After lining up the chairs and instruments at the walls, the music room had turned into an improvised dance floor. Mazzy was sitting at the drums while Sam and Sully stood in the center, face to face.

"Why do I have to do this?" Sully asked.

"Because I'm the drummer, so giving the beat is my job" Mazzy replied. "And you're a guy, so leading is your job."

Sully threw a skeptical glance at Mazzy. "Since when are you one for old-fashioned gender roles?"

"Hey, you're always complaining you're the only boy in the band!" Mazzy said, stemming her hands into her sides. "Be happy we let you do something manly for once."

A bit sheepish, Sam coughed. "Um, you don't have to do this if you don't want…"

"No no, it's cool, sorry." Sully held out his hands, and with some hesitation, Sam took them.

Grinning, Mazzy twirled her drumsticks above her head. "Alright, we'll start off with a slow foxtrot. Just do it like we've shown you. Ready, Sam?"

Sam gulped. "Y-yeah."

Slow and steady, Mazzy played the beat on the drums. With Sully leading, Sam tried to follow the steps of a classic foxtrot: Right foot back, left foot back, a quick step to the side, right and left foot forward, followed by another quick side-step, and repeat. But at the first quickstep, Sam already put the wrong foot first. She probably would have tripped if Sully hadn't tightened his grip on her hands. Seeing they had stopped, Mazzy dropped the beat.

"Easy there" he told her.

Embarrassed, Sam looked down. "S-sorry."

"It's okay" Mazzy assured her, raising her drumsticks again. "Let's just go from the top."

Once more Mazzy gave a beat, even slower than before. The first few steps Sam managed without accident, even though she was far from matching Sully's pace. However, as they went on, she kept mixing up which foot to put where, causing her to cross her legs or step between Sully's feet. After a few repeats, she was so out of sync they had to start over. Sully tried his best to lead while Mazzy lowered the pace further and further. But the longer they kept going, the more insecure Sam was getting, which frustrated her. Focusing on her feet she got so absorbed on where she stepped, she wasn't paying attention to what Sully did. In her haste, she stepped on his foot while leaning with her whole weight on it.

"OUCH!" Immediately Sam pulled back as Sully cried out in pain.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" she yelped, holding her hands over her mouth.

Dropping the beat, Mazzy leaned over her drums to look at Sully. "You okay?"

Teeth grit, Sully forced himself to give a thumbs-up. "No problem. Let's… just keep going."

A knot in her stomach, Sam continued. She tried her best to improve but was only getting clumsier. Soon, she stepped for a second time on Sully's foot, followed by a third time. More and more frequently she stepped on his feet, his "ouch" becoming as frequent as the beat. As a tear appeared on his pained grimace, Mazzy finally dropped her drumsticks. "Okay, I think we should stop here."

"Agreed!" The moment Sully let go off Sam's hands he limped over onto the nearest seat. He breathed a sigh of relief, then off his shoes and socks. "Next time, I'll wear MY heavy metal boots" he mumbled, rubbing his swollen toes. "Or better, security boots designed for construction sites…"

Sam was so ashamed, she didn't dare to look anyone in the eyes, while her cheeks were burning bright red. She slumped onto a speaker, letting her arms dangle to the sides as she lay down on it. Mazzy walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't sweat it, Sammy. Maybe dropping you in cold water like that was a bad idea. Let's make you practice some dance moves on your own before giving you a partner."

"I second that!" Sully quickly agreed. After massaging his feet a bit more, he pulled a nearby keyboard in front of him. "And maybe it's easier if I give you a melody along the beat."

Though not very keen on the idea, Sam got back on the dance floor. Again, Mazzy played a slow beat, while Sully accompanied her with a matching melody. Closing her eyes, Sam listened for a while. It was an easy rhythm, with a simple melody that mostly accented the major beats.

"Okay Sam, listen to the beat" Mazzy said over her drums. "1, 2, skip, 4. Got it?"

Sam furrowed her brows. "Course I do! I play bass and guitar – I know how to read a beat."

"Good. Now, move your feet to it."

After nodding to the beat for a moment, Sam tried to do the foxtrot on her own. However, without someone leading her, it was much harder following the pace. Occasionally, her feet would hit a beat and do the right step, but more often Sam was either too slow following the music, too hasty when she tried to catch up, or she outright confused steps, moving forth when she was supposed to go back and vice versa, or forgetting the side-step. For a while, Mazzy and Sully tried to ignore it and continued playing. Too late they realized with each repeat, Sam was having a harder time not to get her feet tangled up. At one point she stepped forward with her right foot, but then remembered she had to do a side-step, and somehow tried doing both at the same time. The music stopped as Sam whirled around herself, spinning for a moment before she fell on her butt.

Immediately Mazzy and Sully rushed to her side (Sully more slowly, still limping a bit). "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine" Sam murmured, rubbing her behind as her friends helped her back on her feet.

The drumsticks still in her hands, Mazzy scratched her head with them. "What was that?"

Sam blushed. "I… I was trying to move my feet to the beat, just like you said."

"But that wasn't even close to the beat!"

"Yeah" Sully said "It was more like 1, skip, 3, trip or sumthin'."

"I told you, I can't do this!" Frustrated, Sam kicked a speaker. The heavy box wobbled, almost toppling over. "I can play bass and guitar perfectly to a rhythm" Sam shouted, angrily walking up and down the room "And I can bang my head to it. But whenever I try to move the rest of my body, I just don't know what to do with my arms and legs, a-and end up tripping or falling or slapping someone's face!"

"Really?" Sully put a hand on his cheek. "Wow, guess I was lucky you only got my feet."

Mazzy punched him in the side.

"I mean, um, if your problem is coordination" Sully said, rubbing his side "maybe just try a very, very simple dance move? Something to work yourself up from." He snapped his fingers. "Hey, you know that disco dig they often show in films and TV shows?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "The one where people point their finger up and down?"

"That's the one!"

"That's not a bad idea" Mazzy said. "Instead of moving your whole body, just try pointing your finger up and down to the rhythm."

Hands on her sides, Sam looked incredulously at her bandmates. "Seriously? You want me to do the silliest dance move in the history of music?"

"You don't have to dance like that in public" Mazzy assured her. "But it might help you improve your coordination for more advanced moves."

"Exactly" Sully said. "Once you've mastered the disco dig, you can move on to Foxtrot and such."

Taking in a deep breath, Sam massaged her temples. "Fine. But don't tell anyone about this!"

Everyone got back on their place, though Sully put the keyboard aside. Instead of playing the beat for a foxtrot, Mazzy simply hit one drum in a monotone rhythm. Though not motivated in the slightest, Sam put one hand on her hip, while pointing the other at the ceiling. At each beat, she lowered or raised her arm, moving her finger from position one o'clock to seven o'clock and back again.

"That's the way, Sam!" Mazzy said.

"Yeah, move it" Sully cheered her on "Move it like you're a metronome!"

Though not as fierce as before, Sam felt her cheeks reddening, and scowled. "This is ridiculous..."

But while Sam felt incredibly silly, matching the tempo turned out not to be as easy as she thought. She had to stretch out her arm in full length and reach out the farthest whenever Mazzy hit a beat. It wasn't long until she found herself out of sync again.

"You're still a bit off-beat" Mazzy told her. "Speed up."

Sam moved a little faster. This caused her to stretch out her arm a little less with each beat, while also overtaking Mazzy. "Now you're too fast" Sully said.

"I know, I know!" Sam yelled. "It's just… it's not so easy." She tried her best to match Mazzy's beat, but she was always a little off. Sweat ran down her face, and her arm started feeling numb.

"Gah, it's hopeless!" Mazzy stopped as Sam suddenly dropped on her knees. Cowering on the floor, she buried her face in her hands. "I can't even do a stupid joke dance…"

After exchanging a worried glance, Mazzy and Sully stepped to her side. "Come on, don't just quit like that" Sully tried to comfort her.

"You're not used to dancing" Mazzy said. "Of course, you need some practice to match the tempo."

"But it's so frustrating!" Sam clenched her fists. "I can hear the beat, the rhythm, I can FEEL it! I know when and how fast I've got to move. I just can't do it! URGH!"

She slammed the ground. The instruments in the room shook and rattled while Mazzy and Sully took a step back. "Sorry" Sam apologized, having calmed down somewhat. "Didn't mean to lash out on you guys. It's really nice you tried to help me."

As she slouched her shoulders, her friends put an arm around them. "Hey, that's what bandmates are for" Sully said.

"Let's just quit for today and try another time, kay?" Mazzy suggested.

Sam sighed but smiled at her friends. "Yeah."