Johnny is watching people mixing, he sees people greeting each other, talking, some go to dance a little. He has not seen so many rich people being together in one room, it makes him thinks how many rich people there are in the world, and how many more poor people there are. He knows that the event is for the charity that helps homeless people across America, and he thinks that this is a great thing. Letting the rich people give money to the poor people. He wonders how homeless people will get the money. He looks at me and wants to ask the question when someone came to us.

"Hello, miss Houseman, how are you?"
"Hey, Dr. Jackson, I'm great, how are you doing?"
"Life is good. I finally found my dream girl."
"That's good to hear, have you talked to dad already?"
"Yes, and he told me that I should give my compliments to you."
"I don't want compliments, I'm just doing my job."
"You're very talented."
"Thank you, so are you."

He chuckles a little. Johnny is observing. Penny is sitting with mom and watching us.

"Don't flatter me, miss Houseman."
"Oh no, it's not flattering I do, it's the truth, you're the best neuropsychologist America has ever known. Did you donate already?"

I see him smiling more now. For sure I am flattering him, but that is part of my way to network. People always say they are not used to getting compliments, or that someone should not flatter them, but they love to hear the compliments, nonetheless. Believe me, reader, compliments motivates people, and that motivation I use to make a connection, to make them donate to the charities, so I can invite them again at the next event.

Connections matter in the higher circles, the more connections someone has, the more others look up to that person. I got an immense load of connections, and I got them all by myself without dad's help, and even if I am only seventeen, people seem to want to be connected to me. For this event, I have invited a lot of new millionaires, new money as people call them, and so they are in want of more connections to make it a little further in the higher circles.

"Oh, yes, I did. I think it's time that homeless people get all the help they need. I know for a fact that there are a lot of homeless people with a neurological condition. Wouldn't it be great if they finally can get help?"
"Yes, it would be great, everyone deserves to have a good life and the care they need, and our charity will make sure they get what they need."
"You're a good person, miss Houseman."

Dr. Jackson looks at Johnny now and smiles.

"You're the one that danced on stage."

This is a good opportunity for Johnny.

"Dr. Jackson, I would love to introduce Johnny Castle to you, from Castle's Dance Imperium."
"Nice to meet you, Johnny, I must say you're an amazing dancer."
"Thanks."
"Johnny, this is Dr. Jackson, he's specialized in neuropsychology, he's a close colleague to my father."
"It's nice to meet you, doc."

They shake hands. I look at Johnny, he sees my expression. I give him a nod and a smile.

"You own the imperium?"
"No, my father does, but I'll be taking over one day."
"And do you want to take over? I think you can do a lot in the world with dancing."
"Dancing brings people together, it's my biggest passion. I think you understand when I say that. I can see you're passionate about helping people with neurological conditions."
"Indeed I am, it has always been my dream, it's great meeting someone who is passionate about what he's doing."
"The honor is all mine."

Dr. Jackson looks at me. I give him a smile. I watch him putting his hand in his pocket, taking a business card out as he look back at Johnny.

"I would love to have a meeting with you soon, so we can talk about dance lessons for me and my girlfriend. What do you think?"

Johnny looks at me. I nudge my head. He takes the business card. I take one out for Dr. Jackson. He takes it and looks at it. Then he looks from Johnny to me.

"You two know each other?"
"Johnny is my boss."
"Is that so?"

I can see the interest going up just when I said that.

"And what job do you do?"
"Miss Houseman is my assistant."

He starts to chuckle about it and looks back at me. He puts the business card in his pocket.

"I could have guessed so. You love to organize and help people. This job is perfect for you."
"Thanks, but if you don't mind, we need to discuss something important."
"No problem, have a great evening."

Dr. Jackson looks at Johnny and gives him a nod. Johnny smiles as we watch him walking away. I look at him. He looks at me and smiles.

"And that's how you network."

I wink and drink some from my Martini. He chuckles as he looks at the business card. He had no clue it would be so simple. He puts the card in his pocket.

"What's the advantage of this connection?"
"When people discover you're an actual billionaire, and they are connected to you, they're prepared to give you priority when something is wrong or so, or when they can help. It all has to do with status. Having a good status is all these people want, and they do anything to get a good status."
"Ah."
"But that also means, if one of them calls you for a speed lesson or so, you should try to give them priority as well."
"Sounds exhausting."

I giggle about that. He looks at my face and drinks some. I take a few business cards out my purse and hand them over to him. He looks at them and takes them.

"Here, try it yourself."
"Will you be next to me?"
"I will, but you got to try to do this yourself as well. You always can drop my name if you feel you're failing."
"Thanks, Baby, for doing this."
"I told you I would help you, I will always help you, and not only because I'm your assistant. Now, if you excuse me, I need to pee."

I walk away to the toilets. He looks after me and inhales deeply. Penny went to him and laid her hand on his shoulder.

"She's amazing, Pen."
"You've said that a million times already."
"It's because it's true."
"I know. And I can see what she does to you, but please think about what your father told you. You can't get involved with her. You'll be disowned. You'll lose everything."
"I know, but it's so hard not to get involved."

He looks at her and she gives him a little smile. Then she gives him a kiss on his cheek and a few people came to them. They start to talk. I see them when I came back from the toilets. I see Penny helping him. I start to smile about it. I am glad they do this together because I know that Penny will always be in his life. I think he will make her a partner when he takes over the company. And Penny could use her Rockette past for getting good connections. I just hope that everything will keep going alright for them. Penny sees me and smiles. She excuses herself and I watch her coming to me.

"Hey."
"Hey, Baby, I want to thank you."
"What for?"
"For everything you do."
"I'm just doing my job."
"I know, but you do more."

I look at her face as I frown about her words. What does she mean? Is this about my feelings for Johnny? I look at him, he looks at me with a smile.

"Don't you want to dance?"
"Johnny is kinda busy trying to get connections."
"You can try to do that as well by dancing with some of the guests."

I look at her and wink. She smile and looks around.

"Here, take these."

I give her a few business cards. She looks at them with a smile and then back up at me.

"If people call, they will always call to my phone at work. I can handle the calls. But you know that."
"You're not my assistant, Baby, you know I do most things myself."
"I know, but I don't mind doing some things for you too. If you and Johnny are getting more customers, you'll be both too busy for scheduling lessons and all that. I'm happy to do some of your work for you as well."

I look at her. Then she grabs me in a hug. I chuckle a little as I hug her back. Johnny came to us with a smile. We look at him and I smile back.

"I'll be going to network a little."
"Use your Rockette past, millionaires love the Rockettes."

I give her a wink. She nods and starts to look around. Johnny looks after her and then back at me.

"Pen normally doesn't like to talk about her Rockette time."
"I know, but if you guys want more connections, she should use that to gain some."
"I guess you're right. I've never done these things in my life. I guess I'm spoiled, right?"
"No, it just means that your father never taught you about how to expand your name."
"I guess he didn't need to, the company had a huge name when I was a little kid. People of all kind came for dance lessons. When dad started to notice that ballroom wasn't so popular anymore, he began to expand the company with the other dance styles. Contemporary and hip hop are the most popular at this moment, those styles are thriving, and these departments have the most customers. In the meantime ballroom is still losing customers."

I take his hand and smile at him. I feel how his hand is closing around mine. I look in his eyes and I see him smiling as well.

"It will be fine, give it time."
"You're always so positive."
"Why should I be negative? Life is too precious to be negative about anything."

I see him nodding about that. I guess it is something hard for him to be. With all that he has experienced. We are still holding hands. We are doing that a lot this past week. We look around.

"You want to dance?"

I look at his face. I see his smile as he looks at me.

"Why not?"
"I'll be easy on you."
"You're not easy on me with the lessons."

He chuckles as he takes me to the open space. People are looking at us and became curious. Mom and dad sees us as well, mom starts to smile, dad gets confused. He let me do an underarm turn before we stand in position. I giggle a little as I look at his grin. I roll my eyes and we start to move.

"Did you know Baby could dance?"

Mom looks at dad, she only smiles at him and then looks back at me. Dad looks at us as well. Penny is dancing with someone else. She turns a little and sees us as well. At first she was a little surprised, but then she starts to smile. Justin is looking at us as well and inhales deeply.

"Is Baby getting lessons?"

Mom starts to giggle about dad's confusion. He looks at her and she smiles at him.

"Don't be angry at them."
"But I'm not, I'm just confused."
"Johnny has been giving Baby dance lessons at home, turns out that she asked him to teach her, and also turns out she has a feeling for dancing."

Dad looks back at us and starts to smile.