Dance, dance dance

When they arrived at the gymnasium there were already about twenty girls in line. Kelli was okay with that because the big round tables each had eight seats and it looked like there were girls from just four other groups that usually hung out together ahead of them. Her friends Olivia and Leanne were just a few girls ahead and they would all be sitting together. As they chatted the line behind them grew longer and longer. When the doors finally opened they followed Olivia and Leanne to the left. Kelli grabbed the table next to theirs to hold until the rest of their friends arrived.

The girls from town looked around. There were at least a couple dozen large round tables covered in yellow tablecloths surrounding a cleared dance floor near the stage. Hanging from the roof there were several mirror balls scattering spots of light in every direction. There was a karaoke setup on the stage and some instruments. Soft jazz was playing through the speakers. Near the back of the gym refreshment tables were set up.

As the hundreds of girls streamed into the room Jennifer was fascinated by them. Kelli had not lied to her. There were a few girls in pajamas and a fair number in jeans. Some were in nice pants but the majority were in dresses or skirts. It only took a few minutes for the tables to fill up and the spotlights to come on. A willowy blond girl walked out of the back stage area and made her way to the small podium that Jen had not previously noticed at the corner of the stage.

"Hey everyone," she said when she got to the microphone.

"Hey Brittney!" all of the Sutton girls yelled back.

"Welcome to club night. This evening in addition to our regular program of karaoke and dance music we are going to have live music from some of our friends." She had to pause as the gym burst into applause and whistles. "Also, we have some new friends with us tonight so try to make them feel welcome. Sydney, Lauren and Jennifer please stand up." The girls stood as a spotlight found them. The Sutton girls applauded them too. "I had the chance to meet them a little while ago and they seemed very cool. Thanks girls I won't embarrass you by going on about how nice you all are. I'll let everyone else figure that out on their own. One more thing. I know I don't really need to but let's go over the rules so everyone is on the same page. What is the first rule of club night?"

The audience responded "Don't be an asshole!"

"That's right. There are no other rules. Before I open up the dance floor I had a special request from Olivia Nguyen. Olivia if you could come up."

Olivia popped out of her seat and walked across the floor to the steps up to the stage. Jennifer could hear the sound of her heels clicking across the hard wood. She took the microphone and nodded to the girl running the karaoke machine.

"In light of recent events I would like to dedicate this song to our own little Hit-Girl Kelli Bellamy. Everyone sing along if you know the words. Kelli, please stand."

Kelli stood and a spotlight found her. Just then she heard the unmistakable intro to Queen's 'Another One Bites The Dust'. She could feel her face heat with either pride or embarrassment, she was unsure. Olivia was having a great time dancing and singing on the stage doing an almost passable Freddie Mercury, if he had been a five foot three Asian schoolgirl with a midwestern accent. Jen was not completely sure but it looked like she was throwing some martial arts moves into her impromptu choreography.

When it was over Kelli sat down and leaned over to speak with Jen. "I think they are trying to make me embarrassed in front of you three."

"I thought it was kind of sweet."

"Well whatever," Kelli mumbled in embarrassment. "There will be a few dance songs before the first round of singing. Not sure when the bands will be on. There are only three tonight so they will probably just mix them in. What do you think so far?"

"It's ...a lot more than I expected."

"I can see that. You'll have fun with the karaoke. Even if you can't hold a tune in a bucket it's a blast. Just try to go with the flow tonight and you should have a good time."

***

Jen and her friends had an amazing evening. It seemed that everyone they met was interested in them. They answered all kinds of questions about the area and the kids they went to school with. The incident with the boys was obviously a big topic of discussion. When talking to one girl she learned that every one of the girls at the school had learned the same fighting techniques that Kelli had demonstrated on Friday evening. All of the girls that she spoke to seemed to have several interests. Some were restoring old automobiles with the help of Red Knox from Red's Automotive in order to sell for money to buy tools. Others she met were part of a fashion club and were proudly showing off the dresses they had made. They all seemed to know lots of stuff about almost everything. It would have been intimidating if it weren't for how friendly they all were.

Soon it was time for the first band. Everyone made their way back to their seats to watch as the girls came out on stage. They did their songs but Jennifer didn't know any of them except for an old Fleetwood Mac song that her dad used to play all the time. They weren't bad though. After the band was done they played more dance music while the next band got ready. Jen and Lauren sat at the table while most of the others went back out on the dance floor. It was hard to believe the amount of energy these girls had.

Soon the next band was ready and everyone again streamed off of the dance floor. When the stage lights came on Nicole was standing at center stage. The spotlights made her platinum blond hair glow. It seemed that these girls were as popular as the last group because everyone whistled and clapped. Jen was ready for another average performance.

Nicole tool the mic and stepped to the edge as the music started and began to sing 'I Feel Love'. There was something mesmerizing about her voice. Everyone streamed back onto the dance floor as soon as they realized the group was doing dance music and not some avant garde weirdness. They moved so smoothly through their other songs that it seemed just a few moments before they were taking a final bow and everyone was clapping and whistling. It felt like being at a real concert for that moment.

A few minutes later Nicole sat down at their table. She seemed happy and super excited by her experience.

"What did you guys think?"

"You were amazing," Kelli and Olivia said at almost the same time.

Everyone else chimed in with some variation of that sentiment.

"What is the name of your band?" Jen asked.

"We have not thought of one. I want to go with something pretty. Alana and Grace want to name the band 'The Shtupid Goofballs' because they thought it sounded hilarious. Samantha says she is still thinking. Speaking of Sam, She is waving me over. I'll be back after I make the rounds.

"Hey, Jen," Kelli said. "Remember how I said I had a friend that was into D&D?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nikki is my nerdy D&D friend. I think we should introduce her to your brother. Hell, maybe they will hit it off."

"Really? Nicole? She seems so cool. I think my brother would faint. She is so stunning. He is not exactly Mr. Smooth with the ladies. Honestly, she is way out of his league."

"All the more reason to introduce them. If nothing else happens I think hanging out with Nicole will help him to be better in social situations. She is genuinely nice. And even if they just play D&D it will keep her from pestering me to learn to play."

"If nothing else it would be hilarious to watch him get all twitchy. Let me think about it for a few minutes. If he thinks I am trying to embarrass him I will be walking to school for the rest of the winter."

"When Nikki gets back we can talk details. Come on let's dance while we can."

"What is it with you and dancing? You've barely been off of the dance floor."

"I never danced before I came here. I didn't feel comfortable with my body. Here we are all about our bodies. I feel like I am in amazing shape for the first time ever and it's just so joyful to be out there moving with the beat."

"Okay, but just a couple dances. My feet are starting to hurt."

"Just 'till the next round of karaoke, promise."

Sometime later Nicole, Leanne, Kelli, Olivia and the three girls from town were relaxing at the table. Kelli had just finished explaining to Nicole that she should talk to Jen's brother Nathan. Nicole immediately began asking Jennifer all kinds of questions.

"What edition does he play?"

"I have no idea," Jen said.

"How many people usually play? Is he the DM?"

Well there used to be six or eight of them they would take over the basement all weekend. I don't know what a DM is, and no offense, I really don't want to."

"Fine. I guess I will just have to ask him myself. When can I meet him?"

Sydney and Lauren laughed at that.

"What is so funny?" Nicole asked.

"Lauren spoke up."The thought of Nathan talking to a girl who looks like you do is just funny?"

"What's the matter with me? Is it the boobs and blond hair? I'm really not a bitch."

"It is not you," Lauren said then turned toward her friends. "No offense Jen but your brother is the kind of guy that other nerds tease for being a nerd."

Jen giggled. "There may be a bit of truth to what Lauren is telling you Nicole. Nate tends to get interested in things like Dungeons and Dragons and model rockets. He is the treasurer of the chess club. He goes to math competitions with the school team. And lastly he has never had a girlfriend. He just kind of goes into a shell when girls are around."

"Aren't there girls on the math and chess teams?"

"I suppose. It's not my thing but there must be a couple."

"I think you might not be giving your brother enough credit. He is probably fine around girls who share his interests. I knew a guy like that once."

"Alright can you and Kelli and maybe one or two others come to my house tomorrow afternoon? Sydney and Lauren are staying over but they should be gone by then."

"No way. We want to see this too," Lauren said. "Have them over earlier and then we can all go to brunch at the Chuckwagon."

"Will that work for you guys?" Jennifer asked. "I know that you all have these weird food restrictions."

"Brunch sounds great. We can eat what we want on the weekends we just have to log it for the study. Will your brother have a problem with it?"

"He might. Lauren and Sydney aren't his favorite people. Tell you what, show up around ten. If you two hit it off with your dragon thing then you can get something on your own. That will probably work out better anyway. Too many pretty girls will make him go catatonic."

***

"Wake up sleepyhead!" Jen said bounding onto her brother's bed. "It is time for another great day."

"Jesus, Jen! What the hell?" He looked at the clock noticing the time. It's Sunday I want to sleep."

"Not today, Nate. Today one of the hottest girls I have ever met is stopping by with some friends to meet you, my little nerdling."

"Huh?"

You remember my friends and I went to the private school last night with that girl that helped me out with Dillon and his buds?"

"You mean you went slumming at the orphanage, don't you?" Nate snarked.

"One, it is not exactly an orphanage, it is more like a private school. Two, it was not slumming the place is super nice. And three if any of those girls hear you speak that way they will crush you."

"Whatever."

Jen punched her brother in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ouch!" Nate whined.

"Shut up and listen, jerk. In about two hours some new friends are coming over. One of them is into your little fantasy game. She wants to play. Talk to her. Be nice. Do not embarrass me. If things seem to be going well ask her to go to lunch with you. She is super nice and probably won't realize that she's out of your league."

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"Dude, I love you but this girl has her own band. She is super pretty and seriously nice. Oh yeah and when she and my new friend were dancing together it was hot enough that you probably would have popped in your pants. Here take a look," she said, waving her phone in his face so that he could see one of the photos she had taken last night. "Now get in the shower and I will pick out something for you to wear that isn't gross."

After waking her brother, Jen hurried down the hall and woke her friends who were sprawled out on her king size bed. She sent them home to get ready for the day. Last night after Jen's dad had brought them home they had made plans to take the Sutton girls around town. Sydney was borrowing her mom's minivan so they would all fit in one vehicle. After brunch they would all go back to Sydney's to hang out. They agreed that the three of them would be ready and be at Jennifer's by nine, just in case their new friends were early.

***

"Do I look alright?" Nicole asked for the third time since they had left the school. She was dressed in heavy black leggings with big white polka dots paired with a long charcoal gray sweater that she had borrowed from Samantha and her leather jacket.

"Oh my gawd!" Olivia said. "Enough! You look really hot. Honestly, you of all people should know he probably won't notice what you are wearing. He will just be wondering what you look like naked. Although those leggings are tight enough that he won't have to wonder very much."

"Sorry. I am nervous. I have never really met a guy outside of the program. Well I have before but that is not the same."

"Stop stressing," Leanne soothed. "He will be a hundred times more nervous than you are. It will be fine."

"It is just a few blocks away, so it is too late anyway," Kelli said.

***

"Do I look alright?" Nate asked his sister. Jen could tell he was excited and nervous. He probably suspected that she might be getting back at him for the toad incident during their family vacation.

"You look fine. I picked out your clothes and it isn't like that buzz cut needs combed."

"Why do Sydney and Lauren need to be here? Couldn't they have come by later to pick you up?"

Lauren heard the complaint from the living room where she was sitting. "We are here to watch you, Nerd-boy. If I weren't going directly to brunch I would have brought popcorn."

"Be nice Lauren," Sydney said. "There is no need to be like that."

"But it's so fun. Fine, I'll behave."

***

The bell rang. Jen raced to the door. She had to admit to herself that she wanted to be friends with these girls. They seemed so confident and self-assured that there was no need for them to cut anyone else down. Not that her friends weren't great. They were. Sometimes though it could be a little much dealing with Lauren when she was being catty. And Sydney was always trying to outdo her with the latest clothes and newest phone.

"Hi, come on in. Everyone is in the living room," Jen said when she opened the door. Kelli, Leanne, Olivia, and Nicole walked in and greetings and introductions were made.

The last girl to be introduced to Nate was the blond. "Hi, Nate. It is nice to meet you." She said with a warm smile. Jen tells me that we share a hobby."

"We do?" Nate said feeling rather stupid. This was the same thing that happened every time he talked to a pretty girl. His brain disengaged just as his mouth shifted into gear.

"Oh yes." Nicole said ignoring his conversational slip. "Kelli told me that she saw you painting miniatures yesterday so I made your sister tell me everything she could. It wasn't that much because i's not her thing. What version does your group use?"

"We just switched to the fifth edition last year. We had been playing second edition. Three and three point five were horrible."

"It seems like I haven't played in a lifetime," Nicole said. "Would you mind walking me through the rule changes? I'm sure the others wouldn't mind going to brunch without me."

"Really? I'd be happy to. Come on back to my room I've been working on a new campaign for when my friends are back home for winter break. I've been dying for someone to give me some feedback on a couple of the scenarios."

***

At brunch Jen was worried about her brother. Sydney and Lauren had made a couple of snide remarks about his awkwardness but had stopped when Kelli and her friends had not joined in. When asked if they thought it was weird for a girl like Nikki to be interested in such a nerdy past time Kelli had only replied "It's good to have hobbies."

"Do you think he is being too much of a dork?" Jen asked.

"You shouldn't worry about Nate," Kelli said. "He seems like a good guy. Nicole has been pestering the crap out of us about that game for so long she is probably being even more of a game nerd than he is. When we are done eating we'll probably find them still looking at the campaign thing he was talking about."

"You're right. I shouldn't worry. It's just that even though he is older I have always felt like the big sister..."

"He may just be a late bloomer. Anyway Nicole is good with people. She will bring him out of his shell and keep the conversation moving."

***

Brunch at The Chuck Wagon had been amazing. Kelli had not had waffles like that ever in this new body. They had been cooked perfectly and served simply with fruit and powdered sugar on top. The only thing that cast a shadow on the occasion was the dirty looks she received from the customers at one of the other tables. Judging by the camo and muddy boots, the four men looked like they had been out hunting that morning and were stopping for a bite before going home.

"What is their deal? Kelli asked Jen indicating the table of men who were glaring at their table."

"That is Mr. Daniels, in the Bass Pro hat. He is the head wrestling coach and assistant football coach. Mr. Jones, the fat guy across from him is the football coach I don't know who the one in the orange vest is, but the other guy beside Mr. Daniels is John Talbert's dad. John is in football and wrestling. He is a total douche."

"They are kind of creepy," Leanne said.

"Are they mad at us because the boys were assaulting you?"

"Yes, probably. Around here there isn't much besides sports. By helping me you made them look bad. By pressing charges I made it a thousand times worse."

"That is asinine," Kelli said.

"That is just life in a small town," Lauren said. "Where did you live before?"

"We moved around a lot before the accident. But you are right. I've always lived near a big city or in a larger town." Kelli said.

"I take it Thompsonville is full of manly men?" Olivia asked.

"You couldn't tell from all of the trucks, beards and camo?" Lauren snorted.

"I like trucks," Sydney said. My dad has a truck."

"Your dad is as big of a Bubba as the rest of them. You're lucky that your step dad is normal," Lauren replied. "Let's pay and get out of here. I want to go back to your house so Olivia, Leanne and Kelli can teach us some of those dances they were doing last night."

***

The next couple of weeks were mostly pleasant for the Sutton girls. By now school was a familiar routine for all of them and presented only the usual academic challenges. Nikki was able to convince three other girls to play D&D with Nate and his friends and after they had so much fun during the first night they planned to make it a regular thing. A few Sutton girls began to develop outside friendships now that Jen and her friends had broken the ice but they were mostly the church group. Hailey and Holly had both talked to the student body to ask that they all do their best to present a positive image at all times.

The third week after the incident with Jennifer and Kelli a few things happened that cast a shadow over the girls lives. The first incident happened to Emily Decker, one of the 'younger' Sutton girls who was walking home from the public library after doing some research for a paper in her freshman American history class. It had not been too difficult to find what she was looking for. Her paper was on the Kent State incident where four student protesters had been shot by the National Guard. She had been going to high school in Cleveland where her dad worked as an auto mechanic at the time. She remembered the incident quite clearly.

As Emily made her way down Dubois Street a pickup truck had cruised up slowly behind her. She had glanced over her shoulder sensing that something was not normal just in time to get hit in the forehead by one of the eggs the boys in the back had begun to hurl at her. The truck accelerated off after the boys had shouted obscenities at her and emphasized that her kind weren't wanted.

The next incident happened at the local Hardees. Several girls from school were getting a snack on Saturday afternoon when a girl from town 'accidentally tripped' mashing a full condiment cup of ketchup into Brittney Armstrong's blond hair. It was obvious that the girl had hoped to provoke an incident when she yelled at Brittney for being in the way. She had not considered that Brittney wouldn't play along. Instead of confronting her Brittney had began apologizing in a sugary sweet voice for having gotten her hair in the way. Apparently the look on the girls face had been quite comical as Brittney's apologies had gotten ever more ridiculous. It was later confirmed that the town girl was a cousin of one of the boys from the Jennifer incident.

The next malicious attack came when Kelli and Leanne had been walking to Jennifer's house. Jennifer had finally got her car back and they had planned to go to Walmart together. On the way a car passed then and whipped into the next driveway. Kelli recognized the man who got out as one of the coaches that had glared at her at the Chuck Wagon a few weeks before.

"I hope that you are pleased with yourself, little missy. You have pretty much ruined those boys' chances at a scholarship with your antics. Does that make you happy?"

"I didn't cause anything," Kelly said. "They were the ones assaulting Jen. They were the ones that vandalized her car and were dumb enough to get caught. All I did was..."

"Was to sucker punch a couple of them. You may think you are hot shit but those boys families have friends on the city council and I think that things are going to tough over at the orphanage. Y'all are either going to learn your place or get run out of town."

She was pissed now. "That it? You done now? If so get your lard butt off of the sidewalk. We've got stuff to do."

"You watch that mouth or someone's gonna shut it for ya."

"Come on Kelli," Leanne said taking Kelli's hand. "Let's go. He is not worth the trouble."

The two girls had then jogged around Coach Daniels and continued to keep the pace until he was out of site. Once at Jennifer's house they had immediately called the school and talked to Hailey before continuing with their plans for the day.

For her part Hailey was alarmed that an adult had become actively involved in the harassment of her students. After she was done speaking with the two girls she proceeded to Holly's office to discuss options.

"Got a minute?" Hailey said from the doorway.

"Grab a seat. What's up?" Holly said

After briefing Holly on the latest developments Hailey asked if she could see any ways to defuse the situation.

"I think that we should continue doing what we have been doing and see what the girls do. It's not like they are actually a bunch of teens with no real life experience. I imagine that within a few days they will be coming to us asking for support for their own solution. Remember part of why we chose these people was because they were all outsiders who were longing to truly belong to something bigger than themselves. They have already started to gel as a group and I am interested to see what they do."