Dancing Around // peter parker

6

We left her apartment and a little less than an hour later we stood in front of Liz's house in the suburbs, music vibrating through our core. Liz, by far, had the biggest home.

"I regret every decision that has led me to this," Sally said.

We entered the house without ringing the bell. Cindy said it was okay, but as soon as we entered, a girl looked at us like we were wild animals. She held a cup in her hand. "Why didn't you ring the bell?"

"We didn't think anybody would hear us," Cindy answered.

The girl looked at all three of us with her eyes narrow, before a friendly smile appeared. "Yeah, it is pretty loud in here. For some reason, Flash thinks loud music equals good music. I had no idea you were coming. You should have said something."

"Is this considered crashing? Are you going to kick us out?" Cindy joked.

"Of course not. Don't be silly," the host said.

"This is Marina, by the way. Marina, this is Liz," Cindy said. Sally's eyes searched the large living area, before she slipped past us, leaving Cindy and me alone with Liz.

I smiled at Liz. "Hi."

"Hey. So, we finally meet. I heard a lot about you," she said.

"Oh yeah? From whom?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Just people."

I pushed my eyebrows together but dropped the subject. It seemed that something as personal as my reputation was out of my control. My eyes looked up to see the ceiling was a few lightyears away from me. It was nothing like the low off-white ceiling of my apartment, which I could touch when I stretched. "You have a nice place."

"Thanks, it's my parents."

I looked around, trying to find another topic for conversation. My eyes landed on a strange lamp. I opened my mouth about to comment about it only for Liz and Cindy to already be in a new conversation within themselves. I stood there awkwardly for a bit before finally saying, "I'm going to grab a drink."

Cindy nodded her head at me before going on about how nervous she was about the upcoming decathlon competition. I found the kitchen with only slight difficulties, before looking for something to drink. There were cans of beers on the counter, some empty, others not. I looked in the fridge for some water, but there was none in there.

"Check the pantry," a girl said. She was leaning against the counter, hovering over the toaster. Her back facing me.

I looked around the kitchen, wondering if someone else had said it. "What?"

She turned her head, a strand of a brown curl falling on her face. "I said look in the pantry. You're looking for water, right?"

"Yeah?"

"It's in the pantry."

I walked over to the pantry, opening the door slowly to see water bottles on the lower shelf. "Huh," I said softly, before grabbing an unopened water bottle and closing the door. I looked back at the girl and caught her smiling as toast popped out of the toaster. "Thanks. How did you know I was looking for water?"

"You look dehydrated."

I opened my water, taking a drink of it. Did I really? "You're Michelle, right?"

She was putting peanut butter on her toast. "How do you know my name?"

"You're the girl who always sits alone at lunch. I tried to sit with you on my first day of school before I got a schedule change, remember? You told me no because you were making a statement."

"You have to respect the cause," she said.

"I respect the cause."

"Do you?"

I looked around before saying, "Yeah."

She nodded her head. "Want some toast?"

"No, thanks." She shrugged before taking a bite. I leaned against the island, taking another sip of water. "You know, I had a friend in my hometown named Michelle. That's why I remember your name so easily. We called her MC, though."

"MC?"

"Yeah, those were her initials."

She took another bite from her toast. "Interesting."

Sally walked into the kitchen, her hazel eyes turning big when she spotted me. She waved me to come over with her hand. I excused myself to Michelle who didn't really seem to care I was leaving. Sally didn't give me much explanation as to what she wanted, she just gripped my wrist and pulled me through a crowd before taking me to a girl with blue hair. "This is her," Sally said.

The girl smiled at me. "Marina, right?"

"Um, yeah." My eyes followed Sally as she left me talking to the stranger and disappeared into the crowd. I looked back at the girl. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"My name is Judy. I'm that student editor of our school's newspaper. Sally told me you're into photography." She looked down at the camera hanging from my neck. "You even brought your camera. Awesome. Listen we need to fill a photographer position. One of our photographers moved away. Her dad passed away. It's all very sad."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, so, would you be interested in joining?" She asked.

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, my brain playing catch up. "Yeah, of course," I finally said. "But you haven't seen any of my photos, how do you even know if I'm good?"

"Sally sent me the one with the shampoo. Great product, by the way. I bought it. Works wonders."

"She sent it to you?"

"Yeah. Once she heard that I needed a photographer she recommended you." Someone called her name from somewhere behind me. She smiled, holding up her front finger with one hand and holding a red cup in the other. "Come by after school, okay? We can work everything out then." She nodded confidently before walking past me.

I stood still trying to process what had just happened. I looked at my empty hands deciding that a drink in them might help. I walked past more kids to reach the kitchen. Michelle was still there, now eating the other piece of toast. I walked towards her, but a hand caught onto my wrist once again, pulling me into the hall right before the kitchen.

Al smirked at me, a cup in his other hand. "You made it."