When I dance..

They kept forcing her.

"You are SUCH an awesome dancer, dude! You HAVE to be in this!"

"We can't do this without you babe!"

"Why are you backing out??"

But she just shook her head and refused. No one ever understood why. No one ever tried to. Crazy people. Obsessed with the show.

She often tried to explain. To anyone she expected to understand. But in vain. No one did. No one COULD. Because the reason wasn't something she could put in words.

He would watch from the sidelines. Watch her shake her head in frustration and exhaustion. Watch her try to explain.

It was the annual function. The Student Organising Committee had made audacious claims of the function being world class this year. She had always been the best dancer in school. Easily the best. But she always danced solo. The Dance Department was convinced that they could not perform without her. They tried hard to persuade her to dance with them, but she would keep refusing. With just two weeks left, they finally took to desperate measures, and approached him. They believed she always listened to him.

"You could try dancing with the group once! Maybe you'll do better," he pleaded, unwillingly. He never forced her to do anything she was uncomfortable with.

She glared at him. He shrugged. Seeing his adorable face, her heart melted and she softened "You need to see why I can't.. Not "won't".. Why i can't.."

And she showed him.

The music began. Soft, waltz-ish instrumental. She closed her eyes like a sunbather soaking in the sun's rays. Rising slightly onto her toes, she brought up her arms and twirled.

The entire school watched. Stopped right in their tracks and watched, entranced. Her body swayed blithely to the tune. Light as a feather, yet as agile as a lioness on hunt.

The expressions on her face changed like the rise and fall of tides.. From joy to sorrow to passion to longing to agony to ecstasy. She had them all. Her falls were perfect. The boys' mouths fell open as she pirouetted across the hall in one split second.

She danced in her own world. Dance, like chocolate, is a purely selfish pleasure. You can only dance with your heart when you are dancing for yourself, and the one you love. When you dance for the world beyond that, then you are not really dancing.

As they watched her dance with her soul, they realised they could never make her dance with them. Never.