9
"Sarah, come on already! Jenny whined, tugging at her. – Adam's waiting for you, and you're missing the dancing!"
Jenny dragged her up by the arm and out of the bathroom.
He owes me one for this. She thought. What do I look like, a beginner babysitter?
The last thing Sarah wanted right now was to be dragged anywhere. Or touched, for that matter. Never-the-less, she stumbled out, too full of her own thoughts to protest. She silently wondered why Jenny and Adam weren't dance partners. They seemed like a perfect fit to her. She thought of just asking Jenny straight out, but decided it would be better to keep her thoughts to herself.
Preferably all of them, or they'd call the psych ward on her.
Come to think of it, maybe she shouldn't compete. Or dance. Ever again.
Her thoughts ran rampant through her mind, refusing to be brought back under control, and she felt shivers start their racing at the thought that her words and wishes could have such an immediate effect on reality.
Was it real? She wondered again, for God-knows how many times now.
"There you are, kid! Where did you run off to? We've missed two foxtrots and a tango already! And we need to train for the comp!"
Adam grabbed her hand and pulled her into the swing. Finding it easier to think while her body was preoccupied with movement and her hearing with music, Sarah turned to him.
"I haven't decided yet, Adam – I don't know if I want to do this whole comp thing," she told him earnestly.
"Nonsense – it'll be great! We'll make a good team, and we'll be practicing together often, so you have nothing to worry about!
Sarah sighed. Right. Between practicing with this insistent partner and hearing Jareth's voice in my head – or did I actually hear it?… Yeah, nothing to worry about at all…
Nothing tra-la-la.
The evening sped by quickly, quicker than she had hoped. At the end of it, Sarah, tired form all the dancing, most of it with Adam, was followed out by the latter.
At least, that's what she thought. Adam thought he was escorting her.
"You know," he said, grabbing her hands and pulling her around, in his usual manner of roughhousing, "you need to work on the dip. It's a key element in tango, and its also good for your dancing. "
Sarah, wrinkled her nose, wrestling him off of her. When he was just playing with her, he reminded her of a surrogate Ludo – albeit, stronger, faster and more rough. But something still remained.
"I hate the dip" she told him. "And the way you dip me, it really hurts! You force me back."
"It only hurts because you resist," came his voice, swiftly loosing its Ludo-esque quality.
He leaned over her in the empty hall, pinning her arms to the wall, still keeping the appearance of play.
"If you stop resisting, it won't hurt."
Not only did Sarah not stop resisting, she struggled more, aware that her position wasn't a very good one in relation to his.
Not from were she was standing, anyway.
"How can I stop resisting if you keep forcing me?" she asked, green eyes widening.
"Just don't. Trust me." Adam leaned in closer, still keeping a tight grip on her hands.
Oh no you don't! She thought, still caught by surprise by how fast he moved in pursuit of her. No warning? No overtures? She needed veiled threats, dammit!
She twisted her body sideways, managing to get herself out of the fly-pinned-to-the-wall situation. Too strong for her, Adam continued in play mode and now succeeded in pinning her against him with a move reminiscent of the honey-hug in swing. Well, maybe a tad more violent.
At least she was facing away from him, thought Sarah, fighting the panic at finding herself trapped against him.
She kicked back softly, aiming her dance shoe heel at his shins. A warning. She'll aim differently next time.
Adam got the message and let her go.
"Just playing around, kid" he tussled her hair, laughing. "See ya tomorrow!"
"Uh... yeah, bye."
Sarah was still in battle mode. She did not like this "playing around". If that's all that it was. Which she very much doubted.
Yeah, maybe it was fun, before it got rough, but that's where she drew The Line.
At least, she hoped she was drawing The Line. A line. Any line.
Tossing her hair, she brushed herself off and stalked home, unsure if she had just triumphed or made a fool of herself.
Jareth took a deep breath to steady himself.
And then another one, for good measure.
It took iron self control to avoid getting involved in this first encounter. He was sure there would be others, more serious ones, too. The boy was just feeling out his ground this time. Now he'd know to be harder on her.
Jareth was certain, that he would also find out that she bites, scratches and slaps.
Wouldn't that be delightful.
You triumphed, Love, you did. Just don't get over-confident again…
He'd have to watch these practices much more closely now. She'd need him before the end.
Her reaction upon hearing his voice was certainly interesting to watch... the Goblin King smirked, remembering.
That was another thing she'd learn to get used to before the end.
Now, as to that Jake fellow…
Time for a little visit to the mortal world.
Changing into an owl, he left his castle
Such fun.