Dancing Revelation
Part II, Chapter Two
"Ames, come on," Mina wheedled, energetically drying her hair. It was evening, a full six hours after the incident with Jaden and Zachary, and Ami still hadn't recovered from her uncharacteristic outburst. After slapping Zach, Mina had sweetly said goodbye to Nevan, Kunthan, and even Jaden.
Then she had gone back to the adjourning rooms she and Ami shared to find her friend in a state of shock. She hadn't been willing to listen to reason, so Mina had taken a shower to wash the seawater out of her hair and was currently trying to convince Ami to go to the party that was taking place in a few hours. "You're not going to stay in here and hide the whole night, are you?"
The nest of covers and pillows moved slightly in protest on the bed. "I'm not hiding," Ami replied, her voice muffled, "I'm avoiding conflict."
"Some conflicts are not meant to be avoided. Come on, please?" Mina drew out the "please" for a few minutes, assuming a begging stance.
A pair of indignant, medium blue eyes emerged, and the look they gave Mina was not at all friendly. "Don't do that!"
"But Ami...I really want to go this time! You didn't want to go to any of the other parties."
"So go alone!" Ami emerged completely from her covers and flopped onto her back, staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore her guilty conscience, which was tugging at her unrelentingly.
"I don't want to go alone! I wouldn't feel right leaving you here all by yourself!"
The skeptical look Ami gave her was answer enough.
Mina decided to try a different tactic. "All right," she said, assuming a defeated expression, "I'm not going to force you to go if you really don't want to–"
"Good."
"Because you think you'd be uncomfortable–"
"I don't think, I know," Ami retorted.
The blonde continued in spite of the interruptions, "But I really wish you would reconsider, Ames."
With an exasperated sigh, Ami sat up and looked intently at her friend. "Why do you want me to go so badly, anyway?"
"Because! We're only young once, and I don't want you to end up as some little old lady with creaky joints who's depressed all the time because she never had fun when she was a girl and can't have any now. Um...then. In the future. And it'll be my fault if you do end up that way!"
"I hate to mention it, but your logic is flawed, Mina."
"Well, it's my logic and I believe it, so won't you just come to make me feel better?"
Ami thought for a second and then reached a hand under the bed. Coming up with a book, she smiled a very satisfied smile and said, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't spend my nice, comfortable evening with Poe."
Mina wrinkled her nose. It was unfortunate that one of her hiding places had been found out. She'd thought Ami was one of those people who never put anything under her bed except the vacuum cleaner. At least Ami's Biology textbook was still well-hidden. "Ami. Poe was a psychopath. A brilliant psychopath, maybe, but his work is creepy and depressive, and I don't want you wasting the night reading about insane killers!"
Her resolve began crumbling, because she really didn't want to spend the beautiful summer evening reading Poe. Poe's stories were better for dark, cold winter nights when she could be left alone in peace to think melancholy thoughts. Ami also doubted whether anyone had ever been able to say "no" to Mina. "But he's going to be there!"
"What? Who?" she asked in a perfectly innocent tone of voice.
Her friend glared at her and hissed, "Zachary."
"Oh, him. Well what do you expect? He flirts nonstop; of course he'll be there."
Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard in the hallway calling their names, and Ami and Mina exchanged a look before they both dashed out to mob Rei. She laughed gaily and threw her arms around them, and for a few moments, they chattered all at once.
Eventually, Mina got around to telling her about meeting Zachary (and Jaden) earlier that day, and Rei's reaction was priceless. The only problem was, she agreed with Mina about going to the party, if only so Ami could show she didn't care about what he'd said, and with both of them cajoling and wheedling, Ami couldn't say no...
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Which was how she found herself wearing a wispy, light blue, knee-length dress outside of a beach house, looking around in trepidation every few minutes. She kept expecting either Zachary or Jaden, her worst nightmares, to spring out of the encroaching darkness and scare the living daylights out of her.
Rei merely winced at the blaring music and amount of trash strewn around. Mock-cheerfully, she said, "Well, at least it's too early for people to be making out outside."
Mina nudged her with a wicked smile and said, "I think you spoke too soon, Rei. If you'll take a peek to your left, you'll see Jaden Coruni and...is that Ellen Delaney?"
"From school?" Ami responded automatically, peering into the darkness.
Looking lost, her cousin asked, "Who's Ellen Delaney?"
The blond-haired girl smiled serenely. "She transferred after you left. She's goes through at least one new boyfriend per week."
"Mina, you're exaggerating," Ami hissed, trying to pull them away. Jaden could do whatever he wanted as long as he stayed far away from her.
She shrugged, and Rei grinned. "Sounds like Jaden's type of girl, then."
"Her personality isn't as pretty as her face," a male voice interjected. It was Nevan.
Rei, who didn't recognize him at first, replied automatically, "All the better. I wish Jaden all the joy of her; they deserve each other."
The brown-haired guy blinked, and he took a closer look at her. He remembered that sharp tongue from a few years back... "Rei? Rei Hino?"
"Rei, don't you remember Nevan? From school?" Ami asked when a blank look came over her cousin's face.
The confused expression cleared instantly. "Oh, right! Sorry Nevan...it's been awhile."
He smiled. "I'll say. The school's never been the same since you left, you know. No one can put down certain people as well as you could. And did."
Before long, he asked Rei for a dance, and she accepted. Mina had just started feeling bored when a flash of platinum-blond hair caught her eye. "Look, Ames, it's Kunthan! From this afternoon, remember?"
It was the wrong thing to say. Ami's expression darkened, and when Mina waved, smiling brightly at Kunthan, she took one look at his companion and nearly fainted. "Mina, wait, don't–that's Zachary with him!!"
Unfortunately, the two were already making their way over. She had no choice but to flee.
"Hey...Mina, right?"
She nodded, and Zach asked, "Wasn't that Mizuno-Anderson I just saw with you?" When a dangerous gleam came into her eyes and both she and Kunthan glowered at him, he jumped back nervously and amended, "I mean, Ami?"
Making an effort to smile politely, Mina replied, "I think she went inside." ‘When she saw you coming.' "I'd better go find her. Talk to you later."
Kunthan smiled a rare smile for her, but the minute she was out of earshot, he turned to his friend with an annoyed look on his face. "What did you do that for, Zach? Can't you just leave the poor girl alone? You just ruined my chance to talk to Mina!"
The coppery-blond-haired guy gave him a strange look. "I didn't know you were interested in her."
"Yeah, well, that's because you're full of it!" Kun snapped.
Zach looked very taken aback. He'd been chastised two times in one day, first by a girl he hadn't seen for over seven years and then by his best friend. "Look, I'm sorry, Kun. If it makes you happy, I'll apologize. To both of them."
"If you're not going to do it of your own free will, don't bother." And Kunthan disappeared inside as well.
Staring after him bewilderedly, Zach shrugged and waited for Jaden to finish his business with Ellen. "Girls," Zach said in a dismissive tone, "they come and they go. What's the big deal? There are always more of them." He would remember his words later and wonder how he could've ever been so stupid.
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Ami found herself being moved through the room almost without any effort on her part. The mass of dancing people was dizzying to her eyes, and the pounding beats of the loud music were giving her a headache. She was too close to the speakers. At least, she consoled herself, it was easy to get lost in the crush of people.
It was unfortunate that she had hovered out of sight before going inside; she had stayed long enough to hear Zachary's dismissal of the female race, and anger had charged through her. She felt better only when Rei's irate voice sounded in her mind, a memory from a few hours ago. She'd said, "Some people on this earth are just naturally meant to be idiots, Ami! You shouldn't pay any attention to them. Their sole purpose in life is to convert oxygen to carbon dioxide, and if you ask me, the scarce amount of oxygen left shouldn't be wasted on them!"
Finding a safe spot near the wall, she tuned out the noise and leaned against its comforting solidity. People like Jaden and Zachary–especially Zachary–confused her. She just couldn't understand why they acted the way they did, and she couldn't decipher the way they thought. Across the way, she caught Rei's glance, and the raven-haired girl smiled at her from over Nevan's shoulder. Just then, Jaden's blond head came into view, and he, Nevan, and Rei exchanged a few words before the brunet left and made his way over to Ami. "What's going on?" she asked curiously as he approached.
He smiled at her and explained, "Well, Jade popped up and asked Rei for a dance, so I left them to it. Don't they make a nice couple?"
Ami looked at him as if he was crazy. "Nev. Are you all right? Rei hates him. Or she hates people like him and people like his brother!"
Nevan sighed. "Ami, he's my friend. Both of them are my friends. I know on the surface, Jaden may seem superficial, or hurtful, or childish and immature, but he's really a nice guy at heart. He just has to grow up a bit more. I can't change the way either of you feel about him, but I wish you'd give him a chance. You not liking Zach I can understand, but I don't want to be caught in the middle of this battle of the sexes."
His darker blue eyes met her light ones, and after a minute, she let out a deep breath and nodded. "Fine. If you'll ask Zach to be nicer and not make anymore disparaging comments, I'll pretend the whole thing today never happened. And that thing with my bag when we were kids."
He smiled broadly. "It's a deal. But now that you're feeling less hostile towards him...it was a good prank, wasn't it? I'm not surprised he and Jade were so devious at that age."
"More like devilish," Ami muttered, but she smiled back. Another guy in the crowd waved to Nevan, and he promised Ami he'd see her later, making his way over to his friend. For a minute, the world was back on track. Then it fell off again...
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"Hey, Ames...want to dance?"
‘How did he go from calling me Mizuno-Anderson to Ami to Ames all in one day?' Ami's eyes, their color deepened to the dark hue of a shadowed lake by the dim lighting, darted around frantically as she searched for her friends. Rei and Jaden were too far away, Mina and Kunthan were gravitating towards them, and Nevan had disappeared in the crowd.
Giving him a cold stare, she found it hard to keep the promise she had just made to Nevan about being civil to his friend. After all, Nevan hadn't conducted the deal yet, she consoled herself, so she wasn't bound to her promise...right? And she was left all alone and defenseless against Zachary, so she said the first thing that came to her mind. "No, I'm sorry Zachary, I don't think so."
He looked shocked, and Ami resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He acted like he had never been turned down before...but then again, she thought in disgust, it was probably true. Even though his personality was awful, his looks would have been enough to have all the girls at school swooning for him. Zach seemed to be having trouble coming up with a reply, and Ami drew on her newfound courage and arched an icy eyebrow. "Why would you want to dance with the crybaby, Zachary? Or do you think putting up with that is worth it because you think I'm passingly attractive?"
Zach flushed a deep, sullen red, and he muttered almost as if he couldn't help it, "I think you're more than passingly attractive."
"Well, thank you, but the only thing that proves is that you have a one track mind."
He was astonished. "Why do you hate me so much, Ami?"
It was her turn to be shocked. Clearly, no one had ever bothered to put him in his place. Crossing her arms over her chest, she maintained her distant tone as she replied, "I don't hate you." He smiled–until she said, "I could care less about you, Zachary, because I don't waste my time with people who don't treat me with respect. You're not worth my time."
Nevan strode up to them just then, completely unaware of the context of their conversation. "Oh–hey Zach...listen, Ames, I've got to go soon, so do you want to dance? Just once?"
Ami smiled wryly. There were annual closing dances at the school, and Nevan and Mina knew her refusal to dance all too well. But if it would get her away from the jerk who couldn't string two words together to defend himself or understand decent human behavior... "Sure. It was nice talking to you, Zachary. Good bye."
The brown-haired guy shot his friend a backwards glance but turned to look down at his friend. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing. Well, actually, everything in Zachary Coruni's world probably revolves around himself," she bit out angrily. It was a slow dance, so she reached up to link her hands behind his neck.
Not wanting to deal with her temper, being very unused to it, Nev joked, "Well, if he's the one you're mad at, don't I deserve a thank you for rescuing the damsel in distress from the evil dragon?"
She blushed hotly. "I don't know what's gotten into me today. This is the second time that I've told him off."
After she finished recounting their little chat, her friend shook his head mournfully. "Ouch. You really gave it to the poor guy, Ames. What were you saying before about giving him a second chance?"
"I'm sorry, Nev," she apologized sincerely, her head bowed slightly.
Changing the subject considerately, he asked with a grin, "So is dancing as bad as you expected it to be?"
The flush deepened, but she answered composedly, "For a social activity, dancing is highly overrated. I stick to slow dances, because they require less movement. All you have to do is sway around a bit. There aren't any rules, per se."
"I didn't figure you for the type," he commented with an amused smile. This fired up Ami Mizuno-Anderson was interesting. If only she stood up to half the guys at school the way she did to Zach. "So what about Zach do you like?"
Before she realized what she had said, she replied, "His eyes." Nevan, for all his niceness, quietness, and personal distance, just didn't have Zach's uniquely green eyes. Ami winced. Her cheeks burned furiously, and the smug smile faded from Nevan's face for a minute as he stared at her.
Then he smirked openly. "So superficial, Ami. Don't tell me you like him just for his appearance."
Her dry reply was as such: "Ordinarily, I'd feel guilty, but because I don't like any aspect of his personality, it's a bit hard for me to tell you I like him personality-wise, Nev."
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Kunthan was listening avidly to Mina talk, and every so often, he would laugh or add his opinion on the subject. It was unusually warm behavior on his part. Mina looked happier than ever, and that was saying something–Mina always looked happy.
But then Kunthan interrupted her tirade by saying, "Stop, stop, I've heard enough. Introduce me to Mina Aino now."
She looked puzzled and thought she must have misheard. "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Who did you want to be introduced to?"
"You, Mina. What do you like? What are you like?"
A bright smile appeared on her face, and she replied, "For starters, I don't give away anything for nothing, Kunthan. If you want me to talk about myself, you're going to have to tell me something about yourself in return."
He paused, looking surprised, and the nodded his acquiescence.
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Jaden was recounting an anecdote to Rei, who (although doing her best not to show it) was slowly being charmed by him; she told him about her own horror experiences from her first year and semester or so of boarding school.
Zach smiled sadly to himself. It was a pity he was alone and without a partner that night...his eyes followed the movement of two couples that looked like they were meant to be.
And then there was Ami, who was all alone since Nevan had left. She, too, was watching her friends wistfully.
Zach's characteristic smirk and lazy manner seemed to have dissolved for the remainder of the night: something about her and the way she was so firmly against him made Zach want to prove that he wasn't a heartless, inconsiderate jerk to her–if it meant she would stop giving him the cold shoulder and such icy, derisive looks. The look in her otherwise marvelous blue eyes chilled the marrow in his bones. Zach was less inclined to act his usual annoying, boisterous self around her, and he wondered why she made him want to feel more like himself, the person he was around Kunthan and Jaden when they were alone.
There was a softness to Ami's face when he wasn't near her, and she looked vulnerable and lonely standing alone. So he decided that the next time they met, he would have vastly improved himself by then (he would have to ask Kunthan and Nevan for help)...and maybe he would get more than a faraway glimpse of the princess behind the mask.
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AN: I don't think this chapter is up to par with my other ones, but hopefully the effort was worth it. The first time through (I rewrote it, which was why it took so long to get out), Ami and Zoi actually got to dance, but I decided to return to my original ice-princess scheme for her. I was so shocked when I discovered so many review alerts in my inbox for this story! Thanks a lot, everyone! ^^ I really appreciate it and hope you all stick around for the next parts (we're moving on to Part Three next, the "older" teenagers).
~Ice
P.S. Please forgive the erratic flow...I know it's a bit odd to switch from part to part, since they're years apart, but time will slow down soon, and Part III will be quite long. Almost all of the characters will be there, and all of them will return in Part V, which returns to the beach ^^. Part IV is set at Ami's house...
Mainpage: Love at Fifth Sight
