If Philip’s life in Hermes were a Hollywood movie, Erica would be cast as the villain. Her popularity is off the charts. And isn’t the most popular girl always the villain in a Hollywood movie? But this is not a movie, of course. It is real life. Only the names of people and places are fictitious substitutes. Erica is a real person with real, genuine feelings. As Philip entered Hermes High School, he became aware of Erica almost immediately. Erica was the other face in just about every girl’s profile picture on Facebook. Erica—who somewhat resembles starlet Victoria Justice—devotes large amounts of energy to her hair, makeup and clothing. She seems to enjoy pressing close to someone—girl or guy—and smiling for the camera. Somehow Erica’s presence in each girl’s profile pictures makes the girl in question look better. Erica is kind, charismatic and friendly. Nearly everyone likes her. And nearly all the guys have some kind of in love interest toward her. But most are too intimidated to even talk to her. At the first school dance, Erica split her three hours on the dance floor time between just eight guys. Philip was one of them.
Philip’s first high school dance was a new experience. Gone were the beach ball rules of middle school. In my day there were fast dances and slow dances. But at Hermes High School there was one other form of dancing the kids called Durty Dancin’. For those unfamiliar, Durty Dancin' takes place during rap songs. It has the guy standing behind the girl following her dance moves. However, the guy's hands are in front of her. Cautious guys (like Philip) put their hands on the girl's midriff and leave them there. The bolder guys will imitate the girls arm and hand movements which usually means several one inch drive-bys up and down (sometimes back and forth) in front of the girl's breasts never quite touching but following their shape. There is clearly a rush for the guy regarding the possibility of the girl stumbling forward. Likewise there is clearly a rush for the girl in trusting the guy during each drive-by. There were (of course) girls on the dance floor who would guide their dance partner’s hands to make direct contact with their clothed breasts. And there was at least one guy who was trying to grope his dance partners in an unwelcome manner. After just three Durty Dances, Philip decided to take a break whenever a rap song started.
Like the school dances in my day, there were only a few slow dances. For the first slow dance, Layla cautiously approached and asked Philip to dance. He accepted. They danced without saying much, but he fulfilled his break-up promise to dance with her at upcoming dances. Later that evening Philip learned that Layla had paired off with one of the football players. The one turn-down Philip received was for the second slow dance. He asked a girl who had been on his first grade baseball team. She smiled and shook her head. By the third slow dance an intense headache came upon him. He went outside to get some air and discovered Jocelyn, Charlotte and most of the girls soccer team had completely sequestered themselves to socialize with one another rather than dance.
Finally, the last dance of the evening came. It was Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing, and it proved to be an upbeat slow dance of sorts. Having been one of the guys Erica had been willing to dance with at other times, Philip approached, tapped Erica on the shoulder and said “Would you like to dance?” Her response surprised him. Erica gave some words of acceptance and quickly grabbed hold of him. She held him tight and close. Her face was perhaps just two or three inches from his. Their arms entangled around one another, with Philip’s arms wrapped around her small waist and Erica’s arms tightly wrapped around his torso. At the chorus, they spontaneously began to sing the song to one another face to face. Philip had put on sunglasses and he kept his gaze forward the whole time.
Over those last minutes of the first high school dance, Erica completely captured Philip’s heart. As the song and the dance ended, they released one another slowly and gently. She thanked him and then scurried off to go talk with her girlfriends. He let his shaded gaze linger on her retreating figure before exiting the dance.
The following morning was Saturday. Philip sent a short email to Erica’s Facebook account thanking her for making the last dance of the evening fun. There was no response Saturday. There was no response on Sunday. Monday was a school day he did not share any classes with her and he did not see her during any of the breaks. There was likewise no response on Monday. But late Monday evening, he took a look at her Facebook account. Bruce, one of the football players, had just asked her out and Erica had accepted.
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