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“Hi you two, looking dapper” Mr Clarke says
“Thanks sir” Mike replies
“So, got a girl in mind to dance with tonight?”
“Oh, yes, hope she says yes” Lucas chuckles
“Mike? what about you?”
Lucas whacks Mikes side to get him to reply.
“Huh? Oh, uhh, I have someone in mind, yeah”
“Well, hope it goes all well, have a good time”
After they walk into the hall, Lucas turns to him.
“What the hell was that?”
“What was what?”
“When he asked about girls. You just went quiet”
“I guess I didn’t have anyone in mind”
“Uhh, El?”
“Oh, yeah”
“But Hopper said he might not let her come anyway”
“Mhm”
“Oh, look, they’re already here” Lucas points to Will and Max, “Hey!”
Will and Max turns to the two as they walk over. Max looks nice. Her hair is done differently, and her jumper is thick and woolly. Will’s wearing a white shirt with a navy waistcoat; he also has a blue tie. He looks nice too.
“Hey, guys” Max greets, smile all toothy as she holds Wills arm.
“Hey max” Lucas replies
“Hey will” Mike says, staring at Maxs arm around Wills
“Oh, hi”
“Wow, not gonna say hi to me then?”
“Mhm? Oh, hey”
Then, Dustin walks up to them, green suit with brown trousers and his hair looks funny. He spins around and makes a face.
“Holy shit what happened to you?” Mike laughed.
“What do you mean ‘what happened’?” Dustin asks, face faltering.
“What?”
“Dude” Lucas chuckles.
“Your hair” Max adds.
“Is there a bird nesting in there?” Lucas goes to touches his hair, but he pulls back.
“What do you mean ‘what’s wrong’? There’s no bird nesting in here, asshole. Okay? I worked really hard”
A song starts to play loud on the speakers. Time after time by Cyndi Lauper. The group watches as everyone goes to dance with another closely.
Lucas turns to Max, confident.
“Max…Hey. Um, its nice, right? You want to, um…You want to, like…You know? Like, just you and me?”
Mike realises that Lucas is not so confident.
“Are you trying to ask me to dance, stalker?”
“No, of course not. Unless you want to”
“So smooth, come on”
Max pulls Lucas by his hand to where everyone else is and starts slowly dancing, big smiles on both their faces.
“Hey zombie boy” a girl walks up to Will, “Do you want to dance?”
“Um…I don’t…”
Dustin whacks his side. “Say yes!” he whisper-shouts
“I mean…”
“No” Mike says.
All three turn to him.
“What?” the girl asks.
“He’s not dancing with you”
“Uhhh, okay. Thanks anyway” the girl walks off.
“What the hell was that?” Dustin says, “He could’ve danced with that girl”
Dustin walks off and Will turns his focus to Mike.
“Uhh, Mike? why’d you say no for me?”
“Because she doesn’t know you. You should dance with someone you know”
“Who?”
“Uhhh, just-“ Mike grabs Wills hand and leads him to near Max and placing his hands on his shoulders, swaying Will slowly. Max looks over and giggles, giving Will a knowing look. Will rolls his eyes but he has a smirk on his lips.
Dustin inhales, walking over to a group of girls.
“Stacy”
They don’t hear him.
“Stacy”
They continue their conversation.
He clears his throat, “Stacy!”
“Yeah?”
He extends his hand to her. “Shall we?”
“Um, no thanks” she scoffs, making the rest of the group smirk too as they walk off. He walks to behind the foil curtain where the benches are and sits down as tears begin to well up in his eyes.
Outside, Joyce leans on her car, she can hear the music from where she is.
“Hey”
“Hey”
Hopper walks up to her.
“Thought I might find you out here”
“Will wanted me to give him some space, so…I’m giving him a few feet”
Hopper takes out a cigarette and lights it.
“What do you say? I’m pretty sure Mr. Cooper retired in the 70’s, so we might be okay”
He blows the smoke from it into the cold air and passes it to Joyce.
“How are you holding up?”
“You know”
“Yeah”
“That feeling never goes away. It is true what they say, you know. Every day it dies get a little easier.”
He puts an arm around her, and she leans into the touch, her hand hanging slightly low. They can hear a new song start to play on the speakers. Every breath you take by The Police.
Dustin’s sitting there alone when the fringe gets pulled back.
“Hey”
He looks up and wipes the tears from his eyes.
“Oh, El? Hopper let you come?”
“Yes. Uhh, where is everyone else?”
“They’re dancing. Max went with Lucas”
“Will and Mike are dancing together ?”
“Uhh, yeah. They keep on getting weird looks from everyone. I feel bad”
“Why? If they want to, they should be able to dance”
“It’s… It’s complicated.”
“Oh, that seems stupid”
“Yeah. It is. uhh, you look…Beautiful”
“I do?”
Dustin was right. Her hair was cute and she had a singular curl framing her face. Her dress was a light blue, like Wills tie and she had a pink ribbon across the waist of it. He nods.
“Do you wanna dance?” Dustin blurts, his face turning red.
“I don’t know how” she replies, her face now matching his.
“I don’t either. You wanna figure it out?”
She takes his hand and helps him stand up, leading his to where the other four are.
“Uhh, I think, it’s like this” he stammers. He takes his arms and places them on his own shoulders, teeth showing through his smile as they giggle.
Lucas smiles at Max, Max smiles back. She leans in and presses a quick kiss to his mouth before pulling back ad resting her head on his shoulder.
Mike stares into Wills eyes.
“Mike” Will whispers, “People are staring” He looks around nervously to other people. They’re snickering, pointing, and whispering things.
“Then let’s go somewhere else” Mike takes Wills hand again and pulls him through the crowd to the door. He pushes it open to the corridor where its quiet and dim. They can still hear the music well, so Mike continues their dance.
“You’re very pretty Will” Mike smiles.
“Oh”
“Yeah, can I uhh-“ he stops himself and kisses Will abruptly, then pulls back to see his reaction.
“Mike, uhhh”
“Sorry, I- “
“No, it’s good”
“Oh, okay”
They rests their foreheads together as the music plays on.
Dustin and El sway to the music with innocent smiles, laughing as Dustin bobs his head to the beat.
“Dustin” El giggles
“What?”
“You look silly”
“Really?”
“Yes”
“What about it?”
“No, it is cute”
“Really?”
“You said that”
“But seriously, it’s cute?”
“Silly, but cute also”
“Thanks, El”
After everyone’s gone home, the core four stay behind and talk to Mr Clarke.
“So, gang, how was it?”
“Great!” Dustin exclaims
“We had a good time” Lucas adds.
“What about you two, huh?”
They all turn to Mike and Will. Will scratches his neck anxiously.
“Uhh, we- “
“It was nice” Mike says, smiling at Will.
“Yeah, nice” Will smiles back.
“Great! Have a good winter break!” Mr Clarke finishes, ushering them out of the hall to their parents.