Chapter 3: The Dance
It was Saturday morning. Suo yawned as the sun shone through her window and woke her up. She went downstairs and sat at the table. "Morning Suo" her father said. "Morning dad". "Got any plans for today?". Suo thought to herself. "No", she replied flatly. "No? Are you sure? I would have thought youd go to your first homecoming." Her face turned red, startled. "How did you find out about that?" "Shion told me, he said it sounded like the whole school is going." She looked down. "Is he going?" "No, he said hed rather not go this year. How about you though, why did you decide not to go?" She got up from the table slowly. "Because no one asked me I guess" she said as she walked off sadly.
That day was going by so slow for her, she just knew that everyone was getting ready. Girls would be greeted with flowers from their dates; guys would be wearing dress suits dancing to music with them. It wasn't fair she thought. She didn't think she was a bad girl, and had always toyed with the idea of being someone's girlfriend. She couldn't see herself cheating, and would try her best to make them happy. It didn't seem like shed be a bad person to be with she thought in her head. "Yet somehow… no one seemed to notice how good I am" suo said to her wall. "Maybe im not that good after all". She didn't think that she'd be taking it this hard, but for the first time in her life, she felt rejected, even if it wasn't by anyone personally. All she could do was sit there and stare at a wall all day and imagine everyone dancing and drinking and having fun while she was at home away from homecoming. A tear fell down her eye.
It was twilight. The sky was orange and shadows from the buildings were being cast over the streets. The air smelled off fall, even though it was getting closer to winter. Leaves were scattered on the ground, brown and crumpled. A young man was walking down that street, wearing a red dress shirt with a black blazer over it. In his left arm he carried white flowers (they were her favorite) and in his right a corsage. Hei knocked on the door to Yins house. She answered only a few seconds later. "Hello Hei." "H..hi Yin" he said half startled. He hadn't expected to see her like that. She was wearing a long silver white dress that looked like it was giving off its own light. Not sunlight… but more like moonlight he thought. He was used to seeing her in dark colors, seeing her in this made her look completely different. "So what do you think?" she asked. "Yin, i…" he started. She began to look disappointed. "I think you look beautiful" he said. She perked up a bit. "Thanks" she said with a smile. She's beginning to do that more and more Hei thought to himself. "Are those for me?" she asked pointing at the flowers. "Oh, y…yea" he said trying to compose himself. He had been so stunned by her that he had forgotten that he had brought those for her. She took the corsage from him and put it on her wrist. "You know, most people only get these for formal dances like prom" she said, still smiling. He didn't get it. 'Isn't homecoming a formal dance' he thought in his head. She took the flowers and layed them on her doorstep. "So I have something to look forward to when we eventually have to come home" Yin said. Hei didn't get these girl things, flowers at the doorstep, rules for when to buy a corsage, these things make no sense he decided. He took her hand. "Shall we go?" he said. "Of course" Yin said, and they began their walk to the school, orange sky and all.
The sun had almost set. The sky was now orange on one side, changing to blue on the other. Suo had cried twice that day. Once because she felt alone, and again because she felt pathetic for crying over feeling alone. "There's nothing worse than staying home alone on homecoming" she said. "Suo?" her dad's voice came from the hall. "There's someone here to see you". "Tell them I don't want any visitors" she screamed back at him. A moment of silence, then a knock on her door. "I said I didn't want any!" she screamed again. "Suo, it's me" said a plain monotone voice. Suo angrily rushed to the door. "Dammit July, I said I didn't…" she stopped mid-sentence, shocked. July stood in front of her wearing a dress shirt, combed hair, shiny shoes, and a bouquet of roses. "July… What… what are you…" she started, her face turning red. "I thought I would surprise you" July said. He had heard somewhere that people enjoyed surprises. He didn't see how, but perhaps she would. "Hold on, just what exactly are you doing?" she said regaining herself. "Suo, do you want to go to homecoming with me?" He said, extending his hand. "July…" she started. She really wanted to go, but how could she, she didn't have a dress or anything. July prolly had a ticket for her, but that would be no good if she didn't have anything to wear. As she went to her closet (maybe she had something she could pull out from a few years ago) she saw a brand new dress with a note attached to it. "Hope you have fun –Amber" it read. She laughed inside. Somehow Amber always knew when thing were gonna happen or how something would turn out. She turned around and looked at July with a look of happiness. "I'd love to" she replied, and closed the door to get changed as July waited outside.
It was fully dark out now, but that hardly seemed to matter. The gymnasium was crowded with kids dancing wildly to whatever song the DJ started blasting. Hei and Yin had just walked inside. The air smelled thick and loud music drowned out all but the loudest yelling. Yin looked over at him and winked. "C'mon, let's go" and started dragging him into the fray. As they walked, Hei looked around to observe his surroundings. He saw Kiko dressed up with cat ears hanging out with her friends by the tables. He also saw Amber in a red dress dancing with a huge group of people (well she always did have a lot of friends hei thought). Finally Yin stopped about halfway into the crowd, not to far near the edge but not too close to the front either. She knew Hei didn't like being noticed like on the edge, but she wanted enough room to dance with him without being crushed like up front. Hei stopped and stared at her. "Well?" she said. "Umm…" Hei started. He hadn't been to many dances before. For once he felt out of place. "Ugh, I have to do everything don't I" Yin said playfully. 'Her voice sounds different; she's smiling almost every chance she gets, what's going on with her?' Hei's voice said inside his head. Before he could think any further Yin turned her back towards him. 'Great' he thought 'she's mad at me'. He thought she was about to walk away and go talk to someone else. However, the next thing he knew Yin had grabbed both his hands, back still facing him, and moved her body against Hei's and started moving her hips against his. "What the?" Hei stated, now completely shocked and stunned. Yin had never acted this way before in the slightest. Her hips were now grinding against him in step with the music, and before he could say anything yin turned her head up towards him. All he could see were her scarlet eyes and smile make the most seductive face he had ever seen on her. "Shut up" she said grinning. Hei still didn't know what to do, but next he knew his hands were on her waist, yins hands moved over her head and behind his, his chin over her shoulder and he was dancing against her matching her body movements.
Suo and July were doing the same thing in another part of the gym. It was awkward at first, since suo had never been to a dance, much less dance with another guy in that kind of manner before. July wasn't the social butterfly that could have showed her either. Somehow though, after a few awkward attempts by both of them, they got over it and were dancing just as much as everyone else. By now everyone in the room was sweating, Suo dancing against July. She liked being there with a friend, and it didn't hurt everyone was complementing her on her date. They might not have known July personally, but everyone had been to the game and as far as they were concerned he was half the reason they had won. "Thanks for coming with me Suo" July said. "No problem, I wanted to go anyways" she said. "Besides, bringing a football player as a date is just a bonus" she said jokingly. July just chuckled a bit and kept dancing.
It was almost Midnight. There was only about five minutes left until the dance ended. By now Hei had taken his blazer off and Yin had let her hair down. July and Suo were still dancing like they had been all night, and the music still sounded just as loud as when they got there. Yin had gone to sit down; she was tired and worn out from dancing. She looked around, Hei had gone off somewhere. Hed be back soon she thought to herself.
Suo was sitting down, leaning her head against July's shoulder. It had been a fun night for both of them. Amber had left early with her group; she said something about an after party at her house. Suo politely declined though, she was already tired from tonight, and she knew she would sleep well after she got home. Right now though, all she could focus on was July. She didn't know it, but somehow she was starting to see him in a different light. Before, he had always been that quiet kid who kept her company. Now he was that person who saved her from a night alone and took her to her first homecoming. Tonight was perfect she decided.
"Come with me" Hei said to Yin walking towards her. He took her hand and walked her to the dance floor. "What's going on Hei?" Yin asked as he turned around. In the same way she surprised him when she grabbed his hands and started dancing with him, he surprised her by pulling her close to him, his arms around her waist and her face inches from his. "There weren't any of these earlier" he said. Before she could ask "any of what?" the music started getting softer. Everything died down, and the ones who were still remaining started getting closer to their partners also. Slowly, she felt Hei start to dance back and forth. She didn't know the song, but it didn't matter, right now, all she could do was put her head against his chest, close her eyes, and enjoy the last few minutes of the night.
Suo and July were leaving just as the song began playing. They both decided that they were too tired for anything more, and left. About halfway home, July grabbed Suo's hand. She was surprised, but squeezed back a second later. They both smiled a little.
Yin was almost home now. Hei was walking right next to her. It had been a great night for her. She didn't show it, but on the inside she was cheering. They arrived at her house. The flowers were still on her porch, seeming to glow in the moonlight like her dress did. She had started changing ever since she met Hei. Even now, especially after tonight, she knew that somehow, no matter in what form, she would always want to be a part of his life. Tonight was fun Yin." Hei said. He looked at her like she was all he saw. She liked that.
She felt alone ever since her parents had died. Her dad used to always say shed be safe in their small family. But she hadn't felt safe for so long after they left her. On that day when those men cornered her, she had never been so scared. She wasn't good back then at showing emotion, but every part of her cried out inside, she hated seeing everyone else have someone who cared about them, she hated that the only two people who knew her were gone. When he touched her face, she felt her heart shatter. "There's no one coming" her voice said in her head. She didn't know what they wanted to do with her, she didn't want to think about it, she just wanted to go back to when she could taste her mom's cooking, to where she could cry in her father's arms when she felt sad, how they would all cuddle up together when it stormed, as if they were protecting Yin from everything that scared her. She wished it would all just stop. The day she felt herself shatter under the realization that she was alone… was the day he stepped in her life and started picking up the pieces.
She was inside now. Hei had left about an hour ago. She didn't know what time it was and didn't care. Her heart was beating so fast from tonight. She took off her dress and got in the shower. She was about to go inside when Hei had kissed her. She was caught completely off guard, but eventually she relaxed, and what started as a 5 second kiss turned into a 10 second, then 15 second, then she lost track of time. When it ended, they simply said goodnight and she went inside. She didn't know what this meant for them, if they were going out, or if he just really cared for her, but she didn't care right now. Right now, that moment is all that mattered to her, she would ask him later about them, but right now, all she wanted to do was go to bed dreaming about Hei.