The Dance

"Go on, just do it!"

"No! I will not, under any circumstance, do it!"

"Fine. Then I guess I win." Her words sounded irritatingly triumphant, and only iI/i should be allowed to be in that sort of mood. i'Hold on Courtney. It's probably just a trap..'/i

Screw this trap. I never lose.

"Fine! I'll do it." I responded quickly. Might as well get over it.. It's not like it'll hurt, right?

As I took one step forward, I could hear Heather's evil laughter behind my back. Oh, how I hated how that one simple conversation at the dining hall turned to a fate like this. I closed my eyes; For one, I wanted to breath through my mouth one last time before this big feat took place, and two, to remind myself why I was doing this in the first place.

-

iThat one simple conversation in the dining hall that morning was slightly childish, sprinkled happily with Heather's bitchy attitude.

"Hey Courtney!" A voice called from behind me, and I turned at the sound of my name. My face took on one of slight anger as I realized that Heather had voiced my name, but I followed her hand motions forward anyways. Stupid, stupid idea.

"Hey Courtney! How are you?" She asked, her voice like honey as she questioned me.

"Fine. And how about you?" I replied courtly, not wanting to make this last to long.

"Oh, you know, the ususal."

"Mhm."

"Listen; I just want to let you know that I've heard a ton of rumours going around about you." She got right down to buisness after just a few seconds of small talk. But no surprise shone on my face. Composure is key.

"Oh really? What about?" I asked casually, as if I didn't really care. Lie.

"Just something about you.. And a certain other.." Heather responded casually, as if she were really trying to piss me off to some extent. Sadly, it was working.

"That's.. Nice." I gritted through my teeth, already knowing what was coming. 'This is getting /isoi old..'

"Yeah. Bridgette was telling us all about it in the washrooms the other day. You know, when you were," She giggled, my eyes narrowed, "out cold from that one crab apple."

"I can't really be to blame for that." I replied coldly, wanting to return to my team's table. Or better yet, leave the dining hall.

"Yes, well, that was a bit of an.. Unfortunate accident. But that is beside the point."

A moment of silence rolled by slowly.

"So.. Is it true then?"

"Is what true?"

"That you like him." Her words were so familiar I could hardly believe she spoke them. When will it hit people that I don't!?

Sigh. "No, it isn't true."

"You're lying." She stated after a moment of pause. I stiffened at her words.

"Excuse me?"

"I think you're lying." She repeated slyly, her lips slowly curved into a grin.

"Think whatever you want." I responded before turning away defiantly.

"It's too bad really. I would've been his second pick, if it weren't for you." Heather's sentence made me stop dead in my tracks, and I turned slowly back to her.

"He would never inter-team date. Especially not with you." I hissed, almost in a whisper.

"You think so? Watch." She said, and with that, she walked over to th Killer Bass table, tapped Duncan's shoulder lightly, and then once he had faced her, planted one on him in front of the whole crowd. Even my jaw dropped there./i

-

But now, I had to prove to her that he wouldn't have picked her, even though I knew I didn't like him. It was stupid, crazy, and pretty annoying, but I never lost, and this was no exception.

Music was blaring from the three-foot-high speakers sitting in front of the dining hall while everyone at this little party stood in front, dancing and enjoying themselves in general. My wondering was why Chris would throw a great party for us anyways. Must be some evil plot for ratings, as always.

I low clucking noise was heard behind me, and I whipped my head around to see Heather mocking my still-standing figure. I glared before entering the feild, and that's where I silently began stalking my prey. It had to be quick, yet relatively harmless, but still enough to kill Heather. What a deadly combination.
I caught sight of the target near the rotting steps of the dining hall, and that is where I began the hunt. I walked up to him slowly, careful not to show much emotion other than a simple smile and a happy aura; I couldn't blow it, or it would be my fate. His eyes caught mine, and that's when the chase began.

"Hey Princess, didn't expect you at a party." He teased, laughs enlighting his face.

"Well, you can't really expect much sanity on this island now can you?"

My response took him back a bit. He obviously was just doing to try and make me snap, but I was the hunter this time. He was going to be the hunted.

"Er, no." He smirked, standing on the last word. He was now ready to fight back, I could feel it. The vibes coming from him now felt like he wanted to annoy the hell out of me, no matter what it took. But this time, I was going to switch the game up.

"So, you.. wanna dance?" I spoke softly, yet it was a question that was in need of answering. His eyebrows shot up at this inquiry, not quite sure how to react. The song was obviously slow, and this is what probably got him.

"Sure." He replied after returning to Earth. I took hold of his hand, after a quick debate in my head of course, and led him a little farther away from the dining hall and more in Heather's line of vision. I locked my arms around his neck after making sure Heather was watching, and I felt his hands sit loosely at my hips as a steady beat blared from the speakers.

My target was definatly locked at this point, and Heather was as good as dead at this point. I triumphantly swayed to the music as I watched Heather's gaze turn stone-cold, and that sweet, sweet aroma of a near-kill made it as good as a victory already. I just had to keep this dance going until the end of the song, and show Heather that she was inot,/i going to win.

Unfortunatly, I never thought of what I would do or say to Duncan during this time, but I had to act cool, and composed. He was most likely wondering why I had asked him to dance in the first place, and I needed a really excuse. And fast.

"Finally decided to admit you like me?" Duncan asked, his face pure.. I couldn't really describe it. A whole new wordly look.

"No.." I began slowly, thinking of the right words, "I might as well dance with someone, right?"

I felt like punching myself. Bad words, bad words..

"You have a whole pool of fish here Princess, there's got to be a reason why you'd pick the guy you hate most on the island right?" He asked, putting emphasis on my dislike to him.

"Well, m-maybe I'm giving you a chance." I said in a quick manner. This would definatly save time. Hopefully.

"Oh really?" Duncan's voice grinned. His ivoice/i. Now you don't hear the everyday..

"Y-Yes, really." I smiled, almost forgetting what I was getting myself into. But I couldn't let this go to far, I'd be making regrets.

"So then if you apparently idon't/i like me, then why are you giving me a chance? You're growing a weird tree here girl."

"Alright, fine. Maybe I-I do like you.." I mumbled, trailing off and praying he didn't catch the phrase. Too late.

"This sure is a day full of surprises. First, Chef serves something decent-looking, which obviously isn't, Heather kisses me," I felt my grip get slightly tighter on his neck, "Chris throws a random party, and now you're admitting you like me? Holy crap."

"Yeah, well, days like these come and go, you know?" I replied cooly. Why was I so.. Irritated about that one detail about his day? I wasn't jealous, I couldn't be.

Could I?

"Yeah, sometimes." He said in a sigh-like tone. Sigh-like. Was this Duncan?

I tried to read his face, but it was pretty hard. He was day-dreaming, staring off into space, whichever, but it was distracting. It was hard to find Duncan in a relaxed state of mind like this, so this was gold. His blue eyes were soft, and the look on his face was peaceful, and calm. I felt myself smiling at this strange side of Duncan I had never seen before, almost enjoying the flipside to the hot-headed rebel I thought I knew. To bad I speak to soon sometimes.

"Anyways, I think I deserve something." He spoke, completely de-railing the previous mood. What was he saying?

"What do you mean?" I questioned, a little annoyed.

"You know. Like, a million dollars, or a kiss?" He waggled his eyebrows flirtaciously, and I stared at him, unimpressed.

"You already got a kiss today."

"Not from you."

"What, are you collecting kisses now?"

"Nope, but I might as well get one from my dance partner, don't'cha think?"

"No." I replied simply as he eyed me.

"How about a small one on the cheek?"

"I'm not that stupid Duncan. I know you'll just turn your head, God." I rolled my eyes, catching sight of Heather grinning wickedly behind Duncan. She wanted to see me fall, crash iand/i burn. What a bitch.

"Okay, you know what, fine, I'll kiss you." I said rather loudly, probably the worst thing to say too. People's heads turned, and I was immediatly self-conscience about what I was doing. I was dancing.. With Duncan.. It was like snapping awake from a strange dream. Except this was more-over the weirdest dream-like reality ever.

His eyebrows shot up again, almost to his hair-line this time. I was going to make this quick and painless, like getting a needle, or ripping off a band-aid. Completely.. harmless.
Since my hands were already clasped at his neck, all I really had to do was lean in and, well, kiss him. How awkward. I wasn't quite sure if Duncan was even standing properly from the shock of my sudden outburst of an agreement, and so I had to take my chances, and hopefully he wouldn't fall.

All of this thinking took about two seconds, and I needed to live up to my statement. I also needed to surpass Heather's expectations, and her kiss. Just thinking about Duncan enjoying another girl more than me made me angry, and I didn't know why. He wasn't mine. He was single, like me. Then why am I so angry at him? Why did I feel so betrayed?

At that moment, before I could even thinking anymore, I decided to just kiss him, in a spurr-of-the-moment type of way. He was obviously oblivious for a second, but seconds could last mileniums sometimes. It was only after a few imore/i seconds that I realized that I didn't really care about Heather's expectations anymore, it was imine/i that I was so concerned about. Fuck Heather, she can go die in a ditch. This was imy/i moment, and it wasn't going to be because of her, hell no.

Upon opening my eyes after simply detatching my mouth from his, most of the crowd around us had a delayed reaction. They stood frozen, staring at us like we were growing a third eye. I was very motivated at that moment to ask them why they were so surprised, really. Was it really so surprising to kiss someone these days? Anyways, after that, Chris told everyone to go back to their buisness, and Duncan, well, he was surprised. As for Heather though.. Let's just say she got served.