Chapter 9: Fibonacci Numbers

After digging through their respective glove compartments, Castiel and Jade exchanged numbers while Lysander talked to Violette and me. "I didn't expect to meet your date in quite this manner. I thought you were coming separately anyway."

I shrugged. "We had a last-minute change of plans."

"Wait, what!?" Jade exclaimed all of a sudden. He had been talking to Castiel while Lysander was talking to us, and I had not heard the first part of the conversation. I could hear a song by Panic! At The Disco drifting over the parking lot towards us, but it was distorted so I wasn't sure exactly which one it was.

We all turned to look at Castiel. "Ask them if you don't believe me."

It was then that I realized I had neglected to tell Jade about our double date with Lysander. Everything had just happened so fast. I quickly explained how Lysander had asked me to the dance only yesterday and how I thought it was a good idea to balance the gender ratio. Besides, none of us had any claims on each other. Jade nodded with understanding as I spoke, but still seemed a little uncomfortable. "Think of it this way: now you can spend some alone time with each of us," I finished.

Jade hesitated. "OK, but now we're no longer a Fibonacci number."

Violette and I looked at him blankly.

"They're a sequence of numbers generated by adding the previous two numbers, and these numbers occur in nature all the time: zero, one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, and it goes on like that. Four isn't in there, so we have an unnatural group unless we bump it up to five…" Jade looked at Castiel.

"Oh no, not in a million years," Castiel said, "I'm not joining your weird little hippie commune. Lysander may be able to handle sharing girls, but not me. I'm outta here. You sort through your own mess." With that, he retreated into the school and joined the dance.

"But four is a great number. Four seasons, four cardinal directions, four, um…" I listed.

"Four beats in a bar of music," Lysander finished for me.

"OK, you have a point about the seasons. Our years contain two solstices and two equinoctes which define the four seasons. Some music is based on three beats, though. That's a cultural thing. As for the cardinal directions, that's also cultural. Native American cultures often use six-" Jade was cut off by a squeal from across the parking lot.

We all turned to see Rosalya dashing towards us, and Leigh following several paces behind her. Rosalya wore a deep purple ankle-length dress with long slits up both legs, which made it easy for her to run. How she managed not to trip with her silver spiked heels I'll never know. "LysBaby! You look so hot." Rosalya jumped on him and gave him a huge squeeze.

"We have six now. We can be two groups of three if that makes you feel better. Both of those are Fibonacci numbers, right?" I said.

Lysander gently pried Rosalya off him when Leigh caught up. "Perhaps we should act like three groups of two," Lysander suggested.

"You mean like, rotate partners?" Leigh asked.

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Rosalya said.

Violette looked shyly from Leigh to Lysander with a blush. "If neither of you want to dance with me, I understand."

"I never said I wouldn't dance with you. In fact, I'll dance with you first," Lysander said. He held out a hand to Violette, and she took it timidly.

Rosalya boldly linked arms with Jade. "Well, I want to save the best for last, so take care of Leigh for me, OK Kari?"

I looked up at the tall young man with dark hair. He seemed so cold and unresponsive that I did not know what to do with him. In other words, I had a challenge on my hands. When I thought of it that way, Leigh seemed more exciting and mysterious. "OK," I agreed.

Leigh offered me his arm mechanically, and I took it. We then promenaded up to the school and presented our tickets to Nathaniel on the way in.