Derek thanked Mr. Jensen and walked out of the classroom and down the hall. He studied the cast list some more. Eric got the part of Chip, which was causing Baily to troll his voice. Baily got one of the three bimbette’s, and Jeff got Lumiere, which he was nervous about.

Derek shot off a text saying Jeff definitely had the singing voice, when he ran into someone.

“Oh, sorry.” He glanced up to see Nick, and smiled. “Oh, hey! How are you?”

“Good. Uh… good,” Nick said, glancing around.

Derek’s worry meter was going off. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine. Perfectly fine. I was… actually coming to find you. Rafael said you’d probably be around the theater department.”

“I am indeed. Sorry, had to check the cast list.” A worry trickled into his soul, and Derek knew it was unfounded, but it remained all the same. It was so weird to see Nick, because he’d seen Grizzizzik change into Nick. “Um… I hate to ask this, but… the sign?” Derek asked.

Nick smiled, then raised the modified obscene gesture.

“Thank you. I don’t mean any offense. I… saw Grizzizzik as you not too long ago and it-”

“Dude, I will never get offended. We made this to protect your sanity, whatever sanity is left. We are all happy and willing to protect those last two remaining braincells of yours,” Nick said.

Derek snorted. “Can’t argue with that.” He slid his phone back in his pocket. “So what did you need me for?”

“So, um… the ball is tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “Alejandra’s doing well. She made steady and constant eye contact with Evelyn while she talked about you. Incredible progress.”

“Good. Good.” Nick glanced at the student body before again at Derek. “I… don’t know… how to dance.”

Derek raised an eyebrow, but that was all he dare do. “I mean, this is a high school dance, not swing dance club. They don’t expect too much from the student body.”

“Okay, okay. Um… so what’s the thing high schoolers expect.”

Derek fought to keep the surprise off his face. At the same time, his heart gave a squeeze, and he bit his tongue to keep his insult at Walt in there.

“Right. No worries. It’ll take two minutes to teach you, then you can lead me to Rafael. Come on,” Derek said, motioning for Nick to follow him.

They walked to a less populated hallway. Derek wouldn’t have minded doing this in the middle of the hallway, but he doubted Nick would talk to him if he tried this. He took off his backpack, tossing it against the wall.

“Alright,” Derek said. “You be you, I’ll be Alejandra.”

“Uh, okay,” Nick said.

“It’s called the high school shuffle. You just place your hands on the girl’s waist, and the girl puts her hand on the shoulders,” Derek said, placing his hands on Nick’s shoulder.

Nick’s brow furrowed as he glanced at Derek’s arms keeping his arms folded. “Uh…”

“Yes, we’re practicing. Don’t worry about it. I’ll go through three simple steps to elevate your dancing experience,” Derek said.

“God, I hate you,” Nick muttered before unfolding his hands and slipping his backpack off, tossing it next to Derek’s. He then placed his hands on Derek’s waist.

Derek chuckled. That, more than anything, confirmed that this was indeed Nick. “See? And now we shuffle,” Derek said, moving back and forth. Nick moved back and forth too, but his gaze was mostly jumping around to make sure no one could see, which is why Derek found a less populated place to do this.

“Alright, so this is the easy one. For me, personally, I don’t like the easier one. I’m going with this bad boy,” Derek said, lifting one of his hands off Nick’s shoulder and holding it out. Nick glanced at it before once again glancing around before placing his corresponding hand in Derek’s, a Grizzizzik-like scowl on his face. There was something about making Nick uncomfortable in a completely safe environment that absolutely delighted Derek.

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“See? You’ve got the girl’s hand. Now you can spin her,” Derek said.

“’Scuse me?” Nick asked.

“Just let go of my waist and give me a spin. Go ahead,” Derek said.

A group of girls passed by, something Derek didn’t notice until Nick’s eyes closed and he started chewing on an insult that Nick was no doubt trying to break down into smaller bits to slip out more civilly.

Once the girls had passed, Nick gave Derek a quick spin, his lips disappearing. “I’m assuming that’s it?”

“Final thing is to teach you how to dip Alejandra,” Derek said.

Nick’s eyes widened. “Uh, wait-”

It was too late. Derek already gripped Nick’s hand, gave him a spin before using his arm to brace him before grabbing his shoulder and dipping his friend before bringing him back up. Nick had his eyes closed the entire time, and Derek was quite sure that he’d get a glimpse of a Grizzizzik glare if he opened them.

“God, I hate you,” Nick mumbled.

“Love you too, bro,” Derek said, patting his shoulder.

“I… do not understand you,” Nick said, rubbing his furrowed brows to make the Grizzizzik glare slip away before he opened his eyes.

“You’re not supposed to. It’s the joy of being friends with a theater kid. Come on. Try dipping me,” Derek said.

Nick dropped his hands and moved to grab his backpack. “I think I got a taste of the torture I put Grizzizzik through by having him help Milo in the lab.”

“Oh, undoubtably. Another month or two, and Grizzizzik will be a shining member of society,” Derek said.

Nick snorted as Derek grabbed his bag and followed after him.

“Right. Well…” Nick trailed off, walking fast. “You… wanted to see Rafael?”

“Yeah. I want to work out with him because I want to see if I can grow any muscles in three months when I play Gaston.” Derek tried to flex his arms. He wasn’t necessarily boney, but he didn’t have much to work with, either.

“Oh, you’ve got the part?” Nick asked.

“I did, yeah.”

“Hey, congrats,” Nick said as Rafael came into view, leaning against a wall, waiting.

“Yeah, I’m super excited,” Derek said as Rafael glanced up at them. “Hey, my teacher is going to talk to your old coaches. I want to start weight training.”

Rafael blinked. “Uh… okay?”

“He got the part of Gaston,” Nick said.

“Oh, hey. That’s great!” Rafael said.

“So I want to see what kind of muscles I can grow in three months,” Derek said, flexing again.

Which again caused Rafael to blink. “I mean… okay?”

Derek snorted. “Don’t worry, Mr. Jensen’s already assured me there is no pressure. There’s a body suit for me if I’m not happy.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s good. You’ve got to be careful with weight training, after all.” Rafael rubbed his chin. “Actually, it’s not so much what you lift, it’s what you eat. If you want, I could give you a diet plan. Make sure you get plenty of fibers and proteins. And rest. As strange as it sounds, you’ll need rest.”

Derek patted Rafael on the back. “See, Nick? It’s not a shameful thing to go to a professional to get help. Yes, Rafael, I want it. Give me the diet plan.”

Rafael glanced from Nick to Derek. “Professional?”

“Nick came asking about dancing. Taught him a few tricks to keep him from getting bored of the high school shuffle.”

The scowl that was on Nick’s face disappeared, and he covered more of his face in the process. The fact that Rafael had grown still made him realize this was probably one of those moments where he didn’t get the full picture.

Though a glance over his shoulder told him that Evelyn, Hazel, and Alejandra had walked out of the bathroom and heard that last part. Alejandra was glancing at her toes, frozen in spot. It didn’t matter, because Nick wasn’t looking at her.

Derek glanced over at Nick. “Oh, wait. Was that embarrassing for you?”

“God, Derek,” Nick muttered again.

“How? Like, really. How? I don’t understand.” Derek then turned toward Alejandra. “Hey, your date just asked me to go over the basics of dancing because he wants to make sure you both have a fun experience. I assume you’re quite relieved that your partner took a crash course, so he doesn’t step on your toes.”

Alejandra struggled to hide her smile, which was a lot easier, considering she hadn’t glanced up from the ground since she got here.

“I… won’t dip you. I swear,” Nick muttered.

“Oh, have you taught Rafael any of these moves?” Hazel asked.

Rafael gave a slight frown, glancing at her. “Do I… step on your toes?”

“No, but the high school shuffle can get kind of boring,” Hazel said.

“Annie’s a huge dancer,” Evelyn said.

Derek’s eyes lit up in pure excitement. “Shut up. Does she swing dance?”

“She does all the dances,” Evelyn said.

Derek’s eyes widened even further. “Salsa?”

“Yep.”

“Tango?”

“All the dances, Derek.”

“Waltz?”

“Her favorite.”

“Flamenco?”

This caused Evelyn to pause. “Okay, maybe she doesn’t know flamenco.” She glanced at Hazel. “She’d probably learn it just for the hell of it.”

“Well, I don’t know it either, but hey! We can figure it out!” Derek let out a sigh, the excitement still bubbling in him. “God, we are going to burn that dance floor tomorrow!”

“Wait, how do you know all these dances?” Hazel asked.

Derek pointed two thumbs at himself. “Theater kid.”

“Who goes to theater camps in Tucson every summer,” Nick added.

“Wow, that’s really cool,” Hazel said.

Derek had to keep himself from beaming. “Thanks.”

“Also, Derek’s going to be Gaston in the school play,” Rafael said.

Derek let the full beam on display as everyone congratulated him. “What can I say. They really thought I’d do well as a man in love with himself.”