The next day, Jennifer and Maribelle woke up to Celeste being gone. At first they were confused, then came to the conclusion she wanted to get ready in peace for her friends.
"Should we get ready too?" Maribelle asked Jennifer, who shrugged and nodded. As they gathered their clothes, Maribelle brought up the topic she wanted with Jennifer. "So what was with you last night? I haven't seen you all giggly and outgoing for as long as I can remember!"
Jennifer shrugged. "I don't know. But if felt weird... in a good way." She replied, taking out a white tank top and a skirt with various shades of blue in different patterns. It was one of Jennifer's favorite outfits, which she topped off with a white cardigan that went below her bust line and buttoned there, showing cleavage, but a modest amount.
"You look really cute!" Maribelle exclaimed, as Jennifer came out of the bathroom, brush going through her hair. Jennifer looked down.
"Are you sure? I feel like I'm showing too much chest." Jennifer said, looking down.
"Girl please, the pope would be proud of your outfit." Maribelle joked, and Jennifer laughed. Maribelle dressed in a purple tank top and skinny jeans, and looked to Jennifer for approval. Jennifer nodded and tossed Maribelle her brush as she braided her own hair.
A knock at the door told both girls they had a visitor. Jennifer opened the door as Maribelle rushed to the bathroom to fix her hair, both girls laughing consistently. Jennifer let Celeste in, followed by the two boys, Austin and Alex.
"Hi, I'm Alex." He said, holding his hand out for her to shake it. She shook it graciously and gave him a small, shy smile.
"Jennifer." She said, and did the same with the one named Austin. Finally, as if on cue, Maribelle came out and introduced herself to the two strangers, her long auburn hair tied back in her usual ponytail.
"Soo... what were you guys planning to do before we got here?" Alex asked.
"Actually, we were gonna suggest going to see the city?" Maribelle said, turning her statement into a question.
"Actually, Celeste was telling us what great dancers you were. You wanna show us what you got?" Austin challenged. Maribelle playfully narrowed her eyes at him.
"Is that a challenge??" she asked. Austin and Alex both crossed their arms across their chests.
"Maybe it is." Alex said. Maribellle and Jennifer exchanged a look, then nodded at each other.
"With or without workout clothes?" Maribelle asked, sizing them up.
"Well it wouldn't be fair if you two were in workout clothes and we weren't, would it?" Austin said. Celeste was laughing and Austin wrapped an arm around her, and Jennifer caught her eye and both girls started laughing.
"All right fine. Jen, you up for the task?" Maribelle asked. Jennifer pretended to size the two guys up.
"Challenge accepted." Jennifer replied, and with that, the five adolescents headed down to the dance studio. "I'm really glad I decided to wear leggings under my skirt." Jennifer whispered to Maribelle, who laughed.
"You would be the one to be prepared. I'm wearing jeans." She replied, and it was Jennifer's turn to laugh.
Behind them, Celeste walked with the two guys, talking and catching up.
"What's the blonde's name again?" Alex asked her, fixating on her long blonde hair.
"Jennifer. We call her Jen, but she doesn't date. She's really quiet and keeps to herself." Celeste said, knowing what her friend wanted to know. Alex nodded.
"Is she a good dancer?" Austin asked.
"She's better than Justin, in my opinion." Celeste replied, and the three started laughing.
When they got to the dance studio, Jennifer and Maribelle faced the boys.
"Who's going first?" Maribelle asked. Austin and Alex stepped up, wanting to make a good first impression.
"We'll go." They said in unison, and Austin plugged his phone into the stereo system and Live My Life by Justin Bieber started blasting through the speakers. Soon, the boys were moving with the beat of the music, freestyling moves, and yet still managed to look like they'd made a routine up for it. At one point they started dougie-ing, causing the three girls to laugh.
In the middle of their song, Justin and Anna burst through the dance studio and saw that they were there. Instead of leaving, however, both stuck around to see what was happening as Maribelle, Celeste, and Jennifer bobbed their heads to the music and occasionally laughed at silly moves the boys did.
Soon, it was Jennifer and Maribelle's turn on the floor. Austin and Alex gave the girls cocky smirks and the girls wrote them off as Jennifer plugged her phone into the stereo. The Glee version of Total Eclipse of the Heart started playing and Jennifer and Maribelle started moving to the beat, gracefully twisting and turning to the music.
Everyone stared in awe as the two girls danced, Maribelle doing flips, and Jennifer turning around so many times it made their spectators dizzy. Right in the middle of the song, Jennifer and Maribelle prepared for Maribelle to lift Jennifer, but Maribelle ended up dropping her, and both girls started laughing, and continued their routine. By the end of the song, both girls were cracking up, forgetting that they even had spectators, until they heard the applause.
"All right, I guess you girls win." Austin said, and shook their hands again. Jennifer and Maribelle laughed and they started teasing the boys on how they thought they could show the girls up.
"Yeah, but you guys couldn't focus after that epic fail of a lift you did!" Alex pointed out.
"That's true. I couldn't stop laughing!" Jennifer replied, still giggling. Alex walked up to her and smiled.
"You should teach me how to do that lift thing." He said, and got close enough that Jennifer felt uncomfortable and backed away a few steps.
"I-I'm not a very good teacher." Jennifer stuttered, and everyone looked at the conversation the two held.
"Oh come on," Alex said. "I'm sure you'd be able to help me learn. What do you say?" Jennifer looked down at the floor and nodded. Alex smiled and gave her a sideways hug. "Thanks." Jennifer merely nodded again.
After that, everyone, including Justin and Anna, left the studio and decided to hang out in the stairwell. Jennifer was silent the whole time, crawling back in her shell that she was temporarily out of, and Maribelle blamed Justin and Anna. The whole time they were talking, Maribelle glared at Justin, who tried to avoid her eye.
Suddenly, Jennifer got up.
"I'm uhh... gonna go practice." She said, and ran down the stairs. Alex started to go follow her, but Maribelle stopped him and shook her head slightly.
"Just leave her." She said quietly.
"Why did she get so quiet all of a sudden?" Austin asked, and Maribelle and Celeste shared a knowing glance.
"She does that sometimes. It's just who she is." Celeste said with a shrug. Alex, Austin, and even Justin looked back at where Jennifer had ran off, wondering why that girl could possibly be so isolated.