Of Thieves And Do Gooders

The next morning I woke up to the sound of people talking loudly and stomping throughout the room. For a moment I thought an argument was taking place, and I was half-right.

“No! It looks stupid like that,” Hayden said stubbornly from the bathroom.

I rolled over and saw that Damion was standing in the doorway of the bathroom. “It’s gonna look stupid no matter how you put it. My way will make it look less stupid,” he insisted.

I frowned slightly when I saw that Damion was already in his tuxedo, his hair still shaggy and messy though, obviously untouched. Leon was on the other side of the doorway, nodding his head in agreement with Damion.

“There a funeral today too?” I asked drowsily, referring to the early change of clothes--it was only nine in the morning for God’s sake, the Ball didn’t start until five in the afternoon.

Leon and Damion turned to look at me, while the bathroom door slammed shut. I blinked and Leon laughed while Damion grinned, eyeing the suddenly closed door.

“What? Is he naked or something?” I asked sarcastically, rising from my bed finally.

“Nah, he’s just shirtless and self-conscious about his hair,” Leon informed me with another short laugh at Hayden’s reaction.

“Which looks good the way I showed you!” Damion threw in, directing the comment toward the closed bathroom door.

“How ‘bout a girl’s opinion?” I suggested, knocking on the door lightly, “Come on Hayden, I won’t laugh at your flabby arms!” I coaxed, knowing full well that his arms weren’t “flabby” in the least.

“Shut up Ray! I don’t need your help,” Hayden said defiantly, now turning the lock on the door with a quick click.

“Here.” Damion offered me a stack of pictures which I took with a moment of hesitance. “I took pictures since Hayden didn’t want to hover over a mirror and decided he needed to see the hair side-by-side,” he explained as I moved between four pictures, two of each hairdo.

Hayden was shirtless in the pictures and looking pensive as he looked at the camera lens, as if it were conspiring against him. In two of the pictures his hair was slicked back with gel with a few strands defying the moose, and hanging loosely to the sides. While in the other two his hair was as it always was, messy but with one subtle difference it was pushed back out of his face so that I could see his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes.

I jabbed a finger at the current picture in my hand and said simply, “That one, hands down.” Damion leaned over my shoulder to see which picture I had chosen and snorted. “What?” I asked indignantly.

“That’s so Hayden,” he complained, rolling his eyes.

“So?”

“So, it’s boring!” Damion exclaimed.

“Leon, which one do you like better?” I asked, showing him the two hairdos absently. Knowing that he would agree with me for the simple fact that he knew I was a girl, and girls enjoyed being right.

Leon hesitated, glancing between Damion and I, “Uh…I’m staying out of this one,” he said simply.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, Hayden!” I called, pounding on the door a little, “Damion’s full of crap, do it your way!” Then I thought about how soon they were getting ready for the Ball, and asked quickly, “Why’re you guys getting ready right now anyway? The Ball doesn’t start for, like, eight hours,” I scoffed.

Leon didn’t get to answer before Hayden shouted back to me, “Thank you! I told you Dame, you don’t know shit about hair!”

“Great, now you’ve got he’s ego going,” Damion complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

I ignored him and listened to Leon’s reply, “Well, it’s sort of a tradition at Shadowstep to be at the Ball early, so that everyone’s there on time and none of the people have to worry about where their partners are.”

“Okay, but eight hours early?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

Leon shrugged, and said again, “Tradition. By the way, you better hurry up, the girls are gonna be done before you,” he joked, almost like he had forgotten that I was a girl.

“Ha. Ha,” I deadpanned and pounded on the door again. “Hayden! Get out, I need the bathroom! You can play with yourself somewhere else!”

That got a reaction. The door flew open and Hayden’s hair was as it had always been, messy and barely out of his eyes. “I was not masturbating,” he said sharply, his blue eyes fiery.

“Oh, a little defensive aren’t we?” I lifted my eyebrows in innocence and a look of fake disgust at my discovery.

“Seriously Hayden, we didn’t need to know that,” Damion added on with a similar look on his face.

“W-what?” Hayden said, looking incredulously between Damion and I. “I said I wasn’t doing that! God you guys are so--” I cut him off as I shoved my way into the bathroom and put my hands against his bare back--he was still shirtless--and shoved him out of the bathroom.

“I need in here, so, goodbye,” I said quickly, closing the door before he could protest.

“Hey! My stuff is in there!” Hayden shouted back.

I turned the lock and hesitated a second before shouting, “Oh. My. God. Damion! Leon! There’s fat lady porn in here!”

I could hear laughter break out in the room and then there was pounding on the door again. “There is not! You know what I meant Ray! I need my tux!”

“It’s everywhere!” I said dramatically, sounding horrified as I suppressed a giggle.

“Rav--Ugh! Ray! I will kill you!” Hayden shouted, turning the doorknob in vain. “She’s lying you guys, there isn’t any--”

“Whoa! Is this Whoopie Goldberg?” I asked loudly and heard Damion and Leon roar with laughter again.

Then I heard Leon say, “Dude, that’s sick,” between laughs of course.

I pulled a roll of bandaging out of a drawer and took off my shirt so that I could bind my chest. I had wound it around myself twice when the door suddenly burst open. I yelled in surprise and dropped the bandage as I stared wide-eyed at a shirtless Hayden. He had a similar look on his face as he started at me, and then, his eyes shifted downward just for a second.

It was a second too long.

“Get out!” I roared, grabbing the thing nearest to me on the counter--which was a bar of soap--and chucking it at Hayden’s head. He ducked under it, opened his mouth to say something, and then started staring at my chest again, his mouth hanging open in shock.

At this point about thirty seconds had passed, and it was the most embarrassing thirty seconds of my life. I grabbed my shirt and covered myself, then got my hands on a deodorant container and threw that at Hayden, quickly followed by a hair brush, comb, bottle of shaving cream and a tube of toothpaste, all the while yelling, “Get out! Get out! Get out!”

The toothpaste and hairbrush hit him in the chest and side of the head before Leon managed to get his hands on his shoulders and jerked him out of the doorway while Damion pulled the door shut again.

Silence.

“Dude, you are retarded!” I heard Damion whisper fiercely, and felt my heart pattering in my chest. The embarrassment would surely kill me.

I picked up the bandage and re-wrapped my chest, this time finishing the job and cutting it off. I grabbed my shirt and pulled it back over my head, realizing that my tuxedo was still in my closet, so I would have to come out of the bathroom. Ahhh, damn it all to the fiery pits of hell and back.

I heard Leon mutter, “It was funny though. You should’ve seen your face!”

“I-I didn’t know!” Hayden said defensively, sounding a little dazed.

There was a moment of silence and Damion asked quietly, “Did you see…um…you know…”

I didn’t let Hayden answer and shouted, “He saw everything!” It was meant to sound indignant, but only silence followed. I realized soon after that I was talking to boys they weren’t going to rant with me about how Hayden was a pervert and how he totally got what he deserved. There was no reassurance in them.

Damion sounded like he was trying to talk quieter as I rummaged around for another hairbrush, “Were they--” he was whispering.

“Shut up, man!” Leon said loudly, and it sounded like Damion had been hit somewhere in the general vicinity of his head, “She’s not deaf,” he pointed out sharply.

I looked at myself in the mirror and realized my face was still red. Damn it. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. When I looked in the mirror again, my face was just a slight shade of pink, but it was better. I sighed and stalked over to the door and pulled it open.

My anger almost disappeared when I saw Hayden sitting sullenly in the middle of the floor--still shirtless, mind you--his eyes dead ahead of him and his face was still completely red. Was he even more embarrassed than me? I thought about that for a second.

…

Not a chance.

Once he realized I was out of the bathroom he leapt to his feet and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then he closed it again. Held his hand out toward me as if to console me, then pulled it back. Finally he said, “Ray, I’m sorry. I--”

“Leon do you hear something?” I asked looking thoroughly puzzled as I ignored Hayden and walked over to my closet, where I pulled out my tuxedo…What? I said my anger almost disappeared. And then it came back, like a persistent fly.

I could see Leon stiffen for a moment when he realized I was talking to him, “Uh…” he looked apologetically at Hayden and replied, “I guess not.”

Damion smiled a little and said to Hayden, “You’re in such deep shit.”

I paused, twisting my head to the side like I had heard something odd, “Wait a minute Leon…Did you just hear a pervert? I think I just heard an invisible pervert. Jeez, this room must be haunted.” I shrugged and dropped my tuxedo on my bed.

“Oh, snap!” Leon said emphatically, laughing at the appalled look on Damion’s face. “Looks like Hayden isn’t the only one,” he jeered happily, lightening up a little.

“Well, Leon, if you see Hayden, tell him he can use the bathroom now.” I grabbed my tuxedo in one hand and my fancy black leather shoes in the other. “I’ll be using yours instead,” I said happily and bobbed out the door before they could protest.

I found that Damion and Leon’s room was open and I slipped inside, finding the room to be rather clean for belonging to two boys. But it seemed like Hayden had kept his room clean too, before I showed up and trashed the place anyway. Their beds were on opposite sides of the room, although I didn’t know which bed was which. Not that it mattered.

I stepped into the bathroom, and sidestepped around a pair of boxers that were laying on the ground before shutting the door. I got my tuxedo on properly, but I was still having troubles with the bowtie and there was something screwy about the way that my shoes were laced together. I knew I could probably get some help from Damion or Leon with the bowtie. But with the ignoring stunt I had just pulled, I knew Hayden would be a little sore at me.

So, I emerged from Damion and Leon’s room in my tuxedo and my black socks, my fancy leather shoes in one hand and my bowtie in the other. When I reentered my own room Hayden had the rest of his tuxedo on and was looking sullenly in the mirror, a contemplative look on his face as he moved his hair absently in different directions. Damion was on the other side of the room using a mirror by Hayden’s bed to readjust his bowtie and fuss with his hair too. Leon, however, was lounging in a chair in front of the TV flicking through the five-hundred channels provided to each room.

However, when I entered the room, all eyes were on me. Leon grinned at me and I smiled back, waving my shoes and bowtie through the air as an explanation. Damion rushed over me to try and redeem himself, but realized that he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say and closed his mouth, his eyes pleading.

I rolled my eyes, how could I stay mad at a face like that? Besides he wasn’t the one that had barged in on me--I was in the bathroom for God’s sake, it’s kind of inferred that I’ll have some article of clothing off for one reason or another. Hayden, however, kept his mouth in a firm line and turned his attention back on the mirror. As I had expected he was now the one mad at me. As if he had a good reason.

“Help me with this thing?” I offered meekly, waving the bowtie in front of Damion’s face.

He grabbed it immediately and draped it around my neck, securing it beneath my collar before commencing with the tricky little knot. I averted my gaze casually, watching as Leon continued to click through channels. I chose to ignore Hayden.

“Hey, um, Leon?” I inquired and he looked away from the TV, noticing that Damion had made it back into my good graces. “Do you know how these things work?” I asked, holding up my shoes. “I didn’t realize shoelaces could be such a bitch,” I said sheepishly.

Leon grinned at me. “Man, Ray, you’re hopeless. Are you sure you’re a girl? You don’t know anything about clothes, you don’t take long to get dressed, you eat like a homeless person and you swear like a sailor, not to mention you far--” Leon stood up as I interrupted his last insult.

“I get it alright? I’m not girly, and I do not do that last thing you were going to say, I told you that was my stomach,” I said defensively tossing my shoes at him as Damion finished with my bowtie, his hand lingering on the muscle between my neck and shoulder, before I shrugged away from him.

“Right, your stomach farted, got it,” Leon teased, ducking under the shoe I had deliberately thrown at his head.

I walked into the bathroom and bumped against Hayden’s shoulder, forcing him to stumble further in so that I could examine the bowtie in the mirror. It was almost perfectly straight, so I tugged it to the side, the symmetry was freaking me out.

He chose to ignore me and grabbed his own bowtie, intending to leave the bathroom without talking to me. How irritating.

“I’m not going to say I’m sorry, you know,” I informed him nonchalantly blocking the doorway so that he looked up to glare at me pointedly.

Hayden blinked rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, he had tugged me forward and closed the door to the bathroom, turning the lock. Instantly, I saw a swirly in order, but Hayden took a step away from me, his eyes sharp and his mouth a determined line. “Are you always so selfish?” he asked quietly but fiercely.

So he wasn’t going to back down from me. That was fine with me, ‘cause I wasn’t backing down from him just because he was being moody, “When it comes to you ogling me for a full minute and a half, then yes,” I replied just as fiercely but even more quietly.

He flinched at that and his face reddened a little. “I said I was sorry! I don’t know what else you want from me! You didn’t even want to acknowledge the apology, because you’re always so damn stubborn!” He thought about that for a second and added with an intention to embarrass me, “Unless you didn’t want me to apologize, because in some twisted little universe where Ravens are Raymonds, you actually wanted me to see you naked.” He lifted a curious eyebrow at his accusation.

Was he completely insane? In no possible, way, shape or form had I ever wanted him to see me naked! I struggled for the right words to tell him this and decided to strike a nerve of my own, “Or you fantasize about me naked so often that you were so desperate to make that fantasy a reality you had to break down the door in a sudden surge of horny testosterone!” I shot back, no longer being quiet.

Hayden blushed a deep shade of red, his mouth opening and closing in a failure to come up with a worse accusation than that which still applied to why he even got the chance to see me naked. “You--I can’t--You’re impossible!” he roared, his face inches from mine as he threw his hands in the air.

There was pounding on the door. “Hey, you guys all right in there?” Leon asked, obviously willing to play the part of fight-breaker-upper.

“Fine!” We both shouted at the same time and some of Hayden’s spit landed on my face causing me to flinch and dodge away from him suddenly, realizing that I was way too close. I wiped the spit away with a grimace and Hayden’s face seemed to redden in more embarrassment.

Hayden looked like he was fighting with himself as we glared at each other and then he turned briskly to the mirror and began to work on his bowtie with nimble fingers. So he had made his choice and decided to ignore the fight for the time being. Which was ridiculous, since there shouldn’t have even been a fight about who should apologize, because it was completely his fault! Right?

…

I’m pretending that you agree with me, for the sake of my own mental stability.

I shouldered my way past him and unlocked the door, stepping into the bedroom again, where Leon was standing expectantly while Damion sat on my bed with raised eyebrows.

This much hostility obviously wasn’t present in their usual friendship. I guess it was what happened when two stubborn people joined into the same group of friends. And both of us believed we were in the right for different reasons.

Leon dangled my shoes in front of me and I snatched them away and sat heavily on Hayden’s perfectly made bed as I stuffed my feet into my shoes. I didn’t even finish tying them before I grabbed his pillow and chucked it childishly across the room so that it landed in front of the bathroom door. There was a stillness in the bathroom that unnerved me and I decided to push things farther. I grab the corners of his blankets and thrust them upward so that his blankets were bunched up into a messy ball in the middle of his bed.

Hayden didn’t come out of the bathroom though and Damion and Leon chose to ignore my childishness.

A few minutes passed and my spirits had lifted a little as I began joking with Damion and Leon again, however, Hayden remained in the bathroom, now with the door shut. “Well, we gotta make some last minute preparations, so we’ll see you two at the Dining Room.” And my two other friends left.

I on the other hand felt my anger toward Hayden’s stubbornness rekindle and pushed his bundled blankets off the side of the bed so that they lay on the floor between my bed and his own.

Feeling content, I remembered my untied shoes and bent to tie them but jumped a little when I realized Hayden was right in front of me. His eyes were hard as he grabbed my wrists and pulled me off of his bed with tremendous force. I frowned and tried to tear my wrists away, but failed against his strength.

So, I decided to kick with an expert aim and nailed him in the shin. He winced, but kept himself from falling or letting go of my wrists.

“Let. Go,” I ordered in a deadly voice, showing in my eyes that I meant it. If he held on any longer I was going to start aiming at a particularly sensitive area of his male anatomy.

Another few seconds passed as I allowed him to mull over my request and he opened his mouth to say something, not relinquishing his hold on my wrists in the least. So, I did exactly what I had seen myself doing, I put all of my weight on one foot and drew my knee up into his groin before he could blink. Hayden let out a jagged gasp of surprise and pain. He dropped to the ground, holding the area I had struck with one hand as he panted.

“I told you to let go,” I said firmly and started to turn and leave, but his hand wrapped around my ankle, and he jerked my leg out from under me, causing me to strike the floor with a jarring impact on my elbows. I wasn’t allowed to do anything else before he had pulled me along the floor so that he was straddling my stomach and had my arms pinned to the floor.

He was still panting a little and his face was flushed with anger and pain. “Fuck you are stubborn,” Hayden said between gritted teeth, his hold on my wrists harsh and painful. Not painful enough though, considering the pain I had inflicted on him.

“What do you want?” I asked sharply, ignoring the veins that stressed the flesh against his neck.

“I want you to listen to me, I’m going to admit--”

No, no, no. I did not want to hear him trying to apologize again. So he was sorry, I got that, but he should have known not to burst into a bathroom that was occupied by a girl! Or even a guy for that matter. I stretched my arm forward above my head and pulled Hayden’s hand with it, putting him off balance while in the same moment I used my knee, jamming it against his tailbone to flip him over my head.

He landed on his back and twisted so that he was on his stomach before I was able to get up and locked his hands around one of my wrists again. Damn it, he couldn’t completely suck at combat, could he? I sat up and took hold of one of his fingers, and jammed it back into his hand, he yelled out in pain and jerked his hand away. Haha, success.

I leapt to my feet now that I was free, and stuck my tongue out at Hayden, who was examining his finger--which was fine, by the way, I didn’t even put much pressure on it.

“Sorry to break it to you Hayden, but I’m a hard-headed person, and I don’t feel like listening to another half-hearted--OOF!” I grunted as he jumped up and tackled me to the ground, this time a belt in hand. I scrambled to get my bearings, but I was lying on my stomach with Hayden on my back, while he expertly secured my hands behind my back--when in the hell had he found a belt?

“Hayden! I will kill you if you do not let me up right now!” I threatened, kicking my legs wildly at his back, but he was unaffected. He flipped me over so that I was sitting down and he himself sat on my feet to keep me from kicking.

“Am I gonna have to do this every time I want to apologize?” he asked, panting from the effort of keeping my feet under control.

“Apparently,” I huffed, looking at him with a glare of indignant qualities as I struggled with the belt around my wrists. I gave up then and decided to simply glare at him as I awaited his damned apology. “Well?” I asked, annoyed, “are you going to apologize or should I dislocate my shoulders so that I can strangle you with your improvised rope?”

Hayden laughed a little and I glared at him more, then his face straightened in seriousness. “Raven Elizabeth Frost, I’m sorry I walked in on you, it was a complete accident and it will never happen again,” he said, his gaze unflinching.

I stopped struggling and looked him in the eyes. There was no sign of insincerity or even a hint of him lying. I silently wondered when exactly I had told him what my middle name was, but soon dismissed it to focus on my current predicament. I sighed, rolled my eyes and fell back on the floor so that I didn’t have to look at him when I said, “Apology excepted, now untie me you colossal fuck.”

Hayden laughed again, relief in his features as he got off my feet and undid the belt that had kept my arms still. “Oh, and I already knew you were stubborn, why else would I have tried to apologize by pinning you in place?”

I rolled my eyes and sat up, straightened out my tuxedo and brushed off any dirt I may have gathered during our little skirmish. Hayden did the same and then stalked over to the other side of the room, putting on his shoes and tying them. I ran my fingers through my hair a little nervously, this Ball would be a grade at Shadowstep and I didn’t like interacting with people if I could help it.

Thieves could be a lot like rats. But not in the gross living-in-sewers-and-carrying-diseases-way. We were jumpy and wary and took food where we could find it, we didn’t like to be seen if we could help it and a lot of the time, we could get places silently.
I continued to compare myself to a rat and crinkled my nose in distaste, I had the weirdest trains of thought.

“You ready Ray?” Hayden asked as I fussed with my hair for a moment before deciding to leave it as it was.

“Yeah,” I called absently and turned away from the mirror to meet him at the door.

Hayden paused, reached out and straightened my bowtie as I scowled and then we left for the Ball…

Wow that sounded corny.

Hayden and I met up with Damion and Leon at the Dining Room in good spirits, with any tension from before lifted completely. We joked and pushed each other, the usual behavior.

However, that was all halted when our “dates” began to find us. I was the first to be picked off, Lucian finding me dressed in an extravagant black floor-length dress with a fascinating--and a little disturbing--corset bodice. She wasn’t an ugly girl in the least, just a little dark with no sense of humor.

“Ah, hello Lucian,” I said politely, bowing as was required of the guys. “You look absolutely hideous this evening--er morning,” I said with a seemingly dashing smirk.

Lucian’s mouth stayed in the same serious line, then a minute passed and she remembered her curtsy as she pointed out, “You’re being sarcastic,” without so much as a smile.

“Glad you noticed,” I said offering her my arm gallantly. “That means you’re getting better,” I pointed out as she took it with a twitch at the corner of her mouth. That was as close as I had ever seen her come to a smile. She was terrible at telling when I was being sarcastic or not, which was as bad as not knowing when I was talking at all. As I said though, she was getting better at recognizing it.

I sighed mentally as I was quite aware that I would be spending the next six hours or so with humorless Lucian. But on the other hand I could gather much information as far as a new attitude. In case I had to pull out some acting skills and create a suddenly new persona.
____________________________________________________________

Six Hours Later

The Etiquette Ball was just starting up, the students were all talking in hushed, excited voices. Except me and Lucian of course. I was digging dirt out from under my fingernails while Lucian seemed to stare off into space. Naturally, we had run out of things to talk about roughly…six hours ago. On the lucky side, however, I found myself near Damion and his date a lot of the time, even if I couldn’t find Leon or Hayden. Leon was the only one who hadn’t annoyed me earlier on in the day so it was a little annoying. And his date seemed nice too. A little ditzy at times and obviously trying to flirt with me from time to time, but nice.

Bringing up a good question: Why did girls always want to flirt with me? I didn’t even think I made an attractive guy. I looked too girly, if you looked close enough anyway.

I found it odd that a lot of the time, Damion would forget about his date entirely to tell me some long-winded story about things that he, Hayden and Leon had done before I had arrived. They were funny as hell, but I felt kind of guilty for stealing him away from his date, even if the Ball hadn’t officially started.

At that particular moment, the stage that usually had the teacher’s and Headmaster’s table laid out on it was cleared to reveal a wooden dance floor and the tables and benches that made up the student’s eating quarters were replaced by delicate looking round tables with a variation between purple and gold cloths draped over them. While the walls held similar decorations.

The girls shuffled to one side of a large staircase that I had never noticed before, sending me back in time and making me feel like I was in some retro castle. The guys stood in their proper lines as they awaited their introductions. I shuffled nervously in line on my own, the names were alphabetical and the couple’s place in line was based on the guy’s last name. So, I wasn’t standing near any of my friends and their reassurances. I stared across the distance between the girls and the boys.

Someone gave my hair a good tug and I winced, turning quickly to glare at the culprit.

Of course. Derek Fairborn.

Fairborn. Frost.

…

I found it hard to believe that there weren’t any students with last names beginning with “F” in the middle of us.

However, it was unfortunately true and Derek sneered at me wickedly as I glared at him.

“Hey queer, I know my hair looks unbelievably soft and bouncy, but please restrain yourself from touching me,” I shot acidly and Derek rolled his eyes, not quite stung by my insult. Damn.

“Whatever Raymond, we both know that out of the two of us, you’re the most likely to be gay,” he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as names began to be called.

Panic passed through me subtly, why did he think I was more likely to be gay? Did I give myself away somehow? I didn’t think that I acted very girly anymore, but I did have my slipups. I wasn’t perfect, and I was getting too comfortable at the school. I kept my cool and shrugged, deciding to see how far he took the explanation of his insult.

However, the conversation stopped there, which meant that I was completely safe. He was just turning my insult on me. That was fine with me, as long as I was still a guy in his eyes.

The line continued to inch forward until I finally heard my name called by Headmaster Wilkins soon followed by Lucian’s. I walked stiffly to the middle of the staircase where I offered my arm to Lucian, who looped her arm in mine and we fell in step side by side as we descended the stairs.

This felt so much like medieval times that I had to assume that Headmaster Wilkins read one-too-many old-fashioned books in his lifetime to request a formal ball with such specific instructions. What did etiquette have to do with thieving anyway? I would have to ask Hayden about that later.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs I could have sworn I felt Lucian’s hand touch my butt, and stiffened a little, but decided to ignore it as I led her to our designated table. Which had a purple cover over it, much to my happiness--purple was one of my favorite colors and gold was far too flashy unless it was being sold.

Not a moment after everyone was seated, a piano kicked off a classical song that anyone could do a slow waltz to. I pursed my lips in annoyance. Dancing. It was already time for the dancing portion of the Ball. At least we weren’t going to eat before we danced, that would just be torture.

No one seemed to want to make the first move, either too shy to ask their dates, or they didn’t want to be the first, God forbid someone embarrass themselves by standing out. I rolled my eyes and pushed my seat back as I offered my hand to Lucian with a short bow, “May I have this dance?” I asked formally, my eyes twinkling in a way that said, “wow that was a corny line”.

Lucian nodded without smiling and took my hand, obviously not thrilled to dance, but content to get it out of the way. Silently we approached the stage and ascended the stairs that led up from the side of the stage. The curtains were slightly drawn, so we had only a moment of privacy to set up our positions. Lucian placed her hand on my shoulder and I put one hand on her shoulder blade while I used my other hand to carefully take hers. I found the beat quickly and stepped toward Lucian as she stepped back, putting us on the edge of the stage.

We danced our way to the middle, me twirling her from time to time, spinning in a constant circle that remained on beat, other times I spun her out. Once we reached the middle however, I remained in the middle.

Despite the formality of the occasion, the student body whooped and cat-called when the music picked up and the song changed to something more along the lines of triple time swing. Without missing a beat, I changed the basic step so that we were more lively, more fun than the boring waltz. There were more moves that I remembered too. Such as the delicately named “skin the cat” or “the pretzel”. Then of course there were the basic spins. Despite not practicing with Lucian before time, we danced perfectly together, she didn’t once try to lead, which was nice. That was a habit of girls, they loved to try and lead if they thought the guy didn’t know what he was doing.

Students began to join us on stage, Damion and his date being the first, soon followed by two other couples, then Leon and his date, then five more couples and then Hayden. After Hayden showed up though, I didn’t care when the rest of the students arrived on stage. I smirked at him as he looked over Laura’s shoulder and crossed my eyes at him. He rolled his eyes and ignored me.

Suddenly the song changed to tango and I swear to God, for the first time, I saw Lucian’s eyes light up, and abruptly she seemed more into the dance, pushing us quickly into “closed-position”. It’s exactly as awkward as it sounds. Our pelvises were in complete contact during the entire dance. I spun us in a tight circle, spun her round and round, turned her into my arms and back out and dipped her several times before the song ended. Lucian was an extraordinary dancer, I realized, which was an interesting little fun fact to know about such a gloomy person. Who knew gloomy people liked to dance? Certainly not me.

At that point, I was starting to get out of breath and the song had switched to another waltz when Headmaster Wilkins voice rang out through a microphone, “Switch partners ladies.” Instantly Lucian was gone and I had a new girl in front of me. I recognized her as the slightly annoying girl who had a crush on Hayden and had joined us in our Agility exam. She recognized me quickly too.

“Hello, Raymond,” she said shyly, darting glances at Hayden who now had the misfortune of dancing with Lucian and trying to keep conversations going. Ah, the fool.

“Hi,” I realized right then, that I had forgotten her name and blushed a little, trying to appeal to her nature and be the charming embarrassed boy who had forgotten her name. “Ah…um…I’m sorry, what was your…?”

“Amelia,” she said quickly as I turned us in a steady circle which led to a spin on her part.

“Right, Amelia, got it,” I confirmed with a nod, realizing that she wasn’t half the dancer Lucian was, she was more nervous and had to restrain herself from looking down at her feet. Not to mention she avoided conversation if she could, mouthing the steps that she took in her concentration.

That song was over soon and the girls moved onto new partners--we had practiced this in Etiquette, the girls would switch three times before returning to their partners and then the dancing would be over and dinner would commence. I stiffened a little when I realized who my newest partner was: Missy Partisen. I was definitely on high-alert now, considering during practice she had made it some sort of twisted mission to grab my ass whenever she had the chance.

She smiled coyly at me as she grabbed my hand in hers. Very pushy, I observed, with my girl voice nagging in the back of my mind. Pushy bitch, don’t touch my hand, the voice said frostily. But I turned her quickly as a Viennese waltz began--man what was with all of the waltzes? I preferred any type of swing to waltzes.

I made it through the entire dance without her getting anywhere near my ass--which was a miracle considering every time I spun her out she came back swinging her arms like an electric shock had gone through her body, just in an attempt to get near my ass. What? Had she made a bet with someone or something? I bowed to her and she curtsied when the dance ended and the last switch moved into place. Just as she passed me though, I felt her hand graze my butt, not quite grabbing it this time.

Still, incredibly uncomfortable for me. Did she grab everyone’s ass? Or was I just unfortunate? I had to wonder.

My last partner for the night stood in front of me and smiled in recognition, “Hello, Ms. Laura,” I said dramatically, taking her hand and kissing her fingertips in mock admiration. “You look lovely tonight,” I commented as she giggled and put her hand on my shoulder.

I took her hand and placed my other hand on her shoulder blade, the dance this time was too slow to really be considered for actual dancing, it was a lulling song with a heartfelt piano and sad sounding violins. Everyone on the dance floor hesitated, not quite sure what to do when Laura suddenly put her arms around my neck, drawing us closer together.

I blushed, instantly wanting to disengage the situation, but other couples began to follow suit and the guys put their hands on their partners hips as they gently began to sway from side to side. Oh God. Junior high slow dancing? Really? I followed suit and put my hands carefully on her hips as we began to sway carefully to the beat, turning in slow drawn out circles.

I averted my gaze as we danced, not sure what to say that wouldn’t sound like flirting to her. It wasn’t fair, I talked about stupid things on impulse, and stupid things were always considered flirting. So I decided not to talk at all, it was the best solution.

Surprisingly, Laura didn’t seem to mind, she just smiled wistfully as we continued to sway to the song. It was an uncomfortable silence on my part, I could imagine myself walking past the minutes, considering how slowly they seemed to travel.

Finally the last note ended, being drawn out into a fade. Couples pulled apart quickly, and returned to their original partners, Lucian finding me quickly. She waited patiently as Laura hesitantly pulled her arms from around my neck. “I’ll see you later Raymond,” she said quietly and found her way back to Hayden. I watched her leave and saw that Hayden was frowning in my direction, not quite seeing Laura on her way back.

I shivered visibly, the look was intense. Whether or not I was a girl, Hayden saw me as competition for Laura’s heart. Humph, I thought, I’m in a competition I don’t even want to win, how odd. I finally looked away and so did Hayden as Laura pushed her way out of the crowd.

I sighed when another extremely slow song started and Lucian wrapped her arms around my neck with a roll of her eyes, “What a soulless dance,” she murmured under her breath as we began the same dance that had taken place only moments before. What was the Headmaster thinking? That we chose our partners for love interest alone? Crazy old coot.

__________________________________________

Hayden's Point Of View

I watched Raven carefully, sizing up her reaction. Did she realize how dangerously close her and Laura had become? And how much I wanted nothing more than to beat the living shit out of “Raymond” just for touching her. But I couldn’t because Raymond didn’t really exist. Raymond was a ruse to keep a secret, and Laura didn’t realize it. She liked someone who didn’t exist.

What did I have to do differently to get her to look at me and actually see that I liked her? It wasn’t fucking fair. Raven wasn’t even really trying.

I smiled as Laura approached, instantly covering up my annoyance and masking it as I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind. I would worry about it all later. We waited for the next dance and I couldn’t help but feel a little giddy when I realized it was another slow dance. I could actually put my hands on the hips of someone that I wanted to touch…not like that, God, you guys are sick-minded.

Laura, looked a little curious as to why there was another slow dance, but put her arms around my neck, drawing us closer together. My heart was acting like a girl’s, bumping too fast in my chest when I looked at her. God she was beautiful. She was wearing a white, knee-length dress with slits in the sides creeping up her thighs. Don’t ask me about the bodice, or whatever it’s called, because I’m not even sure what that is. It was a white dress, plain and simple

“Hayden,” Laura murmured quietly and I felt my pulse race when she said my name.

“Yeah?” I asked curiously.

“Raymond doesn’t like me…does he?” she asked sullenly, her eyes suddenly looking up from our feet and meeting my own.

Ah, fuck. She was sad. I didn’t want to see her sad, damn Raven.

“No, that’s not true,” I said instinctively and mentally slapped myself, I was ruining my chance! “He likes you fine, says you’re a great friend,” I said, hoping that she would catch that last word. Friend. That was it .

I could see her lips quiver slightly, but her eyes were bone dry, she had some serious self-control. “Just a friend then,” it was a statement, not a question.

My eyes wandered around the room, I wasn’t good at these sentimental things, I had to be careful with what I said, “Pretty much. But you gotta understand, Raymond’s a complex guy he--” I wasn’t sure how to put the next part of my sentence so I shook my head and said, “He’s just got weird taste in girls.”

Laura laughed a little. “So I’m not his type, I guess?” she asked, only bringing herself down further.

“I…guess,” I said, looking over her shoulder where Raven was frowning as Lucian leaned her head on her shoulder. A smile twitched onto my lips at the look on her face, then I added, “But a lot of other guys like you a lot.” I hated myself for saying the sentence without any real feeling whatsoever, it sounded like I was in fifth grade again.

Laura smiled sincerely. “Thanks Hayden,” she said and sighed a little. “Have you ever liked someone and known they don’t like you the same way?” she asked, not really expecting an answer. Lightly, she leaned her head on my shoulder, almost tired and I felt my pulse race again at the contact. I could smell her hair and the perfume she had put on that night, it was floral, but I couldn’t pin point the scent. She smelled nice. Hopefully, my heart wasn’t giving me away so easily. If it was I’d cut the traitor out later.

Barely audible, I murmured, “You have no idea.”

The song ended then, and Laura drew back and I followed suit, disappointed at how short the song had seemed.

______________________________________________

Raven's Point Of View

The appetizer arrived shortly after the dancing was over and we were seated again, consisting of small rolls and some sort of prawns or shrimp, crawfish maybe. One of those three. I scowled at the fishy stench emitted from the sea food and slapped a smile on my face as I attempted to force the food down. I swallowed with a look of repressed disgust while Lucian ate with her most delicate form, using some sort of small fork and knife to rid herself of the creature’s shell. She seemed to be enjoying the appetizer, even if I wasn’t.

I sighed inwardly. So it begins. I thought sullenly, forcing another of the shellfish down my esophagus.

The next meal was the main course and everyone got the same thing: a side of some Italian salad to go with a fancified version of beef stew--apparently it was French and had been deemed Beef Burgundy. If anyone didn’t like what they were being served, they would smile and choke it down--they lost points if their disgust showed. I was wondering how Headmaster Wilkins was keeping track of such things when I saw that more than twenty cameras had been installed for the particular occasion. Brilliant.

I subtly counted out all the cameras and memorized their position while I picked politely at a roll, and engaged Lucian in the closest thing she came to speech. It mostly consisted of yes’s and no’s on her part while I did most of the talking. But I didn’t mind, since I liked talking anyway. Every time I found a new camera I made some sort of small gesture to whoever would be watching it later. I twiddled my fingers in their direction once, rolled my eyes another time, went cross-eyed, winked, smirked, stuck my tongue out. It was something to pass the time, and I really didn’t care if I got docked points for my randomness, it kept me entertained when Lucian refused to do so.

Dessert came along, but there was actually a choice for it, which was surprising. Fancy chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate cream on the inside--too sweet for me. Or I could have cream puffs, which sounded a bit more appealing, or I could also have some sort of hybrid that the cooks made up--something between pie and cake…pake?

I chose the hybrid, feeling a little daring and the food came promptly, which made me wonder how many cooks they had in the kitchen…it also made we wonder exactly where the kitchen was, I hadn’t seen one even when I had gone into the café. Odd.

___________________________________________________

The event ended around nine thirty at night. I vaguely saw Damion, Leon and Hayden all walking their dates back to their rooms, but Lucian was at the furthest corner of the girls dormitory and it was quite the hike. Lucian even took her shoes off the moment the Ball was announced over, undoubtedly the heels were a chore to walk in, especially if you were walking around in them for four hours.

I bid Lucian goodnight and started down the hall again. I wouldn’t be able to get back my own dorm room for another five minutes, everyone else was probably already swapping info about their dates and kicking off their shoes. Keeping that in mind was the only way that I kept my feet moving forward.

As I approached the room, however I paused outside the door when voices traveled out into the hall, quiet, yet fierce whispers. I frowned as I listened.

“--matter?” someone had been asking.

“Of course it does,” another voice said sharply, as if the answer were obvious.

The second time the first guy spoke, I recognized his voice, “Come on Hayden! Stop acting all high and mighty--ever since she showed up you’ve been acting like an overprotective boyfriend.,” Damion snapped back. “Why don’t you make up your mind for once, huh? Laura or Raven, you can’t have both of them.”

I could tell that I had caught the heat of the argument, and for a moment, considered leaving before I could hear more, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I waited until Hayden spoke in a dangerously quiet voice, “I don’t like Raven, not like that anyway, I’ve already made my choice, but that isn’t the point--Raven doesn’t need you flirting with her while she’s still in ‘Raymond’ mode.”

Damion hesitated over his answer and then said in a slightly less hostile voice, “But I like her. A lot. Am I just supposed to ignore that?”

It felt like my throat was closing up. I didn’t want to hear this from Damion. It was much easier to ignore his advances and dismiss his flirting when I didn’t hear him come right out and say that he liked me. I didn’t want them to fight over something I did or how I acted.

Hayden sounded like he was sighing and then he asked, “How do you expect that sort of thing to work? Even if she did like you back, what would you do? Only see her at night?”

Damion thought that over for a moment, and then he sighed, walking toward the door and I panicked for a second before I heard him come to a halt and he said, “This would be so much easier if she would just tell the truth, then I wouldn’t need to hide it.”

I listened carefully and jumped slightly when Hayden snorted in disbelief. “Not likely. Raven seems pretty intent on keeping her little secret,” he then added with a sympathetic tone, “But don’t worry about it so much, Raven won’t always be around, I mean, she’s gonna leave at some point. That’s just how people like her are, they don’t stay in one place too long. So…just don’t get so attached.”

People like me? Ouch. “Just don’t get so attached”? What was I, a stray dog? I had to assume that Hayden was following his own advice, which hurt just to think about.

I could hear Damion hesitate over the advice and that’s when I decided to leave To go somewhere else, somewhere where I didn’t have to worry about my complicated ties with everyone around me or my friends that could expect so little of me.