The story about the fire didn't take long for the majority of the city to learn about. Kids all around school were asking questions about who these rumored five people could be. Regardless of anything we were referred to as heroes even if no one knew it was us and the five of us agreed that we wanted to keep it that way. So despite what had been discussed earlier, one night we bought different colored ski masks. I got black, Rachel got a dark purple, Dan got green, Snap Shot got teal, and Paul got dark blue. For the next few weeks we started becoming local legends; stopping robberies and pickpocketing, rescuing more people from burning buildings, and even the occasional capture of lunatics with hostages. It felt good to do hero work while we weren't in Skylands and we started to get nicknames from the community. Known as the "Frightful Five" we did good in our small town. Sure the name could use some work but hey, I felt like I was straight out of a comic book. Hearing small conversations from people around school and in local grocery stores about which one of us was the coolest straight up gave me tingles.
And yet, even with all the hero work and vigilantism I still couldn't escape the terror and angst that was brought upon me and every teenager in existence; school dances.
It was a rampage, with this one being even scarier because it was a girl's choice. Teenage girls were known to get into fistfights because they wanted to ask the same guy, poor nerd's never got asked, and it was never a fun time.
"So what do people even do at a dance?" Paul asked after banners announcing the event had been put up hastily all over the hallways and.
"People come back to school after hours and dance to awful techno music" I replied, eager to have the dance pass and done with.
"And it's girl's choice?" Sam inquired after swallowing a mouthful of raunchy nachos delivered by the five star school cafeteria.
"Yep, girl's ask the guys, it's total chaos. Guys even take bets on who's gonna ask who and who's gonna get into a fist fight. It's awful."
"Have you ever gone to one?" Rachel poked at me.
"Once, my freshman year, it was the worst decision of my life. Especially since I went with," I gulped remembering the traumatizing year, "Phoebe Johansson"
"Who is that?" Dan asked, giving an evil sneer knowing that it would be an embarrassing story.
I glared at him. "She was in a grade above me and I thought it was the coolest thing that a sophomore would ask me, a freshman. But oh, how wrong I was. She was a total nut job. We got to the dance and she was all over the floor, squirming and rolling around. I eventually just left. After that semester I think she moved to boot camp or something along those lines"
The four of them snickered.
"What?"
Rachel patted my shoulder, "Sorry, it's just that it's kind of funny that our fearless leader Chop Chop who took on an entire pirate armada and the eight Nega Giants got squeamish because of a girl"
"Hey, you had to be there, it was the weirdest thing I'd ever encountered, and I'm saying that after going through hell and back with you jerks in Skylands" I countered.
Paul took a swig of tea from his thermos. "Well, I'm sorry that you had a terrible experience man, but I think I'm gonna go."
I looked at him. "Alright, your funeral man"
"I'm serious! That girl Laura from my chemistry class asked me" Paul retorted. "She's funny and I think it sounds fun. I'm gonna get jiggy with it and raise the roof like no other homie!"
The four of us cackled. "Clearly, you need to work on your dance lingo" Dan said.
"Oh please, like you've ever been to a dance" I accused.
"No I haven't, but I have the cool for it," Dan said, "in no time at all I'm sure a girl will ask me. Who am I to deny the poor thing a handsome date like myself?"
"Mmhmm, I'm sure Teryl would love to hear you say that" Rachel said pointing her spork at him.
"Hey, we never made anything official, we just happened to kiss in the heat of battle. Besides, I'm not saying I'm gonna fall head over heels for some girl who asks me" Dan defended.
"Riiiiight" Sam said. "Well, this is totally gonna blow up in your face"
"How about you Sam?" Rachel asked. "Anyone ask you yet?"
Sam shrugged "In a sense. Mrs. Garcia asked me to be there to make sure nothing gets out of hand, but also she is a really friendly person. I think she's my favorite teacher honestly"
"Oooooh, Sam's gotta crush a teacher" Dan teased.
"I do not!" Sam said.
"You totally do!" Paul said.
"No, that's not a teacher crush. A teacher crush is my 7th grade teacher, Mrs. Ridder." I decided to help Sam out.
"You had a crush on a teacher?" Rachel laughed.
"Yep. What can I say? She was pretty and puberty is the devil incarnate" I replied. "So I guess that leaves you Rachel? You think you'll wanna go?"
Rachel pondered on this for a moment and then said, "I'm not sure. I've never been the social type really. You five are honestly the only people I talk to so I think I'd rather just stay home, practice fighting maybe. You know we still have to stop Kaos from invading Earth you know."
"We know, but we might as well have fun while we're humans" Dan said.
"Yeah, I guess, but still, I'm gonna stay home. I'm assuming you won't be going either, Chandler?" Rachel looked at me.
"You bet. I am not going through that all over again" I said.
With that the bell rang and we split up to go to our classes for the rest of the day.
I had been counting the minutes for the past hour since two. Years and years of time passed after the clock shifted from 2:00 to 2:25. Thirty-five minutes to go in my history class and I was ready to pass out. Mr. Garner flipped the slide on his power point and instead of the boring lecture on the renaissance, the slide said in beg letters, "JIMMY, WILL YOU GO TO THE DANCE WITH ME" which was followed by Jenny Brovola standing from her seat smiling like a cheap doll.
Jimmy Young looked at the slide then at Jenny and nodded. "Sure, why not?"
Jenny giggled happily and sat back in her seat. I sighed and slumped in my seat. I hated dances.
After thirty five more painful minutes with small snoozes in between, the bell finally rang and I practically leaped from my seat and burst out of the door. That day could not have gone any slower. Bobbing and weaving through the hordes of teenagers I tried to make it as quickly as I could to the northwest corner of the school where I usually met up with the gang before we headed back to the base. However while I was passing through the hallways I saw something that made me want to vomit.
Tyler Rhodes, captain of the soccer team, was talking to Rachel. I was in utter shock, he never talked to people who weren't the popular girls or parts of other sports teams. The odd thing was, he was smiling and Rachel seemed to be laughing. After a small exchange that I was able to see out of site, Rachel nodded and Tyler went away. I approached Rachel.
"So what was that about?" I said, making Rachel jump and give a small yelp.
"Ahh! Oh, Chandler, umm, uh, what?" she stuttered in surprise.
"That? Tyler talking to you?" I pushed.
"Oh right, that, that was nothing just him being friendly is all" she replied defensively. I leered at her, knowing that there was something else. Finally she gave in, "Fine, he asked me to the dance and I said yes."
I felt like fainting. It was probably the closest I've been to doing it too. "What!? I thought you said you weren't going to the dance!"
"Yeah I know what I said but he was really nice about it. He said 'I know you're new here but if you'd like to get to know people I'm going with a bunch of people and if you want to tag along it'd be awesome if I came with him' so I said yes" she answered. I sighed in frustration. "Look I know you don't like dances, but what Dan said is true. We should have fun while we're humans. I mean we're still doing hero work but what's wrong with a harmless little dance?"
I know, I know, I'm not in charge of her, but if I'm being completely honest, I wouldn't mind going if it was with Rachel. And this new plan of hers completely demolished that possibility. Also Tyler wasn't as nice as he made himself look to a lot of girls. He was known to lead girls on and take advantage of them. I was concerned. I had the best of intentions, but I still managed to sound like an idiot.
"I don't want you to go to the dance" I said without thinking.
"Woah there, you don't have control over what I do" she said, a bit of rage building in her voice.
"I don't like this! And Tyler is not a good person" I said.
"Why is this such a big deal to you?"
"Because this isn't- I just, I don't-"
"Are you jealous?"
Yes, "No!"
Rachel exhaled sharply in anger. "You can't tell me what to do. It's not like you are gonna be tortured while we're at the dance. Just suck it up." Then she stormed off.
I face-palmed with a slap. Nice going Chop Chop. I released my hand from my face, a hot stinging aura absorbed the front of my head. "Ow"
Rachel had gone ahead and left school for the base without waiting for any of us. When I met up with the guys I explained what happened.
"Ooo, bad move mate." Sam responded.
Paul patted my shoulder. "You are just not good with the ladies"
"And you aren't?" I teased.
"Hey, now, who's the one who actually has a date?" Dan said.
"Ooo, burn" Paul said, high fiving Dan.
I chuckled slightly. "How about you Dan? You have a date?"
"Not yet, but I know it will happen. Just give it a few more days" Dan reassured.
I looked at him. "Dude, it's tomorrow"
"Few more hours" Dan fixed his sentence.
The dance was quickly approaching, the next day Rachel ignored me slightly, with good reason and I figured I'd apologize once she cooled off a bit. Dan still hadn't gotten a date and the shock was starting to get to him.
"It-it'll happen, just give it a moment. How can anyone resist, right? Right? RIGHT?!"
Still, the fact that Rachel was going to the dance with Tyler made me worried and I think Sam could see it on my face. He gave me a small pat on the back.
"You know, why don't you just tell her how you actually feel?" he said.
"Huh?"
Sam slapped my back a bit harder. "You dumb bugga, you want to go to the dance with Rachel, right?"
I ran my hand down my back to sooth the slap. "I mean, yeah, but she's going with that one guy."
"Because he had the guts to ask her. But I am positive that between you and some random guy she met, she'd choose you every time!"
"Well, not today. I'm pretty sure she's still mad at me"
"Then get a different date and meet up with her at the dance. I bet if you go she'll feel a lot better, that you're getting out of your shell. You know this can't be easy for her, you know, she being pretty shy. You of all people should know that. But hey, that's just my advice"
Sam went off to get ready for the dance and I thought about this for a second. Rachel and Paul had already left to meet up with their dates. Dan had gone to the school to 'wait for every girl to ask him to dance'. Sam and I had laughed about it for a good few minutes. Dan finished getting ready and went to the school a few minutes later. I sat in the upstairs area and continued to think about what Sam told me. Rachel and I were pretty close, and she's trying to fit in, just like she did in Skylands as Roller Brawl. I made a decision and sent a transmission to Jet-Vac.
The screen lit up with the face of Jason Mack, police officer, although he was a bit groggy from sleep.
"Uhh, Jason, did you just wake up?"
"Uhh yeah? What's up?"
I stared at him for a second. "It's five in the afternoon"
"Ugh, there was a party at the police station and there was…fun juice" he said as if I were a child.
"You mean alcohol?"
"Yeah"
I sighed. "Whatever, hey is Teryl there?"
The school seemed completely different during the dance. Streamers of assorted colors were covering the ceiling. Strobe and colored lights flashed all over the school and club music that was the equivalent of a cat scratching it's nails over six chalkboards was chosen by the horrible student DJ. I started having flashbacks to my freshman year and Phoebe Johansson. Teryl clung to my arm, a little in fear of this giant new place, a little out of curiosity. Teryl in her human form had sparkling green eyes, curly red hair, and freckles all over. She was skinny and average height, and overall was actually really pretty.
"So this is what people on Earth do for fun?" Teryl asked.
"The dumb ones, now remember the plan?" I said.
"Yeah, yeah, we find Roller Braw- I mean, Rachel and then I find…Dan?"
"Yup, that's his name" I reassured.
She pushed some hair behind her ear. Daryl her brother had laughed when I had sent the transmission. Apparently Teryl wasn't one for dresses which was hard to believe since she wore a black dress with straps that hung around the back of her neck and it fit her very nicely.
We explored the large lobby for any sign of Dan or Rachel. We spotted Sam talking to Mrs. Garcia. Sam wore a rented tuxedo that fit him quite seemly and Mrs. Garcia wore a typical shirt that she wore as a teacher. Sam laughed at something she said and offered to get her a drink from the punch area.
"Wow, Sam does have a teacher crush" I mumbled.
"What was that?" Teryl asked.
"Huh? Oh nothing." I said and Teryl was nice enough to leave it be.
After passing Paul, who was actually one of the best dancers at the dance and making Laura stare in awe, we managed to spot Dan. He had wide eyes and not a single girl to dance with. He sat glumly on a window sill bobbing his head slightly to the beat.
"There he is!" Teryl said excitedly and just before she left she realized we hadn't seen Rachel yet. "You'll be okay to find her?" I nodded and she ran to Dan.
I turned around, trying desperately to find Rachel amongst the crowd of people. She'd probably be with the largest group of people if Tyler was her date. And the biggest group usually…I shuttered at the thought of what Rachel was doing with those people.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun on my heels to see Rachel standing in front of me. "Oh…hey" I managed to get out.
Rachel scratched the back of her head. "Hi"
I couldn't seem to find the right words to say. For one I had made a complete fool of myself the day before and wondered if she was still mad at me, but on the other hand Rachel was…beautiful. She wore an amazing white dress that was quite the contrast to her usual dark attire. I felt my heart race which I hadn't experienced for a long while.
Finally I decided to speak first. "I'm sorry. I mean, coming here might have been difficult, because you're not that social. Neither of us are really. I guess I just thought that we could just stay home. But I'm not your parent or in charge of you, I'm your friend so should have supported you"
"Thank you" she said and put her hands together in front of her. "But actually you were right, about Tyler, and I officially hate school dances" she gave a small laugh at that which I matched. "He was too handsy and I kept telling him to stop but he wouldn't so I punched him in the face and walked away. It was getting kind of lonely so I thought about going home until I saw you. What made you change your mind?"
"Well, I managed to find a date that I would actually have fun with" I motioned towards the window where Dan and Teryl were. "Teryl agreed to go with me. I figured the entire gang was here so I wanted to tag along. We do everything together"
Rachel stared at the girl who was with Dan. "That's Teryl?! Wow, I mean really, wow"
"You know I thought the same thing" I replied.
There was a moment of silence until finally I said "You know the dance isn't over, would you like to-"
"I'd love to" Rachel said. She took my hand and we started to walk towards the dance floor.
But my hopes of dancing with her were crushed immediately.
"Rachel!" a voice shouted. We looked to where the voice came from and coming towards us was Tyler, a swollen eye attached to his face.
"Wow, you really whaled him" I whispered to Rachel making her smile.
"Rachel come back! You really want to dance with this loser? You're easily the hottest girl here and everyone is laughing at me. I'm sure we can fix it but can you please come back?" he moaned while touching his eye tentatively.
Rachel made a face as if she were thinking about it, although we both knew her answer. "Mmmmm, no"
Tyler glared at me. "You."
Then out of nowhere, he ran at me and dove. Although it took me off guard, the fighting experience in Skylands made my instincts kick in and I rolled to the side. Tyler skidded on his face while everyone was watching and they laughed even more.
He got up and shrieked, "I'm gonna rip you limb from limb for taking my date!"
I knew he was angry, but that comment seemed a little extreme which made me worry for a second. He threw a punch which I easily blocked with my forearm and then pushed him back.
"I'm not gonna fight you Tyler" I told him.
Tyler smirked. "That's gonna make this a lot easier then!" Suddenly he roared as if an animal was trapped inside him. He extended his arms as purple energy seemed to release from his skin like gas. His skin started to turn pale and grey as his clothing became black and red, and a hood of the same colors flipped over his head. I stared as I began to recognize his face. He stomped on the ground making a polearm dart out of the floor and he grabbed it.
Rachel frozen with fear couldn't believe what she was seeing and tapped my shoulder making sure I could see the same thing.
"Yeah, yeah that's him" I spoke. "That's Fright Rider"