Say it was physical, mental or whatever but Wren was gripped at that moment. Was it because of how dark his irises were or the inviting position he was in with the girl he was dancing with that held her from taking her eyes away?
She no longer saw the crowd of students, not his friends, not Emily, not even the girl that was standing beside him, all she saw was his eyes. They were magnetic, tempting her to take the place of his partner, in fact she had unconsciously taken a step forward.
"Wren." she didn't respond to Emily at first as it felt like an echo that started far away.
"Wren, seriously we have to go."
Wren turned her face immediately to face her cousin stuttering words she didn't know.
"What is wrong with you?" Emily took a moment to examine her "Are they that good looking to you? It's like you've left the Earth." She added laughing hysterically.
"I'm sorry for disturbing your moment, I mean they are fine and everything but remember the reason we have to leave now."
Wren was still in haze trying to put Emily's words together.
"We are going to be late, Wren." Emily pointed out, the pitch of her voice higher when she mentioned Wren's name making Wren's subconsciousness arranged itself.
Emily held Wren's hand pulling her to start moving when someone called her name.
Like a steering wheel, both Wren and Emily turned curiously to the voice then turned back one-eighty immediately when they saw who it was. Emily had to shake Wren's hand to bring both of them back to the present, then she whispered to Wren, "Answer the man of the hour, then later you tell me how he knows your name."
"Hey." Mexico spoke first when he reached her. Wren was having a hard time gathering her thoughts ever since she saw this man, if she was being very honest she knew the problem had started from the time he saw her dance and had only increased after she saw him dance, she didn't even know the students had started leaving.
"Hey can I talk to you?"
Emily didn't need to be notified to know she had to step away for the two of them to speak comfortably.
Now Wren was alone standing face to face with the person not to long ago caused her a minute she had no control of.
"So I uhm... I wanted to ask you something when we were still in class before these guys came." He said pointing his thumb backwards towards his three friends, Wren's expression told him keep talking.
"I was wondering if you could come by the studio later, maybe tomorrow?"
He looked rather agitated with his bottom lip folded into his mouth held tight by his teeth. Wren wanted to smile but she bit her lips instead reminding herself not to get too excited over a boy she didn't know too well.
It would be nice if she went to the studio and watched him dance then she remembered he had seen her dance and would expect her to reciprocate the action when in reality, she didn't know how to. But she didn't want to disappoint him, especially not when she was standing in front of him.
"I'll think about it." she said plainly. That alone made him smile.
_ _
Mexico had left to meet with his friends after she gave him her answer leaving her staring at his back until Emily came and attacked her with questions. Wren tried her best to tell her about how they met trying her best to filter most part about her being possessed by some dance-loving spirit.
Wren had given Mexico hope about meeting him and now she felt bad because a day had passed and she was not ready to embarrass herself with how ugly and haphazard she looked while dancing -consciously.
Now it was the second day since they met at school and third since she was at the studio, she knew her time was running out and she would have to go back there. She only hoped she wouldn't run into him and look for excuses on why she couldn't respond to his request.
"Ninety six hours." she said to herself as she put on her hoodie and stared at herself in the mirror after arranging her hair.
Wren walked out of the house successfully, her aunty was usually not around at this hour because of her shift and Emily was always in her room doing things Wren knew nothing of.
The evening sky had four colours, trying to display the shade of purple, pink, yellow and white.
"Greedy." Wren whispered to herself as she tried breathing in the smell of the city in the evening.
The walk to the studio wasn't too far, in fact Wren passed it everyday she went to school and everyday it reminded her of the kind of punishment she was enslaved to.
Wren checked the time again and started running after realize how little the time she had was murmuring curse words to herself.
Minutes later she had successfully passed through the main entrance of the familiar building, turning at every corner she knew of, for a moment she thought of how convenient it would be if she was just given a spare key.
Wren found the doors of the studio and sighed in relief when the lights were turned off.
She handled the locked doors as per usual and hurried inside.
Wren switched on the lights and instantly a scream erupted from her throat and her whole frame stood in alertness.
"What are you doing here?"
Mexico was sitting on a stool at a conner with his arms folded looking at Wren.