Okay, guys, I've got a confession to make: I've never actually been to prom before. *chuckles* I asked a bunch of people to fill me in on what it was like though, so hopefully that doesn't show too much. Jack just decided he needed to bug me with this story despite my lack of knowledge about the subject, so I had to write it. Darn muses. *snickers*

Anyway, I wanted to give a shout out and a thank you to my husband Theo, and to redwinterslyra, swimminghometothestars, and to guardianoffrost on Tumblr. Thank you all. This wouldn't have made as much sense without all your help. *hugs*

Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG or anything to do with it, I just pretend I do. The reality is that Jack owns me, and he fully knows it and exploits it every day, the darn stinkin' little sprite. *snorts*

It was a mildly warm night during the springtime, though the wind was still chill enough to nip at the heels of anyone who was stupid enough to not clothe themselves properly. I found myself doing some last-minute checks on several of the towns in this part of the country, trying to ensure that winter had properly pulled out, when a little building caught my attention, and I lowered my altitude to get a better look.

The lights were on this late at night, which was what had drawn my attention in the first place, since that normally didn't happen. I'd never actually tried to approach this building before, but I was pretty sure it was some kind of school. Granted, schools sometimes had festivities late at night, so this was really no surprise, but now that the snow was melted and the light from the building illuminated the school grounds, my curiosity was piqued. I'd never seen anything like it.

Trails ran around the school, which were then overgrown by grass and various kinds of moss and ivy. It was a perfect circle encompassing the school grounds, and from the looks of things, it wasn't manmade. I laughed despite myself and shook my head amusedly. Leave it to humans to do something as stupid as to build a school right in the middle of a fairy ring. That had to have caused some very weird things to happen at the school on a regular basis, and it was just begging for me to check it out.

I swooped down and peered into the nearest window to see what kind of event was taking place like the nosey little sprite I am. Boys paraded around inside the building in their finest attire, leading girls behind them who were dressed in such lovely dresses that they could have been fairies themselves. Several couples were out in the middle of the floor, dancing to the music performed by the live musicians on stage.

I laughed again and my hands involuntarily did a little jig on the spot. This was some kind of high school dance, wasn't it? I'd never been to one, and now I found himself desperately wanting to go and check it out. I wasn't exactly shirking my duties. Really, the school had been built in the middle of a fairy ring. How better to check it out than to actually get into the building and ask some of the attendees if they'd ever experienced anything weird?

I blinked and slowly settled myself as I lowered to the ground. That was right. In the middle of a fairy ring, I'd probably be able to be seen, which would feel very weird. How would I manage to get myself in there? I was dressed all wrong for a dance, not to mention I didn't have a ticket or any other kind of pass.

The only logical thing to do in this case, if I were honestly capable of deducing what logic was, would be to circle the place at a distance until I figured out the vulnerabilities in the system. Yes, this was good. I nodded to himself, proud of myself for being able to be so brilliant, then chuckled at myself for being such an idiot. I wasn't the smartest block of ice around, but I was pretty sure I could break into a school.

And sure enough, after circling the building several times, I finally did spot a vulnerability. A doorway had been left open as several people carted food and party supplies in through the door, and it didn't appear anyone was guarding it. Perfect. It seemed no one actually expected a sneaky winter sprite to try to crash this party.

I crept up to the side of the door, peered in to make sure no one was watching at the moment, then bolted through the room faster than any mortal could process before they could have a chance to think that maybe I didn't actually belong in there. Of course, now I had to actually find the room where the dance was being held, but who was to complain? I was in the building, wasn't I?

As it turned out, finding the big room wasn't all that hard either. Just follow the sounds of music and laughter until it got louder and louder and louder… and then make sure you're actually watching where you're going so that you don't run into the door. I could have used that last piece of advice a few seconds before I actually did run into said door, but oh well. Live and learn. I cursed under my breath, opened the door, and I was in.

How I was ever going to dodge all the security people and keep them from throwing me out when I was an obvious party crasher, I had no idea. At least, I had no idea until my eyes took in the sight of everything in the room before me, and then I burst out laughing out loud.

Each of the four corners of the room was divided into its own little decorating scheme. While one wall poured with flowers draping everywhere and little rainclouds made from cotton balls and cellophane raindrops, another wall was loaded down with every kind of greenery imaginable and the sun looming over a small beach scene. Then there was the side filled with the variegated colors reminiscent of the colors of autumn, leaves scattered across the floor and hung from the wall, and even a scarecrow standing guard over a little troupe of pumpkins. Then, last but not least, there was the wall covered head to foot in snowflakes. Every season had been represented in the design scheme. Why, I could pretend that I had been intended to perform there, and no one would question it.

The first order of business upon seeing this was to go straight to the refreshment table and snatch a few things before anyone could question me on this. I didn't know if I'd have a chance later, and I wanted to taste what they were serving to today's youth. It was my duty as a Guardian to ensure that the children weren't being poisoned at their festivities, right? Of course it was. It was all in the service of the world's youth.

Of course, I'd forgotten to account for the fact that refreshments had modernized over the course of the past few hundred years, and I consequently didn't recognize most of the things on the table. The cheeses and fruits were no problem, and I was pretty sure the punch was safe since they weren't likely to spike the punch at a gathering intended for minors, but I couldn't decide what everything else was, or whether I should try to eat it.

Still, I didn't risk running in here only to cower away from things I didn't understand, and hesitation might out me as an imposter, so I quickly grabbed several of the things that were nearest to me, despite their various appearances of questionable edibility, and then retreated to the wintery side of the room, where I was pretty sure people would just nod at me and walk right past.

After trying a bite of everything in my hands, I concluded that about half the food that had been served was indeed edible, while the other half was only worth pretending it was edible so as to avoid hurting the adults' feelings. I assumed that was the reason the kids here were eating all these things, anyway. Unless people's tastes had changed so much in the past few hundred years to the point where the kids of today honestly preferred to eat junk over real food. I shivered at that thought and prayed that had not happened.

I didn't know how long I'd been standing there before I suddenly realized I was not alone on the winter wall. Another guy was standing only a few feet away, clasping and unclasping his hands awkwardly as he looked wistfully into the throng of people out on the dance floor. Aha, so the male wallflowers must have decided to be frigid winter people at this dance and cluster in front of the paper snowflakes. Which season were the girl wallflowers clustering in front of? I chuckled to myself at the mental image of stepping between the seasons like this. It was the best dance theme ever.

Tossing my empty paper plate in the nearby trash, I swung my staff over my shoulder and sauntered up to the timid boy. "Hey," I said, causing the boy to jump and look at me, which slightly made me jump as well. I had known that it was really likely that I would be able to be seen here since the school had been built right in the middle of a fairy ring, but I somehow hadn't been prepared for the actual experience of being seen. It was so unusual that it took me a moment to come to grips with it.

I shook my head and smiled at the boy. I may have been kind of shy at times, but I was also pretty extroverted and loved talking to people on the rare occasions I could do so. I wasn't going to blow this once in a lifetime chance simply because of how weird the situation was. I looked at the boy again, paused, and then said, "Don't you have a date around here somewhere?"

As soon as I'd said it, I wanted to kick myself. That sort of question was bound to blow up in my face unless the boy actually had a date around and was just waiting for her to come out of the bathroom or something. From the way the boy's face fell, I could tell that this was not the case. The boy shook his head and shrugged, and my posture visibly relaxed. I could relate to this kid. The poor guy probably felt just as invisible as I usually felt.

"Hey, don't sweat it," I said, giving the boy a playful punch to the shoulder. "It's not like I have a date either." I offered the boy a conspiratorial wink, then pointed out at the throng of people bustling about. "If you could go out with anyone out there, who would you go with?"

The boy began to shake his head. "Oh, I uh… I don't…"

"Nip it!" I said, and I pantomimed having a hand puppet close its mouth and not say anything more along the lines of what the boy had been trying to say. "I know you've got your eyes on somebody out there. I can see it. Now humor me and tell me who it is."

The boy lowered his head and began fidgeting with his hands again, and I thought that I wasn't going to get an answer this time either, but after a couple moments, the boy shakily pointed to a girl on the other side of the room in an adorable little blue dress that seemed to flare out more than it hung down. Another wallflower from the looks of her.

I whistled. "You've got good taste, man," and I laughed as I slapped the boy's back. "So when are you going to ask her to dance?"

The boy shook his head furiously. "I-I can't!"

Well, this was interesting. I raised an eyebrow as I regarded this kid. "Why not? She doesn't seem to have a date herself. She'd probably love to be invited to dance."

"B-Because…" said the kid, fidgeting so much with his hands by this point that I was afraid his skin might grow raw and fall off if he kept at it. "I-I'm too much of a loser…"

I rolled my eyes at this and had half a mind to grab the kid by the collar and drag him over to the girl and invite her to dance on his behalf, but the tiny shred of decency that I had somewhere inside of me prevented me from doing that. I figured it was probably important to the boy to actually develop the confidence to ask her himself, even though doing so was going to be an uphill battle.

"You're not a loser," I said. "I don't talk to losers. They're too boring."

"Psh!" The boy rolled his eyes at me. "And who are you to know who is and who isn't a loser?"

"Jack Frost, at your service!" I twirled my staff across my shoulders, then gave a bow, earning a snort of respect from the boy as I stood back up and looked at him with a glint of mischief. "And who might you be, good sir?"

He turned away briefly to laugh, either at my phony proper accent, or from my proclamation of being Jack Frost, both of which I supposed were kind of funny, and both of which made a sort of sense in their own strange way. I was standing in front of a wall of snowflakes and pretending to pretend to be a mischievous winter sprite, so naturally I had to act a little obnoxious. The kid seemed to loosen up a little bit around me, so I assumed he agreed with my assessment.

"Daniel," he said, turning back to face me, and he waited another moment before blurting out the thought that I had clearly seen lingering behind his eyes. "So they actually hired a Jack Frost to come here?"

I snorted. This would be fun to answer. "Well, either they hired me, or I'm the real Jack Frost and I just crashed the party." Naturally, this earned another laugh from Daniel, which made me smile. I was glad that he was starting to loosen up. No one deserved to be so miserable at a school dance.

"Right," said Daniel, "Because the real Jack Frost would want to come to our boring little school just so he could dance."

I twirled my staff in one hand like a baton, causing Daniel to watch me with a combination of awe and fear, probably from wondering if I was going to accidentally knock someone out with it. "Actually, this little school isn't as boring as you'd think," I said. "Did you know that it was built right in the middle of a fairy ring?"

"A what?" said Daniel.

"A fairy ring," I said. "You've never heard of those?" He shook his head, so I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath as I thought about how to explain. "A fairy ring is a ring of some sort that was created by nature and not man made, and it's commonly known as a place where the human realm and the fae realms converge."

"Heh!" Daniel started to laugh, though I could tell he didn't believe a word I said, other than that the natural formation I had observed clearly did exist. All he would have to do was go outside and look for the ring if he wanted to prove that. "So, what, are you telling me that my teacher is really a fairy?"

This time it was my turn to snort. "I doubt it," I said, "But I love the thought of that. Why, have you caught them performing magic when they think no one is looking?"

"No," said Daniel, "But I catch him talking to himself a lot."

I laughed and ruffled Daniel's hair. This kid was precious. "Well… I guess you just never know, do you?" He seemed content with that response, and the two of us continued to distract ourselves with talk of fairies and weird stuff happening in and around the school for some time as I tried to figure out if there was any way to get these two wallflowers actually dancing together.

After a while, our conversation drifted off to unknown domains, and I decided that enough was enough. If Mr. Daniel didn't have the guts to ask the girl to dance, then I would ask her myself. At least one of them ought to be dancing tonight.

I turned to my buddy and proposed my idea, which seemed to surprise him a bit, but he didn't seem offended or anything. Probably just surprised that the supposed hired help was planning on dancing with a student, which I guessed was kind of unusual. "So, what's her name?" I asked.

"Violet," he said, then he blushed and turned away. "You're not going to be able to get her to dance with you. She doesn't dance with anybody. Ever."

"Well then," I said, swinging my staff merrily around, "we're just going to have to change that, aren't we?" I winked at the boy, then turned and paraded across the room to seek out the shy girl in the blue dress.

"Hey there!" I waved at the girl before I approached her, which seemed to startle her a bit at suddenly being addressed for what I guessed to be the first time that evening. I sauntered up to her and smiled. "Violet, right?" She stared at me uncertainly for a moment, but then nodded, so I smiled again.

"I noticed that you seemed to be glued to the poppies you're standing in front of, so I thought I would just show up and rescue you from those evil little flowers and invite you out onto the dance floor." I winked at her, expecting her to be happy to have finally received an invitation to dance, but she shot me right down.

"I don't dance," she said, the coldness in her tone even making me shiver.

"Oh, come on!" I said, "Everyone dances when they come to… what is this? Prom?" I honestly wasn't sure whether I had guessed right or not since I really wasn't familiar with school dances, but as Violet didn't correct me, I figured I must have guessed correctly. And probably had sounded ridiculous in the meantime, but that was nothing new. I'm Jack Frost. I'm the king of ridiculous. I'm kind of used to it by now.

"I don't," she said. "No one ever wants to dance with me anyway."

"But I do!" I said, and I bounced slightly on the balls of my feet. "I need to get at least one dance in tonight. I've never been to prom before."

"Uh huh," she said, and turned her head to look out across the dance floor at all the happy couples dancing, though I could still see her glaring at me out of the corners of her eyes. "You only came over here to make fun of me, didn't you?"

Talk about a slap in the face. I knew I had a reputation for teasing people, but was my reputation really that bad? I needed to work on fixing it if people assumed I wasn't even sincere when I asked them to do something as simple as dancing with me. I shook my head. "Why would I make fun of you over something like that, snowflake? I just want to dance, and you looked lonely. I figured the two of us could help each other out."

At this point, she growled, then crossed her arms and turned her whole body away from me so she could sulk without having to look into my face. I blinked for several moments as I tried to process what I had done to make her react that way. Girls were confusing as it was, but even with me assuming that I just wouldn't understand women, this still didn't compute. There was something that was definitely eating at her, and I wanted to know what it was.

I reached out and gently touched her shoulder. "Snowflake, did I say something to upset you?"

She whirled back around and glared at me, her dress flaring out in a particularly becoming way a second later before it fell back around her legs. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

I blinked. "W-What?"

"Why do you keep calling me snowflake?"

"Oh!" I rubbed my brow as I laughed self consciously at myself. I hadn't honestly even realized I'd been calling her that. It was just such a habit by now to use that term around people that I rarely noticed when I was doing it. I gestured over to the wintery side of the room. "I'm Jack Frost. It's just what I call people."

She stared incredulously for several long minutes, and I could feel my forehead start to sweat from the pressure of her stare. The frustrating thing is that whenever I sweat, it instantly freezes over and turns to frost, and this didn't go unnoticed by her as her incredulous stare gradually turned to one of confusion. I awkwardly ducked my head so she would stop staring at my frosty forehead and just talk to me as a normal person. Just for one night, I wanted to be a normal teen, or at least pretend I was.

"So what, they like… hired a Jack Frost for the dance?" she said.

I laughed and rolled my eyes, looking back up at her after conveniently leaning my forehead against my staff, effectively hiding it from view. "Eh, we'll go with that," I said. She seemed to accept that well enough, so I instantly launched back into talking about dancing, but took a couple steps backward at the fire in her eyes as she sent another glare my way. Why was she so against dancing with anybody?

"They put you up to this, didn't they?!" She stomped her foot and a tear started to roll down her cheek. "Because no one will dance with the likes of a girl who has to borrow her mother's prom dress because she can't afford her own. Right?! So they have to pay someone to come over here and dance with me!" Before I knew what she was doing, she had reached up and grabbed a couple fistfuls of her hair and looked like she was going to start trying to wrench her hair out if I didn't try to stop her.

"Hey, hey, hey, enough of that." I carefully pried each of her fingers out of her hair, then held her hands in mine as she looked up at me, shuddering slightly at my touch. I was probably a lot colder than she'd expected I would be, even though I was holding my powers in as best as I could so that I wouldn't hurt anyone. Her makeup was slightly smudged too, probably from crying. This whole ordeal must have been an awfully stressful event to her. I wondered why she would have come in the first place if it was so hellish for her. Was there that much pressure on kids to go to prom?

"No one put me up to this, snowflake, and no one's paying me to do anything. I'm not even getting paid to be here. I just want to dance." This information seemed to surprise her quite a bit, and I could only guess why. I did kind of stick out like a sore thumb around all these well dressed guys in their tuxedos and such while I was just wearing my normal hoodie and tattered pants. The only logical reason for me to be here would have been that I was getting paid to do it… except that I wasn't. I was just being a crazy fairy who was too curious for my own good, but I had no idea how to explain that to Violet.

I stroked her hair and smiled at her sadly. "You're a beautiful girl, and it's a shame that no one has asked you to dance yet." I sighed. "But I know firsthand that there is someone besides me who really wants to dance with you. He's just so scared that you'll turn him down that he's afraid to ask."

This was clearly news to her, and her eyes opened wide in shock while she practically shouted, "Who?!"

I continued to stroke her hair as I leaned forward and spoke to her in a smirky sort of voice. "If you give me one dance, I'll tell you."

The girl glared at me once more and yanked her hands out of mine as she spun around to face away from me again. She crossed her arms. "You're evil."

"Diabolical, I know." I chuckled and swung my staff over my shoulder and cocked my head to one side, waiting to see what she would do. No matter what happened now, it was bound to be interesting. There was no way this situation could get boring now. "But being sneaky tends to work for me most of the time."

I could hear the venom in her voice even before she opened her mouth to speak. That girl was pretty pissed at me right then, but I wasn't backing down from this. She felt entirely too neglected to just be left to her own devices. "And what happens when being sneaky fails to work for you?"

"That's usually when I have an irate Easter Bunny chasing me up to Siberia or someplace because I ruined another one of his egg hunts."

Despite everything she tried, even hard as a rock Violet couldn't stay stonefaced over that mental picture. And who could blame her? She held her hand to her mouth to try and stop the betraying chuckles that tried to escape from her mouth, but one by one, little snorts leaked out of her until she finally gave up and full out laughed. Success!

I took her hand in mine once again and waited until she turned to look at me. Her demeanor had calmed down quite a bit since her yelling spat, and she seemed a little more flexible than she had before. Maybe I had a slight chance with her now. "Come on," I said. "Just one dance. That's all I'm asking for. Then I can disappear and you'll never have to hear from me again."

She stared uncertainly at me for a long moment as though trying to read my face for any signs of insincerity. But it wasn't in my heart, and therefore wasn't in my face. I honestly did want to dance with her. It was one of the few times I wasn't playing some sort of trick. After a few minutes, it seemed she had reached that conclusion too, as she sighed and let her posture go slack.

"One dance?" she said, asking for confirmation.

I nodded. "Just one. Then I'll tell you who the other guy is and get out of your hair. Sound good?"

She eyed me silently for another moment, probably trying to decide what planet I had just flown in from, then sighed in resignation. "Alright. Just one dance."

"Yeah!" I threw my arms triumphantly into the air as I bounced giddily on my toes. I would finally be able to see what the kids all talked about. I knew what dancing was like, of course, but I had never danced at prom. Now I would finally be able to add that experience to my checklist.

I took her hand and led her out to the middle of the dance floor, earning some funny looks from everyone we passed by. I wasn't sure if it was the oddball winter sprite they were staring at or the girl who never danced who was now going out onto the dance floor. In a place like this, it could honestly have been either of us. Or perhaps both of us at once. But I didn't care, and I hoped she didn't care too much either. I just wanted her to kick back and have fun for once.

The song that was playing was some kind of wild tune that I didn't recognize, but it still had a catchy beat, and the two of us just started bouncing in sync with the music, not touching each other as we were being a bit shy. That was fine though. We were still dancing together.

After about a minute, the song died, and the band on stage announced that they were going to start a slower number. I felt slightly disappointed that I didn't even get a full song with her, but I was going to keep my promise to her and not push her into dancing more when she was obviously kind of uncomfortable. I bowed my head respectfully. "I guess I didn't get much time to dance, did I?" I chuckled and shook my head sadly. "But I'll let you be, like I promised."

I took a step back to go away from her, when her hand shot out involuntarily like she was trying to block my escape. I raised an eyebrow at her to ask a silent question of what she was doing. She realized her own behavior was strange and laughed awkwardly at herself before speaking.

"Um… that was kind of short…" She coughed, then rubbed her arm and looked away nervously. "I s-suppose it wouldn't hurt to at least dance a full song with you."

My face lit up. "Really?" I automatically went up on my toes, then plopped my heels back down on the ground as soon as I realized I was getting overeager. "I-I mean, are you sure? This next one's going to be a slow dance."

She was silent a moment, but then slowly nodded that it was okay, and I smiled and took her hand in mine. I wrapped my other hand around her waist, which was slightly awkward since that hand was still holding tightly to the staff, but I didn't have three arms, and I wasn't about to leave it unguarded somewhere in a room full of wild teenagers. Who knew if I'd ever see it again?

We gently swayed to the beat of the song that was playing, me enjoying the feeling of community with all the other people dancing around me, and feeling the closeness to my partner somehow etching its way into my very soul. I had known that dancing was an act of intimacy, as I had done it plenty of times in my past, but somehow I hadn't quite been prepared for the feeling that was associated with a slow prom dance. Maybe it was the popular dork music that they played for every selection. Or maybe it was how dark the room had become upon slowing down the beat of the music. Or maybe it was the lights they had whipping across the room. Or maybe it was just the girl in front of me in the old-fashioned dress.

That dress twisted and twirled with each movement she took, and I couldn't help but wonder why every girl here wasn't borrowing their mom's prom dresses if this one had that much of an effect on me. I didn't think it was just the shade of blue the dress was in, though I knew that it didn't help matters much. She fit in pretty well standing next to me despite my being dressed poorly for a fancy dance like this. Not that she wasn't dressed fancy herself, but she didn't look out of place dancing next to a winter sprite.

"Um…" She started to speak and then trailed off. I waited a moment for her to finish her thought, but it didn't seem to be coming out, so I decided I had better help her.

I raised my eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Um," she said again, "Would it be alright if… I asked your real name?"

That was the last question I had expected to be asked, and I laughed before I could think twice about it. "Wait, what? My real name?"

She nodded shyly, and I smiled despite myself. I could see why Daniel wanted to dance with her so badly. She was honestly pretty adorable once you got her to come out of her shell. "I-I just… wanted to know what to call you. Besides Jack Frost, I mean."

I tried not to laugh, since I understood where she was coming from, but I really couldn't stop it from coming out. So I ultimately had it come out in an unbecoming snort. I apologized by making a timid facial expression, which she seemed to be amused by, then I straightened up and looked into her eyes. "That is my real name," I said.

"Psh." She rolled her eyes at me, slightly annoyed, but slightly amused at the same time. The poor thing was probably so used to guys toying with her that she just assumed this was another case of that. I couldn't just let it go like that, not when I had been working so hard to bring her out of her shell in the first place.

"No, no, I mean that my name really is Jack," I said. "I'm not kidding about that."

She looked at me quizzically for a long moment before finally responding to that statement. "Even when you're not in costume, you mean?"

I snorted again. It wasn't becoming. And I just couldn't help it. "Especially when I'm not in costume. My name is still Jack." I didn't dare tell her that I wasn't actually in costume right then, because there was no way she would understand such a thing without thinking she was just being played again. It was probably just best to let her think I was a guy in a Jack Frost costume who had been hired to liven up the party, albeit for free since I'd already told her I wasn't getting paid for this.

Apparently this was funny somehow, as she started laughing and shaking her head. "That's so strange. They got a Jack to play Jack Frost? What are the chances of that?"

I smirked. "It happens more often than you might think, snowflake."

"Again with the snowflakes! What's with you, mister?" Though she was verbally chastising me, her eyes were laughing, and I laughed alongside her. She was finally having fun, and so was I.

Now that she had finally gotten into the dance, I felt I didn't have to hold myself back so much anymore, and I started dancing in more tricky ways. It made people look at us a bit, but so what? Let 'em look. I knew they'd be jealous after a bit. I'd had three hundred years to get really good at dancing, and I'd have been willing to wager that I was a better dancer than everyone in the room. My body was naturally pretty agile too, not to mention that I just naturally walked on my toes most of the time, which lent me more control and grace while I moved. Even with me only just starting to experiment a bit to see what I could get away with regarding Violet, we were already starting to get a few jealous stares.

Violet seemed to notice this too, and I could tell that she wasn't sure what she thought of this. She certainly wasn't used to being the center of attention, but maybe she should find out what it's like just once. When you're the center of attention for the right reason, it can make you feel like you're on top of the world. I leaned in and whispered into her ear. "Wanna make them all super jealous of our dancing skills?"

She whispered back. "But I'm not that good."

I smiled. "It's okay. I can be good enough for the two of us."

She hesitated for a moment while she smiled shyly at me and pondered what I said. After a moment of looking out at all the people surrounding us and remembering what she had to deal with on a regular basis, she turned back to look at me, a decisive look on her face. She nodded. "Let's do it."

A grin broke out wide on my face. "Good girl." I stepped back from her, still holding her hand in mine. "Now, just follow my lead." She nodded, so I began doing the things that most people don't see outside of movies, making her twirl and then throwing her back into my arms. Then stepping around her and picking her up and spinning her around.

I knew I could be even better than this, but we had already gotten the attention of most of the room. Did I really need to go any farther with it? Violet seemed to be really enjoying herself, and she sighed happily as I dipped her and then brought her back up into a spin. She would probably remember this for the rest of her life, and I was proud that I was able to give her this moment.

Out across the sea of faces, I saw some of the teachers looking at me worriedly, since I was clearly out of place, but with me having drawn so much attention to myself in the midst of a dance, it was clear that they didn't know what to do. Yet. I was going to have to play my cards well and not stop dancing until I was ready to face the music, because it seemed the only place they wouldn't come after me was on the dance floor.

Next thing I knew, a loud and rambunctious couple pushed their way through the crowd until they were at the center of the dance floor, next to us. Violet saw who had come to join us in the spotlight, and she audibly groaned. I didn't know anything about their school politics, but upon seeing the challenging look the other girl was giving Violet, I could pretty well ascertain that shit had just gotten real.

"So, you guys think you're so awesome, huh?" said the new girl. "Alright then, beat this!" She and her guy then maneuvered themselves into a complicated dance step where they both participated equally, both very well coordinated. I whistled and applauded at the sight. Those two had quite a bit of skill, which would be hard to beat. While I knew that my skill surpassed theirs, Violet's dance skills were pretty average. I would have to somehow beat the two of them combined.

Violet looked to me, her eyes pleading for help, and I shrugged and pulled her back into the dance and started doing some of my more complicated moves around her. I didn't fully understand high school politics, but judging from her reaction to this situation, it seemed she was going to have to either win this battle or suffer shame. She'd experienced enough shame over all sorts of other stupid things. This didn't need to be added to the list.

Despite Violet's dancing skills only being average, she was remarkable at adapting to what I was doing, and before long, she'd started guessing what sorts of moves I was going to do and started moving with me, just to make the steps easier. It made us look that much more synchronized, and I could tell that the new girl was not a happy camper about this. She and her partner then broke out into the wildest dance I'd seen yet, a dance it would require an insane amount of skill to beat.

Violet groaned and looked like she was about to throw her hands up in defeat, when I grasped her hands in mine and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Do you believe in magic?"

That seemed to startle her out of her frump a bit, and she looked at me in a state of confusion. "I… I don't know. Maybe. Strange things sometimes happen at this school."

I smiled, nodding my understanding of that fact. Weird things would happen frequently at a school built in the middle of a fairy ring. "Would you like to see some?"

She definitely didn't know how to respond to that, and she remained silent for a key moment as she stared between me and the two wild dancers beside us. Finally, it seemed that she'd reached the conclusion that she had nothing to lose, and so she shrugged and said, "Oh, why not?"

"Great!" I said, through a smile that was practically as big as my face. "Hang on tight."

I went and grabbed her around the waist again as we started to dance around in a circle, which seemed deceptively simple compared with the wild and frantic dancing going on next to us. The bratty girl gave us a look as though she thought we'd given up on even trying to outdo her, and I smirked back at her, mentally telling her not to celebrate yet, and we picked up the pace in our dancing around in a circle.

The next thing we knew, our toes were touching air instead of the floor, and Violet almost freaked out and forgot to keep dancing, but a gentle touch on her face reminded her that everything was alright. This was just yet another weird thing to be happening at this school, which she seemed to accept well enough, despite how intense her heart was pumping at this sudden intrusion of weirdness.

We circled higher and higher in the air, until we were spinning around above everybody's heads. No one else in the room was dancing anymore, not even the challengers. All eyes were turned on us, and I smiled proudly. I wouldn't be able to stick around long after a dance like this since I'd made way too much of a scene, but I didn't think it would hurt to go out with a bang.

I relaxed my grip around her waist and let her slide out until I held her only by her wrists, then I just spun her around and around like that, loving the motions her dress made as it swayed in the breeze. The whole experience just filled me with a certain form of ecstasy I hadn't felt in a long time, and I felt a bubbling come from within my chest until it burst out of my mouth in the form of uncontrollable laughter.

With an uncontrolled emotion comes an uncontrolled display of my powers, meaning that a light flurry of snow began to burst out of me and circle in the air around us briefly before lazily drifting to the spectators below. Violet was now laughing with me as well, though I wasn't sure if it was from the same sort of ecstasy I felt, or from hysteria at losing her mind. I hoped I hadn't broken her mind too terribly much, but I wanted to give her a dance she could remember forever. Somehow, I didn't think she would ever be able to forget this night, even if she tried.

I got startled out of my trance by several blinding flashes of light, and as I shook my head to reorient myself, I realized the lights were coming from cameras in the crowd below. Some of the people down there had regained their bearings enough to actually think to capture this moment on film. Should I go and destroy the evidence of what I was doing? I thought a moment and then shook my head and smiled. I'd made my bed, so I was going to lie in it and just let Violet properly enjoy the memory of what she'd experienced this night.

The snow was beginning to collect on the ground, and I thought I could hear several people crying. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I couldn't see any upset faces in the crowd. I did see quite a number of faces that were filled with awe though, including those of the two challengers we'd had before. Then I noticed several little pinpricks begin to filter into my heart, the feeling of belief starting to get kindled. It hadn't even crossed my mind that I might gain believers from this whole ordeal. I had only come to have a little fun, but it seemed I was going to get more out of this than I'd initially thought.

Eventually, the song ended, and I saluted the musicians on the stage, who cautiously waved back at me. I had to commend them for being professional enough to continue playing no matter what excitement happened around them. Most people would have dropped whatever they'd been holding at suddenly seeing a couple go and dance in the air. I hoped the school planned to pay these guys well. They deserved every penny.

I turned Violet and myself to face the crowd staring at us below, and I assisted Violet as the two of us bowed like we'd just finished an incredible performance. The people below seemed unsure as to whether to clap or to gawk, and we therefore got a reaction that was sort of a combination of the two. I chuckled and grabbed Violet around the waist again.

"I told you I'd let you know who wants to dance with you after this. I know his dance skills won't compete with mine, but he really, really, really wants to dance with you. You okay with that?"

Violet blushed and then covered her cheeks with her hands, as though that would somehow prevent me from knowing how she was reacting to the whole situation. "I… I don't think I could dance like that more than once anyway." I laughed, completely understanding that, then I flew her across the room and set us both down in front of a very wide-eyed Daniel.

After releasing my grip on her waist, Violet staggered under her own weight, and Daniel was quick to jump up and offer her the seat he'd been sitting on, which she was incredibly grateful for. "I think I'm going to… sit out the next one… if you don't mind." I laughed at this, and Daniel tried to look agreeable by laughing nervously along with me, though I could tell that he wasn't entirely sure what he should be thinking or saying in regards to everything that had just transpired.

I placed my hand on his shoulder and looked him squarely in the eye. "She wants to dance with you, but she can't stand insincerity. She needs to know that people honestly care for her. So make sure that when you ask her, you're completely sincere."

That was a big responsibility to put on a young man like him when he'd never even gotten the courage to ask her to dance before I had gone and broken the ice for him, but that didn't seem to be what bothered him about all this. "Um…" He coughed. "But… I can't dance like that."

I raised an eyebrow at this, highly amused. "You mean you can't fly?" He shook his head, embarrassed at the accuracy of the question, though I only found him more amusing. "And she doesn't want you to," I said. "I kind of overwhelmed her. She'll never forget that dance, but I think she wants someone who has both feet solidly planted on the ground."

"But… but…"

I interrupted him before he could find more words to say than "but". "And she definitely wants someone who is dedicated and sensitive, which I know are two traits that you have, Daniel." He looked at me questioningly, like he wanted to object somehow, and I smiled sadly. "I couldn't dedicate myself to her even if I wanted to. I have commitments elsewhere of taking care of the world's weather and protecting children, especially during winter. I can't be there for her in that way, but she desperately needs someone to be."

I looked at him pointedly, driving the message home. He looked like he wanted to object, but as he looked between me and Violet, all the fight went out of him, and he went and stood over by Violet protectively, a gesture she seemed to appreciate, though I'm not sure Daniel was aware of the subtle change of expression on her face.

I nodded my approval and turned to leave when Daniel called after me. "Jack!"

I turned back to face him. "Yes?"

He started to fidget again and couldn't seem to find any way to get the words out of his mouth, so I conjured up a magic snowflake and blew it at him. Once it hit his face and shattered, he gasped and looked up at me, blurting his words out before he could even take the time to think.

"Are you the real Jack Frost?!"

The smirk I was so characteristic of spread across my face. "What do you think?"

"I, uh…" He tried to fidget, but my snowflake's magic was still at work, at least for a few minutes, which seemed to make his lips looser than they normally would have been for him otherwise. "It sounds crazy, but I think you might be."

He cringed at realizing what he'd said, but was surprised when he found Violet nodding in agreement. The two little pinpricks of their belief starting to form embedded themselves in my heart, and I smiled at them, pleased that I'd had the chance to share this night with them.

I was about to turn to leave again, when I remembered that there was one more thing that I ought to do before going. I walked over to Violet and said, "It's customary to give a gift to your date at the end of the night, right?" I winked at her, knowing that she wasn't technically my date, just my dance partner for the one dance, but I couldn't stick around long enough to make it a proper date anyway. I had things to do in other parts of the world.

I focused my intent on my hand as ice came out of it and shaped itself right in front of the two onlookers, who were half scared and half stricken in awe at what I was doing. I fine tuned the sculpture I was making, then shoved a small piece of my spirit into the ice, which would force it to stay frozen for a while.

I handed the completed sculpture to Violet, a rose made out of ice, and said, "This should be able to last through the evening, but make sure to get it in the freezer once you get home, or it'll melt." She took the gift reverently and stared at it like she was holding a piece of heaven that was so delicate that if she so much as breathed, it would float away.

"Thank you for the wonderful evening. I'll never forget this." I then reached out and took her hand and kissed it, then turned and bowed politely to Daniel, who bowed back, despite the awkward look on his face that indicated modern kids rarely ever interact with people that way. But hey, I'm old-fashioned, and probably always would be despite my best efforts.

I once again took to the air, which caused an audible gasp from the people below, but I decided to ignore it as I turned and pointed my staff back at Daniel. "Make sure you ask her to dance once she's rested enough, you hear?" Daniel saluted back at me and assured me he would, then finally offered me a gentle smile of gratitude, one which I returned. I then went and flew out the door before anyone could react further and try to bar my way or some other stupid stunt.

The cool night air hit my face and I could feel my nerves being refreshed after having been cooped up with all those people for all that time. I took a couple deep breaths while hovering there in the air, letting the energy out, despite how shaky the excitement of the night had me. If I wasn't careful, I could get so excited I passed out. I seemed to do it a lot. But the night had been worth that risk.

I heard voices below me, and I looked down to see that some people had stepped outside, so I stood by to listen in, since they hadn't seemed to have noticed me hovering there.

"What in the world happened in there?" said one of the kids. "Was that some kind of trick?"

"I don't think so," said another kid. "You know how all sorts of weird things keep happening here."

"So what do you think happened?" said a third.

The second kid then took a deep breath before answering. "I think we might have been visited by Jack Frost."

"But it's spring!" said the third kid. "Even if that was somehow Jack Frost, why would he be around at this time of year?"

The second kid paused as he thought, then spoke again. "Maybe he was just trying to say goodbye."

I took this as my cue to conjure up a tiny flurry right then and there which fell down only around them so I wouldn't mess with the weather patterns at all, and the three of them gasped and looked up at where I was. I smiled and waved at them. "I've got to go now, but I'll be back next winter. Keep believing for me, okay?" The three of them nodded wordlessly, too shocked to respond, though I felt their belief click into place as I took off flying away from that school and the strange fairy ring.

That had been quite the experience for all involved, and I was pretty sure they would never forget it, and neither would I. After all this time, I had finally experienced my first prom. Sometimes being an eternal teenager really sucked, but in this one case, I was grateful for it. It had gotten me in there, and had gotten me a dance.

Winter would come again soon enough, and then I could return and see everyone again. Until then, I was just going to let myself dance through the seasons. A year isn't so long when one knows how to dance.

I hope you liked that. I've been trying to decide whether to write a follow up story to this showing how the two wallflowers' relationship blossoms, but I have no idea. *chuckles* It'll be a separate story if I do, so you'll want to follow me as an author if you want to get notified of it. Feel free to tell me if you have ideas of what happens in their lives, as this might make me actually get inspired and *write* the follow up, haha.

Anyway, this story is reeeeeeally venturing out of my comfort zone, writing a touch of teenage romance. *chuckles* If you liked this, please let me know, and if you know how I could improve on this, please let me know. I have no idea what I'm doing otherwise, but I hope this story was liked.

Thanks for reading this. I really appreciate that. Take care, and have a wonderful day!