Slow Dance in Purgatory

“Dara! Knock it off! I don’t know what you’re talking about! You said to meet you here after school. I just walked up and opened the door. Quit freaking out!! I didn’t do anything!!!” Derek was out of breath and panting and more than a little pissed off.

“You didn’t hold the door so I couldn’t get out? You didn’t flicker the lights and then make the sound system play some freaky message about ….about ….Baggie Maggie?” Dara was breathing just as hard, and she hadn’t cooled down very much at all. She was convinced Derek had to be guilty.

“Baggie Maggie?” Derek’s eye brows rose in disagreement. “From what I’ve seen, she’s anything but baggie.”

Dara arched and screeched in outrage, trying to pull her arms from his.

“Geez, Dara! Chill out! I swear I didn’t. I swear it!”

Dara rolled her eyes and offered a sarcastic, “Whatever.”

Derek sat back on his heels, letting Dara roll out from beneath him. She rose in an angry huff and gathered her stuff where it had scattered when the music blasted her off her feet.

“There’s some really weird shit happening at this school,” Derek muttered, rising to his feet behind her. He clicked off the sound system, and with a nervous glance around the room, flipped off the lights and followed his irate girlfriend from the dance room.





15


“UNCHAINED MELODY”

Les Baxter - 1955





Jody was true to her word, and Maggie’s make-up was perfect. After the game, she hurried to the locker room and readied herself for the dance. She removed the dark lipstick all the dancers wore when performing, and applied a pale pink instead. The smoky eye makeup worked without making her look like she belonged in a nightclub, and Maggie loosened her hair from the mandatory tight bun and brushed it until it swung, straight and shiny, down her back. She removed her dance costume and jazz shoes and carefully pulled Irene’s blue dress over her head and shimmied the zipper closed. The shoes were high, but they had a sturdy strap, and Maggie thought she could walk in them without stumbling and without looking like she was playing dress-up. She might even be able to dance in them. In the corner. All by herself.

Maggie sighed and pushed the self-pity away. She was going to enjoy feeling pretty and wearing Irene’s beautiful dress. All other thoughts were banned for the rest of the night. The sparkly earrings were just the right finishing touch, and after Maggie brushed her teeth and spritzed herself with a hint of perfume, she stepped back to twirl in front of the long mirror. She almost didn’t recognize herself. Would Johnny be there tonight, somewhere in the shadows? She knew she was setting herself up for disappointment, but she desperately hoped so.

Maggie was in her place behind the ticket table as couple after couple filed into the school cafeteria. All the tables and chairs had been cleared or moved to the perimeter, and the large space was adorned in silver balloons and paper mache roses in deep red and black. White snowflakes twinkled at varying lengths from the ceiling, giving the space a ‘Winter Wonderland’ vibe. Maggie had to admit, Dara and the other members of the dance team had done a great job with the decorations. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take Gus, Shad, and her to clean it all up Monday morning.

Dara hadn’t been able to hide her surprise when she’d seen Maggie, standing to the left of the table, taking tickets and chatting with a few of the dance team members and their dates as they arrived. Maggie tried not to smile, but Dara‘s expression was priceless. Didn’t someone once say “looking good is the best revenge?” They were absolutely right.

But though revenge is sweet, it turns bitter with time. More than an hour later, long after every one had arrived, Maggie still stood alone behind the ticket counter, watching the couples swing around the floor, laughing and holding each other tightly. Maggie desperately wished she could dance, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen. Everyone already had a partner. The pleasure she had felt in her appearance had faded, and her fancy dress and high heeled shoes now seemed a silly mockery. The depression she had felt earlier descended on her once more, and Maggie abandoned her now irrelevant post. The money and tickets were locked away, and there was no one to stop her from leaving. Maggie walked down the long corridor back toward the girls’ locker room to gather her things.

“You should be dancing.” Johnny’s voice spoke out from a shadowy somewhere, and Maggie cursed her tell-tale heart for singing in her chest.