I lie in my bed, playing mindless games on my phone when I get a text from Flanna.

R u free 2 teach me 2 ballroom dance?? She asks. God, her spelling is awful.

I'm always free. When do you want to come over?

Today good?

Okay, but can I ask why?

Next month school starts, and there's a ball to celebrate. And then homecoming is super fancy too

Does anyone else want to learn?

My mum, Jennie and Angie

Awesome, we'll have an even number. Bring them all over.

Great! Be there @ 2!

I close my phone and go downstairs. Which room would be best for dancing? I wonder, staring at the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

"Dining room," I say aloud, walking into it. I push all the furniture to the sides of the room, creating a perimeter and emptying a lot of space.

I go through my closet upstairs and find my radio and a classical CD. I bring them downstairs and set them up on top of the side-ways table. It balances precariously in between the wall and the tabletop. I shrug and walk away from it to get the food set up for them.

Knowing this lot, I'll need a lot of food.

I bake pies, and bread, and bring out all the spreads I can think of. I make pasta salad and cut up fruit and put them in bowls.

"We're here!!" Shouts Flanna, walking in the front door.

"Great. I have food in the kitchen, and the dining room cleared for dancing. Come on in." I say, and in walks Flanna, with a skinny, tall woman behind her. She looks like Flanna, with her red hair up in a bun, and freckles all over the place, but almost 6 foot, and as skinny as me. "I'm to presume you're Ms. Anderson? It's a pleasure to meet you." I greet.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Edlynne." Ms. Anderson returns before turning and whispering to Flanna. "You're right, she does sound sophisticated."

There's a knock on the door.

"Come in," I say, and in walks, Jenny and Angie, looking around my house.

"Nice place ya got here." Says Jenny.

"Thanks for inviting us." Continues Angie.

"Girls! You're here, too?" Greets Ms. Anderson.

"Wait, this means we have an odd number," Angie says.

"No. I invited a... I invited someone who works for my parents to even it out. She should be here shortly." Just as I said that there was a knock at the door.

"Young Mistress Edlynne? May I come in?" Asks June.

"Come in, June. We're in the kitchen." June bursts in and wraps me in a hug.

"Young Mistress Edlynne! I'm so happy you made friends! I was worried the people here wouldn't be your type! And they want to dance!"

"June, these are my friends, Flanna, Jenny, and Angie. And this is Ms. Anderson, Flanna's mother." I say, gesturing to each of them.

"Wonderful! Where are we dancing? I don't think this house is big enough for a ballroom." June says.

"It's not. We'll be dancing in the dining room. After we eat. Help yourselves." I say, gesturing to the kitchen island covered in food.

"Oh, thank you, Sweetie. You didn't have to go through all this trouble for us." Ms. Anderson says, looking at it all.

"It's not trouble, Ms. Anderson. Besides, I think the other three quite enjoy it." I reply, and she giggles, looking at Flanna, Jenny, and Angie mow through the bowls of food.

"Is it safe for them to be eating that? Are we sure it wasn't poisoned?" June asks worriedly in a hushed voice.

"June, I made it myself barely two hours ago. It's fine. You should eat, too. You're looking too skinny." I say, motioning for her to go eat. "Mangiare and all that."

"Okay, Young Mistress Edlynne," June says, walking to the island and serving herself some fruit. I, however, cut myself a large slice of apple pie.

When we're done, most of the food is gone, and everyone's full.

"Is everyone ready to dance?" My question is met by a chorus of hums and nods. "Wonderful. We'll be starting with a waltz, follow me." I lead the group into the dining room and I start the music. "It's simple, just watch me and June."

June and I follow the basic steps, with me in the lead.

"1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3." We chant, not bothering to move around the room as we would normally. "Does everyone see what we were doing?" I ask.

"No," Jenny says.

"Look, I took a step to the left on 1, took a step on 2, then closed my feet on 3," I say, demonstrating by myself. "That's to lead, which is usually what guys do. To follow, which is what girls usually do, it's the same thing, but opposite. So on 1, I would take my right foot backward, then on 2 I would take my left foot back, then bring my right foot to my left foot on 3."

"Okay, that's helpful..." Jenny says.

"Then let's practice leading. Spread out the line, and follow me and June." I say, stepping into the center of the line. "1." I take a step. "2." Another. "3." I bring my left foot to my right. "And now we go backward. 1." I take my left foot back. "2." I take my right foot back. "3." I bring my left foot to my right foot.

"Wait, I thought the girls go backward, and that starts on the right foot," Jenny says, and Flanna nods.

"This is a box waltz, as in it goes in a box, so both go forward and back in a box shape. See?" I go back to the center of the room and show them again. "Now let's do it again. Follow my feet." I say, joining them in line again. "1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. Do you think you have it?" I ask, and everyone agrees. "Okay, because I'm going to go a little faster. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3."

We practice in the line, over and over and over again until June and I agree everyone had the hang of it.

"Now we're going to follow. So right back, left-back, bring your right to your left. Then right forward, left forward, bring your right to your left. We're going to start slow again because it can be tricky to switch from leading to following."

"1. 2. 3." June says. "1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3."

Soon enough, everyone had gotten the hang of following, too. I guess these guys are really excited for this to have gotten it so quickly.

"We're going to be in pairs now. Who wants to lead?" I ask, and Jenny and Flanna raise their hands. "Wonderful. Jenny will lead, and Angie will follow. Flanna can dance with her mother, and I'll dance with June." I say. "Spread out around the room. Jenny and I will count, slow at first so you can get used to dancing with someone." Once everyone was partnered up and spread around the room, with me and June at the center, I continued. "Look, for leads, take your right hand, and hold your partner's palm-to-palm, like this. Then, with your other arm, put it on their shoulder. For leads, it should land on their shoulder blade, but it doesn't have to."

"Ready?" June asks. "1. 2. 3." And the lessons continue.

Soon enough, we're dancing to music.

"Have you continued with your combat training, Young Mistress?" June asks quietly. We stopped counting a while ago, letting them count for themselves, in their heads or under their breath.

"Yes, June," I reply. "But is now the best time for this conversation?"

"I never see you anymore, Young Mistress! Of course, it is! All of your lessons, though? Guns, bows, hand-to-hand, blunt and sharp objects?"

"Not guns. This town doesn't have a shooting range, and I don't trust the woods." I reply.

"Okay then, I think Master and Mistress will be okay with that... How about your poison immunity? Endurance?"

"Yes, June. I've been working on both of those. Small doses and I've been walking at least two miles a day."

"Good, Master and Mistress will be very happy to hear that. I heard about the creature. They were not pleased. But I did not overhear anything about extraction."

"Good. I don't want to leave. How is Toby?"

"Young Mistress. Toby's a fish, I don't even know which fish he is."

"I know. I don't know which fish he is either. I call them all Toby."

"Then Toby's very well, fat and happy. And very pretty."

"Good." We continue to dance for a little bit.

"I think that's enough," I say. "Switch roles and partners."

"Can I dance with you, then?" Flanna asks, and I nod. "Hand here, Flanna, like this," I say as she tries to remember what she was doing with her hands.

"Right, sorry." She apologizes.

"No worries, Flanna. Just follow my lead. 1, 2, 3." The music starts up again, and Flanna begins to lead. "Flanna, steps backward, remember? So you get used to both."

"Right." It's smooth sailing from there, for us, anyway. From the others, there's the occasional groan, apology, or yelp of pain as people step on each other's toes.

I guess I let them get too used to one way of dancing.

We end at seven, promising to meet up next week for more lessons, and each week after that until the dance. How do they not know how to dance if this ball is held every year? I ask myself, cutting myself a slice of pie.

"Yay... Appleseeds..." I murmur sarcastically, taking a bite.