a/n: what can I say? I'm really bad at keeping things up to date. Well, yeah. Now that I've gotten this chapter out of the way. I can continue. I know mostly what I'm doing with this. Mostly, I just need to figure out details/get it down on paper. As for the flashbacks, I know what I'm doing with them, but its definitely not as structured as the main plot of the story. OK. Well. Thank you so so so so so much for the kind reviews. You guys are so cute and adorable.

Chapter 3

"Dancing On My Last Nerve"

Spencer couldn't believe that Toby hadn't dropped out of the class yet. They were one month in and she hadn't even heard a complaint from him. She even asked Caleb what he was saying about it, if he was complaining about it, more specifically. Caleb just shrugged at her question and answered with, "you think I'm going to listen to that guy talk about AP Physics? I already have to deal with you!" and that was the end of the conversation.

He even participated in class. It was marveling to her. The last time she actually had a class with him was sophomore year and he barely said a word when teachers picked on him. And now, now he's raising his hand all by himself. She had to admit, she was surprised. And in a good way. It definitely was a first in the context of Toby Cavanaugh.

Spencer scratched down the homework and closed her planner, daring to sneak a glance at Toby. He was on the other side of the room, one table beyond the table she was across from. He was still working on his class work that was due by the end of the hour.

He got up and she quickly shifted her eyes away. Although, she had a feeling he saw her because when he set his paper down on the teacher's desk, he looked directly at her. A look of curiosity marked upon him.

When the bell rung a few minutes later, she walked over to him.

"You know, I have to hand it to you. I thought you would have quit by now."

"Quit?" he mocked, packing his books together, looking at her with no particular look.

"Drop the class." She specified, squinting her mocha eyes at him.

He grabbed his books in one hand and walked around the table, so they were on the same side, for the most part.

"I'm not going to drop the class." He told her sternly, catching her eyes in his gaze.

"I guess we'll see about that." Spencer told him, her voice lighter than it normally was when talking to him. She didn't keep his gaze very long, she soon turned around and made her way to her next class.

Toby didn't see the reason why they had to attend dance lessons. It's not like they would be forming flash mobs at the wedding. Hanna told him she had some huge extravagant thing planned out though. Her first dance with her husband would be outstanding. People would remember it. People would cry at the sight of how beautiful it was. It was so typical of Hanna to want people crying over her. She had millions of ideas, some involved the married couple surrounded by all the other couplets who would slowtwly dissolve in the crowd and when they were all back in their positions in the observing crowd, her and Caleb would take their first stride forward. Some involved them forming in straight lines to meet their partner, then whisking them away back into the crowd. Caleb and Hanna would be the last to reunite and instead of heading towards the crowd, they would begin to waltz. She told him they were just ideas she had pitched to the dance instructor though. At first, Toby thought she was yanking his chain. Hanna knew his hatred towards dancing, and she got a kick out of that kind of stuff. Although, she was not. She was dead serious. She had already signed them all up for lessons.

So, now he was here. In a dance studio, waiting on the instructor to come guide them to hell.

He wasn't surprised to see Spencer here. Of course she would be here. He had no doubt that she would be on the bridal party.

Although he didn't understand why she needed to be here. She had been wearing ballet shoes the day she came out of her mother's womb. She was the captain on the school's dance team and practically began teaching dance classes at the local dance studio at sixteen. Caleb had once forced him to come along to one of her recitals and he would never admit this to her, or anyone else for that matter, but she was incredible. Her movements were so majestic and regal. She made it look so easy. She definitely didn't need lessons. She was probably just here to learn the routine, and show off just how great she is. Like always.

A woman came out a few minutes later. She had on a lose shirt and sweats. Her small amount of chestnut hair was tied back into a messy pony tail and her feet were wearing something that looked like ballet shoes, but not quite.

"Hello, I'm Felicia. I talked to a Hanna Marin on the phone…?" she looked around at the group.

Hanna stepped up, a smile on her face, and her hand rising up for a hand shake. "That would be me, hello."

"Hi, so you said you wanted to work out a ball room routine for your wedding?"

"Yeah, I know it's weird—"

"It's not weird at all, you'd be surprised to know how many people have the same exact idea as you" Felicia told her, warmly with a smile.

Hanna beamed at the brunette before turning around and tugging her soon-to-be-husband forward. "This is Caleb, the groom."

Felicia nodded polity, presenting out her hand to him "Nice to meet you."

Hanna turned around again, pointing her finger out "and that's Toby, Ezra, Emily, Spencer, Holden, and Aria," her finger danced around the room.

Felicia smiled broadly at them all. "And I'm going to assume this is your bridal party?"

Hanna nodded, "correcto."

Felicia laughed. Toby couldn't tell if it was real or not.

"OK have any of you had experience with dance before?" she asked the crowd.

Hanna butted in before Spencer could even open her mouth, "Spencer has. And Toby can't dance if his life depended on it" Hanna unnecessarily went on with a laugh.

Toby scowled, but only because he saw Spencer sneering out of the corner of his eye. He was surprised she hadn't went into full exact detail of how she won at state championships. The amount of times he heard her gloat about that was equivalent to the amount of gum he scraped off desks in detention. A lot.

"hmm, then maybe we should pair them up together."

Toby's denim eyes shot up at full blast. No way. Nope. No. He wouldn't do it. He couldn't do it. He already hated dancing enough as it was, but dancing with Spencer Hastings, that was just damn right cruel. He didn't even bother looking at Spencer, he knew she was probably wearing the same face of disgust as he. His eyes studied Hanna. She looked hesitant, weary of the decision. She knew they didn't get along. What was she waiting for?

"I think that would be a good idea."

This time even Caleb glared her down.

"Everyone else should get in pairings too," Felicia announced. "And obviously you two already know who you'll be paired up with." She glanced from Hanna and Caleb, with a bright smile that Hanna returned, but Caleb didn't.

As soon as the dancer walked away, Toby practically sprinted up to Hanna, along with Spencer.

"Hanna they will trip each other. They will tackle each other to the floor. Trust me!" Toby heard Caleb say as he went up to them.

"Hanna, um…I don't think this will work," Toby protested lightly.

Spencer stepped in. "Hanna, I really think you should rethink this."

Hanna groaned, facing all three of them. "Look, I already have enough drama in this whole thing with Aria and Ezra being broken up, and Holden and Aria hooking up, and damn it, I hate Aria and her drama. And Caleb just had to choose them both as his groomsmen. I don't need it coming from you two. Suck it up, and make nice because you're partners. Deal with it." She hissed.

"But— " Spencer tried.

"But nothing! You're going to help Toby whether you like it or not. Because I'm not going to have people falling over at my wedding. Now go! Go! Go!" she shooed them away from her. They took small steps back, until they were all the way in the back. Hanna seemed please with this, for she went back to talking to Caleb. She still looked mad, but at least it wasn't addressed to them.

Toby let out a temperamental sigh after a moment passed between them. "So, I guess we are partners then" Toby commented tiredly, his words bleeding with irritation.

Spencer had her arms crossed and lips pursed. She was glaring at something, and surprisingly, not him. "I hate Hanna."

"You can say that again…" Toby mumbled, catching Spencer's glare at the blonde.

"But, she's right." Spencer turned to him sharply, her copper eyes hard. "We should just cross the bridge and get over it because it is her wedding. And you know, whatever bride wants, bride gets."

"That's kind of you" Toby murmured cautiously.

"I'm only a bitch when I have to be," Spencer told him, her tone demeaning him. He had a good feeling that she was implying, he was what possessed her to act like she was working for the devil.

Felicia began to talk again, making sure that everyone had a partner. She went on to go into stretches and warm ups, and all that stuff that dancers do. Toby didn't have too much of a problem with it. Sure, he wasn't that flexible, but he could reach his toes. Although that wasn't the hard part about dancing. That wasn't even dancing. The hard part was the rhythm and the steps and the beat and keeping in sync. And it was all that much better because Spencer was involved. She would only be inches away from him, her hands would be in his. He would be able to feel the chill coming from her heart and see the blackness in her demonic eyes.

"Okay, first we are going to work on your stance. Everyone line up with their partner, so your feet are in line with theirs. Push your shoulders back and suck in your stomach. Square your hips, and relax your shoulders" she directed. So far, Toby was doing well. If this was all it was then he would be all good. Except it wasn't, not even close. This was just posture.

"Okay, now I want everyone to take their partners hands."

Toby stared at Spencer and she stared at him. They both looked like children, glaring down their vegetables at the table, praying their parents would just let them go free instead of shoving the disgusting things known as brussel sprouts in their mouths.

They moved forward, holding on to each other's hands. It was more awkward than cold, to be completely honest. The horrific chill that Toby predicted never developed. They were just holding each other's hands awkwardly, avoiding each other's eyes.

Spencer began to pull their hands up, which caused Toby to fall out of his daze. "What are you doing?"

"Did you not just hear her? She said to bring our clasped hands in front of us and—ugh you know what, just follow my lead." She guided their arms outward, in mid air.

"Aren't I lucky, having the miss perfect as my dancing partner."

She glared at him, "I'm not perfect." She hissed under her breath.

"Someone has certainly humbled down since high school," Toby commented, staring at the dancing instructor for further instruction.

"I've actually changed a lot since high school," Spencer shot back, grimacing, catching Toby's eyes again. "But I see you haven't, you're still some narcissistic jerk." Her words came out like chromatic acid, burning his flesh.

He glared into her hard copper eyes. She looked like she was trying to turn him to stone, he was surprised it didn't work for her. Learning that she was some demonic witch would not be all that shocking. "Maybe I should try being more like you."

Their eyes did not part. They stayed completely still, stuck in a staring contest.

They did not move until their instructor began to teach again. They got into more advanced techniques, (well not really, but definitely more advanced than posture.) Their teacher guided them in slowly. Spencer didn't like it, but she didn't bother voicing her opinion. The only one in hearing radius of her was Toby, and that was almost worse than having no one to talk to. Scratch that, it was definitely worse than having no one to talk to. If she could dance by herself in this little routine Hanna was preparing for her wedding, she would. Ugh, she wished Toby would just fall to a sudden illness and have to abandon her in their little dance ensemble. Too bad the universe had never seemed to be on her side. If anything, he would probably get healthier.

After what seemed like an eternity of being in Toby Cavanaugh's grip, Spencer was finally able to let go. The dance class was over…until next Saturday that was. Oh well, at least she would have four and half days to recover from the horrendous situation, and four and half days to prepare for it. Ugh, how she hated her life. These were going to be a long few months.

"Well, I would say it's been fun, but I don't like to lie." Toby told her, a smirk placed on his face.

Spencer snarled. "Ha." Her face fell into a grimace, before she departed ways from the man.

a/n: so yes, this little plot i set up here will take us through various things so that's what i meant when i said this is where it TRULY begins :)

anyways, hopefully it wasn't too horrible.

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