I come out of my shell
WILL: The dance was actually pretty fun. Nico was an awful dancer. Besides that, we were having a pretty good time.
"Hazel went to get punch, didn't she? She's been gone for five minutes." Nico pointed out. I shrugged.
"Hazel could be chatting it up with Ginny or Annabeth...or Frank. She also said she needed to get some air." I said. "She's fine."
We continued to dance. Unfortunately since Hazel had left, Nico and I had lost our body guard. People were staring.
Of course, Frank Zhang chose that moment to play a slow song. Couples paired up, swaying back and forth to the music. They were staring at us, seeing what we would do.
"You know," Nico spoke. "It's funny. They aren't staring at any of the other couples."
"You're Nico Di Angelo. They're always staring at you, Mr. new Harry Potter."
Nico laughed and took my hand. He put it on his shoulder. He put his hands on my shoulders as well. And just like that, we were dancing.
"It's starting to get annoying," I whispered. People were definitely whispering about us now. I wished Hazel would return soon. "Haven't they got anything better to do?"
Nico shrugged.
"Some good is coming out of it."
He gestured around us. To our left, a shy looking Ravenclaw girl took the hand of a Gryffindor girl. They swayed together beside us. We were starting something.
"Isn't that Harry's friend, Dean Thomas?" I asked. Will nodded.
"Yeah, he's dancing with Seamus Finnigan."
The two boys stood on our other side, swaying to the slow song.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. It made me jump. Man, I really was nervous.
"Sorry!" Susan Bones exclaimed. "I just--"
We stared at each other for a long moment. Susan sighed.
"I can't explain to you why, Will. I can't tell you. I just--I told your secret. I told people in our house and it's my fault everyone knows. I'm so sorry." Susan said. "I was scared of who I was. But that isn't an excuse, I shouldn't have told."
I nodded. I looked around at all of the couples surrounding me. Gay, straight, or anything in between, those who were dancing looked truly happy. Those who were staring were missing out on the fun.
"I forgive you, Susan. If anything, I should be thanking you. If nobody in our house would have found out I was gay, I don't know if I would have gotten the courage to come here."
She nodded. For some reason, Susan looked really nervous.
"Will..." she spoke.
"What, what's wrong?"
She shook her head.
"There are some people in our house you need to watch out for is all. I'm not making an excuse for myself, I shouldn't have outed you. But I was---" she stopped herself.
"Were you blackmailed?" I guessed. I knew the look. She was scared of something.
"I--I can't say anything more. But please, look out for your friends."
Hannah Abbot was in the corner, standing by herself. I noticed Susan's longing gaze towards her.
"Ask her to dance," I encouraged.
"Things between Hannah and I are on complicated terms," she admitted. "I have to confess that the only reason I found out your secret is because Hannah and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time and we overheard you tell Frank. When I came down and told you about my sexuality, somebody else just so happened to be listening in. I was blackmailed into outing you so that person wouldn't out me. Hannah found out I spilled your secret and she's hated me since."
"I'm sure if you explained to her--"
Susan shook her head.
"Will, I can't."
Nico spoke up.
"Let me translate: woman up and ask her to dance. Come on, Susan. This is your moment. Forget about all of the other stuff and just dance!" Nico encouraged. I had never seen him so passionate about something.
Forget about the other stuff and just dance. Funny, that's what we're doing right now.
"Fine," Susan said. "I'll do it."
We watched her as she approached Hanna. Hanna looked hesitant at first. But after Susan asked her to dance, she blushed. Hanna and Susan then joined us on the dance floor, hand in hand.
"It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?" I heard myself say.
Nico chuckled.
"Yeah," he looked at me. "It is."
***
We danced to a few more songs before the microphone sounded. Frank was center stage yet again.
"Attention, all! I have almost forgotten something I added to the dance last minute, an activity I'm sure you will all enjoy." Frank was looking at me, why was he looking at me?
"Now, we all have that one friend who sings all the time. The person who's always humming, whistling, droning on and on about music...that friend for me has always been Will Solace. As everybody in the Hufflepuff house knows, he's always singing. It would be a disgrace if he didn't put this special karaoke machine to use!" Frank unveiled a small speaker with a microphone. All eyes were on me. People chanted my name.
I glanced at Nico for reassurance. Instead of providing reassurance, he made me even more nervous. Nico pushed me towards the stage. The rest of the crowd followed his lead, ushering me towards the stage.
I was about to kill Frank. As I stood on stage with everybody's eyes on me, I wanted nothing more than to disappear.
"You can do this, Will," Frank whispered off-mic. "You sing all the time! What difference does this make?"
I glanced at the crowd.
"An entire crowd's difference!" I panicked. "Frank, I can't do this."
He handed me a microphone.
"Then we'll do it together!" He took a microphone for himself. "Which Billy Joel song shall it be? You know, I memorized an entire album of them just for you, just for tonight!"
Frank fucking Zhang.
"I---I don't know, this is insane." I looked at the crowd. I caught Annabeth's eye in the distance. She gave me a swift thumb's up. Nico was smiling wider than I'd ever seen from him.
"Surprise me," I took the microphone. "But you better choose a good song."
After I began singing a duet with Frank, everything seemed to matter less. I was more relaxed than I'd been these past two weeks.
It's funny, as I was singing I wasn't even thinking about the crowd's eyes on me. I hardly paid attention to it. The only thing that crossed my mind was quite a silly, random thought. Hazel was taking an awfully long time to get that cup of punch.