I’m sitting by Tatiana on a log, well on my way to being buzzed. Zeke has decided he wants us to put on a show for them, a performance of sorts. They say it isn’t fair we have seen them fight, but they haven’t seen us dance. Gosh, in the last few weeks, I haven’t even thought of dancing, which is odd considering it was my entire life.
“You want to see us dance? Fine. But you guys have to sing, because we can’t dance to nothing,” Aggie grins.
“No fuckin’ problem,” Kellen winks. “I’ll do the beats.”
“I know a fantastic ballet melody,” Adrian tells Kellen. “I will do the humming.”
Kellen chuckles. “Alright, buddy. I have no doubt you’ll nail it.”
Adrian isn’t listening, because he is already tipping his head back and humming as his fingers wave merrily through the air.
Well, at least we will have a good beat.
“Let’s do Swan Lake,” Aggie cries, clapping her hands and I cackle so loud I nearly fall off my log.
“Swan Lake?” Zeke scoffs, but his voice is warm. “You’re telling me you girls are that good?”
“Oh, we’re that good,” I say, feeling suddenly giddy, and also faintly exposed.
So much of who I was before this place was locked in tiny pink shoes and sweaty, bloody toes.
“Let’s see it then,” Ace murmurs, his voice low.
Oh.
Boy.
I look at the girls. “Who’s in?”
Rachel groans, but I see her mouth twitching up. “Fine, but only because I’m bored.”
We all know she loves dancing, so that’s a lie.
“Come on then,” I say, clapping my hands.
We scoop up a bottle of alcohol and rush away from camp, through the low brush, over the mossy rocks, giggling like we haven’t since we were fifteen. Five minutes later, we’re behind on the flat near the water, and Aggie is moaning, “I will break my fucking ankle out here, I swear to God, Gracie. The ground is too soft and I am too drunk.”
“You got this,” I grin, and grab some banana leaves to make impromptu tutus.
Tatiana immediately wraps hers around herself, giggling as she does a spin. Aggie uses a vine as a headband. We fashion the most ridiculous, riotous makeshift costumes anyone’s ever seen, until we look like drunken cosplay versions of ballerinas. Rachel, as always, has to take it up a notch—she finds a big white feather and tucks it behind her ear. “If we’re dying on this island, at least we’ll die with style.”
We figure out our positions, and do a quick practice, laughing the entire time.
When we’re ready, we emerge back to camp, arms hooked, shoulders back, chins high. The guys whistle and bang their fists on their knees. Zeke even stands, raising his arms like a conductor. “Alright, let’s get this party started.”
We find a large flat rock, and the guys shine the flashlights onto the makeshift stage. Tatiana and Aggie take their openingposes—arms up, long necks, faces all ethereal and tragic. I step in front, toes pointed, and for the first time in forever, a hush spreads over my body. Even with the alcohol, the salt, the stench of fish and burning wood, I find the beat.
Adrian stands, and then he starts humming before breaking out into a full song.
His hand is on his chest and his head is tipped back as he rips out a sound that isn’t half bad.
Laughing, we go along with it.
I close my eyes and let muscle memory do the rest. I leap and soar, spinning and twirling. The world shrinks to just this, me, the night, the other girls dancing beside me. Aggie slips, squeals, and collapses laughing, but Tatiana spins me and keeps the movement going. We improvise, parody and sincerity shambling together in a wobbly, glorious performance. It gets looser by the minute, but the guys are with us—Kellen clapping, Ace howling at every kick, Zeke grinning huge.
When we finish, we collapse onto the rock, sweating and breathless.
Adrian takes a bow, to nobody, but it is like his entire life has been leading up to this moment.
