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Jareth, too, realized that he was standing in front of the class.
His thoughts had been far away. More specifically in the bedchambers of his Castle (Beyond the Goblin City) at the pulsing core of his Labyrinth, engaged in laying out deliciously spine-tingling plans for the near future.
Coming back to reality was a bit of a disappointment. For one thing, the Sarah in his musings was quite differently attired. And her eyes were closed in pleasure, rather than looking at him with open curiosity and a slight mistrust. He looked himself over, just to make sure nothing was amiss.
And, for the first time in a while, he regretted his form-fitting attire. Perhaps slightly looser slacks would have been a better choice.
He saw the imaginations of the other girls around him take off, the images of himself in various different roles taking wing like thousands of tiny airplanes... or, in some cases - nuclear fuel-powered rockets.
Ah, well, he thought with a slight shrug. Can't be helped I suppose...
With a flourish, he extended and arm to his partner, and threw a swift look at Jake, to make sure he cut the music. Jake scrambled back into the room, a slight delay obvious in his reaction. Did he move a little too awkwardly just now? - Jareth wondered, bemused. Perhaps its just because he's a mortal...
When the music stopped, it was as though a spell was lifted from the class. They clapped and whistled and moved and shifted from foot to foot – no longer mesmerized and spellbound by the rhythm and the snake-like, stalking movements of the two dancers before them.
"So that was a Rhumba for you." Jareth stated matter-of-factly. He looked around for Sarah and saw that she had moved closer to the edge of the small crowd in front of him.
It was hard to concentrate on anything when he looked at her, her previous words still ringing in his ears. He looked quickly away, trying to stave off getting his thoughts side-tracked again.
"Now, I will show you two or three moves, and you can practice them together," he continued, switching smoothly into the role of a teacher rather than a seductive dancer.
Naturally, he liked this character a lot less. He proceeded to demonstrate several moves, guiding Jenny into showing the girls their part.
Then he let her go, and she slunk gratefully back into the corner, collapsing on the bench. He saw several of her friends shooting her jealous looks, but Jenny didn't look like she enjoyed them one bit.
Such a pity...
The rest of the lesson was pretty uneventful. The class had been instructed to break up into pairs, and try out the new moves they learned. The girls had been eager, but had found their own attempts at the Rhumba to be a serious disappointment. For once, Sarah was not an exception.
She had tried to ask Jake to dance with her, but had encounter a frightened, almost fearful protest. He told her that he had to do the music, and seemed to be so set on that, that her invitation to dance fell on deaf ears.
Thats's weird... what got into him? Sarah wondered. He looked like he was walking a bit funny, too...
She quickly found another partner, staying as far away from both the dance teacher, whose pull on her had not lessened, and Adam, as the small room allowed.
Thankfully, Adam seemed to have left her alone for the time being. He had gone over to Jenny, trying to re-established his bruised ego, only to have it sucker-punched again when she told him to "leave her the hell alone". It had been loud enough for the entire class to hear, too – Sarah noticed.
She suppressed a grin.
When Adam continued his antics, trying to pull Jenny onto the dance floor by sheer force – something Jenny had tolerated before, making a grand show of resisting, after which she would giggle and give in - she'd pushed him roughly away and told him to get his paws off of her.
She then proceeded to stalk off to the girls bathroom, leaving him standing there, his ego bleeding out on the ballroom floor.
The rest of the class looked quickly away, occupying themselves with their dancing.
Sarah stole a careful glance at the dance teacher, to see if he had noticed the scene. He looked oddly pleased with something, but she couldn't tell what it was that had made him look so satisfied, and whether it had anything to do with the tragicomic Adam-Jenny exchange. For no reason at all, she thought that it just might.