Chapter 195 The Snow Dance


    That night, it was finally time for the dance. I put on my new dress and did my hair and makeup with


    Lori and Jessica, then headed over to the auditorium.


    The dean surprisingly put together a lovely dance despite the circumstances. There were streamers


    and balloons adorning the auditorium, live music being DJ’d by one of the students, and food and


    drinks being served. As I passed by the big, handmade signs that read “SNOW DANCE” and walked


    into the auditorium, it almost felt like I was in high school again, like I was just sixteen and going to a


    winter formal dance. Everyone was dressed up and dancing, and I even caught a few students right off


    the bat who were secretly sipping out of tiny bottles of alcohol and drinking vodka disguised in water


    bottles. Even just standing in the doorway and looking around made me smile and temporarily forget all


    of the horrible things that had been happening recently.


    Almost immediately, Justin appeared in front of me with a grin on his face. He was dressed nicely in a


    pair of trousers and a button-down shirt; I had never seen him wearing anything except sweatpants and


    hockey shirts before, so it came as a surprise. Seeing him like that made me stifle augh, as he


    looked a little nerdy in his outfit.


    “Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the dance floor. “Let’s dance.”


    I was already tipsy from pre-gaming with Lori and Jessica back in our dorm, so I obliged and followed


    him to the dance floor. As we began to dance, I couldn’t help but smile a bit. Spending a bit of time just


    having fun and letting go relieved a lot of tension that had been built uptely, and I knew that Enzo


    would want me to have fun at least once while he was gone. Besides, the alcohol helped, and before I


    knew it my friends were secretly passing around water bottles filled with vodka and soda cans filled


    with other various forms of alcohol.


    We danced for a long time, only taking breaks to drink more and take food from the buffet. Finally,


    however, the dean walked up on the stage and stopped the music. She leaned into the microphone


    with a smile on her face and an envelope in her hand.


    “Thanks foring to the Snow Dance, everyone,” she said. “So far, we’ve raised over five thousand


    dors in donations from you guys and our localmunity.”


    The dance erupted into cheers, myself included. The dean waited for the cheers to die down with a


    smile, then pulled a piece of paper out of the envelope.


    “Now, to announce tonight’s Snow Dance Royalty…”


    Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    She opened the paper. From afar, I swore I could see her eyes widen momentarily.


    “For Snow Queen, we have… Nina Harper!”


    My eyes widened. My friends, however, only grinned and shoved me forward, forcing me up onto the


    stage. I was rather drunk as I stumbled over to the dean in my high heels, but I couldn’t help butugh


    as she ced a stic tiara on my head. When I looked out at my friends’ smirks, I knew that they and


    the hockey team must have voted for me to embarrass me, but it was nothing but a lighthearted joke.


    Obviously, the Snow King would be Justin.


    But it wasn’t.


    “And the Snow King… Is our new student, Eli Johnson!” the dean announced.


    The crowd went silent. Somehow, this new transfer student managed to be voted as the Snow King,


    but his girlfriend hadn’t been voted as Snow King. I saw the crowd part as he sheepishly walked up to


    the stage, tall andnky, and walked up the steps. Meanwhile, his girlfriend red up at me from the


    crowd. As I looked at her, I couldn’t help but wonder if she had nned on being the dance royalty with


    him, but my friends’ lighthearted prank had voted her out. It certainly seemed that way, judging from the


    angry stare she gave me.


    The dean put a stic crown on Eli’s head; I thought it was over then, but that wasn’t even the worst


    part.


    We had to dance together.


    The DJ began ying a slower song as we walked down the steps together. I felt everyone’s eyes on


    me as we nervously began dancing, with our hands sped ufortably together and his other hand


    on my waist while I rested one hand on his shoulder. Aside from the music, the auditorium would have


    been dead silent. When I nced over at the crowd, I could not only see Eli’s girlfriend seething, but I


    could see Justin pouting as well.


    “So… Um…” Eli said nervously, staring down at our feet as we danced. “Do you… I mean… Does the


    dress fit okay? I hope I got the right size…”


    My eyes widened then. “Wait,” I said, “you were the one who bought me the recement?”


    Eli nodded. “Yeah. I felt bad because Se— I mean, Sadie ruined the other one. You seemed really


    sad.”


    I didn’t know what to say. “Th-Thanks,” I muttered, feeling my face go red. “It fits perfectly.”


    “Good,” he replied.


    Neither of us said anything for a bit. I was not only focused on how he had gone out of his way to buy


    me a new dress, but there was something else… When he said his girlfriend’s name, he almost


    sounded like he was going to say something else.


    Like he was going to say the name Selena.


    But I knew that was silly. As I looked up at this boy, I knew it wouldn’t make any sense; he didn’t look


    anything like Enzo, and that girl looked absolutely nothing like Selena. And yet… The longer I looked at


    him, and the longer he looked at me, I swore his eyes changed to that familiar, soft brown I had grown


    to love.


    The song suddenly ended then and changed back to the regr dance music. Around us, the rest of


    the partygoers began dancing again.


    I hadn’t realized it, but we had somehow been staring at each other for the entire song, as though we


    were in a trance. When his girlfriend suddenly came and snatched him away from me, he almost


    seemed like he didn’t want to tear his eyes away as she pulled him into the crowd, and I couldn’t look


    away, either.


    There was no real exnation for it. When his face finally disappeared into the crowd, I suddenly felt a


    sense of extreme, deep sadness wash over me. I felt more alone now than I felt before, as though


    someone very important, someone I was very close to, had just been ripped out of my grasp. But I


    knew that didn’t make any sense; Enzo wasn’t here. Selena wasn’t here. Why would they be? If Selena


    really wanted to keep Enzo all to herself, why would she bring him back here, right under my nose?


    Unless… What if she used some sort of spell on him to make him forget about me, and was bringing


    him close to me to test him?


    No. I shook my head, shoving the ridiculous thought out of my mind. It was just wishful thinking; maybe


    Eli just had one or two simr features to Enzo, and that was it. He wasn’t Enzo, and I needed to


    understand that. If I kept thinking this way, I would only break my heart even more. Not only that, but


    Lori was right the day before: I didn’t know what this girl was capable of, and I was acting oddly around


    her boyfriend.


    But even then, I couldn’t deny the oddly deep connection I felt to thisplete and total stranger