The Dance

I walked into the elaborately decorated gymnasium with only one thing on my mind- get in and get out alive. The eighth grade dance was not something I am and have been looking foreward to, so my goal for the night is just to make it out alive. The end of my semi-formal, dark-green and white dress swishes at my feet as I walk into the room. I scan the dance floor for my friends but i dont see them, so I turn to my right and scan the tables where they might be eating pizza.

"Danielle!" At the sound of my name I spin around to see my best

friend Elizabeth running towards me from the door. She must have just arrived also. "Elizabeth!" I cry happily as she jumps into my arms in a big hug. She snuggles her head into the crook of my neck and makes me slightly nervous. "I'm so happy you made it, Ella." She says, just above a whisper. It was hard to hear her over the blaring music from the DJ and crowds of students talking.

"C'mon, lets dance!" She says, and she grabs me by the hand and leads me onto the dance floor. That makes me nervous as well. We had promised that we'd dance together, but that's not what I'm worried about. Sometimes, Elizabeth makes me nervous that way, because I sometimes wonder if she has a crush on me. It's hard for me to admit it, but I sometimes think that I might like her as well. But then, that makes me think that maybe she has noticed that and is just teasing me. Either way, she still likes getting close to me and basically gets me nervous pretty easily.

Just as we walk onto the dance floor, a slow song comes on.

Wonderful... just great. She hangs her arms over my shoulders, and

then rests her head on my shoulder. I am hoping that she won't hear my heart pounding, because her ear is right above it. As we step side to side, the ends of our dresses sway in a beating rhythm, and noticing this makes me even more nervous. I can feel myself starting to shake, and I try as hard as I can to calm myself down, but it's not use. I'm shaking against my will, and I can't do anything about it. Elizabeth brings her head up and starts speaking. "Daniellie, why are you shaki-"

"Lets go get some pizza!" I say, a little bit to fast, as I drag her off the stage and toward the pizza table. The other slow dancers don't even notice our departure, thank god we had chosen a spot on the edge of the dance floor.

"Here, have some pizza!" I almost scream as I stuff my own mouth, to keep me from having to say anything more. "Umm...Okay.." She says as she takes the paper plate from my hand and lifts the piece of pizza off of it. I scan all of the tables and spot one full of our friends.

"Oh, hey, look 'Lizabeth! All our friends are over there," I walk away slightly fast, hoping to get away from her for just a second. I arrive at the table and our friends, Jackie, Barbara, and Grace start to giggle. "You and Elizabeth were daaaancing!" They chirp. "Hey, have you guys had some pizza?" I say, trying to switch the subject. Just then, Elizabeth catches up. "Danielle, you didn't wait for me!" She teased. "I'm sorry." I said, even though I wasn't particularly sorry at all. "'t's okay." She said. I sat down at the table and started to eat the rest of my pizza. She sat down next to me, a little too close, so I

got up and sat on the tabler, pretending that it was more comfortable. All of my friends, including Elizabeth, start jabbering about some weird topic, but I'm not paying attention. I pretend to be listening, nodding now and then and throwing in a fake laugh every once in a while. I am still shaking, only not as visible as before. I throw in another fake giggle, but instantly regret it. I giggled, but no one had been laughing. Suddenly it feels as if all of my blood has drained to my big toe. "What's so funny?" Asks Grace. "Oh...nothing... it's just... I though of something funny... that happened... yesterday..." I said in a desperate cover up. "Ella..." Elizabeth says as she rises from her chair. My breath quickens. She rises up to the table and puts one on either side of me, practically sitting in my lap. My heart is pounding, I can barely breathe, and the shaking is back. The rhythmetic beat of the DJ's music seems to fade as does all other noise in the room. "Yes...?" I say, trying not to panic. She leans towards me, and I lean back, and then there is a pause. "Dani..." Shes says as she lifts her hand up and plays with a stray lock of my hair. She has so many nicknames for me, Ella, Dani, Eela..... I let out a deep breath and attempt to calm down. She starts leaning foreward again, so I start leaning backward again.

Then I am laying down on the table, and I can't lean back anymore, But Elizabeth keeps going foreward.

She presses her mouth to mine, and my panicking is gone. I hear gasps from various classmates around us, and I can practically feel the awkward stares of my friends on my skin. But I don't care, all I care about is Elizabeth.... One of the dance chaperones saunters over and literally picks Elizabeth up from under the arms and lifts her up off of me, gently setting her down on her feet on the floor next to him. "Break it up, break it up!" The strong man says. "No kissing at the dance."

I blush slightly and and sit down in a chair like a normal person, instead of on the table. Elizabeth sits next to me and we both start finishing what is left of our slightly chilled pizza slices.

Elizabeth and I didn't really talk much for the rest of that night. But I do know that every time I looked at her, I could see the laughter in her eyes, especially as we were leaving.

At least I made it out alive.