Blue Star Enterprises

Yulia shifted uncomfortably as she walked down the hallway with Sarah and Claire.

Claire tsked and pushed Yulia's hand down as she tried to reach up to touch her hair again.

"You look fine," Claire admonished.

"I feel ridiculous," Yulia complained. "I should never have agreed to let you two dress me up and do my hair."

"But you look so cute," Sarah smiled as she leaned in and gave her a one-armed hug.

"I don't want to look cute," Yulia grumbled, but stopped fidgeting as she followed her friends. "Where are we even going anyway?" she asked to change the subject.

Yulia knew most of the twists and turns of Eden's End, but even she didn't recognize the hallways they were heading down.

"We're in one of the new sections that are still under construction. Thomas runs a little club strictly for teenagers," Sarah gushed.

"Thomas?" Yulia asked, doing a good job at not gagging at her friend's obvious crush.

"Thomas Lund," Claire replied flatly, clearly not very enthusiastic about the person. "He was the boy who came with that science lady. The one they named the Academy after."

Oh, right, Yulia recalled Dr. Lund's grandson. He skipped classes and got into trouble on a weekly basis, which caused him to get on Damien's bad side more than once. The only interaction she had with him was when she had visited Dr. Lund. He came by begging for money from his grandmother. Yulia was pretty sure the boy hadn't even realized she was there.

"Wait, isn't he like nineteen?" Yulia asked. "Why is he running a party for teenagers?"

"Because he thinks it makes him look cool and like a rebel," Claire snorted.

"He is cool," Sarah pouted.

"He's really not," Claire replied dismissively. "Neither is your infatuation with a guy three years your senior, but I've already made my feelings about that clear."

Yulia looked between her friends, concern on her face. She had never seen the pair disagree on something so vehemently before. Watching Sarah, one of the most rule-abiding people whom Yulia knew, go to a party in a place that had clearly not been cleared for such a thing was odd. Now that she knew her friend was going there to make moon eyes at some guy, it made a little more sense.

It also explained why Claire had decided to tag along, and why they hadn't invited her. It was obvious that Claire wanted to keep Sarah from doing something stupid and she didn't need a second person to keep track of. Yulia could take care of herself, and she didn't think Sarah would go that far, but it was nice to see them looking out for each other. If Thomas did try anything, he would regret it. Yulia would make sure of that.

The trio pushed through some hanging plastic, used to keep construction dust from spilling over into other areas. Soon after passing the barrier, they could hear the music.

The group rounded another corner and finally arrived at the location of the party. Some guy was standing outside a door, looking bored.

"A guard?" Yulia asked after the trio grew near the door.

Claire leaned closer so she didn't need to yell. "Probably to alert Thomas if security shows up."

The more Yulia heard, the less she thought coming there was a good idea. She wasn't concerned about herself; she had her necklace, and Dog, who was a few turns back along their route, and could be called with a simple press of her comm bracelet. Not that she thought violence would break out, but she had learned to be wary after what happened on Earth.

The guard straightened and pulled out a tablet. "Twenty credits to enter," the man said in a flat tone.

Yulia almost laughed out loud. Twenty credits were a lot of money for a teenager. It wasn't much for her, but she was an exception to the rule. Alex's lessons also allowed her to deduce the real reason why Thomas Lund had picked such an out-of-the-way location to host this party. If he had tried to lease a space, it would cut into his profit margins. That made much more sense than the man trying to act cool for a bunch of teenagers, like Sarah seemed to think.

"I got this," Yulia said, flicking over the funds from her comm bracelet.

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The man grunted as the funds showed up on his device, and he opened the door to let them in. "Enjoy the party," he said in a much more friendly tone.

Despite the cost of entry, there were quite a few teenagers present in the room. Some were dancing on an impromptu dance floor, where colored lights flashed back and forth from overhead, and even a holo projector had been set up to show abstract images above the dancers.

Yulia glanced around the room, noticing she was one of the youngest people there. Most of the teenagers were closer to finishing school, or getting close to entering the academy. In fact, she only spotted two kids her age.

One was Charlie, who waved upon spotting her, but he looked older than he was, being so large for his age. The other was a stunning girl with silver blonde hair, who was standing awkwardly off to the side of the room, holding a cup. Yulia didn't recognize the girl, and while the population had grown in her absence, most kids still fit in two classrooms. She had to be the girl from Gravitational Solutions that Charlie had told her would be there.

Yulia spotted a bar as well. If Thomas was serving alcohol to minors, Yulia didn't care what her friend saw in him; she was contacting security immediately. The trio went up to the impromptu bar, where a sign gave prices and options. They were all for standard juices or water.

It seems Dr. Lund's grandchild wasn't a complete moron. Had he been selling alcohol to minors, it wouldn't have just been a slap on the wrist.

Yulia glanced around again and found the GS girl staring at her intently. It was a bit unsettling if she was honest. Thankfully, the girl's attention was pulled away as a boy grew the nerve to walk over and talk to her.

From the boy's awkward reaction and the girl's lack of one, it wasn't going as well as he had hoped. Yulia made a mental note to act like that in case some random boy approached her.

"Glad you could make it," Charlie said as he wandered up to the trio, his voice cracking slightly.

Sarah and Claire giggled, earning a glare from Yulia, who didn't think it was funny to make fun of someone who was going through puberty. It didn't even dawn on her that they might be amused by something else entirely.

The boy cleared his throat and smiled, ignoring the older girls. Then again, he stood nearly as tall as them. It irked Yulia that her growth spurts hadn't increased her height all that much. She was still one of the shortest girls her age in Eden's End.

"Uh, would you like to dance?" Charlie asked hesitantly.

Yulia glanced at the dance floor, then back at Charlie. "I don't really know how to dance," she said matter-of-factly. It did look fun, however.

"Oh… Uh, it's not that hard. It's kind of like sparring, I can show you a bit if you'd like. Not that you really need to know anything," he added quickly. "I wouldn't call anything they're doing dancing," he gestured to the teenagers on the dance floor.

Yulia took a longer look and had to agree, it mostly looked like they were flailing about randomly to the music. She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Have fun, you two," Claire said in amusement.

Yulia was confused by the parting words. Why wouldn't she have fun?

She tried to have a conversation with Charlie as he showed her how to dance, but the music was too loud and she didn't feel like shouting to be heard.

At first, they simply danced like the other kids, and while it was fun, there wasn't any real talent to it. Charlie must have seen her expression.

As soon as the song ended, he spoke up. "Would you like me to show you how to really dance? My mom taught me the waltz before… well, you know. It probably won't fit the song, but just follow my footsteps."

"Okay," she responded, not commenting on the fact that Charlie's mom had left Eden's End, completely abandoning him after her judicial sentence ended. The boy was now a ward, like she had been.

It was that commonality that had really changed her perspective on what the boy had been forced to endure.

As the next song started, Charlie held out his hand. "Here, take hold of my hand, and place your other on my shoulder. Then just follow my feet."

Yulia gave the boy a critical look to check and see if he was messing with her, but like always, he appeared to be completely honest, so she nodded and followed along.

Charlie started slowly, and she watched his feet and followed along with the movements. Occasionally, they would bump up against other dancers, but as she got into a rhythm, even that stopped happening.

She had to thank her footwork training with Damien for that.

Yulia laughed as they moved faster and faster, Charlie's competitive nature coming out, as they danced. It took all her concentration to keep up with the taller boy, so much so that she didn't even realize that the rest of the dancers had stopped to watch and applaud them.

Charlie started to add dips and twists to try and throw her off, but she quickly adjusted to the moves, then he released his one arm from her back and spun her around while holding her hand up, before bringing her back toward him just as the song came to its conclusion.

Yulia was grinning and laughing so hard she couldn't even talk. She released Charlie's hand and gave the boy a hug, which he hesitantly returned.

Then the cheering erupted.

She pulled away from the boy, her face going red in embarrassment at being the center of attention. Charlie quickly saw this and pulled her away from the dance floor.

The attention quickly faded, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Your mom taught you all that?" she asked the moment she could."

"It's normally not a fast dance," he said with a chuckle. "But essentially, yeah. She was a dancer before she met my dad. And I was a surrogate partner because my father thought dancing was a waste of time." Charlie's tone turned bitter toward the end.

"Sorry," Yulia said. "I didn't mean to bring up old memories."

The larger boy shrugged. "I realized my parents were awful people long before they left me."

"Did you want to dance some more?" Yulia asked, trying to change the subject.

"Maybe later," he said, nodding over her shoulder. "Looks like someone wishes to speak to you."

Scrunching her face in confusion, she turned and saw the silver blonde-haired girl standing a few feet away.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing your fun," the girl said shyly. "My name is Serina. Do you have some time to chat?"