Part Four:

Falling Into Step

"Wake up sleepy head!" Crabina said as she pulled Mandy's covers off of her and threw them in the corner. "We only have so much time!"

Mandy opened her eyes blearily and gave the wretched woman a hateful look. Nevertheless, she sat up and rubbed at her eyes. Her blond hair, which was in disarray, was sticking up at odd angles and she was wearing a large pink nightshirt with the words Hate U on it. Crabina shook her head.

"So much work, so little time." She said as Mandy stood and pushed past her towards her dresser.

After she got changed and ran a brush quickly through her hair she headed towards the bottom floor of her house, finding Billy and Irwin already waiting for her at the foot of the stairs.

"What are you two doing here?" She asked coldly as she headed towards the kitchen.

"You mom and dad let us in, yo." Irwin said smugly as he followed her with Billy at his heels.

"Well get out." Mandy replied as she began to make herself breakfast.

"Now now." Crabina said as she came through the door. "Irwin is here to be your dancing partner…if your going to be dancing together tomorrow evening we're going to need to make sure you can get along on the dance floor."

Mandy gave Irwin a disgusted look.

"I have a better idea." Mandy said, her face even. "How about I beat the snot out of him now, and stay away from the dance floor." She said and turned back to her breakfast.

"Honey, if you want to be Prom Queen your going to have to learn how to dance sometime."

Mandy sighed and bit into her toast. After, she chugged her orange juice, making Crabina cringe a little and turned around, wiping her mouth as she did.

"Fine, but I'm not touching him."

"Well…I guess I'll take what I can get. We'll cover slow dancing later…maybe we can use the broom. Come on then, let's go out and do this where there's fresh air." Irwin followed her enthusiastically, occasionally casting a lovesick look towards Mandy, which, she would pointedly ignore.

XXX

It was 9:00 A.M and the sun was shining. The cool spring breeze was gently dancing through the trees, which were full of singing birds.

Grim set his scythe down next to the tree and chuckled when it accidentally went off and deep-fried one of the birds. The others flew away…which was fine with him. He was always uncomfortable lying in a hammock with birds overhead.

Grim pulled out the obituaries section of the newspaper and eased himself into the hammock. He read for about two minutes before he caught sight of Crabina leading the brats into Billy's backyard. He scowled and pulled the newspaper up higher to make a point of disregarding their presence. Ever since yesterday afternoon, Crabina had been bugging the hell out of him with methods to get him to change his mind about escorting Mandy to the prom. So far she had tried guilt, which hadn't worked, fear, bribery, and blackmail. He vaguely wondered what she was getting at this time.

XXX

Crabina hoisted the boom box as close to Grim as she dared, and carefully, so as not to draw attention to herself, cranked up the volume knob. (Not because she thought it would change his mind, but because she was getting annoyed at his stubbornness, and wanted to agitate the hell out of him.)

She motioned for Billy to get close to the stereo. He responded with a stupid looking smile and sat down on the grass next it.

"Alright Billy, crank up the stereo." Crabina said, as Billy, looking far too enthusiastic began to play with the radio buttons, his tongue hanging out in pure delight. Music blasted from the hi-fi, filling the yard and making Mandy cover her ears.

Grim jumped and nearly fell off the hammock. He gritted his teeth, but rather then responding to the noise, forced himself to bury his skull further in the newspaper.

"Turn the volume down Billy!" Mandy yelled furiously. Billy gave her a thumbs up and turned it up a little. Now what was identifiable as rap cranked out of the stereo system at full blast.

"Yeah!" Irwin said, and began to dance badly. Mandy took a step back from him and then angrily charged towards Billy, who recoiled from her. After Irwin received a slap in the back of the head from Crabina and Mandy had punched Billy in the nose, Grim finally lowered his newspaper and got out of the hammock.

He gave Crabina an impulsive look and, after folding the paper and grabbing his scythe, left the backyard.

Crabina sighed and turned the volume down.

"Alright, let's get started then." She said dismally as she switched to a more Prom worthy station. "Irwin, stand in front of Mandy and try not to move too much."

XXX

A couple hours later Crabina found Grim sitting in front of the TV. Brooding, she sat next to him and crossed her arms.

"How were the dancing lessons?" He asked absently, disregarding the accusing look she gave him.

"Terrible. That boy can't dance to save his life…and the only contact Mandy made with him was to punch him in the face when he tried to take her hand. I don't see how I can fix this before tomorrow."

"Oh…I wouldn't worry about it." Grim said, grinning wickedly. "She'll probably kill him before they get to the school anyways."

Crabina glared at him.

She fished through her fur (Of course, what creature the fur belonged to is not to be inquired on.) coat she was wearing and pulled out a vile of amber liquid that she stared at for a moment before holding it out in front of Grim. He gave it a distrusting look.

"Look, she doesn't even have to know it's you. I got this recipe out of an old underworld beauticians book, a few drops and you'll be unrecognizable even to yourself."

Grim waved the bottle away.

"No way…I know what you're getting at…I tried being mortal once and I hated it."

"Oh come on…I thought she was your friend…do you WANT her to lose?" Crabina asked desperately…truthfully thinking more of her own reputation rather then Mandy's success.

"Hah! I could care less if dat brat loses…besides…it wouldn't hurt for her to realize that she can't ALWAYS win…maybe losing will straighten her out a little."

Crabina frowned.

"Fine…but you know if she loses she's going to be unbearable." Crabina said as a last desperate attempt. "That one seems like someone who could hold a grudge for a LONG time…on whoever was responsible." Grim, who was not stupid raised his eyebrows (And oddly enough…he does actually HAVE eyebrows…if you don't believe me…watch the show sometime and find out for yourself.) as he considered this.

The spell was broken however when he caught sight of Crabina's hopeful look. He glared and stood up.

"Forget it, Crabina! I'm not taking her and dats final!" He said and stomped out of the room. Crabina deflated a little and set the vial on an end table at her side.

"Drat."

XXX

Mandy spent much of the afternoon in an ominous mood. After watching Irwin try to dance for the last couple hours she came to the conclusion that she'd rather have her legs sawed off (Or better yet, his legs sawed off.) then dance with him the next evening…or ever. The whole experience was making her regret taking Mindy's challenge more and more.

She was even beginning to find herself…no…it was best not to think like that. She WOULD win…no matter what it took.

After she hadeaten a quick dinner with her parents, who didn't notice her mood …because she was never happy. She stole away to her bedroom, and slipped into the gown that Grim had gotten her from the Underworld. The mirror, which had been dragged in a day or two before (For Mandy had never owned a full length mirror before.) shown back her reflection with piercing exactitude. She growled under her breath as she started to put the pink tinted flowers that Crabina had gotten for her in her blonde hair. There was a case of makeup at her side, but she refused to even look at it before the Prom.

She stood up in front of the mirror and turned to look at herself. She scowled.

Doubt was not something that Mandy was generally familiar with, but she couldn't help but feel a tinge of it now. She NEVER lost…but this was mostly because the challenges she faced took strength, intelligence, willpower and control. She had all of those things. Beauty? Even she did not deny that this was a thing that she did not hold in high regard. She wasn't beautiful…just as she could not dance…or find a date other then Irwin who would go with her without some…fearsome persuasion. It was her own fault…it wasn't that she couldn't BE a prom queen if she really tried…it was just that she chose not to. She didn't want to lose…but if it meant that she would have to act like Mindy to win…then perhaps she'd have to throw in the towel.

She pulled off the dress and ripped the flowers out of her hair. If there had been anyone there, they would have been VERY unlucky at that moment.

After she pulled on her pj's, for by that time the sun had set and her parents had already retired to their bedroom, she sat on the edge of her bed and glared at the wall. (Anyone watching would have sworn the wall tried to shrink away.)

The dress was crumpled on the floor with ripped flowers around it. She stood, and walked across the room, making sure to step on both the dress and flowers as she did, and headed towards her bedroom door.

--POV varies from here on out--

Mandy walked across the carpeted hallway in bare feet, planning to descend the stairway to where the television sat and watch mindlessly for a while without any distractions from Crabina, her parents, or those idiot friends of hers.

She scowled when she saw that the television was already on, as it's faint glow set her lower floor alight in bluish illumination. She was in one of those moods where the presence of anyone was unwelcome (Well…she was like this normally…but this time whoever it was would find themselves very unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.)

It turned out to be Grim. Mandy stood in the doorway glaring at him for a moment before he finally noticed her.

"What are you doing here, bonehead…I thought Billy had custody tonight." She said, crossing her arms.

"Nope." Grim said, as he turned back to the TV. "Third Friday of May. I'm yours…go check your calendar if you don't believe me." He said dully.

Instead of doing what he suggested, Mandy sat down beside him. He was watching a corny horror film. The sort where one could see the wires on the bats and the zipper on the monster. She could never figure why he liked them so much. They were so lame.

"I'm thinking about forfeiting." She said in a low and heated voice. "This whole thing is a waste of my time."

Grim gave her an astonished look.

"You're choosing to lose?" He asked in disbelief. Mandy's eyes narrowed.

"No…I'm choosing NOT to win." Mandy growled back defensively. Grim turned away, choosing not to argue this point as they both sat in silence for a while, listening to the murmur of bad acting as it drifted from the faint television set.

"Honestly child," Grim said after a while. "I don't know why you ever took the challenge to begin with. Mindy is clearly a more suitable candidate for Prom Queen." Out of the corner of his eye socket Grim must have caught the altogether deadly look Mandy was giving him.

"I mean you're more suitable for other tings." He added quickly, so as not to find himself in a thousand tiny pieces.

"And what's that suppose to mean?" Mandy said, danger still evident in her voice.

"I just don't get why you'd take a challenge where you have to dance and be beautiful and spend time with someone you hate, if all you'll get from it in the end is a plastic crown that you'll probably either destroy in the end or give to your dog to bury in the yard." He said. Mandy relaxed a little.

"Because..."

"I know…you never lose." Grim interrupted monotonously. "Please…your not even trying. You either have to do the things you don't want to or lose. You can't keep acting like you are now and expect to beat Mindy in THIS sort of competition. I mean…I saw you today…at least Irwin was trying"

She crossed her arms and pretended to watch the bad horror movie for a while. Finally after what seemed like an agonizingly long silence Grim shifted uncomfortably.

"It's not just you." He said finally. "That boy is a nightmare on the dance floor. He'd make even the best dancer look like a fool." Mandy sighed.

"He's a nightmare anywhere, Grim. You can't expect me to learn to dance with THAT."

"True." Grim replied. He smoothed the fabric of his robe down in an uncomfortable motion and then after a moment where he cursed his conscience, he took the remote from beside of the couch and turned the television off. Mandy hadn't really been watching, but came out of her thoughts and glared at him as though she had. He sighed and stood.

Damn. He thought as he did.

"Well, what about me?" He said as he offered her a skeletal hand. "If I taught you how to dance would you stop complaining?" Mandy raised her brow.

"The Grim Reaper can dance?" She asked, her voice laced with both uncertainty and sarcasm. "Funny…I wouldn't think that would be a useful skill in YOUR line of work."

"You'd be surprised what sort of skills you need in MY line of work. Besides, dancing is simple. Especially slow dancing. Do you want to learn or not?" He asked a little impatiently. Mandy surveyed his hand for a moment before she surprised both of them by taking it.

Grim pulled her onto her feet and with an almost over dramatic wave a sort of light and beautiful music seemed to come from nowhere.

"Alright now do you want to learn something easy or something hard?" He asked, feeling slightly strange as he prepared to dance with the abrasive girl in front of him. Wasn't this what he had been avoiding in the first place?

"Let's go with easy…I don't want to be here all night." Words that were meant to be laced with cynicism came out a lot more timidly then Mandy would have wished. This was an unusual situation for her. Grim cleared his throat.

"Very well. The key to easy slow dancing is to get really close to your partner to allow for as little movement as humanly possible…I believe your generation invented this type of slow dancing…basically hugging and walking around in circles." It was clear he wasn't a fan of modern dancing. Mandy thought of Irwin and shivered.

"On second thought…let's go with the version that allows for as little contact as possible." She said quickly. Grim nodded.

"Then you want old fashioned dancing." He said and took her hand. "Your left hand goes in mine, you're right on my shoulder." He touched her waist delicately and began to move slowly, directing each of her steps.

"The farther apart you are, the larger your gait." He said as she began to get the hang of it. As Mandy began to fall easily into each step, she became more uncomfortable with her position. Grim was surprisingly good on his feet. She imagined that with anyone else, she would not have gotten the hang of it so quickly. Was the room becoming warmer, or was it just her?

"If you lesson the distance between you and your partner the dance becomes more difficult and you run the risk of having your feet trampled on." Grim said suddenly, breaking Mandy out of her unusual thoughts. The distance had lessened between them without her noticing. She was close enough now so that she could feel the fabric of his robe brushing occasionally across her face. They went on like this for a few minutes before Grim halted. Still, he had her hand and was much closer then she would have wished in the circumstances.

"I think you have the hang of this. Do you want to try something more difficult?" He asked a little uneasily. She had been silent the entire time and it was making him nervous. Instead of replying she broke away, and automatically put some distance between them.

"No…I'm tired…I'm going to bed." She said looking strange. She left the room without another word and disappeared up the stairs.

Grim sighed after she left and waved his hand. The music stopped. He sat back on the couch and turned the TV back on. By now, the movie was over and credits were flitting across the page. He watched them for a while, without really seeing them then turned towards the vial Crabina had left sitting on the end table by the couch.

Damn. He thought again and crossed his arms.

XXX

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