Well, the evening hadn't gone as bad as he'd expected. Finally, it was midnight and the St. Kate's School girls had just been herded out and into their bus. As a student teacher, Todd Langley was the most junior member of the St. Elmo faculty. And naturally, he'd gotten stuck being the St. Elmo's chaperone for the dance.
Todd was a physical education major. He was working with the coaching staff and teaching some phys ed classes. Since he was only 20 himself (and looked younger), he had a little trouble keeping the 18-year-old senior guys in line. He was fairly good-looking and had a great body, but being fairly shy and introverted, he tended to get overlooked for everything except duty positions. Like chaperoning.
Just as he was about to go over and tell the kid who was DJ'ing to pack it up, a bunch of the guys came over to him. "Hey, teach, how come we didn't see you dancin' tonight?" That was Joey di Marco, one of Todd's toughest disciplinary problems. He and his buddies, Chip Kramer and Tony Valente, were the three best-looking guys in the senior class - and the three biggest pains in the butt.
"Just chaperoning. No dancing allowed, I was told."
"Well, hey - those St. Kate bitches are all gone now - who's gonna know? Come on, let's see you get down. Come on, Hank, put on something funky."
Todd tried to protest, but the music was too loud. The three of them - plus a few other guys that had stuck around - started dancing. The dance seemed to consist mostly of a lot of wild gyrating and jumping around. Todd just smiled and shook his head - he had no idea how to dance like that.
Joey signaled the DJ to cut off the music. "C'mon, teach. What's the matter? Can't dance?" He laughed.
"Not really," Todd said. "Time to go, now, anyway. Maybe next time."
"Uh-uh. No way. You're gonna dance one dance with us before we go, got it?" The other guys were grinning and nodding. Looked like they had it all planned. "And not so formal, OK? Take off that jacket."
Todd looked around. No help in sight, and these guys looked like they meant it. Oh, well, probably better go along with them and get it over with. Todd started to take off his blazer.
The boys cheered and stomped. "Way to go, teach." "I knew he was a regular guy."
Joey stepped back up to him - "The tie, too. Let's get real relaxed." Todd shrugged. He pulled off the tie and opened the throat of his shirt. "OK, Hank, put on something a little easier to dance to - we're gonna teach my man here a few steps."
The music started up a little more rhythmic this time, and, as advertised, Joey and gang taught Todd a few steps. Actually, it wasn't too bad, once they got going. Todd got into the music and even started enjoyed it a little. It really wasn't so hard. Then he heard Joey again.
"Hey, teach!" He was beginning to hate the sound of that. "Take off those shoes - you can't dance in dress shoes like that. You can't move right."
No big deal, Todd thought - he bent over and untied the shoes. He heard a couple of wolf whistles and looked around, thinking one of the girls might have come back in. Not seeing any, he shrugged and kicked off the shoes.
Joey was right. It was easier in his stocking feet. Those shoes were heavy.