Oh, sweet Merlin!

Carter was HOPELESS! Sure, he was dancing, but he was doing the chicken dance, so his flapping had to be perfect. He must have forgotten. But, instead of reminding him, Destiny simply kept flapping her wing arms, trying to show him the correct way. Still, he was hopeless.

Her eyebrows raised in surprise to his question. He didn't..know? What? Was he born under a ROCK or something!? Destiny's flapping ceased, and a smile grew on her face. It was time for a history lesson! "Well, you see, when the dance first came out, it was known as 'The Duck Dance'. I'm not too familiar with ducks, but I'm guessing the claps in the song are meant to be the duck's quack. Anyway, a very long, long time ago." This is where she felt the story got good. "A band from Germany played the song, and wanted to do the dance in full costume. Unfortunately, they could not find a duck costume, but found a chicken one. From that day forward, the dance has been known as 'The Chicken Dance'! Interesting, huh?"

And just like that, she began flapping again. "Put your elbows into it!"

The side of Paulie's mouth quirked in a sort of half-grin. "Abs, huh? Oh yep, that's right, Tor. Six pack!" Heh. Well, not exaaactly. Everyone's tummy got all tight and stuff when someone POKED it. Or tickled it, or whatever. But he was very willing to go with the abs idea.

Not crazy, as if! But he just smirked and decided not to protest. She WAS crazy, though. He let her put his hands to the specific locations they were supposed to go, and soon enough they were ready to go. Right as she said 'follow, she zoomed off not only at a super fast pace, but also in the complete opposite direction that he somewhat knew! Hence, it came as no surprise to him that he bumped his back into the couple behind him, then proceeded to tighten his grip on Tori as he narrowly escaped making them both fall. "Tori!" He tried to hasten his steps and get onto the right foot. "I'm gonna mess up; I'm just warning you."

Carter blinked. "Wow Destiny. Just wow." he said completely astonished. "You read those" Useless "Random Fact books, don't you?" Either that of she had the most in depth set of encyclopedias in the world...

And he did happen to think it was interesting.

Alright. And now she was back to flapping. "You know... the other moves are going to start feeling left out if you keep just doing that one." he commented. Really he was just beginning to worry that the girl might pop her shoulder out of place. He'd never ever seen anything flap so much.

But just for added measure he decided to do a perfectly executed arm flap. Yes, he put his elbows into it. "That better?" he asked. She could stop demonstrating now, right? He glanced at her arm. It seemed to still be working properly.

And now that they'd been doing the flapping part for so long he nearly forgot the next move. Oh right. A shake. And shake he did. And then he clapped.

"I think I'm gonna need to see that to believe that," Tori informed Paulie, smirking a bit as her gaze trailed up from his alleged abs to his cute face. "Yes?"

Yes. What the princess wanted, she got.

When they almost bumped into another couple, Tori just laaaaaaughed. Yeah, she was bad, but she was also perfectly good at it! She grabbed Paulie's hand and made him spin her out in a pretty little circle, giggling all the while. "C'mon, Paulie, quit worrying! Let's TWIRL!!!!!!!!!!!"

Would you LOOK at that?

Carter was AMAZED at her extensive knowledge of the chicken dance, Destiny could tell. And one didn't say wow when they were displeased. Or..whatever the opposite of astonished was. She wasn't a thesaurus after all! Grinning, she nodded her head and rocked back on her heels, quite proud of herself. "They're not random. There are books about everything!" Merlin, when was the last time he stepped into the library? She should drag him in there one day. Maybe he would actually learn something.

She could make him learn the history behind potatoes. He would probably like that.

And good! He was FINALLY doing the dance the right way. He no longer looked like a chicken without his head. Still though, she was much better at it than he was. But she wouldn't say that. "Good job!" she exclaimed, and doing the whole dance one more time, she finally stopped. Was he done? Hopefully.

"Let's go do something else."

"Apparently." Carter said with a chuckle. Apparently there weren't only books about normal everything, but literally everything everything. Like the chicken dance. "So... were you researching the chicken dance when you came across that information?" he asked curiously. Either way that was bound to be a good story.

He let out a sigh of relief after her compliment and suggestion to try something else. He'd gotten bored a few handfuls of cycles ago. The chicken dance was way too repetitive.

"Yes!" he said promptly. "What do you want to do?" He hoped it was try a crepe... because that's what he wanted to do.

Researching?

Sweet Merlin, was that what she was doing? The thought of her actually studying gave her the shivers, but the chicken dance was part of her heritage, she needed to know that kind of stuff. Which turned out to be not really a part of her heritage, since it kind of got it's name by accident. Oh well. It was still her favorite dance. "It's a long story and I'd rather not get into it. But, I can lend you the book if you want to read about it." She so knew he did. She should talk to the Muggle Studies Professor also, ask her to do a whole class about the history of those dances.

She made a mental note to go and do that later.

A grin made it's way onto her face at his enthusiasm for doing something else. She just didn't know what else there was to do. Didn't he organize the thing? He should be the one deciding! But, she had noticed him glancing at the food table, so grabbing the sleeve of his shirt, she began pulling him over towards it. "We'll decide what to do over by the chocolate fountain. Chocolate always gives me the best ideas."

What, she wanted proof right meowwwwww? Uhhh.. "But we're dancing right now, and my shirt's tucked in, so if I take it out, it'll mess it up and stuff." Paulie was full of excuses, even though somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew Tori would get her way. She was so good at that!

Quit worrying, quit worrying?!?! ..Okay, maybe he was being rather worrisome. She did do that twirly thing really well, though, and she even made him look good while doing it/ "Wow, impressive." He lifted her hand up again and tried making her twirl reeaally fast so then she'd get dizzy and he could laugh at with her. "All right, go faster! Like.. like you're a tornado or something!"

"Oh psssshtosssssh," Tori snorted, her eyes darting to Paulie's shirt and back to his face. "Not right now, I guess, but later. Later. Like, when it's warm out and stuff, you can take me swimming in the lake! Mmkay?!" Yes, she was making date plans for them, and this was a darn good one. Anything that allowed her to stare at pretty Paulie without a shirt on was a good plan in her book!

Eeeeeee! "Faster?!" Tori squeaked, spinning so fast she could hardly see what was going by. "No, you spin with me! Gemme your hands!!!!!!" Tori managed to halt herself and grab Paulie. Dizzy as she was, she was determined to make him sick spin too! Titanic style!

Hmmmm, swimming in the lake did sound like fun, even if that was a little far off from now. Sorta. "Okay, deal," Paulie nodded. This also meant that HE got to see Tori in a swimsuit.

Huh? Spin with her, how? Though Paulie didn't question her, but instead just did as she told him to and gave her his hands, and a second later they were spinning around and around and around. He'd never really done this before, and he laughed as he felt himself getting dizzy and disoriented - not that this stopped his feet from moving. It was actually going to be pretty hard stopping all this momentum. "Sheesh, all I can see is you!" Everything else was just real blurry and swishy and he didn't even consider the fact that they might plow into another couple any second now.

Oh. Thank. God.

Violet was laughing. Laughing! He'd missed laughter between the two. For about six entire months, it was avoiding one another at all costs, and for another whole month, it was awkwardly prentending the other was invisible. They were so stubborn.

He bit his lower lip, so glad she wasn't going to yell at him or get all offended or tell him to die or anything. It was a relief.

Glancing about the place for a short second, feeling quite less awkward and a tad more confident, Christopher blurted out with out thinking, "Do you want to talk? About this?"

The minute the words left his mouth, Christopher's eyes widen and his mouth snapped shut. He was actually shocked he'd taken such control. Just a few minutes ago he was contemplating pulling a classic getaway from a cheesy movie and yelling, 'Look, over there!' and darting away as Violet turned to see what he was pointing at. It must've been the impulsive Gryffindor in him. He was fifteen after all, and he was beginning to be a little less shy and grow out of his shell. Be outgoing. Take charge.

A little.

There were a lot of things that did need to be adressed, thought, so perhaps he would accomplish something here. Or be slapped again. Hopefully not slapped again.

"Awesome," Tori beamed, happy now, though she wasn't even thinking that Paulie would be seeing HER in a bathing suit too, since it was a two-way street like that.... uhhhhhhh........

Tori giggled and screamed like mad as they spun faster and faster. Man, Paulie was a good spinner! EEEEEEEEE! "I ONNNNNNLYYYY SEE YOUUUUHOOHOO TOOOO!" she laughed. "PAULIE! SLOW US DOWNNNNNNNNNN!"

Or else there was going to be some flying vomit everywhere....heh.

Violet was extremely relieved that the tension between them was finally beginning to fade. And she couldn't be happier. Violet truly missed him even if she was too afraid to admit it, she missed talking to him, holding his hand, his arms around her, their long conversations...just them in general.

She then began to wonder how they would patch things up now that they were on speaking terms. That was a question that no one had the answer to....at least not right now. And she was going to be very patient until that moment was found.

While Chris glanced around for a bit, but this time he didn't look completely awkward this time, there was a more sense of strength in him. And that was proven when he suddenly blurted out asking if she wanted to talk about...the situation.

That was when Violet's heart skipped a bit, and she was completely taken by surprise by that random question. She said awkwardly,"Um.." Violet was going to tell him that maybe tonight wasn't the right place for them to discuss such a topic, but then she realized, that would be such a Violet thing to do, avoid the topic and try to pretend it didn't happen. And that was what Violet wasn't trying to do anymore, she was no longer going to run away from conversations she was afraid to talk about. She was not going to run.

Violet then looked him in the eyes and smiled saying,"You know what, that would be just fine.." She then asked,"Maybe we can go discuss this off of the dance floor?" Violet smiled again and gave him a light nod. "But it's your choice really.."

'Um..'

Oh God... Oh no.... This could NOT be happening.... Not now! Why now?

Why did he have to go and open his mouth? Things had just begun to lighten up- the tension was beginning to slip away. He was actually TALKING to her! For the first time in sixth months, he had an opportunity to slowly ease into making things right! But NOOO! Instead, he rushed right back into... whatever it was... fixing things. He couldn't believe he'd gone and ruined everything. Gah. Idiot boy!

But wait.... Hold on a moment. What was this? Was she actually agreeing? Was that a smile? Christopher's heart was racing, and the whole room might've been empty, or filled with zebras, or something completely mad like that. He wouldn't have noticed, he was to excited to be friends again. That was all he really needed. To be her friend.

"Yeah! Yes, of course!" he said excitedly, unable to contain himself. His happiness showed in his eyes. Grabbing her wrist, careful not to move too fast and actually hold her hand, he hightailed it to a table on the edge of the floor, pulled out a chair for her, sat her down, and practically ran to his chair, sitting down himself. She must've been confused, for her face showed it. From her eyes, he probably looked like a cartoon Tangled, when Rapunzel sat down Mother Gothel to tell her about the lights , as he sat her down to talk. But after a while he realized he didn't know what to say. They just sat there, in silence.

He didn't want it to become tense or awkward between them again, so he decided to try to start it out slow. Starting out slow always seemed like the better option whe fixing something. Especially a relationship where two people who used to be so close just gave up and parted ways. He had to be careful not to mess things up again. "Well.... Erm.... How've you been? It's been a long time." Sixth months to be exact. It felt like six years. He wanted to scream out about how he missed her and was sorry, and how he was sorry that they both stopped caring. He wondered what happened to the locket he'd given her. It had been the last thing he bought before the Skylar family gave him money. It was second hand and old, but he didn't have much at the time, and he thought she'd like it. She had worn it everyday. After she'd thrown it at his feet, and he kicked it into some bushes, it was probably now buried under a huge mound of dirt and ice. Just like their relationship. Now they just had to dig themselves out.

Violet could see that there was look of immediate embarrassment and frustration on his face after he had burst out asking if she wanted to talk about this. She couldn't help but smile at how awkward he was, just the way he always was when she first met him. It was one of the things she loved the most about him, made him different from the other boys.

She giggled a little after his reaction when she agreed to talk with him. Violet then looked down at her wrist as he was holding it and leading her towards a table. He must've made sure not to hold her hand for the both of them knew that would probably make the situation so much more awkward. But that was a good call on his part.

Violet smiled again when he pulled out a chair for her and then gasped a little bit when he sat her down. Then she watched him run to his chair and sit down. It was also like one of those things from a, oh what did Chris call it before, OH a movie! Yes! She felt like she were watching one those...movies happen right in front of her as Chris was darting back and forth. Before he finally sat down in his own seat and she giggled a little bit.

But of course....there was that awfully dreadful awkward silence that Violet loathed entirely. How were they even going to start this? That was always the hard part. Trying to get the conversation to begin. But thank goodness he spoke and she was relieved. Violet then said softly while nodding her head,"Well....I've been..goo-" she stopped and then corrected herself,"I mean...I've been alright..." But she didn't want to make the conversation go downhill too fast so she gave him a smile. Violet just wished that she could just admit how she was feeling to him. And how she just wanted to reach out and wrap her arms around him and tell him it's alright. She really hoped that he wasn't thinking that she didn't care about him at all, for she honestly did. Only because it had been 6 very long months it only made it seem like neither one of them cared about each other anymore. But Violet was very determined to prove that that wasn't the case at all. Violet then gave him another honest smile and asked,"What about you? How have you been doing Chris?" She then crossed her legs under her poofy skirt and then placed her hands gently on her lap, the fan closed under her little hands.

"No, Nikolas, I had absolutely no clue how to dance." Jade said sarcastically. Silly boy, of course she knew, but it was fun messing with him. She smiled back as he said he was glad that he was the whole package for her. It was true. At least overall this wasn't awkward, sure she was a bit shaky being so close to him, but she wasn't freaking out. Which was good, definitely good. At times though she felt that somebody needed to pinch her to see if this was true, because five years ago she would not have thought that this would ever happen between them.

The brunette was happy that she would be able to go to Hogsmeade with Nikolas, but then he mentioned it's name. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at Nikolas. It was good that he didn't go to meet the mean girl but still, it made her frustrated. "Oh," She said, her voice cracking, "what did you two talk about?" She was sure that the mean girl said something insulting about her. She always seemed too. "And with Jasper, I just told him that I wanted the whole thing off, which he agreed with. So now, it's completely over." She smiled, still a bit frustrated with the whole Selena mean girl situation.

She was... good?

Just... good?

Well.. that was a complete and utter disappointment. He felt his heart sink a little, and he couldn't help but feel (and probably look) even more uncomfortable. "Oh. Right. Good." He shifted his weight a little and stared down at the table. "I'd just thought.... because of the brown hair... that maybe...." He cut himself off, turning a little pink, embarassed of his thoughts. How could he be so naive? Thinking everything would turn out okay in the end. It was a bit too late for that, now, wasn't it?

When she asked how he was, he paused, and contemplated his answer very hard. Should he lie and play it cool? Should he tell her the truth and pour everything out to her? No. Neither would work- they'd only make things bad. He didn't want things to be bad. So he decided on a medium. A neutral, so to say. He compromised to only give away a small, simple thought of how he felt, not the whole thing, not nothing at all.

"I've been.... well, to be honest... not so great." He blinked, staring still at the table. "It's been..... a rough six months."

Christopher sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. The past six months weren't necessarily just rough. More... lonely than anything. Selina was constantly off with Kurumi and Gideon and that other Slytherin boy he didn't know, Violet hated him, his father was dead, his mother was who knows where, the Skylars were busy at work, Elyon was pratically mute.... He didn't have a clue where to turn! He was never good at making friends, but it had never proved to be much of a problem. The past six months, however, were the lonliest he'd ever felt. Except after the crash, but that was different.

Wanting to veer away from the sob stories and whole lonliness topic, Christopher shifted again, looking around the room, desperate for something to say. Anything to say, really! He rested his hands on the table, fiddling with his thumbs. Perhaps if fingers could talk, they would know what to say.

"Look... About this whole thing.... I.... I just.... I...." UGH. He couldn't find the words! Where were the words!? Why did they always have to disappear when he needed them most?

Now why would she try and pretend things were okay?

Clearly that was not it at all..

Violet bit her lower lip feeling terrible for not telling Chris how she was really doing these past 6 months. But before she could even take a breath to change her answer Chris spoke. She watched his posture and demeanor change a little and saw him stare at the table. Then he pointed out her brown hair but then he cut himself off and turned a little pink. She knew right away why.

After he had replied how was doing it basically tore Violet's heart apart. It actually made her a little shocked at first to hear him say he wasn't going so great. She thought he would have just forgotten about her and moved on, never wishing to speak to her again. And he would find some form of happiness. But she could see she wasn't the only one who was going through tough times. She couldn't help but feel like he was lonely.

Violet then watched his every movement, shifting, looking around the room, resting his hands on the table and fiddled with his thumbs. Then he began to speak and he was going to say something, but it seemed like the words wouldn't come out. It seemed like he was trying to find the words to speak and he was having the most difficult time doing so.

Violet then did what she didn't expect to do. She slowly reached out her hand and then gently placed it on top of his which caused him to stop nervously fiddling with his thumbs as he was. Then Violet took a deep breath and said slowly,"Chris...I wasn't being honest with you before...These past few months..." she paused,"have been very difficult...Almost too much for me to handle..And clearly for you as well.." Violet took a deep breath and said,"Now..the both of us know what we said a few months ago...And the both of us know that were wrong..."

She then said softly,"Which is why...I wanted to s-say..."

Violet could feel her emotions already beginning to take over her. Especially by the fact that since she wasn't just any ordinary witch, her emotions were heightened. Violet's eyes were beginning to fill with tears as they had after she danced at the gazebo...after her and Chris fought..after her and Chris broke up...after she threw her locket at his feet. Her other hand raised onto his and both of her hands were on his. She gave his hands a squeeze and she said a little chocked up,"I-I-I am s-s-s-so so-o-o sorry..." Violet shook her head as the tears began coming down her face. "I am so sorry Chris..." Her voice more shaky,"F-f-for ev-v-veryth-h-h-h-ing I s-s-s-said...I-I didn't mean a-a-any of it..."

WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH. What was happening?

Her hands were suddenly touching his, and he had absolutely no idea how to react. His first instinct would've been to whip his hands away from the table and into his pockets, but for some reason, they remained. Her hands were warm. They sent a shiver down his spine. He hadn't held her hand, let alone touched it, in months, and he kind of missed it. But whether or not if it was just a friendly gesture or something more, he felt like it was too soon. Too soon to just jump back into a relationship that was completely destroyed for half of a year.

He almost, pulled his away.

Until she apologized.

That just about changed everything.

Well he certainly hadn't been expecting that. He figured she'd just force him to apologize and he'd just go along with it and pretend that he didn't need an apology from her. But he did need one. And it seemed that he'd gotten one. But wait.... oh no.... She was crying. Why did girls cry so much!? It made him so uncomfortable, because he really had no idea what he was supposed to do to make it stop!

"Hey, hey!" he said soothingly, to his surprise. For the third time that night, he was letting instincts take over. It was sort of... brilliant. He squeezed her hands to let her know it would be okay, and let go. "Hey, don't cry.... Don't cry....

"Look, I'm sorry too. For all of it. But we can't just.. forget about it, and we can't take back a word we said. But we'll just have to start new. Right?" he gave her a reassuring nod, but no smile could come. It was too serious to just laugh off.

He swallowed and took a deep breath before continuing. "All of those things I said.... I can't believe I actually said them. They were cruel. They were mean, and they were wrong. I want you to know that that is not me. That's not who I am and I can't even begin to express how sorry I am. Because I think you're more than just a pretty face. You're more than that, Violet. You're one of the nicest people I have ever met, and I'm so sorry I said you had no personality. I....... I'm sorry I called you inhuman.

"But I can't take it back. Any of it. I can't reverse it, as much as I'd love to. But if you're willing to, we can move on, and know how to use this experience in the future and learn from it. I want us to be friends again. The past six months have been horrible. I never knew how lonely I could feel. In the past.... I've lost just about everyone I love, and I don't want to lose you too. You're one of my best friends. I want things to go back to the way they were. Does that..... does that sound...... okay?"

Christopher bit his tongue, still wondering where all of this courage was coming from. He was feeling like a true lion right now. Even though he didn't get out half of what he wanted to say, and things came out all wrong to him, it was something. It was a start.