Torn Between Twin Brothers

"Big brother? Who are you calling big brother? As far as I know, I only have one sister, and she's not you." He said playfully with a smile as bright as the sun, although Ava couldn't see his face under the mask.

Ava was taken aback that it was not James. Instead, it was Ashton. However, she made sure that disappointment didn't show in her voice, "Oh, I was sure that you were James. Anyway, it does not matter to me either way. So, who will be your first dance tonight? Any girl, in particular, you have your eyes set on?" She was being talkative, although she would rather leave.

James looked around, then she saw a girl wearing some kind of flowery ball gown. "Hmmm, that girl right there will do." He pointed towards the girl. 

She looked where he was pointing and saw a slender girl, almost as tall as the person in front of her. "Not bad!" She murmured, "what about after her?" She added, playing with him now.

"I don't know, maybe I won't need to dance with anyone else. I don't see anyone else that interests me enough to approach them." He replied nonchalantly. He was looking at her reaction to see how it affected her with his response.

Ava was kind of disappointed, although he knew who she was, he didn't say that he would dance with her. It kind of hurt her ego, but then deep inside of her she was relieved that Ashton would not fight James for a chance to dance with her. 

So, she decided to excuse herself to look for Akira.

"Well, I'm going to go look for Akira, we didn't come inside at the same time, so you guys would not recognize us, but it didn't work anyway since you knew who I was!" She said while laughing at the end of her sentence, however, her laughter sounded lame, and so was her excuse, but it was good enough for her to get away.

James was disappointed to hear that she was not interested in hanging around with him. Then he remembered that she thought he was Ashton. That made him happy in a way. 

However, there was nothing he could do when Ava briskly turned around and left. So he decided to just find a corner to watch where she went.

Ava found Akira walking around with Jeffrey. She was in a haste to approach them, "There you are! I can't believe how many people are in here right now." She was complaining to no one in particular, she just had to say something. 

"I know what you mean. Do you think the birthday celebrant is among all of them or not?" Asked Akira while her eyes were roaming around the room, looking for someone with a different aura.

Then she spotted the Royal family, she could tell from how they walked and how the girl was holding on to one of the young men.

"Look, Ava! I think that's Lady Crystal and her fiance Crown Prince Philip. I think the one right behind is Prince Edmund and Princess Rose, what do you think?" Akira whispered loud enough for Jeffrey to hear.

Jeffrey looked in the direction where Akira was pointing. "Hmmm, they might be Royals, but they don't hold a candle to us." Jeffrey boasted while putting both of his arms around Akira and Ava.

Akira and Ava looked at each other before they burst out laughing, "Hahaha! Hahaha!" 

They were not laughing at the Royal family. Instead, they were laughing at Jeffrey and his ego.

===

The party was lively and was at full blast. All the children were enjoying themselves. Then, suddenly the music stopped, and Ms. Williams walked into the middle of the dance floor.

It was time for the dance contest...

"Young ladies and young gentlemen, it is now the time for a dance contest. Find yourself a partner, and please head to the dance floor." She announced. 

Ms. Shannon walked towards the middle of the dance floor with a stern look on her face, holding a clipboard. She stood right next to Ms. Williams, who was making the announcement.

"Once you find a partner, grab a number and stick it on each other's backs before entering the dance floor. When the judge comes around and taps your shoulder, you must leave the dance floor immediately. The last couple standing wins." Finished Ms. Williams before handing over the microphone to Ms. Shannon.

"Here are the rules of the contest. You must abide by these rules, or you are disqualified." She mentioned all the rules while all the children were slowly entering the dance floor.

One by one, the couples started going in the middle of the dance floor. Finally, slowly but surely, the dance floor became fully packed.

The young man that was with Pearl and Arria asked Pearl to dance while Arria took the camera to continue the live stream.

Akira and Jeffrey, who had found each other, also went to the dance floor and started dancing.

Lady Crystal and Crown Prince Philip also joined the fun, while Prince Edmund was still searching for anyone that remotely looked like Ava, but with no luck. 

Princess Rose was tailing Prince Edmund when she caught the eye of Arria, who was busy live streaming. She slowly approached her from behind. She was stunned to see the total number of followers indicated on the screen. She almost screeched, luckily she was able to cover her mouth right away.

However, Arria sensed that someone was right behind her and turned to look, "And who might you be? Don't you think that it's rude what you're doing?" She whispered; she didn't want the followers to hear what she said.

Princess Rose was embarrassed for a moment and was about to retaliate, but she was interested in what Arria was doing. So, instead, she did her best to hold her temper and put a smile in her voice as she apologized.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you. Do you mind if I hang around with you? I don't have a dance partner just like you." She made sure that Arria understood what she meant. Both of them were alone; why not stick together.

Arria was going to decline, but then she was right. So, she decided to befriend whoever she was. She leaned closer to Princess Rose and whispered only for her to hear, "I'm Arria; what is your name?"

"I'm P- I mean, Rose! Nice to meet you!" She whispered back.

After the introductions, the two became good buddies for the night and enjoyed live streaming the dance-off.

==

Meanwhile, Ashton and James were standing side by side at a corner, both watching Ava from the corner of their eyes. Neither of the two made a move to ask Ava to dance until they saw someone approaching.

When they saw someone planning to ask Ava to dance, they were like two supermans,  faster than the speed of light, running towards where she was standing. They reached her at the same time as the other person.

Three young men were standing in front of Ava, asking her to dance....