4. Dancing: Who's dancing and why are they tapping those toes?

The Great Challenge

"So..."

"Yes?"

"The school dance is coming up."

"Yup."

"Would you, um, go with me?"

"Let me think about it... no!" Liam shouted, grinning broadly with his unfairly perfect teeth.

"What was wrong with that?" Jackson protested, looking around at the pained expressions of his friends. "That was good. She'll say yes to that."

Ken stood up, shaking his head in mournful disappointment. "Jackson, Jackson... You have much to learn."*

Jackson's shoulders drooped. "I thought that was good," he repeated, but without ethusiasm.

"Look, man," Ken advised, placing his hand on Jackson's shoulder. "When you ask a girl to go to a dance with you, you have to sound like she should want to go. You have to sound confident."

Jackson glared at his friend. Ken was one of those dudes that made girls chase him. He was that "tall, dark, and handsome" type. It was easy for Ken to say. Jackson, who was blonde and still looked like a little kid, had never been confident.

Liam, who had played the part of the girl Jackson was attempting to ask out, joined in. "Yeah, if you think you're a great dance date, other people will start to, too."

Andy, who had observed the whole scene in mock rapture, suddenly stood up and reverted to his usual troublemaker manner. "I think Jackson needs to do something with a little more pizazz. If I was asking a girl out, I wouldn't ask her."

The other three boys looked at Andy.

"What would you do then?" Ken asked patiently, used to Andy's wierd comments.

"I would do it through interpretive dance," Andy said frankly.

Ken looked at him for a moment, then turned away and said briskly, "Okay, now we can move on. What are yo--"

Andy shoved his way in between Jackson and Ken. "Wait, don't you want to see the routine I'll use? I got it from Dance Moms."

Ken heaved a sigh. It was always best to let Andy run his course. Interrupting him never ended well -- Ken's fingernails were still had traces of blue dye on them. He walked over to the ratty fouton in Liam's garage and plopped down.

"Go on," he said resignedly.

Andy shooed Liam and Jackson away. "The master needs room to move," he said.

Jackson wished he had Andy's confidence. Andy wasn't afraid to make a fool of himself. He seemed to enjoy it, even. Actually, maybe Jackson didn't want to be like Andy, who was a bit overconfident.

"I call this: Love Stretching," Andy announced, and preceded to messily recreate a dance. Knowing Andy, it probably was a legitimate routine. Andy had no shame in admitting he liked Dance Moms. But then, Andy had no shame even when he replaced the Alabama flag at school with a picture of him sitting on Santa's lap and freaking out when he was twelve.

"You know, I can't dance either," Jackson admitted. That was probably a problem, if he was going to ask someone to a dance.

Andy stopped in the middle of a ballerina-like pose. His eyes lit up and Jackson felt a distinct dread. That look on Andy's face never meant a relaxing, peaceful time was heading your way.

"Liam, have you got a glove?" Andy asked.

Liam lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh, I've got a baseball glove," he said, glancing around the basement.

"That'll work," Andy decided, catching the weathered brown catcher's glove Liam tossed him. He didn't put it on, but walked deliberately over to Jackson, who eyed him warily.

"Hi," Jackson said.

Andy slapped Jackson's face with the glove. "I challenge you to a Just Dance duel," he announced.

Jackson leaned back. "Dude, what was that for?" hr grumbled.

Ken leapt up. "I'm game. I will own you clumsy fools," he bragged, looking ready to boogie his way into first place.

Liam shook his head furiously. "No. No, I refuse."

Andy was already turning the Wii U on, and passing out controllers. Jackson stared at his in revulsion, and not just because he didn't know which of these remotes was the one Liam barfed on a year ago after a roller coaster simulator became too "extreme" for him.

"C'mon, dude. Where's your confidence?" Andy taunted, holding out the Wii remote, grinning impishly up st Liam's frowning face.

Liam was silent a moment. "I hate you," he said calmly, but hd yanked the controller away.

"Group vote ln the song," Ken said, scrolling through the options. "That's not All About That Bass," he added.

"That's the best song on this game!" Liam said.

"Hey, Liam, what if someone comes down and sees us?" Jackson asked hesitantly. If he was going to ask out the most popular girl in school, he didn't knowledge of a Just Dance tournament getting out. "What if they think it's wierd?"

"Tell them to shove it, we're busy," Liam replied, as the song started and he was doing a very unattractive pop-and-lock move.

"Invite them to join," Ken answered.

Andy did a wild leap, unnecessarily high, and shouted, "What are we doing that's wierd?"

*

A/N: Take note of these characters...