Tonight was prom and I had a WONDERFUL time. It also inspired me to write this. It's been a LONG time since I've watched Xiaolin Showdown (for the obvious reason that it was cancelled), but I think I kept Jack in character.

Disclaimer: Xiaolin Showdown is owned by Christy Hui, and "The Dance" is by Garth Brooks (I think; too lazy to look it up right now).

Save the Last Dance

By Dandy Wonderous

Jack Spicer had done a lot of things in his lifetime that he had been sure he'd never do. He had cooperated with a ghost hag, teamed up with Ashley, of all people, been stabbed in the back by a replica of himself, and even fought alongside the Xiaolin losers for a time. But there was one thing he was sure he would never, ever, not in a million years, EVER do. And that thing was go to a high school prom.

So why am I here again? he wondered, watching the little bits of what he assumed to be fruit swirl around in his punch glass. It was a light blue punch, too; what kind of self respecting punch is blue?

He was slumped in a chair in the corner of the ballroom, his bright red hair actually combed down (it had taken four industrial cans of hairspray and a lot of prayer and swearing to accomplish the feat), his goggles abandoned. And he was in, horror of horrors, a tux. And it had a red tie. A red bowtie, to be exact.

The answer to his question? It had all started with a call from his mother, one that had started out usual enough; how are your online classes going? Fine. How're things with your robot hobby? Hobby!?! Alright. How're your friends? Friends? Oh, they're doing great. We all went out for Clay's birthday yesterday. What kind of pathetic evil villain names his fake friends after his enemies, anyway?

And then a very unexpected question.

"So, do you have a date for prom yet?"

HUH!?! "Uh, Mom, did you forget… I don't go to public school."

"I know you don't, sweetie, but you could still go to one."

"But Mo-om," Jack whined. "I'm not even in America; do they even have proms in China?"

"Why don't you fly into New York and go to one? You can go to my old private high school; I'm sure I could pull some strings."

"You're not serious."

"Don't you take that tone with me, young man!"

"Yes, Mommy."

And thus, Jack Spicer, evil boy genius, was handed a humiliating and utter defeat… by his mommy. And so he was forced to fly to New York and go to the swanky prom at her old alma mater.

I hate my life.

He glared around at the prom-goers, all of whom avoided the outsider like the plague. It was bad enough that he wasn't one of them; he was a creepy goth, too. What was with those crazy marks under his eyes? And speaking of his eyes, how'd they get so red? He sat alone, challenging their curious or hateful stares by giving them equally malicious stares back.

Some loud, explicit rap song was playing, and the music made it hard to hear himself think, adding to his frustration. Even though they were rich kids, they still danced inappropriately, proving to Jack that wealth did not equal brains, and that he was too good to be there. He should be out fighting for Shen Gong Wu, not watching hormone-charged hooligans pop, lock, and drop it (whatever that means).

"I wanna go home," he muttered to himself before draining the last of his punch glass. He looked at his watch and sighed; only two more hours to go. Woo-hoo.

The evening drug on without seeing Jack move from his spot. He sat with his arms crossed, staring at nothing in particular. When I rule the world, the first thing I'm getting rid of is prom. He fell to daydreaming of happy visions of world-ruling and didn't even notice when, an hour and a half later, most of the students began to drain out. Thirty minutes before the end of prom, only ten or so people remained.

"Um… excuse me?"

Jack was so shocked that someone had spoken to him that he fell out of the chair. "Ah! Don't scare people like that!" He looked up moodily at the culprit, who was a girl his age, with curly brown hair, wearing a green dress.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she apologized.

"Well… It's okay. I'll let you off easy this time." He got off the floor and sank back into his chair. "So what do you want?"

"Well, I… I noticed you've been sitting here all night and haven't danced, so I was just wondering if… if you wanted to dance some?"

Jack looked at her suspiciously. "Dance? With me?" He automatically tensed for some trap; this was probably Kimiko in some fancy disguise, though why they would do this was beyond him.

"Uh, yeah."

Jack stared up at her for almost a full minute while the girl shifted uncomfortably. But she wasn't making any move to leave, so Jack consented with a short sigh. "Okay, fine." He stood up.

"My name's Courtney, by the way," she introduced.

"Jack," he answered flatly, following her out onto the dance floor.

Yet another hip hop song was playing, and Jack stood there awkwardly while Courtney swayed back and forth with the beat. He was glad the girl refrained from "shaking her laffy taffy." Another song; Jack swayed a little with her on this one. The third song, and Jack bobbed his head some. And then…

"Alright, folks, this is the last song of the night; make it count."

A slow song began, and Jack realized in panic that Courtney expected him to slow dance with her. She smiled at him, raising her hands a little. He raised his arms in confusion, not knowing exactly what he was supposed to do with them. Her smiled widened a little, and he could swear he heard a small giggle escape her lips. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her waist, then wrapped her own arms around his neck.

Jack hoped he wasn't blushing.

They swayed back and forth in time with the music, turning in a slow circle around their part of the dance floor. Four other couples were dancing in similar fashion around them, but Jack was solely focused on the girl who hadn't minded his creepy eyes or his goth style.

And I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end

The way it all would go

My life is better left to chance

I could have missed the pain

But I'd have had to miss

The dance…

The last notes of the song slowly faded, and then the lights came on. Jack and Courtney blinked while their eyes readjusted, neither noticing that they were still holding each other. Finally, Courtney looked up at him, said, "Oh!" quietly, and pulled her arms down. Jack let go of her waist and stepped back.

"Um… Thank you, Jack."

He smiled sheepishly. "No, Courtney. Thank you."

"I have to go," she said almost apologetically. Then she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

Now Jack knew he was blushing.

"Will you be back next prom?" she asked.

He gaped at her a moment, then nodded dumbly.

"Good. Save the last dance for me," she said with a giggle, then, with a wave, she turned and exited the ballroom.

Jack stood there on the dance floor, his hand rubbing his cheek.

Okay, so when I rule the world, maybe I won't get rid of proms…

The End

Our punch was blue and "The Dance" was the last song. And everyone left our prom by 9:00 and it was over at 10:30! Twelve of us stayed and had a much better time than when there was the big group (we got the DJ to play a lot of country and rock rather than rap).

I hope you enjoyed this!

Glad she didn't miss the dance, this is Dandy Wonderous, signing off.