Cameron nodded vaguely. She was determined not to look at Oliver.

Must. Try. Not. To.

Gah. It was hard.

He didn't have to be dang gangly and curly haired and attractive attention-catching.

Hmph.

"I'd find you were very interesting, yes. I'm sure." And she wasn't even the slightest bit sarcastic there. Speaking of sarcsatic.. she glanced over at the Slytherin and sighed. He was close to blondey. Did he know she had a boyfriend?

She took his hand with her usual lop-sided smile and nodded. At least now that he knew she was a dud at the thing he wouldn't expect anything magnificent. "Awkay.. so don't you go in a sort of box shape?" Her face was screwed up in thought, she kinda maybe remembered watching this on tv. "And then you turn?" Right.. now to put method into madness.. er practice.

She'd been picking up the steps (er.. if you could call it that) when she saw a very outlandish Oliver and Brody swing by them. They were close - closer than need be and Cameron sighed annoyedly. This was no use. She was a hopeless dancer - and she was being shown up by Twitchy!Boy. This was horrible.

"Why did I come to this stupid thing?"

Twirrrlll. Why didn't one have to twirl and be crazeh, throughout a waltz? Gold liked funky dances. The more insane, the better. Well, not insane. Maybe it was that she liked the fun element best. She did not have to make much of an effort to be a graceful dancer, but she would much, much rather be only happy.

Yep.

She looked up, when Chris cleared his throat. She had gotten used to the fact that he was still learning and, frankly, did not actually mind. Which was exactly why, when he looked down at her in that purposeful way, she wondered what he was thinking of. Maybe he was having trouble with the dance? "Chris, is everything -" EH?

AWWW.

"I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, be adorable enough to make me do something that will cause Professor Vindictus to kick me out?" She chuckled. Turn, turn. "'Course, Chris. I'd love to, as long as you make sure you smell like you usually do, and not of garlic."

She stuck her tongue out at him, in a moment of total immaturity. But that was alright. Gold liked being silly, around Chris.

"Nice to meet you," Simon replied politely once introductions had been passed between them as they continued to dance. He was getting a handle of things allowing him and in turn his partner to gradually increase the pace till it was at the correct tempo.

"Uh huh I do," he answered just barely keeping himself from nodding in answer instead of verbally and messing up his concentration. "And that's probably because I'm the low key member of the pair of us Gryffindors," Simon explained added quietly to himself The one who stays out of mischief or at least manages to keep from getting caught.

Arya grined, now she had to see Sabel dancing. Cause she knew that it would be entertaining. Glancing at his slippers as well, she thought about him wearing them to the ball. "So long as they match your dress robes. I think black would be good." She mused. "Unless your gonna go for some crazy colored robes."

Aiden laughed aloud at her answer to him. "All right, good response. Although you are strange in your own ways, and you know it. You're the one obsessed with the lake." Hah!

Aha. Finally. He convinced the girl to actually go to the ball. He knew that she'd thank him for it eventually. "Good. Because Hogwarts really doesn't have balls all that often, from what I hear. And if you missed out, you'd totally regret it later." How did he know this? Because. He knew Rhea.

Not being able to help the laugh again, Evelyn shook her head before looking back at him. What was with Gryffindors and making her laugh? Whether it be because they actually said or did something funny, or she just could believe what they were doing, the Gryffies were actually too amusing to not smile at. "You should teach Josh to be a little more discreet. Being as loud as he is isn't all that great sometimes." she said, a little chuckle escaping her before she turned silent again. However, the small smile was still on her face.

Hmm, not that she wanted Josh to change or anything, but it would be nice to hang out every once in awhile since he wouldn't be in trouble all that often then. Finally noticing the increase in pace that they were going on, she almost forgot for a moment that they were dancing. Or...waltzing. Whatever you wanted to call it. A little more faster and they'd be at the right tempo that the music was going at. "You aren't half bad at dancing." she muttered quietly before glancing at Destiny. Hmm, and why did she say that? Well, no injuries as of yet...

Xylon's hazel eyes flickered. He hated it when she did not take care of herself. "I've told you once before that I'm not here to run your life," he said quietly. He knew she did not take pleasantly to that ---- and he had no plans to try that either. She was her own boss. "But there's something I want to say, Rae. If you get hurt, I get hurt. Even if an injury doesn't mean much to you, it does to me."

Falling silent, he gently led her to the dance floor. One, two, three. Then back to step one. But his mind wasn't on the dance any longer.

Interesting story. A school for pureblood boys, Head Boy going mad and burning it down, and that was the reason Kellen was at Hogwarts. "Wow, I'm sure the Head Boy went immediately to jail after that, for like...forever..." Imagine a person like that attending another school...Shivers ran down Annie spine. "Hmmm, nope...I came here for my fourth year after being homeschooled with dad, but he got a job in the Spanish Ministry of Magic, so...he no longer had time to teach me...and I ended up here." Which made Annie glad, yes...but also made her miss her home, Cordoba.

Haha. "Yes, lots of giggles and fun. Those are the only girly times I share with my dad, because the rest of my life has been dedicated to...soccer." No other thing you could find about Annie's life that wasn't soccer, except since she came to Hogwarts, because Drew was one of the most important and wonderful persons that came into her life since then. Following Kellen as they danced, she tried to count her footsteps too. And then...step on the foot.

"I'm sorry..." She twitched her mouth. She knew this wasn't a good idea, but well...she was there.


And then, the boyfriend appeared. GREAT. "And here I present to you, my boyfriend, Andrew Sparks...not the guy you thought was my boyfriend." She addressed to Kellen then smiled to Drew.

And there she was hoping to be let go or at least have a polite way from Kellen to say that he was still doing his time dancing with Annie. Something that would probably bother Drew, but oh wells...he was late.

Simon couldn't help returning her laughter in kind especially as Evelyn suggested he teach Josh a thing or two. "I'll have to keep that in mind," he mused as the slytherin laughed once more though quieter this time giving the young man the impression that his partner had certainly relaxed from the point she had been when he first asked her to dance. He too wasn't as tense or nervous as he had been previously which might have had to do with being distracted by the casual conversation.

"Why thank you," he replied managing a smile at her for her compliment. He had to admit it wasn't what he had expected out of his efforts when he had first made his way down to the lessons. "You aren't bad yourself," Simon said returning the compliment. "But then I hadn't asked you how you were at dancing before we started."

Theo glanced over in the direction gestured by her head. He couldn't really see this 'Evan' but he nodded anyway. "I see..." He took another glance over at the gaggle of guys and girls. Was that him? He seemed to be the only Slytherin in that direction. "[b]Well did you wanna go dance with him? I mean I appreciate you tolerating my" Theo stopped, bringing his hands up and making quotation marks as he continued, ""dancing". But I don't want to keep you from dancing with who you wanna dance with."

Ahhh! "I know.. I know that.... It's just..... It's only a broken wrist." Rae was filled with silent panic. Not like she was already panicking inside, then he said that whatever injuries she had hurts him too.. Now the expression was on her face. She didn't want to hurt him, that was the last thing she wanted to do! "I'm used to doing things myself.. When i'm not at school, I have no choice but to do things on my own, and so when I am at school, it would feel weird if I had someone tend to me... Honestly, it doesn't hurt... I got used to the pain last time it was broken so i can barely feel it now.." Rae stopped rambling.. She told a small lie, it did hurt at times but she really was used to most of the pain. Pressure on her wrist made it hurt bad, but it would heal in a few months.

Rae followed him to the dance floor and tried to keep up with what he was doing, but she was still silently panicking inside.

Xylon was silent. Only a broken wrist? He was going to break his wrists one of these days, and tell her she needn't worry. That it was only a broken wrist. Could she take that calmly? Maybe she would. He did not disagree that she could take care of herself. For sure she could. But the point remained. No matter what she had to say in her own defense, it hurt him to know that she wasn't letting anyone tend to an injury.

Quiet, he turned into the next step, continuing to lead the dance which he still could not focus on.

Mina smiled softly as she rested her free hand on his shoulder. She hadn't ever really danced with a partner, aside from in her ballet lesson. But those were different from what they were doing now. "That's okay, we can kind of learn together." she replied with a smile. "I know very little, but I'm sure between the two of us, we could work something out." She didn't think much of it though, she did trust Evan not to step on her toes.

When he kept seeing her look elsewhere, he raised his brow. Something really seemed to be getting to her. He turned his head slightly, and smirked at what he saw. She was casting glances at Oliver and Brody.

You like him, don't you? Oliver, I mean." Because the look on her face told him that she was jealous. "You're jealous of Brody, but you don't need to be." Because he likes you now. He knew that this thing with Cameron was bigger than his crush on Brody. He knew just by the way Oliver had talked about her. And that's why he felt bad about being Cameron's partner.

"That's right," he added moving on. "We're supposed to get closer too. But we don't have to." Some people wouldn't really like that and he didn't want to risk making her uncomfortable.

"Just don't step on my toes, and we will be okay." Yep. He really didn't want her to hurt his feet.

Patroclus was still without a partner, all the girls he knew were now taken. So he stood there laughing at his own misfortune. Maybe there was someone who would be like him, Partner-Less!
The other couples all seemed to be picking up the steps, and enjoying themselves. If only he thought to himself

Simon smiled. "Well okay then." Simon laughed as he looked at Delilah, he hoped she would like Dancing, he did unless he was forced to dance with someone he didn't know. "Right I think it's a slow waltz we are doing to begin with." Simon knew this dance. "Well we hold our hands like this." Simon took her hand and put them up in the sky. "And now you put your hand around my shoulder and I put my hand on your waist if it's okay with you?"

Cameron had been busily staring at Oliver making sure she was doing the right steps when Torin spoke.
"WHAT?" She spluttered and then lowered her voice when people stopped to turn and stare. "I mean.. nuuuuuuuu, I don't like him" *anxious laugh* "I mean, sure we're friends and all but uhh.." But he continued, telling her she was jealous and she raised an eyebrow.
"I hardly think I'm jealous of your girlfriend dancing with my boy.. I mean.. friend.. that's a boy." Now, that was awkward.
"What are you, cupid or something?" Going on the defensive always helped ones case, didn't it? Neither were her flaming cheeks.

She pouted looking very much like a stroppy, highly dramatised version of Oliver's and sighed.

"Oh.." But she took a step closer anyway. She was kinda getting it and her rigid, awakrd posture released slightly and she looked a tad more comfortable. Her cheeks even decreased their voltage and returned to a more normal pinkish colour.
"I'll try," She mumbled with a small smile as he asked her not to step on his feet. She wasn't clumsy just a little unco-ordinated.

And her outburst told him all that he needed to know, really. "It's okay, really. You don't need to deny it." Because he feels the same way... He was so tempted to tell her about Oliver's crush, but he wouldn't. Oliver was his friend now, and he wouldn't do that to him. It was his job to tell her that himself.

A smile crossed his lips as she called Oliver her boy. And the red cheeks didn't help matters much. "I know what it's like to be confused," he told her. He could see that she was confused and in denial about Oliver. He had been confused about Brody at the time that he was with Alex and thought that he loved her.

And at least she was sorta getting the dancing now. They were doing pretty good at it even though it was weird holding Cameron close to him. Wasn't as if he didn't like the girl, but they weren't exactly friends or anything.

"You're doing pretty well so far." She was just a beginner after all. Glancing over at Brody and Oliver, he could see that they were doing better.

Cameron's eyes hit the floor as Torin saw right through her outburst. Hmph.
"Deny what?" Oh lordy.. and the denial continued.

0_______________o

Confused? Confused? CONFUSED?

She wasn't confused.. merely delusional of sorts. She didn't like Oliver. That was pish posh. Hehe...
"You do? Was said person that was causing your confusion an utterly crazy - I mean when I say that it means something - boy who is lucky to have his head screwed on the right way?" No, she didn't think so.

"I hate this," She mumbled honestly. "It just happened so quickly! And I don't know what to do with the.. emotion." Gargh.

She cast Torin an apologetic glance. He didn't really need to get snaked into all of this.

Frowning self-consciously as she appraised her she mumbled a quick thanks and glanced at Oliver as they practically paraded across the room.
Smirking in her usual fashion, she shrugged, "At least I haven't stepped on your feet yet.."

Eh.. spoke too soon.

It was good that... his being taller didn't make this more difficult. Because Raiden already had no idea what he was doing. He watched those around them again, trying to... figure out how this worked.

"I think it's... back one step," he said quietly, stepping back and not letting go of her, "and then... side?"

...Spinning would be easier. They should really just have done that. Raiden wrinkled his nose and looked down at Destiny.

"Sorry. You'd think... I'd know how to do something like this by now."

Finally out of trouble. And he was, this time, going to stay out of it. He had already been into enough. Plus what trouble would dancing bring to him except making a girl accidentally fall in love with him. And that was not his problem. Hehehehe.

Standing at a corner with a huge grin on his face Joshua watched the other students dancing arounf for a couple of minutes. They looked funny and with all dress robes they were going to be funnier at the ball. Teehee. Then his eyes searched Evelyn and once they spotted her the Gryffindor figured that she was taken dancing with someone else, with Simon Riley. Ok, Simon was ok. There was no need to hex him.

So, he started to look for another girl and hopefully he spotted a partnerless Ravenclaw girl at another corner. Approaching at her Josh grinned ''Hello there. Would you like to dance and have fun with Joshua, the master of dancing.'' hehe.

ooc: are they moving around the floor? Or staying in one spot, like a box.

Seriously wishing that the Professor change the song since, well this one was just horrible, the Slytherin decided it just be better to pay attention to the conversation and...everything else. "Thank you." she said, smiling back at him from the compliment. "I hope so, or else those lessons at home will have gone to waste."

However, wouldn't her parents be pleased that she did something right for once.

But her attention was suddenly diverted from Simon, and moved to someone to the side. She had been hoping to get another glance at Destiny and Raiden since it was juuuuust too funny, but her eyes landed instead on a familiar batch of dark brown hair.

Josh was here? And he was asking some random girl...

Frowning, Evelyn turned herself and Simon so she had a good view of both Josh and, who supposedly was a Ravenclaw girl, according to her uniform at least. Pfft. Ravenclaw girl. The girl had far too many wrinkles in her outfit. Why in the world would Josh choose her, hmm?

Grayson had started to think she would manage to stay hidden. Especially since, as far as she knew, Demarcus was the only one who even knew she was in the room and she had a feeling he wasn't about to start dancing either. So maybe she wouldn't be forced to learn the icky waltz that Professor Vindictus was teaching them. There had to be different types of dancing at the actual ball, or else she definitely was going to have to find some other way of occupying herself there. Since she wasn't about to not go, not when she was on one of the planning committees. But then she heard a voice, and blinked before her green eyes widened as she realized someone had actually found her. And was asking her to dance. Oh well. At least he'd mentioned a key word, in her mind. Fun. While she couldn't fathom how waltzing could be fun, maybe Gryffindor boy was someone who wasn't going to stick with what they were supposed to be doing. She could always hope.

"Hi," she said as she resigned herself to at least finding out what he meant. She could always find some way to get out of it if things were too weird. "Um, okay." She just had to hope she wasn't too hopeless. And then she got distracted as she sensed someone watching her. Or possibly the boy, she couldn't tell, but after all her troublemaking she knew when someone was watching. Glancing around, she saw a girl looking at them. A Slytherin she both remembered from classes and from the decorations committee. "I think someone has a problem," she commented to the Gryffindor. Maybe he knew more about her. Or maybe pointing her out would enable her to extract herself.

Marie giggled when Carter said he had done a rain dance. "Really, a rain dance, did it work... did you actually make it rain?" Aww, he was embarrassed. "You don't have to be embarrassed. Even though it was just a rain dance you have still done more dancing than I have." Yep it's true. Marie had never danced before. She had never felt the urge to dance, especially not to the type of music that was playing now.

Looking back at Destiny and Raiden again she laughed some more before turning back to Carter. "Aww, I hope your cooties don't expire, I kinda like them," she said teasing him.

Okay, so now it was time to start dancing. She held onto his hand then put her other hand on his shoulder. She looked around to see if that's what everyone else was doing. Yep. Now onto the hard part... actaully moving. "Why I would be delighted to follow your steps," she said smiling at him thankful she wasn't the one that had to do the leading here. 'Please don't let me step on his feet,' she thought as they started to move.

"Good" Abbi nodded, no girlfriend. CHECK. And if he wasn't as good as her then they should be not good together...ehh? She found her self in his arms in a matter of seconds. She was never that close to boys, plus, it felt awkward. "Ehh" she said not really sure of what the answer to that question was. Yes? No?

"Yeah it's okay" she guessed, just as long as he didn't come any closer, she placed her free hand on his shoulder and nodded, "You take lead yeah?" she asked not sure how about to go.