It was during dance class at Ever After High and for something different, the girls from dance class would be practicing alongside the boys from Hero Training so that the boys would have some idea of what to do when it came time for the elegant balls that occurred in most of their stories. The dance instructor was currently pairing up girls with boys randomly.

Please be Briar, Please be Briar, Hopper chanted to himself. To avoid the incredibly likely event of him turning into a frog due to being tongue tied when in close proximity to a girl, he had sealed his lips with the one of the most useful objects that exists in any world: duct tape. Unfortunately for his hopes, the instructor had paired him with Justine Dancer.

Damn, Hopper inwardly cursed. Then he got a look at Justine's dark chocolate skin, chestnut curls and full, luscious lips. What was I disappointed about again?

"Duchess, you will be dancing with..." the instructor began.

Please be Daring, Please be Daring, Duchess chanted to herself.

"Dexter Charming," the instructor finished.

F#*k, Duchess thought. The two of them walked towards each other.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Duchess asked out loud. It was bad enough missing out on the chance to dance with Daring but now she also had to dance with his loser brother.

"I know the answer to that," Dexter said. "How much time do you have?"

With all the students paired up, they began practicing ballroom dancing based on minimal prompting from the instructor. The girls lead while the boys followed.

"You're fairy good at this, Hooper," Justine said, causing him to blush which was highly visible on his somewhat pale skin.

If Hooper hadn't taken the necessary precaution of sealing his lips shut, he would have explained that he had a little experience with dancing. He was very thankful that he duct taped his mouth because otherwise he would have turned into a gibbering wreck from gazing into the vibrant emeralds that were Justine's eyes.

"I'm guessing," Justine continued, "that with all your time as a frog, you've learned a few things about being light on your feet."

Hooper nodded yes at this and continued dancing with Justine. He'd been too enamored with Briar in the past to consider other girls but between Justine's immense beauty and her having recognized his talent at something she took fairy seriously, he was considering cutting his losses with Briar and pursuing Justine.

"I can't believe this is happening to me," Duchess griped to Dexter as they danced. "I could be up close and personal with Daring while showing him my hexquisite gracefulness. Instead, I'm wasting my talents while being up close with you, who is inferior to Daring in every conceivable way and probably a few that aren't concie... ouch!" Duchess was interrupted by Dexter stepping on her foot. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" she asked accusingly.

"No, that was an accident," Dexter said. "I mean, what would you expect from someone who's so inferior to Daring?" Dexter finished with an uncharacteristically angry glare.

Well played Dorkster, Duchess thought.

"If I stay quite, do you promise not to step on my feet anymore?" Duchess asked.

"Not on purpose," Dexter said. Duchess agreed to these terms and the two continued dancing.

Some time later, class ended.

"That was fun, Hooper," Justine said with a smile, then turned and walked a while.

It's official: I'm over Briar, Hooper thought, deciding that he was going to press his luck with Justine.

Duchess and Dexter exchanged tense silence and angry glares before they parted as well.

...

Two days later, Duchess and Justine had gotten off from dance practice and were making small talk on their way to grab lattes. They compared notes on their practice session for a while and then Duchess changed the subject.

"I'm worried about Blondie," Duchess said. "I think that between her desire for attention and not having any interesting stories to report, she's decided to just make stuff up."

"What are you talking about?" Justine asked.

"That stuff she put on her blog about Hooper getting past Briar and moving on to you," Duchess said. "It's not true, right?"

"It is true," Justine said. "Hooper's been sending me gifts and love notes. The notes are hexquisitely well well written." Justine didn't know this but Hopper went to a lot of trouble to go into frog form, record himself talking about Justine and then transcribe what 'frog him' eloquently said about Justine.

"You're not seriously considering..." Duchess began but couldn't get herself to finish saying it.

"I haven't decided yet," Justine said. "I'm fairy flattered and he is a good dancer but I'm not really looking for a relationship right now."

Good, Duchess thought. He's nowhere near good enough for you. Duchess was then hit by some weird and deeply confusing feelings for Justine that she had felt several times before. Damn, Duchess thought and began repressing those feelings for Justine.

I'm not attracted to Justine: I know that because I love Daring, Duchess reminded herself. There's no reason for me to like Justine that way. Aside from the obvious, there's great physical difference between them. Daring has light skin and hair and is muscular. Justine has dark skin and hair and has a fairy lithe frame with legs that have been well-toned from many dozens of hours of dance practice along with an equally well-toned ass.

That was when Duchess realized what she could no longer deny. Aw shit, I'm gay for Justine. She continued walking alongside the object of her recently confirmed homoerotic lust while keeping her true feelings for Justine under tight wraps. Fortunately for Duchess, this was easy due to her vast experience at being a two-faced bitch. Things could be worse: at least I have hexcelent taste in girls.

...

After lattes with Justine, which Duchess was able to do while maintaining a false platonic front, she went into the woods near school and made her way the treehouse Sparrow lived in instead of a dorm room. She called out for him and he climbed down the tree on a series of pegs that were used as a ladder, his guitar strapped to his back.

"What's up Duchess?" Sparrow said with his usual cocky grin.

"We've got a problem," Duchess said.

"Who are we pissing off now?" Sparrow asked. He'd been around Duchess long enough to know that with her, 'problem' meant 'someone needs to pay for offending my sensibilities and/or not giving me the respect I deserve'. Sparrow usually went along this because it was fun.

"Hopper Croakington II," Duchess said with great contempt. She was worried that if she lost Justine to that huge dork, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. Duchess understood now that it was that fear that made her realize how strongly she felt for Justine.

"I'm gonna have to pass," Sparrow said. "I've been in detention quite a bit lately: not interested in doing time for at least another two weeks. Besides, Hopper 's so pathetic that doing anything to him would be like kicking a puppy: a three-legged puppy with terminal cancer."

"Why did you have to put that image in my head?" Duchess angrily asked.

"I'm sorry, but it's a great analogy for how incredibly pathetic Hopper is," Sparrow explained/apologized.

"Aw," Duchess said in understanding. "But you probably won't think he's so pathetic if he succeeds at wooing Justine, which he is currently working on. If he hooks up with Justine while you are unattached, it would probably impact your reputation as a self-proclaimed ladies man."

"The only reason I don't have a steady girlfriend is because I'm too awesome for any one girl," Sparrow said, strumming his guitar and singing the last part. Well, he'd call it singing but Professor Piper would probably dispute that with him.

"You keep telling yourself that," Duchess said dryly.

"And what do you care if Hopper gets with Just... een," Sparrow paused as Duchess's reason for wanting to undermine Hopper occurred to him. "You like Justine. And just so we're clear, I'm talking about like in the 'I want to see her naked' sense of the word.

Shit, Duchess cursed in her head. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds while she thought of her response. In the end, she just decided to be honest with Sparrow.

"Yes, I like Justine in the way you're talking about," Duchess admitted.

"Why?" Sparrow asked with a quirked eyebrow. "She's weird lookin' (1)."

"I think she's hexotic," Duchess said with a look of longing. "Hexotic and talented and... some other traits I'm sure I'll enjoy finding out about."

"I'm still not helping you," Sparrow said. "Nothing personal, Duchess. But like I said, I'm interested in going back into detention right now. And I would like to point out that hurting Hopper 's chances doesn't improve yours. Also, statistically speaking, Justine probably doesn't like you that way."

"I know," Duchess said, inwardly furious at Sparrow's refusal to help her but keeping it well hidden (again, thanks to her vast experience at being a two-faced bitch) because Sparrow might help her with something else in the future.

"Why don't you ask Faybelle for help?" Sparrow asked.

"I can't do that," Duchess began, "she's a total bitch: which is probably why we get along so well but there's no way I'm telling her anything about this."

"Yeah," Sparrow said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not even sure why I suggested that."

...

The next day after class, Justine was at the charmitorium, practicing her dancing. Normally, she'd be doing this by herself but today, Hopper was in the first row serving as her audience. Justine had put up an open invitation on her MyChapter page for anyone to come watch her practice. Hopper was the only one who'd shown up and he was greatly enjoying Justine showing off her dancing skills. After a while, Justine stopped dancing and looked at Hopper.

"Want to dance with me?" Justine asked.

"Huhh," Hopper stammered and transformed into his frog form.

"I would love to dance, my ebony beauty," Hopper said. "But please wait a few minutes for this transformation to wear off."

Justine continued practicing while waiting for Hopper to change back, which he did after a few minutes. With that out of the way, Hopper got on stage. He took Justine's hand and followed her lead. They were enjoying themselves for quite some time.

Duchess had seen Justine's open invitation and debated with herself if she should go or not. She originally decided not but after several failed attempts to devise ways to further humiliate Hopper than what he did to himself and the pressure of what to do about her feelings for Justine, she realized that she had to tell Justine how she felt. She walked into the Charmitorium and saw Hopper dancing with the object of her affections.

Oh, f*#k this noise, Duchess thought to herself as she approached the stage. Justine and Hopper didn't notice her because they were focused on each other. They did notice her after she leapt onto the stage.

"Duchess," Justine said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"There's something important I need to tell you, Justine," Duchess said, glaring daggers at Hopper the entire time.

What is she up to this time? Hopper asked himself mentally. Duchess was easily one of his least favorite people in existence. She repeatedly mocked him for his physical unattractiveness, not being able to talk to girls without turning into a frog and the various ways he was less talented than Daring. He felt confident in assuming that whatever Duchess was up to, it was bad.

"Then why are you staring at...," Hopper began but was interrupted.

"F(#k off, frog boy," Duchess said as she charged at shoved him to the floor, then looked pleadingly at Justine. "You cannot get together with him."

"And why the hex not?" Justine asked indignantly with her hand on her hip.

"Because it would destroy me," Duchess explained.

"It's rude to shove people!" Hopper shouted as he shoved Duchess to the floor. "I'm fairy sorry you had to see that," he said to Justine. "But in my defense, she started it."

"And I'll end it to," Duchess said as she shoved Hopper again and faced Justine. "Justine, I like you: I like you in ways that would make the family values people want to beat the shit out of me."

"Lots of people want to do that," Hopper loudly retorted as he shoved her again and turned towards Justine. "She's lying about liking you: I can tell because her lips are moving. Also, I know from hexperience that she has no soul."

"F$*k you I have no soul!" Duchess shouted as she tried to shove Hopper again but he stepped back in time because he had nailed the timing from her attacks.

Duchess and Hopper glared angrily at each other. Duchess then yelled and charged him. The two of them began slapping each other like people who'd never been in a fight before and were really pissed off because that's what they were.

Justine was mostly unresponsive as this happened due to shock. She could barely process Duchess saying that she loved her and then of them started shoving each other and were now in what could generously be considered a fight. Once the shock wore off, Justine knew what she had to do.

"Enough!" Justine shouted to get their attention, causing them to stop and face her. Justine looked at Duchess first.

"While I'm flattered, Duchess," Justine said, "I don't like you that way and you need to accept that."

Duchess stood with her mouth gaping open. While she knew that this would be the most likely outcome of baring her soul to Justine (which she did have, despite Hopper's opinion) it still hurt a lot. While Duchess was reeling from this, Justine faced Hopper.

"As for you, Hopper," Justine began, "you are a good dancer and the notes you gave me were fairy sweet. I thought that if we hanged out while I played coy I might return your feelings at some point, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm not looking for a relationship right now and even if I was, I think I can do better than you."

"bu, bu," Hopper stammered and then changed into his frog form. "But fair maiden, why are telling me this now?"

"After what just happened Duchess, I realized that I needed to be honest with you before you got your hopes up."

"I understand," Hopper said regretfully as he slumped his head down.

Justine left the charmitorium while her admirers were still coming to grips with rejection.

"Well that sucked," Duchess said.

"I couldn't have put it better myself," Hopper replied.

"Is this what you feel like all the time?"

"Not all the time but a great deal of it, yes."

"You're tougher than I thought," Duchess said. She had been called many nasty things in the past (nearly all of them well deserved) but this was the most she had ever been hurt, and by a considerable margin. If Hopper was able to deal with this every time he got rejected by a girl he tried to come on to, then her respect for him just went up a notch.

"It does stop hurting as much after a while," Hopper said. Hopper wouldn't usually care Duchess's suffering but he was well aware of how much hurt she was going through. Duchess was still reeling and didn't respond to Hopper. The two of them sat in pained silence for about a minute and then Hopper turned back to human. "Want to talk about it?"

"Sure," Duchess said. Normally, she wouldn't ask Hopper for the time of day to keep away from his severe dorkishness but she figured that no one else would know what she was currently feeling.

They remained in the charmitorium for a while, talking about how the aftereffects of Justine's rejection and the qualities that drew them to her in the first place. Hopper was going over how Justine's complimenting of his dancing led him to pursuing her.

"That was all it took?" Duchess asked. "You thought that since she thought you were a good dancer that she was going to fall head over heels for you?"

"More like 'I thought I was off to a really good start and decided to see where it would lead'," Hopper said in his defense while Duchess stared at him incredulously. "You think I'm lying?"

"I doubt you're that good a dancer," Duchess said.

"Try me," Hopper said as he held out his hand. Duchess decided to see just how good he was and took his hand. "You lead." They began dancing. They only danced for a few minutes, long enough for Duchess to verify Hopper's ability.

"You are pretty good," Duchess admitted.

"Thank you," Hopper said. They stood in awkward silence for about a minute.

"I'm sorry about all the stuff I've said to you before," Duchess said.

"I'm sorry about the 'no soul' comment earlier."

"I've heard worse."

Yes, I'm sure you have, Hopper thought to himself. He wasn't sure why, but he felt the urge to attempt to form a not crappy relationship with Duchess.

"I need you to keep everything you just heard to yourself," Duchess said pleadingly.

"Okay," Hopper agreed.

"Thank you," Duchess said. She then went to leave, feeling strangely pleased with how Hopper had helped her and decided to stop being a bitch to him in the future.

…

Author's notes: (1) I had Sparrow make this comment to reflect how there doesn't seem to be much ethnic diversity at EA High.