CHAPTER SEVEN: DANCING WITH FOWL

When Mulch left, Holly sat beside Artemis and considered him in silence for a minute. 'Would you like to dance?' she asked finally. Artemis jumped and looked at her, but didn't answer for a long moment.

'I can't' he said, so quietly Holly barely heard. She laughed.

'Of course you can, Mud Boy.' she stood up and held out her hand. 'I'll help you.' She told him.

Artemis gazed at the hand. It looked almost as pale as his and seemed to be shining in the dim light from the ceiling. He looked up and met her eyes. They were hazel and bright, and seemed to be talking to him. Telling him to trust her

But Artemis had never really trusted anyone.

'You don't understand, Holly. I really can't dance. It would be dangerous to make me try.'

'That's ridiculous, Fowl.' Holly laughed. 'It's easy. Stand up.'

And for the first time since the dance had started, Artemis stood. He was about ten centimetres taller than Holly. Standing as close as they were, Holly had to look up to see his face. She felt her breath catch in her throat. He really was gorgeous. The most beautiful person she'd ever seen. Even if he was a Mud Man. But then, wasn't she a Mud Person right now too? His skin looked perfect, and his eyes were an electric blue colour. But it was more than that. The look on his face was one that Holly had never seen on him before. She couldn't name it. But whatever it was, it made it hard for her to breathe.

Realising that she was staring at him, Holly looked down and blushed.

'Okay, Artemis. Dancing 101. Close your eyes,' Holly instructed. Artemis did as he was told. The speakers were blasting pop music into the crowd. It was playing at top volume, making it easy for Artemis to listen to the words.

"What a feeling

Please believe it."

'Listen carefully to the music and tap your foot on the bass beat.' Artemis listened. His foot moved all by itself. It was incredible. Why hadn't the instructor been able to teach him this?

"Take your passion

And make it happen…"

'Now dance!' cried Holly, and grabbed his hand to pull him onto the dance floor.

By half-past eleven, Holly and Artemis were exhausted and needed a break. Artemis would never be in Fame, but at least he didn't cripple anyone. Later on, even Holly had to admit that he had turned into a pretty good dancer. He'd been really fun to dance with, at least. Especially when compared to how he started. But then, you can only really go up from where Artemis started.

Collapsing on a couch, they both burst into laughter. Artemis had to admit; he'd never had this much fun before. And dancing actually seemed to be very good exercise. Maybe it wasn't as extreme a waste of time as he had thought.

Holly was just glad that Artemis could act almost like a normal teenager. Looking at his laughing, smiling face, she felt so happy she thought the feeling would suffocate her. And Artemis looked exactly how she felt. She thought for a second that maybe she should ask why she was so happy, but at that stage it didn't really seem important. It just mattered that she could see him, and talk to him. She could say whatever she wanted to, and he would listen.

Holly gazed at his flushed face, which was so often distorted into a scowl that it almost looked odd to see him smiling. And not a vampire smile, either. A sincere, happy, perfect smile.

There was a stray lock of hair in his face that had come loose, probably in some exuberant dance. Smiling slightly to herself, Holly reached up one small hand and tucked it back behind his ear. Artemis caught her hand in surprise and their eyes met. Blue met hazel as the world stopped, and they stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. And then slowly, hesitantly, Artemis slipped a hand behind Holly's head, and pulled her towards him, and kissed her.

Ooh, look. It's a happy Artemis–Holly romance. What a surprise! But my chapters keep getting shorter. Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry….

It's lucky I did that, or I think I would have been murdered by Hollybridgetpeppermint. Jks. Or maybe you would have…Uh-oh.

Just BTW, I did try to do Artemis and another character. (It was going to be Cassie, actually) but it didn't work. It turned out really bad and it just…wouldn't work properly. It was sending me insane, so I stopped trying and let it be Holly.