[CONTENTID1]

thirty-seven: perfectly ordinary

[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

[“I got you.”] [/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

"You're gonna help Sumi with the winter dance?" Suho said, eyes wide. "I can't believe they're even letting us have a dance, after last year."

Juyeon couldn't help to smile a little. "Do I need to know?"

"Errr, probably not. Just make sure no one sneaks alcohol into the punch bowl. And that Chanyeol stays away from flammable streamers."

Chanyeol looked away and innocently whistled.

"I'll make a note of that," said Juyeon, sniggering. She had to quickly lower her voice when Professor Strange looked up from the teacher's desk. "But Sumi told me it's different from normals' dances. More … formal. Like, suits and everything."

"Yep," Baekhyun said with a happy smile. "We like to go all out. These dances only come once a year, you know."

"We'll have prom next year, though," Kai said, leaning so far off his seat to talk to them that Juyeon thought he might topple over. "Don't forget that."

Juyeon was honestly getting a little interested in this high school dance. "So do you guys have orchestras? Do you waltz?"

Kai rolled his eyes at her. "Now you're just being ridiculous. First of all, there's no orchestra on earth who'd want to play for us. Second, we do play songs from the twenty-first century, believe it or not. It’s a perfectly ordinary high school dance."

Juyeon smirked. "But you didn't deny waltzing."

Kai's eyes twinkled playfully. "Well, we don't fistpump and grind against each other like parties on TV, that's for sure. Or, well, not much. There are fun songs, but we like doing the whole hand-in-hand, twirling and dipping thing too. Call us old fashioned."

"That … actually sounds fun." Much better than awkwardly revolving on the spot, Juyeon thought. She might be able to handle a little twirling and dipping.

She suddenly envisioned herself in a flowing ball gown (if her cleavage was just a little bigger than reality, she blamed it on an overactive imagination), hair elegantly twisted into a bun atop her head, in a grand ballroom that probably would not be what the school's gymnasium will look like. She was gliding across the dance floor, in the arms of a handsome … someone.

The face was fuzzy, but his arms were strong and his steps sure. He was strapping in his suit, but who exactly was she imagining in this little daydream?

Faces began to fill in the empty spots, faces that Juyeon tried to tell herself only appeared because they were practically the only guys she knew.

It still didn't stop her from getting all fluttery in her stomach, though.

"Well, I hope you all enjoy watching me make a fool of myself," she joked, trying to bury the feelings somewhere deep inside so she wouldn't have to deal with them. "I don't know how to dance."

"It's not that hard," Kai said dismissively, and winked. "So long as you have a good dance partner."

Juyeon opened to retort as usual. Instead, something came over her and she closed , flushing a bright and obvious red. She groaned internally and waited for Kai to , possibly make a few taunts that she secretly had a crush on him or something juvenile.

Instead, Kai suddenly shut his mouth tight and also blushed, his dark skin diffusing into a ruddy red glow. Even the tips of his ears, almost hidden in his tuft of stylishly messy hair, were an endearing pink. This was … this was unexpected.

He was also extraordinarily cute when embarrassed.

Someone reached out behind her and grabbed her arm, forcibly steering her away from Kai. Juyeon twisted around in her seat, seeing that Baekhyun was the one, an unexplainable look in his eyes.

"Ow, Baek," she said pointedly. He was holding her hard enough to bruise.

"Sorry," Baekhyun said, not sounding sorry at all as he released her. "If you're really not sure, I can always teach you."

"Teach me? How to dance?" Juyeon cocked her head to the side, braids bouncing, as she tried to figure out his end game. "You would do that?"

"Of course," Baekhyun said, a little too hurriedly. No―could it be?―yes, he was blushing too, only slightly. What the hell was going on? "Just try not to step on my toes too much."

"You're awful at dancing, Baekhyun," Suho blurted out. "I should probably teach her so you don't step on her toes."

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at Suho. "I dance fine."

"Besides, you still have work to catch up on after the Extracurriculars stunt. You won't have time. I'll be able to teach Juyeon simple dance moves, and―"

Crunch. D.O's pencil had snapped in half. Everyone stopped and stared at him. In turn, he stared at his mutilated pencil in surprise, as if he didn't realize he had been holding it tight enough for it to break.

"What, you too?" Chanyeol said in outrage. "What if I―"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Channie. You have two left feet."

Juyeon had no idea what she was witnessing.

"You'r