A.N. Obviously this is a ShareenaXEmmitt story. Here's where it begins.

As the days passed Shareena and Emmitt had a great time hanging out, much to Shelley's annoyance. Luckily the last three days of school, including graduation, were non-class days so Shareena and Emmitt had extra time to hang out.

A few hours before the dance, which was at night, Shareena's mom helped her put on her dress. Luckily, Shareena had mastered the art of 'back zipper zipping and unzipping', so she was able to quickly take it off, put on her real dress, and put the fake one on top without her parents noticing anything. That part was easy, it was putting up with her parents that was hard. They kept talking about dating and everything similar, which was almost worse than when they were using disco lingo back before the disco dance a couple years ago. At least this time there wasn't anyone else around except for Pig. Luckily, Emmitt was picking her up, so she didn't have to endure another irritating ride to school. When it was time to leave, Shareena tolerated a few pictures from her dad.

"How about a shot of you with your date?" Her dad suggested.

"Friend, dad, and no he's camera shy." Shareena shook her head.

Though her parents were disappointed, they understood, so Shareena went outside to wait for Emmitt. Actually Emmitt wasn't camera shy, that was just an excuse so that he wouldn't have to meet her parents. Luckily, this time Pig understood that Shareena wouldn't have time to keep him hidden at the school, so he didn't insist on going.

As she waited she quickly ripped off the fake dress and stuffed it into a nearby recycling can. She didn't want to poison the earth, especially not with her mother's fashion sense. Emmitt arrived just as she shut the lid.

"Ah good, I don't have to see the bad dress." Emmitt grinned.

"Lucky you, it was gross." Shareena winced as she walked towards him. "Luckily I prefer blue cotton candy instead of pink, otherwise the dress would've put me off it."

"*Yeck!*" Emmitt winced.

At that moment, Shareena walked under a streetlamp, and Emmit's wince turned to awe. Shareena, to him, looked so beautiful in her good dress that he couldn't believe it. Along with the dress Shareena wore her usual shoes and a lavender hairband with a black cat on it.

"What is it?" Shareena, frowned, confused.

"Nothing, you just look bewitching." Emmitt smiled with a wink.

"You look 'out of this world' yourself." Shareena chuckled with a wink of her own.

Emmitt chuckled back, and they walked towards the school. Luckily, Miss Kisskillya mistook the tiny skulls and alien heads on their clothing for dots so they were allowed in without any trouble. They entered the gym, and spotted most of the rest of the gang by the chairs. Orangejella and Lemonjella decided to go with Gug and Duncan so they wouldn't have to worry about not being invited and getting the F. The girl Jim danced with at the disco dance a couple years back took him, and they were dancing already. Shareena and Emmitt waved to those by the chair, and joined them.

"Wow, Shareena great outfit." Orangejella and Lemonjella said.

"Thanks, I like both of yours too." Shareena smiled.

They talked for a bit, and then decided to get some punch. They went to Jim and his partner first to say hi, and it turns out the two of them needed some punch as well. They all went to the refreshment table, but stopped when they neared it, for there was Shelley on the refreshment committee. Shelley, in the general sense, looked so beautiful in her dress that the gang dropped their mouths open. Shelley was wearing a sparkly skinny red dress with a slit in the skirt and a bow tied at the back. Instead of her beret she wore a sparkly headband that could almost be mistaken for a tiara. She even wore party shoes instead of sneakers.

"Hi guys." Shelley grinned, winking at Emmitt.

Shareena suddenly snapped out of and felt hot with anger. She quickly jabbed Emmitt with her elbow, which woke him up. The rest of the girls recovered too and woke up their respective partners.

"Hi, we never saw you out of your usual everyday attire before." Orangejella noted.

"I thought I'd dress special for the dance tonight." Shelley smiled flirtingly at Emmitt.

"You mean for Emmitt." Shareena thought, suddenly wanting to punch Shelley; that was when she realized what she was feeling. "Wait, why would I be jealous, Emmitt's not my boyfriend."

Shareena couldn't ponder it for long though, for she noticed Emmitt growing nervous. Luckily, the other guys had already recovered and had gotten their refreshments, so Shareena didn't need to worry about them. She quickly got a couple glasses of punch, a few goodies, and quickly grabbed Emmitt.

"Sorry Shelley but we want to quickly finish our snack so that we can dance." Shareena said hurriedly as she dragged Emmitt to the rest of the gang.

Shelley frowned, both angry and disappointed.

"Thanks Shareena." Emmitt gasped as he sat down near the rest of the gang.

"She almost got you huh?" Gug frowned knowingly.

"Scary enough, yes." Emmitt paled slightly. "I've go to keep remembering that it's Shelley under that dress."

"I wonder if she used some sort of hypnotic cloth to make that dress." Jim wondered.

"Or even voodoo." Shareena scowled.

"Voodoo?" Lemonjella shook her head. "Nah, not her thing."

"Are you okay Shareena?" Jim's partner asked.

"Yeah, I'm just angry that she had to pull that stunt after my trying to keep her and Emmitt separated." Shareena said before angrily taking a bite out of a muffin.

Emmitt, having calmed down thanks to some chips and the punch, got up.

"Don't worry, as long as I stick with you during the dance she won't be able to get me." Emmitt smiled as he put his hand on Shareena's shoulder. "After we're done eating how about a dance?"

"Okay." Shareena smiled after she swallowed her muffin.

They soon finished the food and punch, and moved onto the dance floor. Miss Kisskillya was now inside, so the rest of the gang had to dance as well. The upbeat ones were okay with everyone, so the dance was actually fun at first. Then Shelley approached Shareena and Emmitt.

"Mind if I cut in?" Shelley asked politely.

"Sorry Shelley, I promised Shareena all the dances." Emmitt shook his head.

Shelley's face fell as Shareena smiled. They both knew that Shelley's dress had completely lost it's effect on Emmitt.

Shelley gave up at this point, so the rest of the dance went without a hitch. The gang ended up having so much fun that they didn't sit down to rest until before the last two upbeat dances. Then the last dance, the slow dance, began. This was the one most of the school was dreading.

"Well, might as well get it over with." Emmitt shrugged as he sat up and offered Shareena his hand.

"Might as well." Shareena agreed, taking his hand.

Most of the school tolerated the dance, but once Shareena and Emmitt got used to it they ended up liking it. Since they were dancing with their best friend it wasn't so bad, and soon something had begun.

"Wow, Shareena really looks beautiful, she even puts Shelley's dress to shame." Emmitt thought. "Of course the fact that this dress has a good person while Shelley's dress has an annoying person helps."

"Gee, Emmitt actually looks handsome." Shareena thought. "At least he hasn't stepped on my feet yet, nor have I stepped on his."

Shareena then got the urge to kiss Emmitt.

"Wait, why would I want to kiss Emmit? He's my best friend!" Shareena yelled inside her head, trying to snap herself out of it. "So what if he's clever, and kind, and understanding, and hands-oh god, am I...?"

Shareena looked into his eyes, and felt her heart pounding.

"I've gotten a crush on Emmitt!" Shareena panicked inside her head. "Oh no, oh this is bad, this wasn't supposed to happen! This was just supposed to get Shelley off Emmitt back until graduation! Aw man, as if Emmitt didn't have enough to worry about with Shelley's crush on him! What am I going to do?"

"Gosh, Shareena's a good dancer." Emmitt thought. "And a good friend, she didn't even have to worry about that F and yet she went to this dance just to keep me safe from Shelley. Boy, her kindness really compliments her beauty, it's almost bewitching even..."

Bewitching, something about that word stirred his memory:

Shareena is growing into a beautiful young lady and soon will be bevitching all the boys and stealing their hearts.

"Wait...oh no that's what Vic was trying to tell me! I've gotten a crush on Shareena!" Emmitt panicked inside his head, until he looked into her eyes. "But then she's so nice, and generous, and beautiful, and..."

Emmitt, his heart pounding, almost succumbed to his feelings and was about to kiss her, when he remembered what Vic said next:

Try to stay in control.

"Oh, right, can't let her beauty control my actions. I almost made that same mistake with Shelley and her new dress. Right, memo to me: don't tell Shareena my feelings or act upon them until I'm sure that it's real love and not a crush."

"Okay Shareena," Shareena thought to herself. "Don't act upon your feelings until it's real love and not a crush, try to stay focused. Don't succumb to the crush, stay in control."

Luckily, what they were feeling on the inside was hardly noticeable on the outside. The closest Shareena and Emmitt got to revealing their feelings was smiling. Shelley saw this and felt her heart break (it was really her imagination), and the rest of the gang saw this and looked stunned, but the rest of the school didn't even notice.

After the dance, the gang gathered outside to talk.

"You two actually seemed to like the slow dance." Jim said to Shareena and Emmitt.

"Well, it wasn't tortuous anyway." Shareena shrugged.

"But you were smiling." Lemonjella and Orangejella said.

"Huh? Oh, that was a reaction to when we both knew that Shelley's new dress lost it's power over me." Emmitt fibbed.

"Yeah." Shareena agreed. "Emmitt finally snapped out of it while we were dancing, and he told me just as the slow dance began."

"Oh." Duncan said.

Shelley then approached them, looking miserable.

"I guess we're not dating anymore huh?" Shelley said to Emmitt sadly.

"Shelley we were never a couple and we never will be." Emmitt said gently. "We're just too different."

"Oh." Shelley sighed before turning to leave. "Bye guys."

"Bye." The gang said back randomly, happy that Shelley had left them earlier than usual.

"Emmitt I'm proud of you." Shareena smiled.

"It's about time you turned her down." Gug agreed.

"Yeah, I was just having a hard time wording it properly." Emmitt shrugged modestly.

"Well you worded it perfectly." Shareena grinned.

The gang then started to leave for home. Emmitt had decided to walk Shareena home, so it wasn't long before it was just the two of them on Shareena's street. They stopped in front of her neighbor's house just in case her parents were still up.

"Emmitt, I actually had a great time." Shareena smiled. "I thought I was going to hate the dance but I ended up having fun."

"Me too, not even the slow dance was as bad as I was expecting." Emmitt agreed. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." Shareena agreed, suddenly hugging him; she had been wanting to kiss him this whole time but was fighting against it, so the hug was a compromise.

Emmitt was at first startled, but then started to grow warmer and soon melted into the hug. They felt happy and at peace, except their hearts were still pounding. They managed to break away, and awkwardly said goodnight.

When Shareena got upstairs she quickly changed into her PJs and lay on her bed, pondering her feelings for Emmitt. Pig soon noticed, and nudged her arm concernedly.

"What am I goin to do Pig, I've gotten a crush on Emmitt." Shareena sighed. "But why, he already had to tolerate Shelley's crush, why give him further torture? And this is worse, because I'm his best friend. Considering how hard it was to turn Shelley down I don't want to imagine how hard it would be for him to turn me down."

Pig went over to Shareena's art supplies and started drawing something on a piece of paper (he was using his mouth to hold the supplies and his hooves to hold the paper).

"What are you drawing?" Shareena asked as she walked over to Pig.

When Pig was done, he showed her. It was a heart with E and S in the middle and an arrow going though it. Shareena, getting what Pig was saying, looked at him with shock.

"Pig, you don't understand, for humans a crush is a bad thing." Shareena said gently but firmly. "Crushes don't have real love in them they're just based on shallow reasons."

Pig drew a Y shape on the paper and another arrow that pointed to the heart and the E.

"Why do I have a crush on Emmitt?" Shareena guessed; Pig nodded. "Well, he understands me, he's kind, funny, clever, polite...hey wait, those aren't shallow reasons..."

Pig gave her a knowing look.

"But...if I don't like him for shallow reasons then..."

Shareena's heart suddenly stopped pounding, skipped a couple beats, and started beating faster. She started to feel lighter, and warmer, and formed a lovestruck smile on her face.

"I'm in love with Emmitt." Shareena realized. "It's real love."

Pig nodded happily. Shareena hugged him.

"Thank you Pig." She said.

Shareena then went to bed and started dreaming of she and Emmitt going to Transylvania as a couple.

Meanwhile...

Emmitt was still panicking about his crush on Shareena, but unfortunately he didn't have anyone to talk to about it. His parents were asleep, but even if they were awake they weren't an option. Emmitt felt that he was too young to get a crush on someone so he wasn't ready to tell his parents. He didn't have any siblings or pets to talk to, so all he could do was talk to himself about the matter. That didn't help as he was still panicking and couldn't give himself legitimate advice, so he decided to change the subject in his mind by reading his comics. This worked, until he came across a comic that featured a villain kidnapping the hero's love-interest. It turns out this villain also loved the girl, but for the wrong reasons. Emmitt noted why the villain loved the girl, and why the hero loved the girl, and realized that his feelings for Shareena were similar to the hero's feeling for the girl.

"Wait, if...but then..." Emmitt felt his heart stop for a few seconds before speeding up. "It's not a crush, I'm really in love with Shareena." Emmitt realized.

Now calm and lovestruck, Emmitt got ready for bed and dreamed of going into outer space with Shareena.