It's Life - Chapter Eight

Sakari's POV

The rest of the day flew by and so did Friday. Abbie came over to my house Friday after school, so we could get ready for the dance. We did homework for two hours first, and then had a small dinner. There would be snacks and drinks at the dance, so we didn't worry too much about eating.

Then it was time to get ready. We turned on the curling irons, dug around our bags searching for bobby pins and hair elastic. Eventually we got our hair done, curled and up in high ponytails, tied with ribbons.

After a few minutes spent on, deciding who should wear which outfit, it was decided that I would wear the black skirt with the white polka dots, the white shirt and the skirt matching scarf. Abbie wore the other outfit. It wasn't until I pulled on the white shirt that I remembered why I hadn't been wearing short-sleeved shirts. Abbie was changing in the bathroom and I sat down on my bed, dressed in the outfit, staring at my arm. What would I say if anyone saw it?

She skipped in just as I was trying to come up with something. "Oh sorry! I totally should have knocked!"

I forced a laugh. "Yeah, that would've been nice."

We pulled on our socks, folding them down for the "bobby sock" style and then slid our shoes on. Makeup time was next and we took turns making each other look amazing. We kept our makeup natural looking, since neither of us was really sure what makeup styles were popular in the 50s'. Beth helped as much as she could, fixing our scarves, tying them to the side, putting bobby pins in our hair to keep stray hairs up.

She didn't notice my arm, or at least, didn't say anything if she did, and I forgot about it.

Before we knew it there was a knock on the door and Abbie 'eeped'. Literally, she made that noise. We were all going together, and by we, I mean Caleb and his date, Flynn and his date, me and Nate and Abbie and Carl. Flynn would be driving us all in his mini-van, but Carl was coming here first.

It was Carl and Beth made Abbie answer the door. Blushing and twirling her high ponytailed hair. She opened the door and he complimented her, making her blush more and smile. He came in and we sat around in the living-room, while Caleb went to pick up his date and bring her back here.

Aunt Beth put on some old music, and when I mean old, I mean 50s' styled music, like Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin. As she put it, she said it was to 'get us in the 50s' mood'. And then, her inner teen seemed to kick in and she pulled us all up off the couch, making us dance around. She insisted on trying to teach us some dance called the 'jitterbug' which included lots of sliding around. It was difficult, the boys had to lift us up and spin us around and all kinds of crazy stuff, but it was fun and by the time Caleb and his date, Mackenzie, walked in, we were all out of breath, hot and laughing.

Nate and Flynn drove in and we all hurried to the mini-van, more than ready for the dance by this time. Nate grinned and took my hand when he saw me. "You look amazing." I blushed, thankful that it was already getting kind of dark.

Flynn drove pretty recklessly and when we finally got to the school, safe and sound, Abbie leaped from the car shouting, "Wooh! We didn't die!"

The music was blaring as we headed into the school and people were already dancing, getting into music. Surprisingly, I noticed that barely anyone was grinding. They were actually dancing, trying out the 'old and lame' as they'd been called, dances from the 50s'. Tonight was going to be good. I could just feel it.

Abbie grabbed my wrist with one hand, she'd been doing a lot of that lately, and grabbed Carl's wrist with her other hand, pulling us deep into the dance floor. I managed to grab onto Nate's hand, pulling him in with us and before I even really knew what was going on, we were in the middle of the gym floor, dancing like Aunt Beth had taught us.

Except, none of us was really sure what we were doing, so we ended up falling a lot, and laughing at each other's pathetic attempts. But it was fun and when the principal finally got onto the stage to welcome every one, we were out of breath. He explained that he expected to see everyone behaving properly, and that he and the other teachers had complied a playlist of music that had been popular in the 50s'. He told us to be good and then left the stage, letting the dancing continue. The first song that started to play was 'Rock around the clock' by Bill Haley and his comets, which I just happened to know all the words too.

Abbie danced up beside me, singing loudly and sort of-tune in my ear. I grinned, singing along loudly. Eventually, we found our whole lunch table group and we all formed a pretty large circle in the middle, everyone just dancing around, having fun and laughing. It was fun. Until CJ wormed his way into the circle, standing next to me. I froze when I noticed him and glanced up. He grinned, was it supposed to look so threatening? "Hey Sakari."

"Um hi." I said, my dancing slowly to a stop as I stared at him.

"Since you already had a date, maybe you'll at least save me a slow dance?" By the look on his face I could tell, he was saying that I didn't really have a choice. But there was no way I was going to let him make me do something I didn't want to do.

"No, I don't think I will." I speak slowly, and loud enough for him to hear, almost afraid to say no, but even more afraid to say yes. There was no way I was going to be slow dancing with him. He was creeping me out.

"You'll regret that." He said, as he turned and left.

I turned back to the group. Thankfully, no one had really noticed, they were all too busy dancing. I tried not to let it bug me, but during the first slow dance Nate seemed to notice something.

"You alright?" He asked, raising his voice to be heard above the loud music.

"Sort of... CJ wants me to save him a slow dance, and when I said no, he told me I'd regret it."

Nate's hands on my mid-back were warm and comforting and I unconsciously tightened my arms around his neck, moving a small step closer. "What's he gonna do?" He sounded upset.

I shrugged. "I don't know... but Abbie's told me some kinda scary stories about him... Maybe he won't do anything at all..." Nate's jaw tightened and he looked down at the ground. "Nate? Please tell me you aren't mad at me."

His head shot back up and he looked at me, staring into my eyes as he said, earnestly, "I am not mad at you. Never think that. I could never be mad at you. You're so amazing... I'm just mad that I'm not big enough or strong enough to beat up CJ."

"Aww." That was sweet of him to say. "But honestly, is there really all that much he can do? I mean, I'm not that worried about it." That was a little bit of a lie, but I wanted to calm Nate down. And it seemed to work.

The song ended and we re-joined our friends, dancing crazily again. The next slow song Abbie pulled me away before Nate could, dragging me to the bathroom. "Okay, spill. I saw Nate looking all worried at you during the last slow dance. What happened?"

I sighed. "It was nothing, really. CJ tried to threaten me into dancing with him. I said no. He said I'd regret it. I told Nate because he knew something was wrong and it made him worry a little. I told him it was no big deal, that I wasn't worried about it, but I really am."

She frowned, leaning against the sink counter. "Wow. I don't know what to say. Avoid CJ as much as possible?"

I laughed once. "Yeah, that's probably easier said than done, but I'm definitely going to try. Now, let's get back out there. I don't want Nate to worry anymore."

When we got back out there, the slow song had ended which meant our group was back together towards the back of the room. It took a lot of pushing to get through the crowds of people before we finally got to the back. Nate grinned when he saw me, and took my hand. "What'd you guys do?"

"She needed a makeup check." I lied quickly, smiling at him and rolling my eyes.

Nate chuckled as Elvis came on the speakers and everyone started to disco.
Three hours later, the last dance of the night was on, a slow song and I was with Nate, moving quietly, slowly, happily, in a small circle. And then it happened. I tilted my head to look at him, and he was just doing the same thing, to look at me. And we both leaned in slowly, and we kissed.

"Only you can make all this world seem right.
Only you can make the darkness bright.
Only you and you alone can thrill me like you do. And fill my heart with love for only you.
Only you can make this change in me. For its true, you are my destiny.
When you hold my hand I understand, the magic that you do.
You're my dream come true, My one and only you.
Only you can make all this change in me, for its true you are my destiny.
When you hold my hand, I understand the magic that you do.
You're my dream come true."

The lyrics to the song slowly faded away as we kissed, his hands moved from my back up to my neck, them traced gently to my cheeks, and he was cupping my face. I felt fireworks. Almost literally. I was suddenly dizzy and light-headed, flying up in the clouds. Of course, it was cut short and I was dragged back down as I heard Abbie gasp and we pulled apart quickly. The song had ended, the principal was telling everyone it was time to go home.

I realized that through the song, a lot of people had slowly left. Maybe it wasn't just through that one song, but not everyone had stayed for the whole dance. Abbie was gaping at me and I blushed. Nate slid his hand down my arm and into my hand, interlacing our fingers. He didn't seem as phased by the fact that people had seen us kiss as I was.

We slowly walked out, with everyone else to the minivan and during the ride home, I fell asleep on his shoulder. Tonight had been perfect. I couldn't even really remember CJ's threat. And as I faded into sleep, I felt his hand running through my hair, twirling the curls slowly and softly, until I finally fell asleep, completely content.

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Comment Replies

Moon - Thank you so much.

Isha - Thank you! I tried to get this one up as quickly as possible. I hope you like it!

Shruti - Thank you so much! I know, she's been through an awful lot. The bad times should be mostly over with. But sometimes things get worse before they get better... I'm still not sure how it'll all play out, in some ways it surprises me as much as it does the readers. I'm so glad you like it and I really hope you like this chapter too.