along, but since Mia’s birthday was the day before the school dance, she had refused the invitation, declaring she wasn’t going to attend the dance either.

  “We just want you to be happy,” Mia told Evelyn. “You’ve done so much for us, so it’s only fair that we allow you to take this opportunity. We don’t want you to go, but you deserve it,” Mia said earnestly. Although she was really only trying to help Chantia, she did believe that Evelyn deserved to get away from them for a little while.

  Evelyn folded under their pressure and decided to trust the girls and accept the vacation. Chantia felt a little bad for abusing her mother’s trust, but as long as Evelyn never found out about the gathering, no harm would be done, right?

  Pretty soon, the busy week arrived. The first event that happened was that Mia’s birthday arrived and the young genius aged into a rather mature teen.

  She refused to have a birthday party or a cake, so in the end Evelyn had to make do with only giving the girl a new gift. To say Mia was ecstatic about the gift would be a major understatement, so the teen made sure to thank Evelyn profusely. The gift was incredibly expensive, but seeing the happiness it brought the young girl made it worth the money in Evelyn’s eyes.

  The second event that occurred was that the day of the school dance arrived and with it, Evelyn’s vacation. Luckily her flight only departed several hours after the dance started, so Evelyn managed to see her daughter all dressed up.

  “You look so beautiful,” Evelyn complimented her daughter proudly. It felt like it was only yesterday that Chantia grew up into a child, and yet here she was, already looking far too grown up for Evelyn’s tastes. “Have fun at the dance, and remember to be responsible, okay?”

  Chantia hugged her mother cautiously, making sure not to mess up her hair or dress.

  “Of course Mom,” Chantia assured her mother before smiling warmly at the woman. “Enjoy your trip, okay? We’ll be waiting to hear all about it.”

  Evelyn laughed in response to Chantia’s words, knowing all too well the girls were both looking forward to being on their own for a while, but nevertheless promised her daughter to bring back lots of photos.

  All too soon, Chantia’s ride arrived at the door, ready to take her to the dance. Chantia hugged her mother good-bye before getting in the limo.

   During the ride to the school where the dance was being held, Chantia was nervous and anxious, but most of all excited. She and Samuel were tentatively together, but she hoped to make it official before the night was over. Then, of course, there was the gathering at Ethan’s house to worry about and what her mother would do if she ever found out about it, but Chantia tried her best not to think about it. Those were worries of another day.

  At school, Samuel was waiting patiently for her and immediately went to her side once he caught sight of her. Samuel lived in the school dormitories, so they both agreed it would be better to meet up at school instead of Chantia’s house.

    “You look great,” Samuel complimented with a warm smile, causing a light flush to appear on Chantia’s cheeks.

  “Thanks,” Chantia replied happily, the butterflies in her stomach making huge somersaults. “You look great yourself,” she reciprocated.

  Samuel offered his arm to Chantia and waited for her to take it before leading her through the doors and into the hall where the dance was being held.

  At the dance, Chantia was having the time of her life. She was quite surprised when she realised Samuel could dance, but really delighted as well, as it allowed her to dance to her heart’s content. The beat of the music was pounding through her body, directing her moves, and Samuel was moving perfectly in tune with her. Everybody was looking at them, but Chantia didn’t really notice. She was simply too preoccupied by the music pounding through the room.

  Several songs and dances later, Chantia took a break from dancing to catch a breath of fresh air, Samuel accompanying her. The stars were bright and the air sharp with the last chill of winter, but the atmosphere between Chantia and Samuel was heavy with promise and potential.

  “You were great out there,” Samuel told her with a gentle smile. Chantia smiled in reply and rested her head in her hand, looking at him from beneath her long lashes.

  “You weren’t so bad either,” she teased smilingly. Samuel scoffed slightly and rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

  “I was just following your lead,” he confessed. “When you dance, it’s like…I don’t know, like you’re…like you’re possessed by the music, or something like that. It’s…it’s rather amazing.” Something in his eyes changed and Chantia felt her heart flutter at the sight. She chuckled embarrassedly and looked away with a blush on her cheeks, both flattered and embarrassed by his words.

  “I, uhm…well, thanks, I guess,” she stammered self-consciously. “I just….really like music,” she offered lamely. “It’s like it talks to me,” she admitted softly, looking back at him.

  Without noticing, they had somehow gotten closer. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, causing her cheeks to warm slightly. She really really liked him, and really wanted him to like her back.

   He suddenly cleared his throat and looked away, breaking the eye contact. Chantia’s heart fell, positive she had done something wrong that made him refuse to look at her.

  Samuel rubbed his neck again.

   “I was wondering…do you want to make this official? Like, be my girlfriend?” he asked nervously.

  Chantia’s eyes shot to Samuel at his words and for a long moment, she just stared at him, unsure if he really said what she thought (hoped) he said. Then he offered her a hopeful smile and Chantia’s heart leapt as she realised she heard correctly.

   “Yes!” Chantia exclaimed eagerly before shielding her mouth with her hand, embarrassed by her outburst. Her cheeks heated up and she started giggling, both out of happiness and embarrassment. Samuel blinked in surprise at her outburst before her giggles set him off as well. His chuckles merged with her giggles and it was several minutes before she could compose herself enough to stop giggling.

  She cleared her throat once she managed to get her giggles under control. “I mean, sure. I’d like to be your girlfriend,” she tried again with a broad smile on her face.

  The smile that adorned Samuel’s face was the widest one Chantia had ever seen. He took her hand and looked at it for a moment before looking back at her with a content smile.

  “Thanks,” he said and gave her hand a soft squeeze before he led her back to the hall.

  By the time they returned to the reception, the slower songs had begun and several couples were already slow dancing to the music. She and Samuel shared a look before they grinned simultaneously and joined the other couples on the dance floor. The music was slow and beautiful and Chantia once again lost herself in it, but this time she fully enjoyed the feeling of Samuel’s hand on her waist.

   All too soon, the event grew to a close as the prize-giving ceremonies started. Chantia didn’t expect anything at all, so she was greatly surprised when she was declared Prom Queen, especially when told that she and Samuel were ‘the dynamic duo of the dance’, and ‘possibly the cutest couple’ as well.

  (Later on Chantia learnt that it was Aisha who had nominated them for that particular title.)

   The dancing resumed after the ceremonies, but Aisha decided she had waited long enough for them. Before they could return to the dance floor, Aisha stopped them.

   “Come, we’ve been here long enough. Let’s go now to the real event,” Aisha suggested with a slightly mischievous smile.

_~…~_

So I decided to show what went on at prom. I wasn’t planning on it, but then Chantia and Samuel were so incredibly sweet going about it I just couldn’t leave it out. I tried to be as true as possible to the messages, and I think I managed to succeed, because pretty much all of the messages went on about how they were liking each other and hitting it off etc. J The only message that wasn’t about the two of them liking each other was the one declaring Chantia as Prom Queen.