Elise swept a glance over the empty classroom. The desks and chairs were pushed to one side, leaving a decent area free for the class. On the teacher’s desk, stood her speakers and ipod. Nearby she had tossed her jacket and gloves. On the other side of the room, she had even propped up a long mirror. It looked acceptable enough, but that didn’t keep Elise from worrying.

Maybe she should have brought a some tape or a marker or some paper. A pencil might have come in handy too. How exactly, the girl was unsure, but it was always better to carry a pencil around everywhere than to leave it behind. Elise felt near naked without it. She began to freak out.

Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the teacher’s desk and grabbed the cardboard box she had slid under it. There was no use in worrying about things one couldn’t change as her mother always loved to remind her. With a shake of her head, Elise took out her old, worn pair of dance- heels and slid them on, fussing with the buckles as she waited for Locke to arrive.

Locke’s birthday had turned out surprisingly well. This year he didn’t have to smile and go along with having dinner in a restaurant. He got to just stay at the school in his comfortable clothes and spend time with his friends. It had simply been another day in which he popped in some movies and watched them, commenting about random things that often had nothing to do with the action of the film. One such comment had been about his inability to dance. Locke couldn’t recall why he had mentioned it, but Elise had offered him dance lessons as a birthday present. Why he had agreed to it was also a mystery. When it came to dances Locke had always been, and more than likely always would be that guy who just stood around awkwardly and ate food until it was time to go. Still the fact remained that she offered to teach him to dance and he had agreed.

The Californian had put careful consideration into what he had put on before going down for his lesson. He didn’t have a wide selection of clothes, but he didn’t know what exactly to wear to a dance lesson. There were his sweatpants that he wore occasionally to practice with his powers, but while those gave him plenty of room for movement, they weren’t something he’d want to be seen in. In the end he went with his cleanest pair of jeans, the ones that had holes in the knees, his Dolorean crashed into the Tardis t-shirt, and a black button up shirt. His hair had been carefully arranged. For a change Locke used some hair product to make sure that it wouldn’t go everywhere. While Elise had her dance heels, Locke’s feet were clad in his beat-up hightops.

He knocked on the classroom door before entering. Elise was busy putting on her shoes and Locke didn’t want to startle her. In his free hand he carried his laptop, not knowing that Elise had grabbed some music herself. “Hey,” he said, entering and setting the laptop down on the teacher’s desk. “I didn’t know what kind of dancing you had in mind.”

Elise looked up at the sound of Locke entering. With a smile, she straightened, blowing her bangs out of her face. “Hey Locke,” she said cheerfully standing up. She brushed absent-mindedly at her simple black t-shirt and shorts. Black always tended to attract every single white floating particle in a room, but it did have the plus of going with absolutely everything. Plus it definitely did have that slimming effect, not that Elise really needed it.

At his question, she smiled and looked down at her heels. “Well, I was thinking ballroom dancing, ‘cause its what I have most experience with, and I’ve taught classes in it before. That way I won’t look like a complete idiot,” she said looking back up with a little laugh. “As for the particular dance I was going to leave that up to you. I was thinking either the cha-cha, tango, waltz, or a simple swing dance. Whichever one you want I’m good with. This is, after all, your birthday present,” she said subconsciously twiddling her thumbs behind her back.

Spotting his laptop, she pointed over to where she had placed her ipod and speakers. “If you want, I can put your laptop over there with my stuff,” Elise said walking over and holding out her hands to take the computer. She looked up with a big smile, finally relaxing into her usual role. She had after-all taught plenty of classes on simple ballroom. The fact the Locke was a quite a bit older than her usual students would not make difference. No really, it wouldn’t.

"Ballroom dancing huh?" he asked. The words brought to his mind women in dresses that had skirts that were big enough to be a small tent gliding across a dance floor while the same sort of sappy music that he had mocked at the last dance. Locke had no problem with slow music. He loved Exhibit Thirteen by Blue Man Group. The romance wasn't an issue either. Eight Days A Week was one of his most frequently played songs, and he sang it to Mai as a lullabye. But why oh why did it always have to be something all schmaltzy and cheese at dances? Although... Locke had to admit even those dances that required the tent dresses and tuxes would be an improvement of his current dance repertoire, which consisted of "Move like an Emu",the "Romp-omp-a-stomp" and the most humiliating moves that one only does behind a closed door when a good song comes on, and stops faster than the speed of sound when someone enters. "You could be teaching me how to do ballet and call it tap and I wouldn't be able to say you're wrong." he pointed out. If anyone should be concerned about looking stupid it should be him.

The tango went flying out the window like the ex's clothes after a bad break up. He'd seen Rent and Moulin Rouge and knew that a tango was something very.. close and personal. Just the slightest suggestion of dancing like that made his ears burn and he knew that they had gained a red hue. No way was he doing that, especially not if this was his birthday present. Waltz got tossed out as well because well, he didn't want to have to try doing all that glitz and glam stuff. Besides he could always have Kendra show him how to do that if he ever was going to have to slow dance with a girl. "Oh, by the way, Kendra mailed me my bass for my birthday. If you want maybe I could teach you the basics for your present? I don't have an amp, so it won't sound as good but still..." he let his voice trail off as he made sure that his laptop was safe and secure in the center of the desk.

That out of the way he took a step back, his face echoing Elise's smile. The expression came easily, but it felt strange after so much brow furrowing and clenched jaws from his struggles with school. Right now he could have been enduring a torture more painful than ever spoken at the World Summit, physics, but he had chosen to take Elise up on her offer rather than being his usual responsible self. New York and the Institute were doing so much more for him then all those head-shrinks that Kendra had made him see back in San Francisco combined. "Swing sounds good," Locke decided at last. Unknowingly he had dodged a bullet as potentially as dangerous as the tango. Locke put his left hand on his right shoulder, fingers wrapping down to rest on the shoulder blade and gave it a small roll. As per usual he felt a slight click-pop that made his arm feel loose. Then he repeated the action for the left side. "That's got energy right?"

Clearly Elise was going to be teaching the clueless.

“Ballet and tap-dancing? I doubt you’re quite that clueless. Tap dancing obviously has more tapping involved,” Elise said in reply with a jokingly raised eyebrow. As he went over to drop off his laptop, Elise took advantage of his turned back to fix her socks. Her neon green knee-socks had begun to slide down, so she rolled them back up until the two white stripes up top were once more about mid-thigh. They kept her warm and allowed for movement. Plus, they were way more comfortable than any tights or leggings.

Straightening up as he returned, she noticed his blush at her question and a small quirk of the lips couldn’t help but appear. Goodness, Locke would be so easy to mess with. Luckily enough for the boy, Elise wasn’t cruel. So instead of walking over and pointing it out his blush and teasingly shimmying in front of him, Elise restrained herself and smiled broadly at his suggestion. “Learning the bass would be awesome. Thanks Locke,” she said excitedly, watching him carefully.

Finally he told which dance it was to be. Apparently swing was the choice, which Elise wasn’t exactly uber excited about. Personally she thought it was one of the most over-rated dances of all, but it was also one of the most wildly used. Nodding she answered his question, “Yeah, it’s pretty energetic, but all dances are once you get to a certain point” Shrugging she hesitated. Maybe she could talk him into a different dance. Maybe that shimmy wasn’t such a bad idea. Looking over at him, she stopped herself from going all dirty dancing on the boy. He seemed like the kind that would bolt out the door.

“Alrighty then, lets turn you into a complete babe magnet,” she said with a little laugh. “Once I’m done with you, you’ll leave all the girls smiling and laughing in your wake,” Elise added with a little tap to his chest, before walking over to the centre of the empty space. With another jokingly raised eyebrow, she added with a second thought, “Unless you want to leave them melting and sighing. The tango is still on the table, and if you want a combination of the two, the cha-cha is always an option.” Wiggling her eyebrows in mock suggestion, she motioned for him to come closer with a crooked finger. “Come on, you know you want to,” she said smiling in obvious jest. She didn’t want him to have a total heart-attack and regret coming.

Dropping her joking face she pointed seriously to the space next to her. “Either way, fun or sexy, you have to learn the basic steps first.” Standing expectantly she waited until he took his place beside her. “One of the most important things in ballroom dance, regardless of the dance, is posture. Posture is the key to everything. Turns, appearance, and poise all rely on the perfect posture to function. You want your ears, shoulders, hips and ankles to be aligned,” she said motioning to herself in example. Turning to look at Locke she motioned at him. “Try it out. Feel like you are a marionette being pulled by the string at the top of your head. Stand as tall and straight as possible while still being loose."

Something told Locke that Elise was toying with him. He had no idea why, but then again he never claimed to understand why girls did anything. Girls, in his opinion, thought a great deal more. If he got hungry, he just grabbed whatever was on hand to eat, Chris was the same way. Mai on the other hand had to consider what she wanted to eat, then make a second choice if the first wasn’t available. All that Locke knew is that Elise seemed to find this whole thing funny. “Babe magnet?” he asked raising an eyebrow in disbelief. The idea was laughable. “Well I don’t know if I’d want all those girls smiling at me. Two at most, and one of them is my little sister.” Now that the words were out of his mouth Locke realized that it didn’t sound the way he had meant it to. “I mean I don’t need to have a horde of girls swooning.”

Locke rubbed his chest where Elise had poked him, acting as if it had hurt him, but the smile on his face said otherwise. He couldn’t picture any girl melting over him, and the only reason why they would be sighing was if he had frustrated them. Kendra sighed frequently. Elise’s push towards the tango, or at least the cha cha clued him in that he had made a wrong choice by saying swing. What was wrong with swing dancing? “Alright then. Cha-cha,” he said, changing his mind. Who said that only women could change their minds?

Slightly sheepish smile on his face Locke followed Elise into the center of the room. Usually he sort of ducked down so that his height wasn’t so big a deal. Now he had to stand at his full height. Locke straightened his back, trying to figure out how to tell if his hips and ankles were aligned since he wasn’t even sure where his hips were. It was like trying to look at your butt. You can’t get a good look. He was so concerned with the lower part of his body that he didn’t notice that he sort of slouched from the neck up. “I don’t know if a marionette is the best example. I’ve only seen them sort of dangle awkwardly. I mean they have their head on a string set in front of their arms and legs.”

“Oh, you’ll love it when it happens,” Elise said knowingly, while pointedly ignoring his comment of not wanting to be noticed in such a manner. With a quirky little smile she nodded when he changed his mind. The few minutes it had taken him to make his decision had left her almost looking forward to a swing dance, but she wasn’t going to complain about his decision. The cha-cha was, after all, one of her all-time favourite dances.

Looking over at Locke as he tried his posture, Elise tsked lightly. “No, no,” she said walking over to a diagonal of the boy, giving him a once-over. Reaching over, she moved to lift his chin with one finger. “If you have a little siblings, then I’ll assume you’ve seen at least a couple Disney films. You know that scene when Mulan and Mushu are talking about how to act like a man, and he makes her look absolutely ridiculous? The reason she looked so ridiculous is she was bent over all out of line, but the general’s son, he looked good. His chin was high; his shoulders straight; his back was loose but tall.”

Turning to fully face him, she demonstrated, motioning to each area of the body as she spoke. “You have to look confident and powerful, but not like you’re looking down at anyone. No one likes the self-important. Breath in and feel your chest expanding and your back aligning into place as your chin lifts ever-so-slightly,” Elise recommended gently. She continued to talk lightly, adjusting the boys movements as she gave random comparisons. Finally she nodded as she saw his joints and muscles fall into place. “Feel that? That is exactly what good posture is all about. Excellent.”

Clapping her hands, the girl returned to her original place next to the boy. “OK, now this is the basic step right here,” she said before completing the s-shaped step slowly. “Basically, I like to think of it as one, two, cha-cha-cha, one, two, cha-cha-cha,” she continued , going over the steps, once-more, slowly. “As you see you’re going to start with your left foot pointed outwards to the left, just a little-bit. We don’t want the splits or anything. You’re then going to switch your weight to that foot and step back with your right. Then you are going to rock your weight back forwards onto your left foot. Step to the right with your right foot, and then bring your left foot over to meet your right foot. Once more, take a step to the right with your right foot, only your right foot. Then take a step forward with your left. Here is where you’re going to start the rocking motion of the beginning up once more.”

Elise continue to explain her way through the step, demonstrating very slowly all the while. After going over it once or twice and adding the counting in, she finally turned to face Locke. “OK, now try it out. Remember, one, two, cha-cha-cha, one two, cha-cha-cha,” she said smiling and motioning in an encouraging manner.

Locke looked sheepishly at the ground, resulting in having his posture corrected. He did indeed see a few Disney movies, more than he liked to admit to. Mulan was one of the ones that Mai liked, and embarrassing as it was, Locke liked it too. Mai was too young to know that there was a history of the heroine, though if that was fact or fiction was debatable. Still the subject and the movie interested Locke. People who claimed that because Mulan's father had said that it was more important that she was his daughter, and not the heroine that saved China, that the movie promoted sexist ideals were, in Locke's opinion, idiots. "They look that way because that's how someone drew them," he grumbled, and yet again had to have his posture adjusted. It was amazing how something that you thought only moved one part of your body affected the others.

He forced himself not to jump back when she drew near each time to correct his posture. It had been something more than awkward when the two had first met and Elise had gotten close to his face, and this time he didn't have the excuse of a sore leg or butt. Locke knew that Elise would be standing close to him at times if she were to manage to teach him how to dance. It was another thing entirely to actually let it happen. The Californian was pro personal bubble. Strange that he would be a bit nervous to dance with Elise after their mud fight. Then again the mud fight had been in his territory, and this was hers.

It felt like he was just a sack of mashed potatoes that had been shoved onto a pike when Locke finally stood with the correct posture. You never realize if you're slouching until someone points it out to you, and straightening up felt so strange to Locke. Experimentally he rolled his shoulders, trying to find something more comfortable that wouldn't result in being prodded into place. Before Elise could try fixing him Locke set his shoulders back to the proper place and gave her a smile that said See? I'm listening.

Locke snorted when Elise began describing the dance. "Is it really one two cha-cha-cha? I thought that's just what they say with movies and stuff." There had been no harm intended when he had almost laughed. It just didn't seem real that the dance would be done that way. He watched her feet carefully, sacrificing the sacred proper posture stance, and shifting his weight from one leg to the other as Elise explained. Too quickly she was asking him to give it a try.

The rhythm was there, no doubt about it. Locke wasn't off the beat, but he the motions were rather stiff.

“But those drawings are based off something,” Elise countered with a little shake of her finger, as she adjusted Locke’s shoulder into a more suitable location. Smiling she watched him finally click into place and try his best at the steps. He wasn’t bad, not at all. The fact that he was actually keeping the correct rhythm was impressive. For most people, that was the most difficult part.

With a light clicking of her tongue Elise asked him to stop politely. “You’re doing awesome, really you are. You’re keeping the rhythm and you have the steps right, so I guess those movies do have some truth to them after-all, eh? The one problem is, you’re kind of stiff. It’s dancing! It should be fun,” she said with a little flourish of her hand.

“Look, you need to feel it. You need to be part of the dance. The cha-cha is all about a good time, maybe a little flirty and a little risqué, but you’re a teenage boy. That’s exactly how you like it,” she said walking over to stand in front of him, with a wink. “Hold out your hands like this,” she said holding out her hands that were cupped into loose horizontal C’s. “That’s the basic hand hold. You’re partner with just drape their hands over yours like this,” she explained placing her palms over his fingers and draping her fingers into the centre of the C.

“Try the step again, and I’ll follow. Don’t look down and don’t worry about messing up, OK?” she said, prompting him to begin by pointing her own toe in a mirror image of him. “I also want you to smile and loosen up. I won’t bite, I swear,” she added with a bright, encouraging smile.

"Thanks. I guess it's because of the bass or maybe my powers?" Briefly Locke considered dragging out the argument that a Disney movie couldn't teach you proper posture. They were cartoons after all, and there was a certain level of noodle to the skeleton. In the older ones like Cinderella, perhaps, but even the Fairy Godmother had an exaggerated figure. It would have been a stupid argument though, and in the end Elise was the one who knew how to dance. She probably used the same example for the little kids she taught.

But more than likely not that bit about teenage boys. Her comment that he was doing a good job had been a nice surprise. Hightops weren't meant for doing the cha-cha and Locke felt clumsy. To hear that he was doing the motions right was pleasing. To hear what she believed was on his mind threw him off balance. "Oh really? That's how we like it? I'm gonna guess your brother told you that. Probably to keep you safe from guys like me, who's going to say the exact same thing when his little sister gets a little older. I'll have to warn Chris with girls too if this dance thing works."

He followed her examples and held his hands up, then had to pause and correct his stance yet again. "I feel like I'm a crab," he said. Probably was because he had been holding his arms so tight. Learning to dance would be a good thing. Locke had wanted to do something more physical that had absolutely nothing to do with Fluffy anyways.

C is for cookie, and cha-cha and that's good enough for...[/i] Locke's train of thought was derailed on the bridge, went flying into the canyon below, and exploded in a fire display that could only be matched by the Mythbusters with a cannon full of coffee creamer. Instantly his head snapped down to his feet and he wanted to fix his hair. He should have known that this was going to happen, but Locke just couldn't help himself. "Uh... right." Locke fought with his head and managed to get it at the proper level. Once again he attempted the steps, but he was concerned that he'd step on Elise's foot and the movements weren't as big as before.

“Oh don’t get defensive. I know teenage boys are more than hormonal tin cans waiting to explode, but that doesn’t mean not a single one won’t smile when a girl laughs at his jokes or flutters her eye-lashes at him,” Elise said with an arch of her eyebrow. With a thoughtful smile, she added as though on second thought, “And no, my brother never did warn me. He always trusted me, but I can’t say that he never talked to the boys in question.” Winking at him, Elise waited patiently for him to begin.

She saw and felt him hesitate. Locke even appeared to tighten up like a spring. So her plan had backfired. Some people loosened up with a partner, some people panicked. Apparently Locke was one of the later. “Hey, you’re actually looking up. Good. Most people I teach have their eyes glued to the floor for the first week, even with constant nagging,” she said smiling brightly, hoping he would relax again.

Biting her lip lightly, Elise mentally searched for a way that would work for Locke. He had a thing for beat, so… she would have him focus on the beat. Smiling, she began to emphasize her own hip motion just a little more. She also began to gently move his and her own hands in a way that rocked with the beat. “OK, loosen back up,” she said with a grin. “The small steps are fine, but I want you to not worry about stepping on my feet. It won’t happen. I’m used to avoiding big feet.”

“I want you to focus on the rhythm I’m going to click out. Match your feet to the beat.“ Elise began to click the beat of the dance lightly on her tongue, listening and feeling to see if their own steps matched the rhythm. As soon as it did match, she began to increase the speed of the beat just a little at a time. She made sure the change wasn't too drastic, just a breath faster. It was just enough to make the dance just a little more difficult.

Locke risked a small smile. "If you really do turn me into 'complete babe magnet' can I get the older brother talk?" he asked, half joking, "I know she's only six, but I'd like to be ready for when Mai gets ready to belly-flop into the dating pool," He hated to admit it, but there was going to be a point in his little sister's life where he'd have to trust her mother with the most important things. There were just some things that Locke didn't know. Explaining to Chris why his voice suddenly would sound like an attempt to play the clarinet would be fun enough.

"I know where my feet are," Locke said simply. Why should he have to look down to see something that he knew was there. Elise managed to get yet another shy smile out of the Californian. His brain had been so concerned over her nearness that it overlooked the fact that he was a mutant and that he could sense where her feet were. There was no need for him to move his feet as if he was going to step on a rare bird's egg. He paused. "I have big feet?"

This of course made Locke look down. He had to know if he did have big feet or not. Compared to Elise of course he would, but did he have big feet for a guy? Locke blushed, catching how Elise was putting an extra sway to her hips. His embarrassment was two fold. Part of it was because he had seen that after she hit the target about liking it when a girl smiled at him, and part because he really didn't want to wiggle his non existent hips like that. Locke did his best to keep up with Elise and the beat, slowly relaxing as it grew faster. What was needed, apparently, was a pulse.

Elise laughed at his suggestion of having the talk with her brother. “I’m sorry to say that’s kind of impossible. He’s in LA right now. He goes to college there,” she replied with a shrug. “But I could give you the general gist. I overheard him giving it to this one guy once. Poor kid wasn’t even going to try anything. He was MR. Five-Point-Oh, if you know what I mean,” Elise added, smiling brightly.

“Basically the speech covers five major points. Touch her in any way deemed inappropriate, and I will be the judge of inappropriate not her or you, and you will die. Talk to her in any way I deem insulting and you will die. Look at her in a way I deem as insulting you will die. Hurt her physically and you will die. Hurt her emotionally and you will die.” Elise looked mildly exasperated at the memory. The poor kid had barely looked a her all night after that little encounter.

“Actually, maybe you should be nicer…” she added on second thought, remembering that whole night. “The guys that scared tended to be the nicer ones, not that I have ever gone out with any mean guys or anything,” Elise said, with a light roll of her eyes. She hadn’t, but out of the lot, the most worried about the whole thing had been the guys least likely to actually do anything.

Turning her eyes momentarily downwards in response to Locke’s question, Elise mentally slapped herself for such a move. Her mother would have flipped. “You’re a big guy. What do you expect to have? Even smaller feet than mine?” she asked with a teasing tone. On second thought and another teeny tiny glance downwards, a small frown touched her lips. “Hey, do you want to take off your shoes? They look like they’re have falling off, and I don’t want you to trip once we start doing turns,” she said giving him a worried look.

"California's pretty far away," Locke said, a touch of sadness in his voice. It was his home, where he had left his family. Apparently it was also where Elise's brother was. Locke had not been to Los Angeles, but he knew that there were some pretty shady parts. Elise probably worried about her brother from time to time. "Do you get to talk to him at all?"

"She's my little sister, I have to keep my eye out for her. When she gets to the age when she gets interested in boys, her brother is going to start getting into girls. Someone has to make sure the two don't end up in trouble. So, I think I'm going to borrow your brother's talk." He had to admire the guy's determination and loyalty to his sister. "But yeah, I'll go easy on the nice ones. I'd want the same."

The two had stopped dancing and Locke wondered if it was because he had brought up her brother. Families could be a touchy subject here at the mansion. Not every student had left home on good terms. More often than he liked people thought Locke had run away from home because he was a mutant. Really that had only been a small part of it. If that was the first assumption than it had to be a common occurrence. But no, the reason why the lesson had halted was his feet, or at least his shoes. Locke shrugged his shoulders. "Well not smaller than yours. I just never thought of them as big. It's been awhile since I went shoe shopping." He got down on one knee to untie his high tops. "If you think that's a good idea. At least we're doing this inside and not in that mud puddle." Locke stood up again and set his shoes out of the way. It would stink if he or Elise tripped over them because he had left them out in the open. The smile that was on his face dulled a little. "Doing turns?"

“Yeah, it’s super far away. It’s like a six hour flight, which is just ridiculous,” Elise said with a look upwards in apparent exasperation. “But, I do get to talk to him. I don’t know what I’d do otherwise. If skype didn’t exist I would probably not be here, at this school, right now,” she said with a nod in appreciation to what she considered the next best web program ever invented right after Google.

As what she had just said sunk in, Elise stared at the wall opposite to her, over Locke’s shoulder. It was an eerie thought. If her brother had not insisted the way he had, she would probably be in school right now, with her friends, probably planning out a senior prank. She would be having lunch with Marie and dancing down the halls with Ashley and teasing Jacob with his constant companion, a massive book. It was in all truth, a mildly depressing revelation, but then Locke began to speak of his sister.

Elise returned her focus to him and remembered one important thing. This place gave her a future, a place where maybe she needn’t fear quite as much about humming and skipping down the hallways on a good day or playing a waltz on her violin when she was having a nasty day. Here she could sleep a little easier and not make up excuses to her friends why she wasn’t in their orchestra class any more. With a laugh, Elise replied, her mood once again lifted at her ending decision, “Yeah, be sure to do so. It really can be kind of unnerving, and a bummer for the girl as well.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I should take you shoe-shopping. How do you even walk in those?” Elise asked as she waited for him to take off his shoes. Opening her harms into position she clearly waited for him to return into dance position. “Turns aren’t nearly as scary as people tend to think. They actually blend in quietly smoothly. Basically, In the cha-cha, the basic turn happens at the end of the S shape. They basically replace the rocking motion for the girl’s. To be honest, the guys only have to lift their arms to turn the girl, so don’t you dare complain. I have it much worst.”

Once they had started the basic steps again Elise explained to Locke how he should motion to his partner that a turn is about to occur. She also showed him how to hold up his and gently move the girl into the turn as he steps back to form the legs of the S. She also explained how to regain the hold of the girls hand. She then told him to try it a couple of times.