32--SCHOOLING IN SKIRTS

"I don't know... I'm not that great a dancer." I didn't want to tell her how I had danced with the boys at the Halloween dance.

"Me neither, but it's pretty easy. Just stand in one place, move your feet a little, sway back and forth with the music, and let the guys play 'air guitar' around you. Between the guys making fools of themselves and the rest of the girls trying to fake it just like you, no one notices what anyone else is doing!"

"It's that easy?"

"Sure." She looked at me and shook her head. "Honestly, Danni, sometimes you act like you just dropped out of the sky. Didn't you learn how to dance SOMETIME during your first 17 years on this planet? I knew how to at least fake it by the middle of my freshman year!"

"Well ..." Think quickly, girl. "I didn't go to a lot of dances at MacArthur. I was kind of sick a lot the last few years."

"You've got to be kidding."

"No, really. You know how I don't take P.E." It wasn't the truth, but telling even the cover story would have seemed weird.

Chris gave me a skeptical look. "Well, you don't look too sick to go to the dance tonight. And since neither of us has a boyfriend, we can at least keep each other company while everyone else is enjoying themselves. You probably won't even HAVE to dance!"

Having no further valid excuses, I found myself sitting on the sidelines with Chris at the gym while the band played some awful rendition of a current hit song. Seeing all the guys in their jackets, ties, and slacks, I suddenly felt guilty about wearing a satin party dress and heels. (Did I REALLY used to dress like them?) My guilt was so overpowering that I must have turned down a dozen invitations to dance, some almost rudely.

I had pretty much concluded that this whole dance idea had been a total waste of time, when I noticed a cute, dark

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CONTEMPORARY TV FICTION -33

haired boy, about four or five inches taller than me, glancing at me, then looking away as soon as he saw me looking in his direction. I nudged Chris. "Who's that?" I asked her.

"Who? Oh, that's J.J.... Jeff Jackson. He's kind of shy," she answered. "You know, the kind of boy everyone tends to ignore. Why? Are you looking for a boyfriend?"

"No! ... I guess I'm just curious why he's looking at me so funny."

"Well, J.J.'s something of a loner. Too shy to stand up for his own rights, and as a result, pretty much by himself all the time."

I knew how he felt; he reminded me a little of the way I was back at MacArthur ... probably never had a girlfriend in his life... but what could I do? I wasn't even REALLY a girl! My thoughts were interrupted by Chris poking me in the arm. "I think J.J.'s gotten up the courage to ask you to dance!" She was right. He was coming across the room, stopping right in front of us.

"Uh, hi. Um, would you like to, uh, dance?" His shyness was painfully obvious... he was even worse than I had been as Danny! He asked knowing that I would turn him down.

"Gee, I really don't dance that well." Maybe a gentle brush-off would work. I had to at least try to be nice.

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"Uh, um, me neither I was just, you know, kind of wondering if, well, you might want to..." J.J.'s voice trailed off. He was obviously hurt by my attitude, and that made me feel really awful.

Just as he turned to walk away, I stood up and said, "Wait a minute... sure, I think it would be very nice if you danced with me."

We were probably the most perfectly mis-matched couple on the gym floor. I was trying to remember everything Chris had told me about how girls danced. How had I been so convincing on Halloween? My concentration was blown by the fact that J.J. was NOT playing 'air guitar' like