Chapter 9

I looked at Iggy. "We have to dance?"

"I told you," he said, shrugging. "I'm not going to dance!"

"Well, neither am I!" I responded, crossing my arms over my chest. Apparently, none of the other kids knew what we were supposed to be doing. Music was playing, but we all just stood there awkwardly, not moving.

Except for Jaz. "Come on, Fnick, let's go dance!" she yelled, grabbing Fang's arm and pulling him out into the middle of the dance floor. A whole bunch of people ran out onto the dance floor after them and started dancing.

"Ugh," I groaned. Leave it to Jaz to be annoying once again. At least they weren't ballroom dancing or anything – there was some pop song playing that I didn't recognize. People were dancing in groups, and luckily not doing anything romantic.

Then I spotted the snack table. "Come on, Jeff. Let's go get some snacks."

Iggy and I stood over by the food table, keeping an eye out for Fang. Well, actually, that's what I was doing. Iggy just kept repeating, "What's going on?" in an annoyed tone.

"Fang isn't really dancing," I remarked, watching him. "He's just standing there. Jaz is trying to get him to dance. Good luck with that."

That's when a couple girls came up to us, smiling. "Hi! Do you go to school with Daisy?" one of them asked.

"Uh…yeah," I said. "I'm pretty sure she's in our class."

"Pretty sure?" the other girl asked, frowning. "You should know that Daisy's parents are the richest people around."

I rolled my eyes. "Awesome, thanks for telling me. Although I kind of figured that out from the fancy ballroom and the limos and her million-dollar dress."

Surprisingly, all the girl did was hold out her hand. "I'm Sarah," she said. "And this is Autumn. We're Daisy's cousins."

"Right," I said, glancing at Iggy, who of course didn't notice that. "Um…I'm Max. And this is Jeff."

Autumn wrinkled her nose. "Max? Isn't that a boy's name?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, at least I'm not named after a season."

Meanwhile, Sarah was looking back and forth between me and Iggy. "Are you guys together or something?"

"Huh?" I yelled, jerking back. "Ig- I mean, Jeff is my brother."

"So are you guys twins or something?" Sarah asked. "Because you're in the same grade and everything."

"Yeah," I said. "That's it, we're twins." I punched Iggy. "Right?"

"Yeah," he repeated. I glared at the two girls.

"Now, goodbye. Go away."

Autumn frowned, but Sarah dragged her away. "Say goodbye, Autumn."

I stuck my tongue out at them as they walked away, then realized Iggy was looking at me – well, kind of.

"Did they really think that?" he asked.

"What? Think what?" I replied, frowning.

"Did they think that we were…together?" Iggy continued.

I laughed. "Come on, Ig. It's like I said. We're practically siblings, you know?"

He laughed too. "For sure."

Suddenly, the music changed to a slower song. I looked up and saw Jaz putting her hand on Fang's shoulder and putting his hand on her hip. She was saying something to him, but I couldn't tell what it was.

Fang was smiling, though. Actually smiling. And trust me on this one, Fang pretty much never smiles.

People were separating into couples. I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be romantic, because some of the girls were dancing together and laughing, but Jaz must've thought differently.

I started walking towards them. Iggy ran after me, grabbing my arm. "Max! Where are you going?"

"To stop Jaz," I replied grimly. I was just a few feet away from them when the music changed to a faster song and everyone ran out onto the dance floor again. Daisy walked into the middle of the floor and announced, "We're going to play a game!"

A whole bunch of people cheered. "Let's make a circle!" Daisy continued. Unfortunately, Iggy and I were dragged into the circle. When I tried to retreat back to the edge of the room, someone – I think it was Sarah – grabbed my arm and whispered, "You should play! It's going to be fun!"

"Ugh," I muttered, glaring at her.

"Now, someone will go into the middle of the circle and dance! Then the person in the middle will tap someone else, who will go to the middle!"

Iggy whispered, "We're going to die."

Daisy, of course was first. I didn't really pay attention, because I was busy trying to figure out how to escape.

Then she tapped Ryan, who went in the middle, then tapped Matt, who ended up tapping Jaz. Jaz ran into the middle of the circle with a huge grin on her face. She was actually a pretty good dancer, but then she ran and grabbed Fang's arm.

"Come on, Fnick!" she shouted, and pulled him into the middle. I wondered if that was against the rules of the game. I didn't really care, though, because I knew Fang would not dance.

Well, he proved me wrong. Who knew Fang would dance? Maybe he wasn't the best dancer, but still. He was dancing.

Then Jaz skipped over and I thought she was going to tap me, but she tapped Sarah instead.

And then Sarah went in and danced, and came back – and tapped me.

"Go!" she said, pushing me into the middle of the circle.

I froze. I would not dance.

"Go Max!" Jaz cheered, jumping up and down. The music was really loud. I didn't know what to do.

"Here, I'll help you!" Jaz said, skipping up to me. "Just copy me!"

She started dancing again, and people cheered. Apparently, they really liked her dancing. But I didn't dance. I couldn't dance.

"Come on!" Jaz told me, grabbing my arm. "Just do what I do!"

And then somehow, I did. I was actually dancing. Jaz smiled. "See? You've got it!"

Then before I knew it, she was pulling me back to her side of the circle, and I tapped Autumn, and she ran in and started dancing.

Jaz smiled really big at me. "Wow, Max! You were really good!"

"Um….thanks," I said, trailing off. "Thanks for helping me."

"Anything for a friend!" Jaz responded with another big smile, and then took Fang's hand.

Any friendliness I'd felt towards her melted away. What was she doing, holding Fang's hand anyway? Fang didn't move. He didn't do anything to make her feel like she wasn't wanted.

I squinted at him. Was he not really Fang? No, it was still Fang, but something about him had changed.

Did he actually….like Jaz?

I didn't have any more time to ponder that, because I saw Iggy trying to make his way towards us. Poor Iggy – the loud music made it hard for him to hear our voices.

I ran over to him. "Hey, Ig. I'm right here." Suddenly, I noticed four men standing against the wall. Four tall, tough-looking men that looked like supermodels, with cruel expressions on their faces.

I grabbed Iggy's arm, and he frowned. "What?"

I hadn't heard them coming because of the loud music, but I definitely saw them now.

"Erasers," I whispered.