"Is it weird that our teacher is driving us?" Teresa said.

Stephanie laughed as she made the turn out of her street. "I'm also your roommate and his boss, and I'm chaperoning the dance, so maybe even weirder."

Connor leaned into the backseat window and watched the snow fall, not paying much attention to Teresa sitting by him, though he acknowledged how nice Teresa looked in her pink dress when she answered the door.

"And Connor," Stephanie said, "you've gotten so handsome you grabbed two dates." Teresa spurted through her mouth. "You don't think so?"

He disguised his flattery well with Stephanie's classic black gown and Teresa's bare shoulders. Few men were handsome enough for just one of them.

"No, no. He looks good," Teresa conceded, "but he's my date."

Rolling his eyes, he then looked back out the window. Two women chatting and having fun was exciting even for Connor, but he kept it hidden. Two bright spotlights moved across the clouds and grew brighter as they approached the school. After the meteor caused havoc, it took three weeks to repair the school. The world celebrated not getting destroyed and didn't work for a week. After the costs of the repairs, little money was spent on the dance, but the spotlights were cool.

Stephanie intentionally parked just out of sight from the school parking lot, alongside the school football field and tennis courts. "I don't want to get into too much trouble," Stephanie kept driving as she'd never hear the end of it if her peers found out she drove two students. "I'll go ahead."

Teresa broke the silence as Stephanie left the car. "This should be a lot of fun."

"Hmm-hm," he said.

"Have you been to a dance before?" Teresa unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned in.

"I never have." He readied the door handle.

"Only in middle school for me, and I expect you to have fun. Joules had fun on all the walks." She gave a friendly smile.

"Sure," he stepped out.

Without hesitating, Teresa trotted to his side and grabbed his arm. It surprised him that even through her coat, she felt warm. They clustered around their peers at the front door and waited to check in, leaving their IDs and coats behind before entering the gym. Holding onto him the entire time, he remained silent, frozen, but not from winter. The gym was filled with students and teachers with winter-style decorations lit up by lights, and the band playing had decorated vests with red ties and matching winter hats. Teresa nodded to a few of her friends.

A tug pulled him onto the dance floor. Self-conscious thoughts sank into him as they passed their peers while she looked for an empty spot.

"Awesome!" She turned to him and danced to the beat. She was a natural dancer, while Connor stood still, unable to feel the rhythm. She helped him start moving by holding onto his hands, and eventually, he could follow along. The music immersed him, the lights polluted the landscape of his peers, and his focus eliminated all except his dancing guide. He entered a flow state, and time slipped in lieu of fun.

And she was enjoying herself, a much-needed change as months passed with Connor barely talking to her. He still isn't talking to her, but dancing works for her too. It was a different side of him. And for her, it was her first dance. Unlike the parties she'd frequent, this was natural for her, something that she had always wanted since she was a kid, since being forced to join Optimal.

"It kinda reminds me of the Lucid Passage," Teresa said over the music.

"How so?"

"The lighting, the colors."

"Oh! The Lucid Passage," he caught on, "kinda does."

Someone bumped into him, "Connor? And Teresa?" the voice said. Connor saw the long, dark hair and a sarcastic grin on the other face. Neville and Olivya were decked out to the nines, especially Olivya, with her made-up curled hair swathing downward from a wrapped braid around her head.

"Like, surprised you showed," Neville said.

"Surprised she asked someone her age," Connor said.

Olivya and Neville rolled their eyes and disappeared into the crowd. Teresa was embarrassed. She was aware she'd be seen with Connor, which she was okay with, but his sarcastic reactions bothered her. She'd prefer he say nothing. Or, better yet, mentioning being with her.

Connor noticed Teresa's expression and wanted to change the subject. "Do you dance a lot?"

"Just by myself in my room."

"At Opt—"

"Yes. At home too."

"You really were confined?" He continued to dance but slowed down as he spoke.

"Yes and no," she said. The music changed, and a slow song turned on.

She immediately changed her expression to a happy one and locked her hands behind his neck. Reluctant at first, he put his hands on her hips.

"We just couldn't leave the compound," she whispered. "Some faculty would play games with me, but research came first. Eventually, they allowed me to fly around in my suit outside with a tracker."

"Why not have someone else wear your suit?"

Connor circled around as he followed the other students' lead on the slow dancing.

"Only the researcher, Mr. Furyk, and the president may know what is going on with individual research, but word gets out to the other researchers, and some collaboration can happen. There's no network, either. Nothing gets out of your lab area. But what about you? And your life?"

"Normal until my dad died."

She tightened her grip and got a little closer. Not expecting an answer like that, she wanted to change the subject, but Connor didn't look deterred. "When did that happen?"

"When I was eleven."

Eleven, she thought, was younger than her when Optimal took her.

"I guess we're not all that different," Teresa said.

Guilt set in as she remembered what happened to him at Olivya's party. He looked fine while mentioning his dad. He was even enjoying himself. Is it because of me? Despite how he was treated, has he moved on? She placed her forehead against his chest and tried to remove the guilt. And she caught herself trying to kiss him. Almost automatically. No decision nor command forced her to move in slowly. Her heels went up on their own, moving her face closer to his. Connor flinched away at the last second.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Oh God, she came to her senses. Her feet flattened back onto the floor, and she turned and hustled for the gym doors.

He stood alone on the dance floor. Welp, I fucked that up. He walked over to the fun part of the gym, not wanting to deal with Teresa's overreaction. Even though he looked sad, the people running the carnival games tried to grab his attention, but he ignored them and went straight to the food.

He wished the punch bowl was spiked.

"Nice one," someone caught his attention. Stephanie was next to another teacher as they were serving drinks.

"You saw that?"

"Yup," Stephanie said. "I don't think the other teachers saw, so you're not in trouble. Air high five," they did the motion as the table was too wide for them to do a proper high five. "She ran off, though. Was it bad?" Stephanie said.

"We didn't kiss."

"What? It looked like it from here."

"Yeah, I was in shock. I didn't think someone like her would want to kiss me," Connor said.

"Plenty of girls do. Let it happen next time," Stephanie smiled, "want anything to drink?"

"Did you bring a flask?"

She chuckled and poured him some infused water.

"Cool your head, then look for her and ask if anything is wrong."

Sage advice. He left the tables and headed toward the hallway outside the gym. Sipping on his water, he played it cool as he began looking for Teresa. He wished he hadn't left his phone in his coat that he checked, and Teresa probably didn't have hers either, given her tight dress.

Students walked in and out of the winter-themed hall, probably to use the bathroom, and it suppressed the noise from the gym through the double doors. Five minutes passed as he waited by the bathroom.

Did I do something? It just happened. A kiss almost happened, but something stopped him, which scared her to run away.

Why did I flinch?

He should be furious, as he just stood there like a suitable date, unlike her. But he should be even madder about the pool incident, or maybe, deep down, he's forgiven her. He's unsure. But he had fun, opened up, and stopped dreading the past as much until she bolted off the dance floor.

Around the corner, he overheard some students talking. He turned the corner to check and backed up quickly. Teresa was with Olivya, Neville, and a few others.

"Well," Olivya said, "I didn't think any of this would happen."

"Me neither," Teresa said, "it was sudden. I don't believe it."

"Wow, you're so cute," Olivya said. "But you came here with Connor? The guy is lost, and Axel is terrified of him."

Teresa flapped her hands to cool off her face.

"Wait," Olivya said, "are you happy you two almost kissed?"

Teresa tensed up. "I don't know."

"Unsure? Regardless, I could've found someone for you to take to the dance. Is this why you didn't go to dinner with us?" Olivya said.

She observed the group that was listening or interrogating. Neville was wrapped around Olivya's finger and was intent on her answer. Otherwise, he wouldn't care. Christian was staring into space.

"Miss Saunders asked me to ask him," Teresa said.

Everyone went wide-eyed.

"No way," Neville said, "dude, that's literally insane. I knew she favored him, but wow."

"Yeah, she asked me before class started last week," Teresa said.

"Well," Olivya said, "you asked him. You two came together, but you don't have to leave together."

"That's true," Teresa thought fast again but couldn't think of anything. "What do I do?"

"Just dance with us and come to the party later." Olivya didn't ease Teresa's tension, and she put her hand on her shoulder. "It's fine."

"Okay," Teresa said. "Thanks for coming out here. It was so unexpected."

"Pity it was Connor," Olivya said. "He's cute, so it's easy to forget he's violent, so he has some issues."

They were about to start for the gym until Teresa said, "About that."

"About what?" Olivya said.

"The dog incident."

Olivya raised a brow.

"Nothing, let's dance," Teresa said.

As they headed out, Connor hustled through the hall, pushed the bathroom door open with his shoulder, hid in a stall, and hoped no one from their group wanted to use it.

No way. Stephanie asked her?

He leaned against the stall and just spaced out for a minute.

I'm an idiot. He felt sorry for himself—wait, no, he didn't feel sorry for himself, as he'd been to fucking Mars and the Moon and even saved a small portion of the planet. Fuck those guys. But, no matter how insignificant from Earth his problems became after his first Lucid Passage, he still had issues he wanted resolved. He headed for the entrance, ignoring his classmates and school faculty, and got the check-in person to get his coat back.

Quickly, he reached for his phone. Three unread messages from Axel, the phone notified.

What? Axel never texts him, and he hasn't spoken to him since the beer bottle incident months ago. Whatever, he thought, he sent Stephanie a message. "I'm walking home. Thank you for driving."

Bbbbzzzz.

That was fast.

"What happened?" Stephanie responded.

"Not feeling well."

Now on silent to ignore texts, he headed out into the snow. Usually, he'd walk to the field near the woods to pick up Joules, so it felt odd to walk by the football field and tennis courts like this for him. It was even weirder without Joules like he had left something behind, like his keys or phone.

He reached a corner, and the sign had a red hand. Even with the empty street, he waited for the signal to change to cross. It was empty and quiet, but the walk signal lighting up seemed to acknowledge him. Snow crunched beneath his steps as he stepped into the street. A car turned the corner in his direction. It was hard to tell what kind of car it was as the headlights were too bright. It slowed sooner than it should have and stopped next to him, blocking his path on the crosswalk.

The driver's side door opened opposite Connor, and Axel stepped out.

"Axel?"

"Hey, bro," Axel grinned. "What a coincidence. Get in the car. I have something I want to ask you."

"You went looking for me?"

"Yeah, learn to answer your damn phone. Get in the car,"

The tone felt off to him. Axel wanted something, he felt it, and when Axel wanted something, nothing good happened. And why did he step out of the car instead of rolling down the passenger window? "I'll walk."

"Come on, bro, it's cold out."

"Are you wanting to apologize?" Connor said. "Don't bother. I'm over it."

"Over what?" Axel said.

It all flooded back to Connor. Axel was clueless about Connor's situation, getting knocked out, waking up in the pool, and getting treated like a pariah, living in fear. "Are you serious right now?"

"Just get in the car."

"Apologize for throwing that bottle at me."

"What? You're still mad about that? I didn't throw it that hard, and I knew you'd be okay."

Connor had no words.

Axel's face changed, as subtle as it was, and Axel banged the top of his car. "What are you doing with your teacher?" He yelled.

"I work for her, science stuff," Connor said. "Now leave."

"I need more than that."

"Need?" Connor then made a realization. "Where was your job interview yesterday?"

Axel gulped and instantly hopped over the hood of their mom's car and went for him. That's why he stood out of the car. Axel was quick. Connor turned and went for it, but Axel grabbed onto Connor's neck and slammed him onto the ground next to the sidewalk, and the snow provided some cushioning.

Connor went for a voice command for his phone, "Call 9—"

Axel covered his mouth, grabbed the phone, and threw it across the street like a frisbee.

"What is it? What are you doing? How does it work?" Axel said. "Just tell me, and you don't get the shit kicked out of you."

Connor got a handle on his breathing. His hand grabbed anything it could—a mix of snow, rocks, and dirt—all of which flew towards Axel's face. Axel gasped and tried to get his eyes clear. He rummaged in the snow again and found a rock, which he quickly struck his brother with. He aimed for the top of Axel's head but instead caught his jaw.

Connor got loose and ran back towards the school. He didn't look back as Axel yelled obscenities. And he heard their mom's car rev up.