“Well, hopefully not your whole life,” Joshua chuckled.
“He might,” Amber nodded.
The gym had been transformed into a dance floor. The volunteers did their job well enough that for a moment Amber didn't recognize the room she was in twice a week for gym class. The walls were covered in what looked to be black silk sheets covered in glow in the dark stars and planets. More glow in the dark celestial objects hung from the ceiling.
“Wow,” Joshua said.
“Yeah, they did a really good job,” Amber nodded.
“I usually don't come to dances. Does the gym always look this great?” he asked.
“Most of the time it looks pretty good, but this is the best I've ever seen it. It's freakin' epic!” Amber smiled.
A fast song was playing and Amber prayed that Joshua didn't ask her to dance to it. He came from a musically inclined family, but she didn't. She'd had a few slow dances in her life, but Amber lacked the rhythm to dance to anything like the techno pounding into her ears.
“I hate techno,” Joshua said.
Amber was barely able to hear him over the music.
“Me too,” she agreed.
“Let's get something to drink and try to escape this madness,” Joshua said.
“Agreed,” Amber said and entwined her fingers through his. His palm was warm and soft against hers, making her smile.
“Soda or punch?” Joshua asked, when they found the refreshments table.
“Soda,” Amber said, “My dad's told me too many horror stories to trust the punch at any school dance.”
“Fair enough,” Joshua shrugged, “but you could tell if it was spiked by the smell.”
“Better safe than sorry,” Amber said because she didn't want to have a conversation about date rape drugs at a school function. Maybe Tamara was right and her dad had made her paranoid.
“Do you want to go back outside?” Joshua asked, “We'll still be able to hear the music, but we'll still have our eardrums intact tomorrow morning.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Amber said and allowed Joshua to lead her through the throngs of people dancing and standing around talking. She spotted Tamara dancing with Doug in the middle of a crowd of his friends. Tamara was a great dancer, but Amber had to question the crowd she was beginning to hang out with. After all, hadn't she spent years telling Amber she didn't like them? What had changed?
“We're just growing up, I guess,” Amber muttered to herself, thankful the loud music covered her words.
Once outside the doors Amber took a deep breath and gave her mind a moment to recover from the techno she had been forced to endure.
“You gonna be okay?” Joshua asked her.
“Yeah, that was just awful,” she laughed.
“It was,” he agreed, “Now I remember why I never attend school functions.”
“Now I remember why Tamara usually has to drag me to them,” Amber smirked.
“I'm glad you came tonight,” Joshua said.
“So am I,” Amber said.
The techno music faded away and was replaced by a slow song.
“Would you like to dance?” Joshua asked her.
“Out here?” Amber laughed.