Trick and Naomi found themselves quickly surrounded by other teens who took to the dance floor. The statue had to keep threatening and prodding them all to come out and dance. The music had since cut out, and the DJ vanished. Every clique had to give up two of their own to the challenge. The participants who came out onto the floor had not been willing at all.

“Excellent,” the statue boomed. “Now that everyone has come to participate, the dance may continue! Each couple will dance until two pairs have been selected as the poorest performers and are imprisoned, along with their entire gathering of social allies. You may proceed with the dance!”

The music started. Synthesized music.

Oh no, Trick thought. I’m really not a big fan of techno!

Naomi gabbed Trick and pulled him close, hissing into his ear, “It’s Sandstorm! From Darude! Just follow my lead!”

Naomi began waving her hands about slowly and kicking her feet out, also somewhat slowly. Trick felt like a fool, and especially worried about their chances of incurring the wrath of the magical statue.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t just use our avatars?”

“Not yet! This is a specific magical challenge. If we try reisting it, we might get killed or whatever just for trying to break the rules!”

“Something tells me that you are enjoying this,” Trick grumbled as the music picked up.

Sure enough, the song wa Sandstorm from Darude. The other students around them were awkwardly trying to figure how best to dance to the music. It had been way too long since any of song of the sort was a popular choice for a school dance. And most of the dancing that people would do for this required strobe lights and glow sticks.

Others were kicking, spinning, stupidly waving their arms. Naomi kept getting faster and faster, weaving her hands as if she was about to cast a spell. Trick did his best to follow her lead. She then told him to catch and she tossed him what she must have intended to be an invisible ball. He mimed catching it and started dribbling it.

“Move it as if it were on fire! Or full of electricity! Act like lightning is going through your body,” Naomi instructed.

Trick started wigging out and after an embarrassing moment tossed the ball back.

Lightning flashed from the statue and consumed two dancers, and the statue declared, “They were not worthy!”

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More lightning sprang from the statue and leaped towards a group on one of the platforms. Their screams mixed with the synthesized notes and they all struck with lightning. The electricity then sprang back into one of the orbs, the platform left empty. The dancers were galvanized by the display and started dancing more ferociously.

Suddenly, the music came to a stop.

“No! Don’t stop yet! The song will pick up again soon! Keep following my lead,” Naomi said.

She skipped away from the other dancers, and Trick followed. The music started coming, back rising from near silence back to deafening tones. It was getting faster, too. Naomi threw all caution to the wind and started letting loose. Trick decided he might as well, if he was to survive. It wasn’t dancing so much as thrashing about now. They kept at it until the music finally cut out.

As it did, the lightning flashed once more and greedily ate up two more students. It then sprang after a group behind the food tables and devoured them. As the raging light leaped back into the second glass orb, the statue began cracking.

“Well done,” it boomed. “Be ready for the next trial soon!”

WIth that, the statue broke apart and became rich, smelly soil and spilled out onto the dance floor. Almost immediately, grass, bushes, and trees sprouted and grew rapidly. Trick caught a glimpse of the orbs. He saw with horror that people’s faces were swimming around in them. The two orbs shattered and quickly grew into two towering, oak-like tree. The had pitch black bark and their leaves were bright red. Orange fruit sprang from the boughs and glowed eerily.

“This is getting very disturbing,” Trick whispered to Naomi.

Soon, everything erupted into pandemonium. Students started running everywhere, trying to find an exit. They clawed at the doors and windows, which had changed to stone. Vines broke through the newly conjured slabs of stone and snaked out. They wrapped themselves around the students and carried them out to different places in the hall and deposited them.

“I really think we should use our D&D sheets now! Oh my gosh… I never thought I would say something like that,” Trick said, watching the chaos continue.

“Hold on! We need to be smart about this,” Naomi said, holding Trick in place. “Wait, look at what those vines are doing!”

“Giving me major Jumanji vibes?”

“What? No! I mean, well yes, they look like the murderous plants from Jumanji, but that’s not it! Look at where they are placing the others,” Naomi said, pointing. “They are putting them back to where their cliques were when we first arrived! See the band members? And the jocks?”

Trick now paid attention, and he saw that his friend was right. These vines were placing all of the students back to where they had been previously. And now little glowing light of all different colors were coming out of the new garden and were helping to coral the dancers. Each clique was being carefully and accurately divided from one another.

He looked at the nerds and said, “I am now very confident about who is behind this.”

Naomi turned to follow his gaze, and was about to voice her agreement when someone slammed into Trick. He staggered and strong hands took him and hauled him towards the platform with the nerds. He craned his neck and saw That Naomi was similarly being dragged off, but by large football players.

“Naomi,” he shouted. “No! Let go of me!”

He kicked and struggled against those who were holding him. A few other geeks leaped down and rashed to help their compatriots tackle and haul him off. He grunted and shouted at them.

“Guys! Let go of me! We need to work together get out of this! I need to help my friend!”

Cory came up to him and looked him in the eye with a faint smile, saying, “That is exactly what we are going to do, Trick. We’re going to save everyone and put things aright. And you are right where you belong. WIth us!”