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“Great,” Gibby said. “Because all we need is Ireland getting mad at us now too.”
Jazz ignored her, focusing on Nick. “You’ll be at my house by noon on Saturday. You need to learn how to dance, and I’m going to teach you. Topics that willnotbe discussed: Extraordinaries, fire, telekinesis, smoke, ice, Simon Burke, or parents who kept lifelong secrets that are now out in the open. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Nick said. “Also, why doIhave to go and not Seth?”
“Because I already know how to dance,” Seth said.
That was news to Nick. “Like, what kind of dancing?” He grinned as he waggled his eyebrows.
Seth rolled his eyes. “I’m not stripping for you.” He paused, considering. “Well, not yet.”
Nick’s eyes bulged as his brain misfired. “Must … witness … this … now.”
And to his amazement, Seth stood from the table and held out his hand for Nick, who hesitated only for a moment before taking what was offered. Seth pulled him up. They stood chest to chest. Nick allowed Seth to position his hands, one going to Seth’s waist, the other on his shoulder. “Jazz, if you please.”
“On it,” Jazz said, and a moment later, Elvis Presley began to croon about wise men saying that only fools rush in.
But Nick barely heard the King as Seth began to sway them both slowly. It was awkward, but that was to be expected. He stepped on Seth’s feet, blushing furiously as he apologized. Seth smiled at him and said, “It’s okay, Nicky. Move with me.”
And though Nick knew people were watching them, he only had eyes for Seth. Nick was stiff, unsure, but the longer it went on, the more he relaxed. He laughed when Seth sent him out for a spin, their hands twisting but never letting go. Seth pulled him back with a snap, their faces inches apart. Everything melted away around them, and for a moment, Nick could imagine they were two normal boys, dancing, dancing, dancing.
Three words.
Three little words on the tip of his tongue.
The song ended. Nick startled when exactly four people clapped, the rest of them staring with varying degrees of feigned interest.
“That was so great,” one of the people clapping said as Nick took a step back from Seth. “Queer people are valid members of our society and should be allowed to dance in a cafeteria, just like everyone else.”
Touched, Nick said, “Thank you. That’s very—”
“You’resowelcome. And if you’re feeling generous about myallyship, I’d be happy to listen to you if you want to tell me who Pyro Storm is. Hurray for gays!”
“Gays! Gays! Gays!” someone else shouted. “Now help us get paid!”
“That didn’t evenrhyme,” Nick snarled as Seth tried to hold him back. “You dumb shits, how dare you interrupt a beautiful moment between two people who are privately dancing in public! I’ll make you pay! I’ll make youall pay!”
And as I’m sure you can agree,” the principal said to Dad, “we can’t have Nick making threats like that. It isn’t a good look.”
Nick glared at him but wisely kept his mouth shut.
Dad, on the other hand, was having no part in it. “I see. And yet he’s told me he’s been accosted by not only other students but members of the faculty as well.”
The principal winced. “I don’t know if I would characterize it asaccosted—”
Dad leaned forward. “How would you characterize it, then, when teachers are soliciting private information from my son for their own financial gain?”
“I—”
“It’s funny how you think I was finished,” Dad said coldly, and Nick felt a surge of affection for him. Their current situation be damned, Nick would never doubt for a moment his father would go to bat for him when it really mattered. “I don’t know what kind of school you’re running here, but when my child’s learning is disrupted by both students and faculty, then you can bet I’m going to have a big problem with it. So unless the next words out of your mouth are a detailed plan to ensure this doesn’t happen again, I don’t want to hear it.”
The principal held up his hands as if to placate Dad. “I hear you, Mr. Bell. Nicholas, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you don’t see any further interruptions on school grounds.”
“You do that,” Nick snapped. “All I want to do is learn and besuccessful and go on to become a baker-slash-private-investigator who bakes scones and fights—”
Dad coughed pointedly.
“Right,” Nick said. “No fighting. Just scones. All those delicious scones.”
