A/N: So I decided to continue this story. This chapter is a bit longer, as you can see (Three and a half pages on Word). I don't like the beginning that much, but I think it turned out pretty well. Anyways, review please!

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything...

"Stuck in the moment

Dead at the scene

And it's on tonight

This is the life that you wanted, right?

So turn off all the lights

Dressed up just like a movie star

At all the parties they'll know who you are

Wouldn't it be great, to be fashionably late?...

What I'm saying is do you, do you want to lose it all?

'Cause this is more then just a dance hall drug

You can't wait to fall in love

All I'm saying is do you, do you want to learn to fly?

Then you should pack it up and say goodbye

'Cause when the push comes to the shove

It's just a dance hall drug."

--Boys Like Girls, "Dance Hall Drug"

Late February, 1962

Brenda Ann Phoebe-Joan Lawrence was quite a name for such a small baby.

When Jacqueline Lawrence had found out she was going to have a baby, she and her husband, Ray, threw themselves into overdrive getting ready for the baby. Ray immersed himself in work, Jackie spent hours arranging and re-arranging the furniture in the nursery. With the baby due in eight weeks, the only finishing touches on building their child's life were picking the names.

Jacqueline and Ray were betting on a boy; blue nursery, boy's shoes and clothing, the whole shebang. And so naturally they chose boy's names. Brendan John Charles Lawrence. Brendan and John after Jackie's two older brothers, Charles after Ray's father.

Of course, the Lawrences didn't have a boy. They had a daughter.

But they didn't want to choose completely new names. They broke up the name Brendan into Brenda Ann and changed John to Joan, and instead of Charles, they used Phoebe, after Ray's mother.

Brenda Ann Phoebe-Joan Lawrence. Certainly a mouthful. After all, who would want to say that all the time, when you're trying to call your daughter in for dinner, or picking her up from school, or taking her with you to the grocery store? Brenda would do fine.

Brenda's story would most likely begin when she was three years old. Her grandma Phoebe sat her down on her lap and told her stories about how she was a dancer. Phoebe told Brenda about her days in the ballet, about the hours and hours and hours of hard work, about the sweat and tears and blood that came with it. But she also told Brenda about the glamour, the limelight, the grace that also tagged along with the hard work. It was a cutthroat world. And somehow, that appealed to the little girl. Phoebe gave Brenda tickets to go with herself and Jackie to the ballet, to see Swan Lake. Brenda remembers everything about that day. How her mother talked to Phoebe as they sat in their seats, saying she was worried Brenda wouldn't sit through it.

"What was going through our minds," she said, shaking her head and sending blonde curls bouncing. "Taking a three year old girl to the ballet! She'll squirm and fuss throughout the entire thing."

But Brenda didn't. As soon as the lights went down, she was enthralled. The costumes, the make-up, the lights. The whole thing just seemed so…alluring. Brenda watched with fascination as the men and women danced across the stage. And right then and there, Brenda Lawrence vowed that was what she was going to do. Just like Grandma Phoebe, she'd be a dancer. The rest of the night, Brenda tugged on her mother's skirts asking when she could have her first dance lesson. Jacqueline laughed.

"It's a phase," she told her mother-in-law. "She'll get over it."

Phoebe disagreed.

"I was like her when I was young. All I wanted to do was dance. Look what happened to me. I was a dancer. She will be, too."

Brenda had always liked her grandma Phoebe.

It was a few months after Swan Lake that Jacqueline finally signed Brenda up for dance lessons. The constant questioning and begging from her daughter was growing rather bothersome. Jackie gave in, which was something she didn't regret. She'd never seen the girl so happy. Every Saturday, after she came home from her lessons, Brenda would be chattering on and on. About the instructor, the dancing and the other girls in the class. Most of the girls in the class with Brenda were neighborhood girls, and soon they were all friends. Always at each other's houses, playing outside in the street, and dancing, dancing, dancing. Practicing together, performing together, learning together. They were girls like Darla Hans from up on the corner, and Vicki Weston two streets to the left, and Tammy Linden across the street. There were twelve girls in the class, and all grew to know each other inside and out through the years.

Then the von Tussles moved in, three houses to the right of Becky Philips and her family. They had a daughter, Amber, who was nine, the same age as Brenda and the other girls. Amber von Tussle was a sweet little thing, big blue eyes and big blonde curls. Always polite and courteous. So naturally, everyone liked her. Until the winter of 1955, when her father walked out on them. Amber's mother, Velma, had always been demanding. She gave the other women in the neighborhood a bad feeling. Velma was clearly up to something all the time, yet no one had the nerve to investigate what. But after her father left, Amber did a complete personality 180. She had only been in the dance class for a year, and yet she was thoroughly convinced she was the best. She snapped at the other girls, ordering them around like they were her own personal team of servants. None of the girls wanted to offend her, especially since they all secretly feared her mother. They all just whispered about her, smiling and pretending to be her friend whenever she came in the room. Everyone knew Amber von Tussle was close with her father, and it ripped her heart into hundreds of pieces when he left, but this was ridiculous.

A few of the more temperamental and out-spoken girls talked about confronting Amber about her attitude, but none of them ever really considered it. None of the girls expect for Shelley Carlisle, that is. Shelley was, and still is, a signature redhead. Fiery personality, not afraid to speak her mind, and won't take 'no' for answer. Shelley was tired of sitting around watching the new girl step all over everyone. After one Friday afternoon lesson, Shelley cornered Amber, confronting her for everything she'd done since she'd moved to Baltimore. Ever since that afternoon, Shelley and Amber held a vicious rivalry, each determined to come out on top. And Amber got a step up when her mother became manager at WYZT Studios. WYZT broadcast the ever popular Corny Collins show; everyone who was anyone watched it practically religiously. As soon as Amber reached high school, her mother easily pulled some strings to get Amber on the show without bothering to audition. Of course, all the girls from Brenda's dance class practiced night and day for the auditions. Every four years, the council was replaced with fresh, young faces. With Amber in, there were only nine female slots left on the cast. Three girls wouldn't get in. And no one wanted to be one of those three girls.

Audition day rolled around. The nerves on set were undeniable. This was it. Do or die. Or at least, that's what if felt like to the girls. Each girl danced her heart out, and each girl knew that may not be enough. The girls flocked to the studio when new spread that the list had been posted. Who had gotten in, who hadn't. Brenda frantically scanned the list for her own name.

Amber von Tussle…Lou Anne Wilson…Noreen Jones…Doreen Jones…Darla Hans…Becky Philips…Tammy Linden….There! Right between Tammy Linden and Shelley Carlisle was her name. Brenda Lawrence.

Brenda was so proud of herself. Her mother and sister watched her first few shows, before Jackie decided they were all just going to be the same thing and gave up watching daily. But Brenda felt like royalty. All the girls did, so did the boys who had made the show. Being on the show gave you some kind of power. You were a celebrity. Everyone wanted to be like you. Everyone. Young kids looked up to you, your peers admired you, your elders were proud of you. Everyone knew your name. It was the best feeling in the world to Brenda. This show was her big break. It was just like a fairytale to Brenda.

And that lead her to where she was now.

Which was in a dimly lit dressing room at WYZT studios, four years later.

"You're sure the door's locked?" Brenda murmured, leaning up against the wall.

"Why, you're that concerned about getting caught?"

"You could lose your job. I could lose my job."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Are you, now?" Brenda purred, lowering her voice even more. Her eyes flicked up and down his frame. They shouldn't be doing this. It was wrong. She shouldn't have this kind of…relationship with a man significantly older then she and who was, technically, her boss. But she couldn't help it. The man practically oozed charm out of every pore. Brenda wrinkled her nose. That wasn't a pleasant image. It made charm seem like slime or something. Ew.

He took a step closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his face into her neck.

"You're a beautiful girl," he whispered. "And you have lovely perfume. Have I mentioned that?"

Brenda smiled softly, tilting her head back and letting her eyelids drop shut halfway. "I think you've mentioned the beautiful part once or twice before. I've never heard you compliment my perfume before, though. Thank you."

He lifted his face from her neck, and she brought her head back up to look him in the eye, pouting slightly.

"Bren," he began slowly, pulling her closer to his body. "Have you ever thought about where we're going? You know…as a couple?"

Brenda laughed, running her hands through his hair. "That's not like you, Corny. Asking questions like that. But if you really want to know…Well, I think this whole thing's very romantic. It's dangerous. Especially since I'm supposed to be with Jesse. But…and you better not laugh at this, but I think it's almost like…well, like a fairytale."

Corny smiled, planting a soft kiss on her neck. "I never believed in fairytales," he murmured into her neck, slowly leaving a trail of kisses up her skin to her ear, letting his lips linger there for a moment.

"Well, do you now?"

"I think you may just sway me."