3. Dancing to Death
Her:
I watch from the crowd as Bruce awkwardly steps onto the stage. There's a slight and pretty blonde-haired teacher. She has blush pink cheeks and blood-red lips and looks more like a living doll, than an adult. The lady is holding a little pillow with a golden crown on it. I see Bruce holding out his hands in protest. I'm sure he's going to say he can't accept it. That he doesn't even go here for God sakes.
But this is Gotham. Not like that really matters. All that does matter is that Bruce was the face of corporate generosity when Gotham was an island. That he helped in any small ways that he could with money, supplies and emergency care.
Like it or not, Bruce Wayne is the most popular kid at this school. At every school in Gotham.
"So, that's Bruce Wayne." I hear a willowy voice say and I turn and see a thin caramel colored girl with a short, blue afro. Her dress is a slinky snakeskin blue and she's so beautiful, tall and thin, that she immediately gives me model vibes. She's flanked by the girl I saw earlier with pigtails, and another girl with freckles, short reddish-brown curls, wide brown eyes and the same model-like height and figure.
"Yep." I answer with a smile. "That's Bruce Wayne."
"He's really cute." Blue hair says regarding Bruce admiringly.
"Yea, he is." I say and look back over to the stage where Bruce has been forced into accepting the crown. The golden crown looks clumsily large on him and the sash is golden too with silver lettering.
Can you say overkill?
Bruce gives me a look that says Help Me! but I smile, shake my head and mouth
You're on your own.
"I'm Celestia," the blue-haired model girl says suddenly and nods over at her friends. "This is Harleen," she says nodding at pigtails and then to freckles "and Crystal."
Oh brother. Not sure why they choose right now to form a new social club, but I suck it up and remember how I asked Bruce if we could just be normal. I guess normal girls do talk to each other.
I give a cordial smile to all three, "I'm Selina."
"We know." Harleen says and her eyes hold something that I would mark as a mix of admiration and maybe even anger. She looks back over to the stage at Bruce and says, "Gee, I wish a guy would look at me the way Bruce looks at you."
Seeing her up close, it's clear that the preteen is wearing tons of makeup. So much that it almost looks like a mask. But, her black clunky glasses and tiny height make her look much younger and probably closer to her real age. This kid is 14-years old at the most.
"Hey, you're a kid…" I say and Harleen looks at me like a trapped rat. "How did you even get in here?" I ask, trying not to sound as disgusted as I immediately feel. The idea of some 18-year-old asshole "dating" a 12 to 14-year old is enough to make me glad I slipped my clawed gloves into my purse's special lining tonight.
"Oh, it's not what you think." Crystal answers for the girl. "Harleen is here with me. Her mom and dad are at dinner tonight and I was supposed to babysit. But I didn't feel good leaving her at home by herself."
I give Crystal a skeptical look but glance back at the preteen. She's giving me this cautious look like she could either kiss me or kill me.
Someone needs to get this kid some therapy, ASAP.
But, it's not for me to say whether or not she should be here. And at least she's not with some 18-yr old d-bag.
"Not my business." I respond and look back at the stage. Bruce is trying not to look as attractive as he is by being solemn and staring at the floor, but it's not working.
"My apologies for that unanticipated technical difficulty." Principal Row says with a smile, "So now, without further ado your Anders Preparatory Prom Queen is…"
I look around the room trying to spy which girl looks like she's getting ready for her name to be called.
My eyes land on her and I have to actively suppress the hiss, just as the Principal screams:
"Silver St. Cloud!"
Him:
I haven't seen her in years. I just assumed she was gone from here. Far away and never to return. That probably would have been the smart move.
But then again, I guess me getting out of here is the smart move too and I haven't made it, either.
At least, not yet...
Silver practically floats onto the stage and they grace her head with the small diamond tiara. She walks over to me and gives me a smile that timidly reaches her eyes as she waits for me to hold out my arm for the customary dance.
I don't mean to, but instinctively I glance out at Selina. Her arms crossed, she's shooting daggers at Silver.
Great…
I realize that I could shun her. Refuse the dance and leave Silver standing up here looking dejected. But Alfred's voice finds its way into my head.
'A proper gentleman always treats a lady like a lady…Even if she hasn't always acted like one.'
I hardly want to be touching Silver, much less dancing with her. But, it's unnecessary to embarrass her in front of a room full of her peers. I take Silver's hand and lead her out onto the dance floor.
"Bruce, I-"
"Silver, don't." I say and look at down at her. I can already tell she imagines I'm about to cut her to shreds with words.
The last time I saw Silver St. Cloud, she'd successively helped her uncle to kidnap me and offer me up to a crazed cult that almost ended in my literal sacrifice. Though to her credit, Silver did try to stop it at the last minute. But, that was a long time ago. I've nearly lost my life so many times since, that that incident is one that I can just barely recall.
"It's ancient history." I say and give Silver what I hope to be a comforting smile.
I do my best to look friendly and Silver plasters on a fake smile and we dance in silence for the next few minutes.
The dance is over soon enough, and I lead Silver to her table wordlessly before heading back to find Selina. I remove the ridiculous crown and sash and set it on the dessert table by the edge. As I am heading back to my preferred dance partner, I have a thought and instead make my way over to VJ, the DJ for the evening.
"I'd like to make a request."
Her:
That blonde haired little bitch. I can't even believe she had the nerve to ever come back to Gotham, let alone come to this school. Bruce's old school. Yea, he doesn't go here anymore, but I'll bet she didn't know that.
I just might need my claws before the night's over, after all.
I've lost sight of Bruce but am heading back over to our table, when I hear it.
I'm just gonna stand with my bag hanging off my left arm
I'm just gonna walk home kicking stones at parked cars
It's the song. Not exactly our song. We've never had an official one, but every now and then we'll be listening to music together and we mutually love a song. It's something that is so rare that whenever it happens, we know. We kind of look at each other and smile and then we just know.
But I had a great night, 'cause you kept rubbing against my arm
So, I'm just gonna stand with my bag hanging off my left arm
I look around, but I don't see Bruce. He must have requested it, right? I mean what are the chances that he didn't. But, I can't find him.
What a freakin' waste…
Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder and his voice hums into my ear.
"I want the entire street out of town just so I can be alone with you" Bruce whisper-sings and his hand is back around my waist, his fingers weaving through mine.
And Bruce can't sing.
Not a bit.
But it's the best sound I've heard all night.
I feel the smile breaking through and forget everything else I was thinking. Everything except this boy. These eyes. This voice.
We stay this way, holding each other, swaying and listening to our unofficial song, up until the very last line.
…Just to adore you, I adore you…
The song ends but I want to hold onto Bruce just a little longer. Best song of the night and I'm wearing a beautiful dress and dancing with my guy. The guy. Night couldn't be better.
I pull away from Bruce's shoulder and look up at him.
"You requested that song."
"I did."
"That was sweet."
"I hoped you'd like it." Bruce says and reaches down swiping my curls away from my face.
I feel blood rushing to my cheeks as his dark eyes bore holes and I glance down and say "I mean, yea. It was nice to have at least one dance end without feeling like my ears were going to start bleeding."
Bruce throws his head back and laughs and then smiles down at me. "You're absolutely one of a kind, Selina."
He tilts up my chin and his eyes go deep and hazy. He gazes at my lips and eases down.
I start to close my eyes and lean up, waiting for his kiss…
…But, then I hear a scream so loud that my ears almost literally start bleeding.
My hands cover my ears and I look up and Bruce is grimacing. We turn to look in the general direction of the scream.
Nearby the wide door leading to the locker hallway, I see that blond girl from earlier—Dinah Lee. She's still shrieking, and I see that there is some guy pulling her away from the door trying to get her to calm down.
Dinah stops screaming indecipherably and I can see that she's saying something. I take my hands off my ears and hear her yelling:
"He's dead! He's dead!"