Chapter 8: Raise the Roof and Shake Your Bootay!
From their view from above, Jimmy and Cindy could see that the Candy Bar was already packed with people. Twin searchlights crisscrossed the sky in the front and the windows showed multicolored lights dancing across the room. When Jimmy landed outside the Candy Bar, other people just arriving stared at them, unmercifully.
"I never told anyone except my parents and the guys. Did you?" Jimmy said.
"No one except Libby, Brittney, and my folks." Cindy said.
"Well, this should be interesting." He said. Cindy took his arm nervously, and they both walked through the double doors.
Inside, the tables and chairs had been removed to create a huge dance floor. The speakers around the floor were blaring funky music, vibrating from the sound. Looking around, they could see people of all ages dancing, some very well, and some, like Principal Willaby, were dancing kind of strange. It was easy to pick out Libby and Sheen, who were dancing right in the middle of the floor. Libby was wearing a crimson dress that matched Cindy's, and a big flower in her hair. Sheen wore his T-shirt with a tux pattern on the front and his hair was slicked back.
When Cindy and Jimmy walked in, Cindy's arm hooked around Jimmy's, a few people looked, and nudged their friends. Soon, everyone was staring at them. The music stopped suddenly and the lights came on. There was a long moment of silence, and then suddenly everyone cheered. Voices of "Finally!" or "'Bout time!" could be heard above the rest. The music started up again, and the dance lights switched back on. As people slowly turned their attention back to the dance, Jimmy said, "I didn't realize everyone would get that excited."
"Me neither." Cindy said, almost yelling over the music.
"Hey, I thought there was supposed to be ballroom dancing. Where are the waltzes and tangos?" Jimmy said. Cindy giggled.
"If you actually read the poster about the ball, you would know that there's going to be a part in the middle of the ball when they're going to play ballroom music. I guess they did that so people actually came to this."
"Yeah." Jimmy said.
"I'll be right back. I need to put my purse down with the others." She pointed at a pile of purses in a corner. "Ok?"
"Ok." he said. As she left, Carl walked up with Elkie holding his hand. Carl was wearing his weather man suit from the kids news show, and Elkie was wearing a simple pale blue dress with thin straps. They were getting weird looks from around the room, but they didn't seem to notice.
"Hey Jim." He said. "Isn't this great? Elkie came to Retroville just in time. She didn't have a dress so she borrowed an old dress my mom had."
"I was so surprised to learn it was her dress once upon a time." Elkie said, giggling cutely. Just then Sheen and Libby came up to the group, breathing heavily.
"Wuew. This is one funky party." Libby said. She suddenly noticed Elkie. "Oh, you must be Elkie! Nice to meetcha. I'm Libby."
"It's nice to meet you too." Elkie said, holding out a hand. Libby ignored it and pulled Elkie into a hug.
"Ya know Elkie, huggin is how we girls say 'hi'." She said. Elkie looked surprised for a second, but then laughed and said, "Oh, well then, hi!" She hugged Libby back. Cindy came back and stood beside Jimmy. "Hi." Elkie said to her and pulled her into a huge hug. Cindy stood startled for a full minute, because that's how long Elkie hugged her.
"Um…hi. Elkie, right?" she said, gently pushing Elkie off and smiling at her.
"Come on, Elkie. Let's go get some punch." Libby said. She grabbed Elkie's arm and started talking excitedly with her.
"You better watch out, Carl. Too much of Libby when she's in party mode might overwhelm the poor girl." Cindy said. Carl quickly shuffled toward Libby and Elkie. "Hey Sheen, I heard that the Ultralord theme song is on the juke box. Why don't you find out?" Jimmy said.
"Really?" Sheen said. He immediately ran towards the juke box. Jimmy reached over and took Cindy's hand.
"Now that we're alone, wana dance?" he said.
"Sure." She said, and suddenly they were dancing, moving rhythmically to the music. Time slowed down as they danced their way to the center of the dance floor, staring into each other's eyes.
