7-4: The Dance

This is dedicated to Dantheman7777 for giving me the best title: Run of the Millie (I had to cut out the dashes), so it is no longer called "Frozen Tears". For some reason he keeps on getting dedications…oh well. Maybe it's b/c he's so cute.

(((-4-)))

Janika tapped her foot to the music's beat halfheartedly. She hadn't seen Odd since the dance started almost twenty minutes earlier. He should have been out on the dance floor with Little Millie or at least pigging out at the snack bar, but he wasn't. The dark-haired girl rubbed her arms and stared blankly at the group of teenagers milling around.

"Hey, wallflower!" a snooty voice sneered behind her. "Missing your date?"

Janika felt like punching her cousin, but kept her anger in check this time. "What do you want, Miss Bratty?"

"Well, Miss Catty, I want to give you a warning."

Sissy looked like she had broken her arm, it was so wrapped up. The girl stared down her nose at Janika and smoothed down the slinky pink dress she was wearing.

"Don't ever attack me again. If you do, I'll do the exact same thing I did to your little ex-date."

So Sissy didn't know that Odd and Millie were dates.

"What are you talking about?"

"Odd just got expelled. 'He' let his dog into my daddy's office and the runt tore up everything, including some records that might have been important to you or some of your other little friends. Strange that they were lying out," Sissy's eyes glinted malevolently. "Ta-ta!"

Janika's hands curled slightly, her fingernails sharpening to claw-like points, and she was ready to pounce on her cousin's back when someone familiar placed a hand on her shoulder. The feral flame went out and the girl swallowed her growl as she looked into Jeremy's face. Lucky for her, the lights were dim and he didn't catch the changes.

"Did you hear about Odd?" he demanded. "It's unbelievable! There's no way he would have done something that stupid! Even as a practical joke."

"Sissy did it," she muttered, shrugging away from his hand.

Aelita stood behind her date, looking nervous. "Why would Sissy do something like that to Odd? What's he done to deserve it?"

"Nothing, and that's the point," Janika spat venomously.

She forced herself to take deep breaths and calm down. It was really difficult to keep from attacking her cousin.

(V)

"Sound…no sound…sound…no sound…sound…no sound…sound!" came Bloktra's giggling laughter.

Tamiya glanced at her friend again. The girl she knew as Millie was covering her ears and uncovering them over and over and over. She never seemed to get enough of it.

"What kind of music do you think they'll play at the dance, Millie?" she asked to distract her.

"I am Bloktra. What did you say? Music?"

"Yeah. You know, like Evanessance, Savage Garden, Nightwish, Gackt…" She rattled off a few more names that seemed to make no sense to Bloktra. "Never mind. Just finish dressing and let's get there. We're already way late thanks to you hiding the camera in your sock drawer!"

"What is 'late'? Layyyy-tuh!"

Tamiya rubbed her temples. "Let's just hurry up and go. Get the mike, will you?"

Finally the two girls made their way to the gym. As soon as they came in through the doors, Bloktra dropped the mike and exclaimed, "Noise! It's so loud I can feel it in the air. Listen to it! Bum, bada bum, bada bum, bada bum!"

The beat of the rock music blaring from the speakers seemed to be shaking the entire building and the red-haired girl was directly in front of them, practically basking in the sound. Tamiya backed away from her slowly and took off as soon as she was sure her friend wasn't going to turn around.

"Hi Tamiya!" a voice called out.

The dark-skinned girl sighed in relief and joined Jeremy along with his date and Janika.

"Hi! I'm so glad to be talking with some normal people! Millie's been weirding me out. Is that Jell-O over there?"

The loud music finally stopped and a slow dance began to play. Couples started going out onto the dance floor with each other. The boy with glasses narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.

"What do you mean by 'weird'?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that she's been making stupid noises and acting strange ever since I got back to our dorm. It's really getting on my nerves. She kept telling me to call her some dumb name."

"What name?" he insisted.

Tamiya looked curious at his questioning, but she answered anyway. "Blocka or Blackra something. I don't really remember, but she was seriously freaking me out."

"Where is she?"

The girl darted a glance back at the speakers and saw Bloktra still standing in front of them, her face lit by an expression of immeasurable delight.

"Right over there."

Jeremy saw the strange look on the young red-head's face and instantly pulled his friends aside, ignoring Tamiya. The black girl was miffed to be suddenly left out, but assumed it had something to do with seniority. She put down her camera and wandered over to pursue a bowl of Jell-O.

"I knew it. I just knew it!" Jeremy hissed. "X.A.N.A.'s Pawn has taken over Millie. We need everyone on Lyoko to take care of the one there."

The blood had drained from Aelita's face. "What if she gets out of control and attacks the students here? Roshia could cause a lot of damage and possibly kill someone!"

Jeremy dropped his voice, "I don't think it is Roshia. But if you want to keep everyone from getting hurt, go over there to the exit and pull the fire alarm."

"Will do, but I can do even better than the alarm alone," Aelita gave a smile that made them just a tad anxious. "Be ready to run."

He gave her one last piercing look before turning to the other girl. "Janika, we'll need Odd. Go to the administrative building and pull the fire alarm there too. You can help him make a break for the factory as soon as he's free."

"What are you going to do?" the girl with the braid inquired.

"I need to tell Ulrich and Yumi about the Pawn. Aelita, run outside once you do your half and go meet Janika and Odd at the entrance to the sewer. Now get going!"

He pushed them lightly and the two girls headed toward the exit.

(V)

On the other side of the gym, the slow song was soothing for Ulrich and Yumi. They danced closely, swaying to the rhythm. Ulrich wasn't a very good dancer, but this type suited him well enough. They were close and Ulrich felt his heart beating faster.

"You know, we could try to meet up sometime after school next week," the brunette boy ventured gingerly. "Maybe go out for a movie or something."

"Just the two of us?" she said with a smile. "I'd like that."

It was the perfect moment. Yumi bent her head slightly and Ulrich leaned up, both with their eyes closed. They were mere centimeters apart when the floor suddenly grew slippery beneath their feet! They tried to keep their balance, but another couple slipped and flew into them, who, in turn, crashed into another, and another, and another! Soon, practically everyone was tripping over their feet and all were in a bad mood.

Ulrich felt the floor and looked at his date in confusion.

"Yumi, the floor feels like ice! Do you think X.A.N.A. would—"

He stopped as Millie appeared over them. The short girl stared angrily at them both, her eyes seeming to change to sapphire blue. Yumi gripped Ulrich's arm as she recognized the glow.

And then the fire alarms went off.

Do any of you girls out there ever wonder if X.A.N.A. is hot?