The chapter in which I fulfill the obligatory High school AU duty…and it will, ah, be a two-parter.
Also, see if you can spot all the "Teen Titan" cameos I put in here—from the comics, not the movie. Names only though.
Prompt: "Party"
There is one, well one of many, problems about living in a small town: everyone knows everyone. Now, some people would consider this a great benefit for living in a small town, but fact was not only did everyone know you, they knew everything about you. Especially those dirty little secrets you didn't want getting out. Everyone knew when someone was a drunk, or violent, or cheating on their spouse. And while skipping on going to the Halloween Masquerade and hiding in his bedroom would have made for a more fun evening, while mild in comparison to the earlier examples. Toby doubted his presence would please his mother at least (who worried about appearances).
Or at least, that's what he kept trying to tell himself as he leaned back against the cool cement blocks of the gym's back wall. He crossed his arms to cushion the back of his head and watched most of his classmates dancing before him. Bart, his last buddy, had finally ditched him to join their other friends, leaving Toby to brood alone.
"You know what you're problem is?" Bart asked, poking his side. "You have all this crappy luck. Even if you pretended to be a bad boy to impress them, you'd still manage to embarrass yourself anyway."
"Jeez, way to cheer up a guy there," he grumbled back.
"Hey man, just telling the truth."
"Yeah," he sighed, distractedly looking up at the starry cut outs hanging from the gym rafters. "I'd never impress anyone anyways…"
"Talking to yourself now?" Toby glanced down to see Bart and two other friends, Stephanie and Tim, walk over to him. "Should we call up the loony bin people to come getcha?"
"Whatever," he grunted.
"Oh, Williams gets back with a zinger!" Tim teased.
"Why don't you go get some drinks?" Stephanie suggested frostily, emphasizing her point by bumping her hip into his. Tim, her boyfriend, pouted but turned to leave. "Don't mind them, Toby; they're just mad they won't be getting 'any' later."
Toby stifled a chuckled but Tim turned back around, taken aback. "I won't?"
She gave him a dark look. "Not if you lay off and get those drinks."
"Oh," laughed Bart, shambling over to Tim. "Come on, lets get those drinks before she gets out her scissors and makes you a soprano. And I don't mean the Mafia kind."
Stephanie turned back to Toby, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly at their antics. She tried to smile reassuringly at him. "How's it going, Toby?"
"Oh, it's like how it is at every dance…"
"That bad, eh?" she asked, leaning against the wall at his side.
He laughed dejectedly.
"Well…maybe if you tried to dance for once…" she started to suggest as he turned his head to give her the stink eye. "Instead of skulking in the shadows."
"Oh, well that sounds so much better," he retorted.
"If you gave it a try, you might just like it—besides, it's not like you can't dance," she insisted. "I've seen you dance for our plays, so you can't deny it."
"Well, yeah but-"
"Oh, get the hell out there before I kick you out there," she ordered, shoving him.
"But…the drinks…" he said, doing his best to sound wounded, however he ruined it by grinning a second later as she tried to slap at him. "Ah, okay, okay, I'm going!"
"And don't come back til you dance for awhile," she called after him.
He chuckled to himself as he walked away but as he got closer to the dancing, his amusement abruptly died. In front of him, the spastic song ended and a slow one came on to his horror. He looked back over his shoulder to see if he could escape back to his hiding place but Stephanie glared daggers at him. Reluctantly, he looked around for a partner but his bad luck kicked in and there wasn't a free girl to be found. Glancing around a bit more hurriedly, he was looking like a real idiot standing out there without a partner, he finally spotted a girl.
It was one of the seniors, Cassandra S something, he could never remember her last name. Besides being gorgeous, he was glad to note that she was just standing there. Best. Frigging. Luck, ever, he thought as he hurried over. As he opened his mouth to speak, another senior, Conner I'm-a-Jock or whatever his name was, walked up and offered his arm to her then lead her out to the dance floor.
He stood there blandly glaring at the spot she had just been. Spoke to soon. Maybe Steph will take pity and…Who am I kidding? Stephanie was never the mercy type anyways. Slumping in defeat, he glanced up at the eager dancers then peeked once more around the fringes for anyone without a partner. Then he blinked and straightened.
Who's that? He wondered as he looked at the unfamiliar girl that sat just off the dance floor. She didn't look anyone he'd ever seen at school, or maybe it was just the costume. The girl seemed to be dressed as a lovely Cinderella or some princess but then she wore a rather ugly half mask with large ears and long nose. She was darker skinned but her hair was very fair, nearly the color of his own. Must be someone from a younger grade, he decided but then he couldn't figure out why there would be a younger student there; any younger and she would be in middle school. She didn't look that much younger than him at least.
He shrugged and walked over to her; couldn't hurt to ask right? If she said no, which would jive would his steak of luck for the night, he could probably use it as an excuse to mope with Stephanie and the others. And if not…
He sucked in a deep breath as he walked up, causing her to look up at him. He nearly lost any courage he had as he looked into her soft green eyes but then he finally spoke. "Would you, um…care to dance?"
She blinked, as if stunned. "I…" she looked at him and then to his curiosity, she glanced quickly to the dance floor. He looked to where she did only to see one of the football players dancing with two girls at once; he guessed she was looking at him then. She was into that guy? But he wasn't…oh, hell, what did he know about girls and their strange way of picking men that obviously weren't going to love them back. (Sarah never could explain that one at least.)
He was half ready to flee without her saying anything else but he blinked as she suddenly stood and faced him. "Okay, lets."
But wasn't she…? Ah, don't jinx yourself! He tried to look confident as he smiled. "Oh…okay then," he said, holding out his hand. She nearly snatched it and he blinked as she hustled him out onto the dance floor. Does this make me some kind of rebound dance partner thingy? He was hesitant to ask, even to speak making for an awkward minute of dancing before the next song came on. "Ah, well, thanks for the dance?" he tried. Steph's gotta let me come back now, this is way too awkward. She however, seemed to be a little upset; at a lost, he spoke again. "Ah…wanna…do it again?"
"Yes, please," she said quickly and they returned to dancing this time Toby felt more curious than awkward. "I'm sorry."
Toby cocked his head to the side. "Why?"
"Because I…guess I'm using you to avoid sitting there like a lump all night," she confessed.
Does this mean I was sitting like a lump all night? he wondered unhappily. He hoped not. "It's alright, it was…getting boring just standing there too." He paused then went on, deciding he might as well try for honesty. "And because my friend forced me to get out here."
She laughed at him. "Oh, so you're using me too, huh?"
Toby began to object then grinned himself. "Oh, jeez, I am, aren't I?"
She giggled and he couldn't help but keep smiling as he felt at least the awkward mood pass. "So, what are you exactly?" she asked, looking at his costume.
"I am the Man in Black," he declared then decided to go for some flare and spun her around.
She laughed and stepped back to him. "But you're wearing brown boots."
He shrugged. "I wasn't buying new boots to only wear once anyways."
"I thought you were a pirate," she offered.
"Well, the Man in Black is also called the Dread Pirate Roberts."
"Oh, so that explains the sword," she nodded.
He grinned, mentally cheering the fact he had managed to convince Sarah once again into letting him borrow her old fencing sword prop. "I'm borrowing it for now."
"Is it real?" she asked, with a teasing grin.
He sighed. "God, I wish it were."
She giggled at him and they settled into a companionable silence as they danced for awhile. Toby look down ever now again to make sure he didn't step on her feet or gown, not that she didn't notice it. "Worried you're going to step on me?"
"I have terrible luck—last time I danced with a girl, I stepped on her hem and tore her dress. Then she fell back into the refreshment table and the punch spilled all over her," he admitted. She looked sympathetic but then she fought not to giggle. "I got called Sir Butterfingers for a year after that," he added, succeeding in making her laugh. "Hey, I forgot to ask, what's your name?"
She paused. "My name?"
"Yeah; I'm Toby," he said.
"I…" she paused but to their mutual surprise, a phone started ringing. He could see the blinking lights from inside the thin drawstring bag she wore around her wrist. "Excuse me," she said quickly then fled.
Toby stood there, blinking in surprise. He didn't stay there long however before he felt an elbow jab him in the back.
"Move it, Williams," ordered a senior whose name he couldn't remember.
He glared at the older boy but seeing as his dance partner had ditched him, he really didn't need to be out there. He turned and walked back to where he had been standing earlier to see that his friends had come back.
"Hey, Toby," Tim greeted him, handing him a cup.
Not feeling particularly thirsty but glad for a distraction, he took the cup. After a deep swig, he emptied it then glared at the empty cup.
"Thirsty much there?" Bart asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Must have worked it up dancing, right?" Tim grinned placating.
"Toby? How'd it go?" Stephanie tried.
Finally he looked up from his cup, back to the stars hanging down. "I think Cinderella's clock struck midnight."
"…what?" Bart asked, brow furrowed.
"Does that mean you got ditched out there?" Tim asked, head cocked to the side.
Toby shrugged and began to walk away. "I'm getting some more to drink." Stephanie tried to call after him but he ignored her and went on. As he poured himself a cup and then another, he began to ponder about his night. Looks like my luck still turned out to be crap anyway. He took another swig. Oh well…