time of our lives [open]

[Grace E. Michaelson]

The New York weather had been exceptionally good as of late, and as such, the Back to School Bash was going off without a hitch. Grace smiled as she took another cup of punch (her fifth) and smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle on her dress, looking around at all of the upperclassmen crowding around the 620 Loft & Garden. The sun was setting, and everyone was dressed to the nines. People were talking, laughing, and dancing together, and it was a nice change from the competitive and cutthroat attitude that most of the students at the party had during the school year. Setting her cup down on the small, round table she was currently seated at, Grace subconsciously tapped her foot along to the beat of the music that was playing and looked around, trying to see if anyone she knew was at the party yet.

[JULIAN E. KANE]

Although hosted by the school, Julian anxiously awaited for the back to school party all sumer long. Sure, Florida knew how to party, but there was something about the atmosphere that made this party seem so enticing. The best part of it all, at least for Julian, was that he was thankful that he didn't have to be invited by his sister to attend this year (last year was awkward, having to explain to all the upperclassmen that technically his sister was his date). Grabbing a drink from inside and then heading back out to the rooftop praying to recognize someone - Julian began to think that he should of listened to Emily and waited a bit longer to show up since "that's when all us cool people show up" (he had replied with "whatever, I'm the life of the party anyways"). Recognizing a head of brown hair, Julian walked over to the small table where Grace sat. Though he didn't know her well, the two only talked in halls in passing, he was more than comfortable in walking over and chatting her up. "Hey," He said, pulling out the other chair at the table and sitting down, not even thinking about wither or not it was already taken.

[Grace E. Michaelson]

Looking to her left as she heard someone greet her, Grace was surprised to see Julian pulling out a chair and sitting down in it. She smiled a bit and felt her cheeks go red, but she was sure he wouldn't notice. "Hey, yourself," she said. "Having fun?" She didn't know what she expected him to say, but she hoped he was having fun. It would be the worst thing ever (or at least she thought so) if he wasn't having fun and only came to talk to her to cure his boredom. Grace didn't know if her heart would be able to take it if Julian did say the party was lame. She wasn't an acting major and wasn't trained on hiding her emotions very well.

[JULIAN E. KANE]

Julian returned a smile to Grace as he took a sip of his drink. "It's not bad," He told her, being truthful about the party. "It's no party of mine and Emily's for sure, but it's not bad." Grinning, Julian quickly thought back to the 'leaving Florida' party that had been thrown a few weeks back. Now that was a fun party. "What about you?" He asked, putting his drink down and leaning on the arm of his chair that was closest to Grace. "You looked awful lonely sitting over here by yourself," Julian admitted, fully aware that she knew how she had been feeling before he had stepped over to join her.

[Grace E. Michaelson]

Grace chuckled a bit when Julian mentioned the parties that he and his sister, Emily, liked to throw. She recalled that there was supposedly one last year that lasted three days and included light up palm trees, a slip-n-slide, and a hot dog eating contest similar to the one on Coney Island that happened every 4th of July. Since Grace had never been to one of his or his sister's parties, she didn't know if this rumor was true or not, but she wouldn't put it past him. "I'm alright," she replied, answering his previous question and shrugging a bit. It was true; she was having a good time just watching everyone interact, yet it would have been better if her friends had shown up. "I got to dress up at least," she laughed while making a very exaggerated pose to show off her dress.

[JULIAN E. KANE]

Julian laughed along with Grace watching her strike a pose in her dress. "I like the yellow," He admitted still laughing, as he glanced around quickly noticing that she had been one of the only ones to wear a bright colour. Julian wasn't a fan of all the bland colours he saw around the city, something he learned that New Yorkers wore a lot of, so it was nice to see Grace in such a bright one. "Do you want to dance?" Julian asked, trying to combat the silence that he felt creeping up to them. It was a party, and the last thing that needed to happen, in Julian's mind at least, was nothing.

[Grace E. Michaelson]

Grace was taken aback when Julian asked her to dance. Sure, they were friendly to each other, but Grace never in a million years would have thought Julian would have asked her to dance, especially at a party like they were at now. "Oh, um, okay," she said, suddenly getting nervous as she felt her heart start to beat a bit faster. She stood up from her chair, looking around to see if anyone was laughing in case she was being set up (though she mentally slapped herself as soon as she thought that because who would do such a thing?) before looking back to Julian. "You can't make fun of me if I'm not as good as you," she said, suddenly worried she step on his feet or something. "The last class I took was at Ms. Hopkin's School for Ballet when I was six. Some other girl stepped on my tutu and it ripped and I never went back," she said, before adding, "I haven't signed up for any classes here yet."

[JULIAN E. KANE]

Julian didn't expect Grace to become as flustered as she did when he asked her to dance. He just wanted to do something besides sit at the table. "Not everyone can be as good as me," He joked as the two of them walked towards the group of other students who were dancing. Listening as she talked, or nervously ranted as Julian thought it was, he couldn't help but let a little smile creep on his face. "Grace, breathe," Julian interjected before she could list off reasons why she never signed up for classes at MCOA (though he was sure the reasons would be amusing to listen to). "I don't care if you can dance or not, nobody here does. Just have fun."

[Grace E. Michaelson]

Before she could continue talking and make a bigger fool of herself, Julian cut Grace off, telling her to breathe. "Oh, sorry," she said before nodding slightly to his advice of just having fun. Grace stopped walking as the two of them made their way to the edge of the dance floor, unsure of staying there or making their way to the front. She had a feeling that Julian would want to be front in center; he was probably the best dancer at MCOA (in her opinion) and she didn't think he'd want to hide toward the back. "Do you want to stay here, or go closer?" she asked as the upbeat music that was playing suddenly changed into a slow ballad and the couples on the dance floor moved closer together to slow dance. She almost stopped breathing again before she noticed the lyrics to the song (in Italian) before she suddenly smiled. "I know this song!" she exclaimed, before grabbing Julian's wrist. "C'mon," she added as she pulled him deep into the mix of dancing bodies.

[JULIAN E. KANE]

julian was finding it quite amusing, grace stressing out over dancing like she was, although julian couldn't figure out why. he knew that some people didn't like dancing, but he had never ran into someone who acted quite this way. it was so of endearing. as the stopped at the threshold of the dance floor, grace asking where he wanted to go, julian didn't really care. well, of course front and centre would be the funnest, julian figured that he shouldn't push his luck with grace anymore, as he saw it, it was an achievement even getting her this close. when the song changed to a slower one, julian hardly had time to figure out what song it was before grace freaked out and started pulling on julian's wrist for him to follow. "sudden change of heart?" he asked laughing as he followed was guided by grace through the mass of bodies.

[Grace E. Michaelson]

Grace shrugged at bit as she pulled Julian up front. "Dancing's more fun when you know the lyrics to the song," she said, dropping Julian's arm before turning to face him. She'd stopped right in front of the DJ, who was sitting on a chair with his feet up on the table with all of his equipment, checking his phone with a bored look on his face. Clearly he wished he was anywhere else right now. Looking away from the DJ, Grace put her arms around Julian's neck, and stepped closer to him. She smiled slightly, feeling her cheeks blush, before speaking. "Thanks for this," she said, really meaning it, as she was having more fun than she'd ever had at a school function.

[JULIAN E. KANE]

honestly, julian was surprised when grace pulled them through to the front (to where the lazy dj was sitting - if this were his party, he'd think twice about paying him his full amount). although he and grace weren't super close, he knew her well enough to be surprised at her choice to be front and centre, after all he did find her sitting alone at the back of the party. holding her by the waist, julian smiled back at grace as she spoke. "don't mention it." she was speaking as if it had been a chore of his to come keep her company, she was forgetting that before he spotted her, he had been alone too.

[Grace E. Michaelson]

this was, in all honesty, the best school function grace had been too, she decided as she danced there with julian while humming along with the song. sure, she hadn't been to many as she was more focused on her studies, but even if she wasn't there with julian, she would have still said the same thing. the song continued, and the dance continued, and before any awkward silence could ruin the moment grace was having, she looked back to julian. "so, what are you looking forward to this year?" she asked him. as sophomores, both of them had more opportunities to be involved with more things. grace knew what she was looking forward too, but since julian was a dance major, she had no idea what the year had in store for him.

[JULIAN E. KANE]

to say everything seemed a bit surreal would be a bit too much in julian's opinion. yes, he didn't go to many school functions in the past mainly because he either had to depend on emily to get him in (so if she had a date he was fucked), or he had to sneak in. not to mention they were often quite boring, with teaching mulling around and all. julian much preferred the parties where he didn't have to worry about having to uphold a good standing with teachers. but right now with grace, he was having more fun than he thought he was going to be having if you had asked him ten minutes ago. but he still wouldn't label it as surreal. surreal would be… julian wouldn't know what would make this party surreal. maybe if a teacher went crazy on the dance floor? julian would know it when he saw it. not even noticing the length of silence that had crept in between grace and himself, he listened as she spoke up before awkwardness had a chance to kill the mood. "i heard that they may be opening up extracurriculars to be run by sophomores this year," julian replied. "something about how it would make freshmen less afraid of senior run activities or something like that," he said, listing off the reasoning behind the rumour he had heard as if she would doubt him if he didn't. "so i'm thinking i may run something. i don't want to give any extra credit to someone i may be auditioning against one day." it took a while, but julian finally came out with an answer to her question. "what about you?"

[Grace E. Michaelson]

listening to julian talk about how he might be teaching an extracurricular this upcoming year, grace felt the gears in her head start to move. truthfully, she needed some more practice in dance. spending most of her time in voice practice really put her ahead of the competition in terms of vocal skill, but grace knew if she wanted to make it on broadway then she needed to take some extra dance and acting classes to help her that edge over since the other kids here that planned on a long broadway careers after graduation as well. "well, if you do teach a class, sign me up," she said, laughing a bit. plus, if she was in julian's class, that means she'd get to see julian more, and that was a plus. "i was thinking i might try and shadow a broadway actor this year, actually," grace said, telling julian her plans. "not a lead actor, of course, by maybe an understudy or one of the supporting parts. i just want to be as prepared as i can," she finished, unconsciously stepping a bit closer to julian and closing what little gap there was between them.