Turning Tables

chapter eight

"Yeah, lousy punks." Tiger growled in their direction, doubling his fists angrily.

"They're not doing anything, they're just here to dance."

Mouthpiece bit on his toothpick, something that he hadn't been prepared to leave behind for the dance and narrowed his eyes. "One of 'em looks at you, there'll be trouble."

"Please, Mouthpiece, no rumbling tonight – I just wanna dance." Velma tugged at his arm and pleaded which seemed to calm him down slightly.

Elizabeth was just confused on what they were talking about. "Rumbling?"

"C'mon, Liza, you promised me a dance." Balkan appeared at her side with his hand outstretched and his bow tie slightly crooked; distracting her from the conversation about the Egyptians and the rumbling, whatever that meant.

"I did?"

She didn't have a chance to protest because she was dragged onto the dance floor with Balkan, both of them attempting to stay in time with the music but failing and just laughing as they danced awfully with each other. Then, one at a time, the Jets cut in to switch partners and each time, the dances became more unruly. Tiger attempted to swing her around until he got too dizzy and almost tripped her over, then Big Deal was determined to throw her around in the air to show off his strength but almost dropped her on her head; Diesel ended up being the best partner as they hand jived through the middle of the hall, the other couples copying them and forming a giant conga line through the gym.

There was one person who wasn't dancing though, he was watching from the side-lines and admiring her from afar. He was taken away by her beauty the moment that she stepped into the gym and now he couldn't stop watching her, even when she was just messing around instead of actually dancing, he couldn't stop staring. Riff leaned on the wall at the back of the gym, not caring what he looked like to the other kids because all he could think about was her. Elizabeth's laugh broke through the music and she snorted slightly as she watched Ice attempting to dip Action in a new dance move that they had created. He wanted to join them but he also didn't want to ruin their fun, so he stayed on the side and laughed whenever she laughed, beaming whenever she beamed.

"They like her." A voice said from beside him and he glanced down to see Anybodys watching the Jets too.

"Beat it." Riff snarled, not wanting to talk about anything with this kid. Tony had watched the exchange between Riff and Anybodys, as his small friend darted away, not wanting to cause any trouble. He had Graziella on his arm as he strolled over to that side of the gym and stood beside his best friend, keeping an eye on the dance floor which the Jets were completely owning with their stupid dancing. "Why aren't you dancing?"

Riff shook his head. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Grazie wanted a break, she twisted her ankle."

At that moment the music ended and everyone bowed to their partners, another song began playing but Elizabeth was completely out of breath and needed a rest before she passed out. She had never realised how much dancing took out of you, and she was barely holding herself together. Trying to remember where to go, she headed to the drinks and got herself some water; as tiring as the dance was, she was having more fun than she could ever imagine. The only thing missing was a certain Jet, she had seen him when she first came into the gym but hadn't had the chance to approach him because she was thrown onto the dance floor. She took a long sip of her water but stopped when she felt someone's hand on her back.

"I'm hurt, you're dancing with all the Jets but me?"

Smirking, she knew the voice from anywhere and turned to face him, his hand now lingering on her waist as she placed the cup on the table and placed her hands on his chest. "What are you gonna do about it? Huh? Aren't you gonna ask me to dance?"