IQ haunted the hallway again the next day but he wasn't alone, since Corny had told all the boys that had been dancing to keep an eye out for her. He was the most determined, though, and so it was fitting that he was the one who spotted her, just as he was about to run for the bus to the studio in order to make it on time. Feeling greatly bold, he reached out and grabbed hold of her arm, only to drop it when she stopped and turned. Her face was furrowed into a slight frown and he felt himself blushing for having manhandled her. "Hey, um, you danced great last night, a-and I was wondering--"

Her eyes went wide and she looked up at him with what looked like a mix of fear and anticipation, but before he could figure out if he was inviting her to the show or on a date, Link came up from behind and grabbed her hand. "Come on, little darling, we'll be late if we don't put some hustle into it."

"Late for what? What's going on?" She was running to try to keep up with Link's long strides and IQ was telling himself not to seethe at the interruption, since they really did need to hurry.

"You're a member of the Council now," IQ managed to say. It was a lot easier to talk when he wasn't looking into her eyes, or trying to keep his own eyes at respectable levels, or wondering what happened to her hair. "Corny said he wanted you to start today."

She stopped dead in her tracks. "Are you serious?" She looked between the both of them suspiciously. "You're not playing a prank, are you?"

"Little darling, I would never play a prank like this." Link gave her his best heartthrob look, but the girl turned to IQ, still looking like she didn't believe it.

IQ had no trouble looking only into her eyes as he willed her to believe when he said, "I don't play cruel games, Miss. It's really true. Corny loved your dancing so much that he tried to catch you, but you were too quick getting on the bus."

She was quiet, but it was the quiet of a ticking bomb and IQ fought the urge to fidget. Suddenly, the girl tore her arm away from Link's hold and started sprinting back the way they'd come. The two boys looked at each other and said, "Go hold the bus!" at the same time, but both tore after the mystery girl.

The girl passed them moving in the other direction, though, and called over her shoulder, "Didn't you say we were running late?"

It turned out they hadn't needed to rush, since Amber was refusing to let the bus leave until Link had arrived. "Sorry, honey, Council members only. You can go out with IQ later."

"She is a Council member!" chorused about half the bus before dissolving into giggles. Amber frowned and grabbed Link's arm, dragging him towards the back of the bus, while IQ escorted Tracy to an empty seat, holding her elbow to support her as the bus lurched into motion.

Once seated, she smiled hugely and said, "Hi, I'm Tracy Turnblad."

"I'm--"

"I know, you're IQ. You usually partner with Shelley and you guys did a great waltz last week in the solo spotlight – it reminded me of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers!" Her smile wasn't shrinking at all, and he felt like his insides were turning to jelly as he stammered out a thank you.

She kept talking, and he kept looking at her and trying not to blush. "I always wondered what your real name was – my friend Penny said it was probably something like Ignatius Quentin, but I told her that IQ is probably just because you're so smart."

"Egghead here hasn't told any of us his real name." A dark head popped up from behind them, accompanied by a hand which was thrust in Tracy's direction. "Hi, I'm Joey. We'll probably be partners, since I was matched up with Brenda."

"Hi, Joey!" Somehow, her smile was less wonderful and her cheery babbling less adorable when it was directed at someone else. "You and Brenda made a great team – you were so great when you guys introduced the Peppermint Twist. I just hope I can do all right in her place."

"Just move like you did last night, baby doll." This time it was Sketch, leaning over the back of his seat to wink at her. IQ had never before realized just how little he liked his fellow man in general and his fellow dancers in particular. "And now tell me what my dance is that you noticed."

"You and LouAnn did the mambo!" Tracy giggled. "My mom saw it and said I needed to turn the tv off, because the way you were wiggling your hips looked lewd."

He laughed and winked broadly. "It sure was, sugar. I'll show it to you sometime."

"Sketch!" IQ was grateful for Amber's scandalized shriek, because it stopped him from saying or doing something stupidly hostile. "Stop bothering the girl and think about what you're going to do to convince the station manager that you're not going to be dirty on camera next time you get a spotlight – if you ever do."

Sketch said something unsuitable for the ears of a lady, but he turned back the right way in his seat. Tracy leaned in and whispered to IQ, "Is Miss Baltimore Crabs the station manager?"

"Yeah, you--" Oh, God, now he recognized that he'd seen her before the locker incident. "I'm sorry about the audition. Mrs. Von Tussle is... Well, she's not usually very kind to anyone except Amber, and even to her she can be pretty nasty sometimes."

Her smile diminished, but she tried to keep it on her face as she said, "It's all right. It's all worked out okay, right?"

"It's great," he said, smiling at her with complete sincerity. Right at the moment, with her half pressed against him due to the small seats and all of her attention on him, things were definitely good.