PROM: The Dance of the Royal Fran(c)ks

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank let out a high pitched squeal as they called her name. She actually hadn't been expecting it in the slightest: she'd figured that there would be someone more popular who would be getting it. That had happened last year, and Frank had to be more or less okay with it. So she'd already settled for sitting on the sidelines and cheering when Erika inevitably won her crown and some of her other friends went up. Frank did let out a wild whoop when Lucy won, but that was nothing compared to when Frank herself got called up.

"Who's muh king!?" she yelled, practically seizing the microphone from poor Elsa Bellefonte, who had yet again gotten announcing duties. The Bellefonte twin gave Frank a stare that would have made Ellen proud, then called up:

"François Laffont !" Frank's yell actually eclipsed Elsa's, and she clapped her hands manically. Okay, so she wouldn't get to dance with a straight guy, but still: Franck! Frank hopped up and down several times, threatening to knock the crown off her head with each hop. Her smile could've lit the room as she turned it on. She also practically shoved the crown onto her friend's head. "C'MON KING FRANCK; WE GOTTA BE ROYALS!" she would start singing the song too, assuming that Franck didn't wisely intervene.

[François Laffont]

Franck voted for Frank to be the prom queen. Can anyone really be surprised about this? Sure, he could have voted for his good friend Luxanna but Frank didn’t win last year and he thought she deserved it. Plus she was his best friend, so he had to vote for her. He knew she could be a strange choice but, at the same time, not so much. She was pretty, sociable and everyone knew her. She had pretty much every quality required to win this popularity contest.

Franck probably had them too but he still didn’t think he would win. First of all, he had been the prince last year, perhaps they would have wanted to pick someone else for king. Besides, he didn’t feel like he did nearly as much as he could have in the past months. It explained why he was surprised that Elsa called his name after Frank demanded to know who her king was. It was not false modesty. He thought there were others who deserved it as much as he did. But it was his name that Elsa announced, although it might not have been heard by all because Frank’s shriek turned them all deaf for a few seconds.

Let’s be honest, even if neither of them were to win, Franck expected to dance with his friend at some point. They just had to. Franck loved dancing and she was his best friend. He wasn’t sure they would allow him to dance with the one he wanted to the most anyway. So all of his girl friends were better be ready to dance with him at some point, especially those who didn’t have a date to spend the whole prom with. Like Frank.

Frank was ready to explode from her own excitement and Franck wanted to prevent that so he quickly walked to the stage and got the crown. “Yes, we are Frank,” he told her as he grabbed her shoulders and hugged her. That was better than to hear her sing the song with her high pitched voice and hyperactivity kicking in. He replaced the crown properly on his friend’s head. “It looks good on you.” Elsa must be pleading him to pull her away now and that was what Franck intended to do. But he knew the excitement was not about to die anytime soon. As long as he didn’t end up jumping up and down from it, it will be fine.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank let out another squeal even as Franck moved in to hug her. She danced a little in place, even though that meant moving Franck around a bit too. "I know!" she let out a little squeal of actual words. "I'm all royal and junk!" Frank moved away just long enough for Elsa to put the crown on Franck's head. Then Frank launched herself right back on top of her best friend for another crushing hug.

"I'm so glad we get to spend this moment together!" she said, practically picking him up with the hug. "It's the rein of Francks!" she yelled into Elsa's mic. Without waiting another beat, Franck lunged for Franck's hand. She pulled it, and by extension him, upright, held them for a few moments, then dragged down, fully intending to make them both bow.

Frank's crown managed to stay on somehow. Probably through sheer will. No telling if Franck would be as lucky.

[François Laffont]

Frank was impossible to keep in place. In fact, Franck even wondered if she was now vibrating or something due to all the excitement contained in her small figure. Franck had some trouble keeping still also. Not only was he pleased to be the prom king, showing both surprise, happiness and some humbling pride (if one person could pull that one off, it certainly was him), but he was also holding onto Frank, making her excitement wash over him. He could almost jump around along with her like two kids who were just promised a rollercoaster ride.

“I knew that you would be, you totally deserve it,” he whispered to Frank so that she alone would hear. It was no secret but he still did not intend for the whole school gathered here in the gym to hear this. And with her grabbing the microphone for herself, it was possible. He laughed at what she screamed in it. It probably had people second guess their choice of naming her now. But she was so happy about it and no one could have been more excited over this, really.

When she dragged him to bow in front of them, Franck held his crown, just to be sure. It had to be the magic of hairspray or some other female or Frank special ability that allowed hers to remain on top of her head but he was not so sure with his. He didn’t use nearly enough gel for it to stick. “Come on, let’s Elsa finish her speech then we can dance and celebrate,” he told her, trying to get her down the stage. Dancing and celebrating... Frank was put on this earth for that so she had to come along, right?

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank giggled as Franck said she deserved it. That just made her lean in and give him another peck on the cheek, which of course got the crowd worked up. Then there was the bow, which Frank performed with all the appropriate flare that such a gesture required.

Then it was up and Frank was rolling her eyes and hopping. "Fiiiine," she said, looking over at Elsa. "Do your speechifying thing, Miss Bellefonte. You look totes hot tonight, b.t. dubs," Frank grinned and held up her other hand, two fingers out in the "victory" position.

Of course, Elsa didn't get that. She merely gave the Cox girl another look of longsuffering, shot Franck an empathetic look, and then went back to finishing up the announcement. Being Elsa, she finished the entire speech despite Frank seeming to try and learn how to vibrate through solid matter. As soon as Elsa finished and talked about dancing:

"SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH ME!" Frank screamed before grabbing Franck and practically hurtling toward the dance floor with the sort of unstoppable force generally left to life-ending comets.

[François Laffont]

They knew Franck was gay, right? It was the worst kept secret in this school, and so many others leaked out over the years. Still, Franck could swear that tiny kiss Frank gave him had them all worked up like it was amazing. They did not just marry and Elsa said that Frank could kiss the bride. It was best not to say anything, as it would only result in Frank doing something crazier. Right now, she remained rather calm. Loud for anyone else but on the Frank-meter, it was calm.

Despite how Franck was likely going to regret it, he held Frank close to him, as if that would stop her from saying anything. At the very least she could jump around anymore. He gave a look to Elsa, smiling sheepishly as if apologizing for his friend’s behaviour. Frank was right though, the young woman looked very beautiful. It made him wonder if he couldn’t get a dance with her. It wasn’t like Felix would mind. Elsa was more likely to. He wasn’t sure if she bothered to read his mind, he doubted it, but he tried to remind himself to ask her later on. For now, there was someone else that needed all of his attention.

Franck felt like he was just caught in a tornado or something, the way she dragged him for they could dance. It was hard to stop her, a lot easier to just go along, trying not to smile like an idiot because of her positivity. He didn’t know what kind of song they would play. Normally it was a romantic one, no? He was fine with dancing a slow dance with Frank but that was still a little strange. More so because it was Frank than because he was doing it with a girl. Who could think Frank can slow dance? Certainly not Franck.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

In actuality, Frank Cox of the Cox family could certainly slow-dance. All proper young ladies received the finest of educations, and a young Frank had found dancing to be absolutely fascinating. It had been drilled into her head that it was most certainly proper and that if she were ever to be a good host for her friends, then she needed to master all the proper steps and be perfectly ready for it at all times.

Though usually that didn't mean when she was about to vibrate through a gym floor through sheer excitement.

Frank beamed up at her best friend and adjusted. She grabbed his hands and put them onto her, nodded, and then looked up at him. "Yeah, I know," she said, rolling her eyes, "you're, like, gay and you totes got your vampire lovah. 'sides, we'd never work out as a couple like Beau and Liz and stuff. But, like," Frank looked around, "I'm prom queen and junk, and if I'm gonna do this dancing thing, I kinda wanna do it right, and it might as well be with you," Frank smiled. "Not like anyone else cares about me quite as much her. Well," Frank tilted her head to the side, "maybe Ellen, but you'd probably have to hold a gun to my head for her to actually admit it," Frank pulled her lips to the side, "or for me to actually be dead," she waited a bit, before shrugging, "but, like, for now, can we just sorta do the slow dance thing and enjoy that we're totes prom king and queen? Like, us," Frank gave her friend a hug, "the crazy bouncy blonde and her gay best friend," she giggled. "It's so teen movie, amiright?"

[François Laffont]

Franck loved to dance. It was something he picked from his mother, who always loved to dance also and thought her young boy some of the steps to the more traditional social dances. He lost some of it over the years as he didn’t have the chance to have a partner, having trouble with touching someone really didn’t help for this activity, but he still remembered enough. He also knew how to move his body and that was certainly not something he was going to lose.

Franck had no problem dancing real close of Frank. The girl never seemed to bother herself with any effect touching her friend could have on said friend so he learned to deal with whatever feelings she sent at him. He could dance with her without problem. And the fact this was perhaps something you more normally did with a lover was of no concern to him. He simply wouldn’t end up reaching for her ass while dancing, which, in the end, should be a good thing. Except that it was Frank and she was probably begging someone to have their hands all over her while dancing. Well, it will have to be someone else and she didn’t seem to mind at all.

She was the one pointing out he was gay. “That doesn’t mean I cannot dance with you,” he pointed out. He only thought the dance he’d share with her would be a more lively one. There was still time for that later. He smiled at her. Her words could be offensive but he was not insulted in the slightest. A light frown appeared on his traits at her words. Obviously, she will still a little upset over the fact all of her friends had someone and she was single. “I’m sure you’ll find someone to dance with you after this. You’re the queen, it means people loved you enough to vote for you. I’m sure they’ll want to dance too.” Anything about Ellen however, he’d rather not reply to. Franck didn’t hate a lot of people but she sure was not on his long list of friends. He’d rather avoid her or talking of her if he could.

He chuckled at her words, or perhaps her giggle. “Sure is. Come on, let’s do this dance but later I want to see your real dance moves, ok?”

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank had to giggle as Franck again tried to ease her discomfort. "C'mon, Franck," she said, rolling her eyes, "I'm obviously the fun single one that makes you all feel totes uncomfortable and pushes you all to go on awesome adventures. It's cool: we all got roles to play and I kinda like that one. Just need to work on the whole having cazh sex thing."

Frank bobbed her head a few more times. Franck did have a point on some level: people had voted her in. "I dunno if that means they think I'm sexeh. I'll totes have dance partners though," she was technically already dancing, swaying along with her best friend and reveling in the moment. He agreed: it was like something from a silly movie or something. Just made it all the more fun, really.

And Frank raised a hand up to his lips, "Shhhh, no talkie, just dancing and pretending right now," Frank rolled her eyes, "we'll kick up later," she leaned forward, "I totes bribed the DJ to play 'Shut up and Dance.' that's muh jam!"

Another little bob and then Frank practically slammed her head into Franck's chest, getting into position for the semi-awkward slow dancing part of the evening.

[François Laffont]

At least Frank seemed to be accepting of the fact she had no one. She was about the only one amongst their friend who happened to be single. Although he found her amazing, Franck understood why no one asked her out. For a date, sure, but for something serious meant to last more than a day or two, she might just tire them. Franck was not spending every day with her and she could be hard to handle sometimes. And people claimed he was the best at keeping her under control! It said something.

Crazy sex thing was not for Franck but he chose not to judge how his friends wanted to live their life. Sometimes, he did not agree with their choices but he tried to keep it to himself. “That won’t be with me, for sure. And not with Jasper please. You can have everyone else.” Well, he might have a few more names he’d rather she didn’t go after but he particularly didn’t want her to try anything on his lover. It was hard enough to accept he could be seeing other people but if he learned he did it with a close friend of his... He preferred not to think about that and Franks, positivism helped at that. It just kept him all cheered up as they danced.

“I’ll have some too. I intend to dance with as many people as I can. Maybe we should make it a game, see who dances with the most people?” Frank wanted to dance right now however and pretend. Pretend what? That the king and queen were also lovers? He hoped not. “That’s a good song,” he agreed with her. If he intended to dance with his friends, a slow one might not be his first choice. Still, he did it right now. It was Frank. He could not refuse it to her.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Gotcha, at least two people are off limits," Frank replied, nodding. 'Well, it's actually more, 'cuz, like, Eri and her dude are off, and there's a few others that are totes hooked up and stuff, and I don't wanna be no homewrecker," Frank worked her lips for a moment before nodding and giggling. "Gonna end up with Ellen at this rate."

She then gave her friend a wink before moving back to the dance. There was a challenge there and Frank let out a slight whistle at that. It did sound like fun, but, "Yeah, you're right, that's a totally awesome song and stuff," Frank nodded, then pursed her lips. She swayed for a few moments before turning to yell: "DJ PERSON, IT'S TIME TO SHUT UP!"

And the DJ shouted back: "AND DANCE WITH ME!"

The music started and Frank pulled away, "PARTY TIME!" came out at near loud volume as the music started to blast. "DON'T YOU DARE LOOK BACK, KEEP YOUR EYES ON ME!" Frank sang/shouted as she began moving Franck into a more aggressive, energetic style. Because obviously Frank couldn't handle slow dancing for more than a few seconds (at least without groping, and while talking about awesome dance songs, because c'mon: awesome song is awesome).

[François Laffont]

“I don’t know about that. I’m sure Drew wouldn’t mind me dancing with Erika. I don’t think he’ll let me dance with him though... “ He looked at her as she said she could be seen as a homewrecker. “It’s just a dance. Though I guess it’s easier for me because everyone knows I’m gay,” he replied, shrugging about this. He sure was no competition to the boys here. He could dance with their girlfriends. As for the boyfriends... well, if they were comfortable about being straight, they should not bother but he wouldn’t push them if they were not interested. As for Ellen, he’d rather not talk of her. Both of them would end up hexed into their next life for sure if they tried to dance with her. Frank might survive it, just because she could survive everything.

Their little not-so-romantic dance was now over and Frank shouted to the DJ to play her song. He seemed to know when to play it for he shouted back and played the song. Frank really did bribe him so that it would play exactly when she wanted it, at her cue. She knew she could have just asked, right?

Franck covered his ears as his friend screamed. It was impressive how loud she could yell when it was not even her power to scream louder than any human voice could. Maybe it was just the fact he was near her that made it sound so loud but it was still slightly painful to his ears. Soon, she was singing the song as it went along. He didn’t know the lyrics as well as she did but he still grinned as he moved with her. He had no problem going to this totally different style of music and dance. Frank might just have started grabbing his ass or saying how she thought his chest felt and that would have been embarrassing. He preferred this. Plus it was precisely the kind of prom he wanted to have.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Well, he might dance with you if he needed to whisper some sort of secret mafia deal into your ear," Frank replied, nodding sagely. She fully believed that of Drew, though she knew that Erika argued against it. It was the most exciting explanation, therefore it was most definitely the one that Frank wanted to go with. Why settle for the mundane when there was something exciting happening right alongside you?

Right now, that meant dancing in a setup that was still reminiscent of teen movies. Would the DJ have played the song if Frank hadn't arranged things? Most likely. It was popular, easy to dance to, and Frank could've asked and used her position as prom queen, rich girl, popular friendly person, or even pretty blonde with boobs to get her way. But it was much more fun this way.

And soon Frank was hopping up and down, singing and dancing along with Franck. She moved in time to the music to some degree, though sometimes it seemed like she just flailed because flailing felt like the thing to do at the time. All the while she kept Franck in her orbit, moving around with him, literally working to suck him in through the sheer amount of fun she was having.

In fact, she was soon waving her arms and getting everyone to jump along with her, especially when she hit the main chorus of "don't you dare look back, keep your eyes on me; you're holding back now shut up and dance with me!" So in many ways, Frank was acting like, well, the coolest queen in history.

[François Laffont]

Secret mafia deal? Franck was unaware of the shady business Drew was involved with. He knew however how his friend Frank had a taste for exaggeration. He was not in the mafia or anything shady like that, it was impossible. She just made it up. Like Jasper being a vampire with glittery splooge. And the whole school knew of this now. Well, those who read her blog. “I think I have more chances with Felix,” he just said to drop the matter before they even discussed it. Felix was his friend, he was likely to say yes. Of course, Franck was more likely to ask his girl friends to dance. The male ones might be a little too uncomfortable, no matter how certain they were of their sexuality. Even if they were fine with it, Franck was so afraid to have people talk of this and spread rumour that he preferred to play it safe.

Frank never doing things like everyone else, she had to bribe the DJ and have her song play the way she wanted it to be played, when she wanted to hear it. He didn’t mind. He knew Frank was not one of those who thought could get away with everything because of their money. She might say that and prove it right but she was not snotty about it and that was what mattered the most.

He was grinning as he danced with Frank, laughing even. She was hard to follow but he did his best to do this. She was not letting him go very far from her and Franck didn’t intend to let those who were also on the dance floor separate him from her. He just loved the energy she was giving him and wanted to dwell in it a little while longer. Even if that made him start singing a song he barely knew the lyrics to as he jumped.

There were soon too many people around him and the flow of emotions made him dizzy. The song was over so he gestured to her that he was going to the side before doing so. He needed a drink and some air. And possibly not being touched by anyone for a moment while he got over this. This much happiness at once, it was great but also really hard for him to take in.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Frank wondered aloud. "Like, they totally want to ship you two together or something, though you'd think there's a fanclub," which Frank would have totally made t-shits for. "But, like, you're with the vampire and he's with the scariest of Bellefontes. She'll, like, freeze you, and not sing incredible songs about it."

There was a shudder. Then a lot of dancing. And Frank at one point had her arm around Franck's waist, hopping up and down and essentially doing what amounted to one of those dances where you put your arms around people and kicked up legs while swaying, only with two people, all in time. She did seem to realize that he was getting dizzy as they started to move away. Frank couldn't control her emotions but she could...

"EVERYONE BACK UP: FRANCK'S ALL EMOTION DRUNK RIGHT NOW!"

Do that.

And she was moving him toward the drinks and keeping close to fend off everyone else. "Careful of the punch," she hissed, leaning over, "I put, like, two flasks of booze in it, and that was just at the beginning of the night," at least one kid seemed to be smelling it and walking away wobbling slightly. Frank just pulled a face for a moment before moving to help get her friend toward the drink.

"But hey, alcohol's an anti-depressant! So maybe it'll work in reverse!"

Frank logic, ftw.

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