Even Belarus Can Star In Her Own Cheesy Chick Flick

To say Natalia Braginski was devoted to dancing would be an understatement. Being enrolled into ballet classes at the age of two and a half, she had been dancing for most of her life. Dance was always number one in her priorities – school, family and friends came second.

Although, she didn't really have any friends for that matter. After the deaths of her parents when she was only nine years old, she was adopted by a young man named Ivan Braginski who treated her more like the little sister he never had than a daughter. Natalia was forever grateful for her new brother – he had let her continue her dance classes and even paid for lessons in other styles of dance because he knew she loved dancing so. Natalia always vowed that one day she would repay her brother for his kindness. However, teenagers will be teenagers, and many said that Natalia's love and devotion towards her brother was creepy. Soon enough, rumours began to circulate about her, saying that she wanted to marry her brother and that she was obsessed with him. For any normal teenaged girl, the rumours would've crushed her and reduced her to a depressed state. But Natalia had dance and nothing could hurt her because of it.

Natalia wasn't skilled in one particular style of dance – she was proficient in all. Starting with ballet and then moving on to jazz, hip-hop, acro, contemporary – even ballroom, Natalia knew it all. Natalia had only one goal in mind – to learn all the various types of dance in the world. There was something about dancing that Natalia loved. It never judged her. When the music played, Natalia forgot everything. It was just her and the music. The music flowed through her blood, leading her body. It was a sensation that Natalia looked forward to experiencing everyday. A devoted dancer, Natalia practiced everyday after school. Of course, she'd prefer to just spend her day dancing but alas, Ivan would never go for that.

The bell rang, startling Natalia out of her trance. She had been envisioning the perfect ballet solo for an upcoming competition and couldn't wait to try it out in the small dance studio near her house. It would be empty too [it was always empty on the weekends] which was a blessing for Natalia. She could practice in peace and quiet. Standing up and putting her things away, Natalia barely noticed her fellow students walking past her, chattering happily about useless things.

"Hey guys today's your last chance to buy your tickets for the upcoming dance!" a boy called out, standing on a chair. Alfred F. Jones, most popular boy in school and head of the student council. Natalia watched as he interacted with other students, joking around with the boys and light-heartedly flirting with the girls. It was almost as if he was the complete opposite of Natalia – carefree, friendly and not seeming to be devoted to anything really. He was pushy and insensitive at times, and always was sticking his nose in everybody's business, but he had a certain charisma to him that made all those traits likeable.

"Hey Nat!" he said suddenly, hopping off his chair and jogging towards her. Natalia blinked in shock as he stood in front of her, grinning, while everyone else in the vicinity was trying to figure out why the hell the most popular boy in school would want to talk to the school freak. Truth be told, Natalia had no idea herself. She had never once talked to the boy, never once had him even glance at her way. She knew his brother Matthew faintly; he played the piano sometimes at her ballet class's recitals, but that was it. This sudden attention almost terrified her; she never had to worry about what to say until now.

"Yes?" she said quietly, cursing her rather unusual accent. It was a mixture of Russian and English, making her sound rather more like a grandmother complaining about how she missed the 'old country' rather than a teenaged girl.

"You'll be coming to the dance tomorrow right?" he asked curiously, cocking his head to the side making him look like a rather adorable puppy dog. Natalia blinked again, blushing and looking away.

"Probably not," she murmured, staring intently at the tiles below their feet.

"Why not?" Alfred said, shocked. "The dance is gonna be great! Mattie says you're a dancer and stuff too! Don't dancers like going to dances?" he sounded honestly astonished that Natalia would be coming. It was surprising that a boy like Alfred would care about a girl like Natalia coming to a stupid school event like a school dance. Natalia was at a loss for words. Maybe Alfred was one of those nice popular boys.

"I… I will talk to brother then let you know, ok?" Natalia said. She heard snickers and a few snide comments like, 'she probably wants to go with her brother to the dance' and 'ew how could she call him brother and want to marry him?' Natalia chose to ignore them, this wasn't the first time she had heard those remarks.

Natalia snuck a glance at Alfred, only to see he was beaming at her. "Alright that's great! I'll write your name down for a ticket and you can pay me back later," he said, pulling out a pen out of nowhere and scribbling something down on a chart. Natalia felt like he had roped her into coming. Pushy and aggressive as he may be, Alfred certainly was good at getting buyers. He could make a very good businessman one day.

"O-ok," she said quietly. Alfred finished writing her name down and looked up, still beaming.

"Tickets are only 2 dollars which is really cheap for a dance. Maybe now you can invite someone," Alfred said, winking. Natalia's head shot up and she stared at the boy in the eye as the people around them started laughing. And to think she thought that he was nice.

"I assure you I won't be inviting anyone," she said glaring daggers at the boy, making his smile fade and stomping away, pushing past onlookers, who were laughing at her with glee.

"No wait Nat I didn't -" Alfred called out, his voice lost in the sea of voices in the hallway. Natalia ignored it, walking as fast as she could out of the school. The sooner she was out of the hell-hole and in her dance studio, the better.

As the loud music blared on the speakers in the dimly lit gymnasium, teenagers rubbing against each other left to right, Natalia stood pressed against the wall, wondering why the hell she was there. The music was too loud, too trashy – it was a wonder anyone could dance to it. Natalia wanted to get out of the gymnasium and back to where she was comfortable, back to where she didn't fear harassment from her fellow students.

"Hey Nat why are you just standing there?" a voice said by her shoulder, making her jump. Alfred was standing beside her, face shining with sweat from dancing. She glared at him in response. "Nat... I'm sorry if you're pissed about what happened yesterday. I wasn't talking about… those rumours. I was just sayin' if you wanted to invite anybody you could – that's all." He really did sound sincere. Natalia nodded and looked away, still unsure of how to speak to the charismatic boy. "So why are you not dancing?" he continued, happy that he had been forgiven.

"I-I don't really like the song – it's too fast for me," she lied. But just as the last words left her mouth, the song stopped and a much slower song began to play. All around them people began find partners to slow dance with. Alfred grinned.

"Too fast now?" he said teasingly, making Natalia blush. "You gonna dance now?" he asked her. She shook her head. How would she be able to tell him that all she wanted to do was go home and practice ballet? "Want me to teach you how to dance?" he asked. Natalia looked back at him in confusion.

"I know how to dance," she said stiffly. Alfred grinned.

"But do you know how to dance the dance I'm talking about?" he asked. Natalia flushed.

"If you are talking about grinding -"

"No of course not – that's not your type of dance. I was talking about something else," Alfred said. Natalia sighed.

"Fine. You may teach me," she said, fully expecting to already know how to dance the dance Alfred was talking about.

Alfred beamed, grabbing Natalia's hand and dragging her towards the dance floor, making Natalia blush deeply. "Ok. Put your hands on my shoulders," he instructed seriously. Natalia did as told, her blush deepening as Alfred put his hands on her waist.

"Now what?" she asked curiously.

"We sway slowly to the music," he replied. She blinked at him.

"You're… teaching me how to slow dance?" she asked. Alfred smiled softly. "…Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked her. Natalia shook her head. He sighed. "This is going to sound like a cheesy chick flick but… I really like you Natalia. I mean – even though everyone makes fun of you, you don't care about it. If that happened to me I'd be so emo. And, you're so devoted to dancing – and you're good at it too. My mom dragged me along to one of your recitals because Matt was playing the music for it and… it was the only time I actually saw you smile. You're really pretty when you smile. I kinda wanted to make it my goal to make you smile more," Alfred paused, smiling a crooked smile at her, running a hand through his blond hair. "I sound kinda stupid right now don't I?" he asked.

Natalia smiled, shaking her head. "Not at all," she whispered back. Alfred beamed in delight, pulling her closer. "Aren't you worried that everyone else is going to make fun of you?" she asked as they swayed in time to the music, oblivious to the stares from the rest of the student body.

Alfred stared into her eyes. "Not at all," he murmured, before pressing his lips gently on the corner of her lips.

The End.

A/N: Suddenly Ivan burst in through the doors, holding an AK-47 in his hands. "YOU STEAL MY LOVE FROM ME, DA? WELL I KILL YOU NOW," he yelled, shooting multiple bullets at the offending person. Alfred screamed.

"NATALIA!" he yelled as the girl sunk to the ground, dead. "NOOOOOOOOO," he howled as Ivan grabbed him, hoisted him over his shoulders and ran off, presumably to tie Alfred up and maybe do some kinky things with him.

The Actual End.

/shot. Nah Ivan doesn't appear in this story. I got bored, thought about Belarus/America and decided to write a story about it. And then I realized how cheesy it was. Hence the title. Yea, I was really bored. I know, I know, Alfred and Natalia's relationship happens a bit soon, da? Yea well that's what it's like in cheesy chick flicks [which I loathe] so heh.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Awesome Advice - I'm still writing a chapter and am a little Writer's Blocked on it - but do not fear! I shall have it up as soon as I possibly can [exams are coming up and I'm gonna get busy D:]

Reviews make my pretend ending become a reality. ;]