Shawn led Belle over to a quiet corner of the gym. He let go of her hand.

"Well?" she demanded as she crossed her arms.

"Belle," Shawn began, "Why have you been avoiding me?"

"Avoiding you? Are you serious?"

"Let me check," Shawn paused. "Yes, I’m serious."

Technically she actually had been avoiding him, but she’d be damned before she let him know that. He was standing there so smug, so "I’m so important that your life revolves around me and you’ve been avoiding me". Belle was infuriated.

Belle laughed. "Well, someone has an awfully high opinion of himself."

"Excuse me?"

"I haven’t been avoiding you, Shawn. Why would I be?" Belle queried.

Shawn had no suitable response. What could he say? Because you’re jealous that I’m here with someone else? What if that wasn’t the case at all? What if she had been upset that he was trying to kiss her because she wasn’t interested in him and didn’t want to ruin their friendship? What if this had nothing at all to do with him taking Chloe? Shawn stood there, not knowing what to say next.

"You know, this is so typically male. You have an ego the size of Montana and you automatically assume because I haven’t been at your beck and call that I’m avoiding you? I hate to disappoint you Shawn, but I actually do have a life outside of you," Belle yelled.

"What?" Shawn exploded. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I’m talking about you thinking that I’m avoiding you. Where do you get off making an assumption like that?"

Shawn clenched his fists together. "This is such a woman thing to do. You’re completely overreacting. I just asked you one simple question…"

"Simple? What are you saying? That I’m too stupid to understand a ‘simple question’?" Belle screeched.

Shawn felt like pulling all of his hair out. "Belle, that’s not what I said at all! Would you just listen to me?"

"Forget it. Don’t you think we should be getting back to our dates?" Belle asked.

Shawn turned around and they were both given a view of Philip and Chloe dancing to "I Need You."

"Looks like they’re busy right now," Shawn commented in surprise.

Belle began walking away. Shawn grabbed her arm. "Hey, we’re not finished here yet. We need to get this resolved."

Belle yanked her arm out of Shawn’s grasp. "You are not in control here, Shawn. Do you think you can tell me what to do now?"

"I’m not trying to tell you what to do!" Shawn hollered.

Both of them were totally oblivious to the stares from people passing by as their heated argument continued.

**************************************************

The song changed into a hip-hop beat, and the moment was broken when someone bumped into Philip. Philip looked around him and saw that people were staring. Chloe hadn’t been kidding. He pulled his head away and released her.

Both of them just stood there, looking at each other.

Chloe cleared her throat. "Did you, um, want to keep dancing?"

"Not to this song. I’m pretty good on the slow ones, but I suffer from white boy syndrome on the others," Philip joked. "We could go grab some punch, if you want."

Chloe smiled and nodded her head.

Philip couldn’t believe what he had almost done. In front of half the school he had almost kissed Chloe Lane. He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her over to the refreshment table. Philip was surprised that he was thinking more about Chloe and not worrying over his rep. He should have been mortified at his actions. He should have been worried that he was losing his Big Man on Campus title. Instead, he was trying to figure out how he could get Chloe alone and finish that kiss.

**************************************************

"Did you just see what I saw?" Jan hissed. Chloe was going to ruin everything. Philip was obviously not ashamed to be seen with her. They couldn’t humiliate him if he was willingly spending time with Chloe. "She cast some kind of spell on him. He was totally mesmerized by her."

Jason shrugged. He’d been thinking to himself that he wouldn’t have minded a dance with Chloe in that dress, either.

"Well, that’s it. We have to call the whole thing off. Do you see how everyone is reacting to her? By the end of this stupid dance she’ll be more popular than we are," Jan fumed.

"No way. Now people will vote for her because they think she looks good, and she’s out there with Philip. Chloe’s set it up for us so that it’ll never get traced back to us. They’ll still both be humiliated when we dump the blood on them," Jason responded.

Jan raised one eyebrow and thought about it. "I guess you’re right."

"Of course I’m right. Now let’s dance. We’ve still got some time until they announce the King and Queen."

**************************************************

"Are you a Siren, Chloe?" Philip asked her. Another love ballad had come on and he was once again holding her against him tightly. He was surprised by how well she fit against him. It was as if she’d been made to fit him. They had danced every slow song together, and talked easily during all the fast ones. Chloe was surprised by how much she and Philip had to talk about, and even more surprised that Philip hadn’t left her side all evening. Neither one of them had any idea what had happened to Belle and Shawn, and neither one of them much seemed to care. A couple of guys had approached Chloe to dance but had backed off once they saw the look of warning in Philip’s eyes.

"You mean like something on top of a police car?" Chloe asked, confused.

"No, I mean like the ones from Greek mythology. When I was little my dad told me stories about these mythical women that like, sat in these cliff sides and sang to lure sailors to run their ships into the reefs. The songs were magical, and the sailors were powerless to resist them."

Philip tightened his grip on Chloe and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Chloe, are you singing your siren song for me?"

Chloe looked up at him, blinking those bright blue eyes of hers. She’d been thrown off-kilter all night by being in constant close proximity to Philip. She didn’t know which emotion or thought of hers to trust any more.

The song finished and a voice came over the loudspeaker system. "Okay," Ashley said into the microphone. "It’s time to announce the King and Queen of the Last Blast!" The announcement was met by applause and whistles.

Philip took Chloe’s hand and walked the opposite direction of the stage. Chloe stopped him. "Wait a second, Philip. Don’t you want to hear who’s going to win King and Queen?"

Philip knew that he should have cared, but he also knew that after spending the evening with Chloe it didn’t matter if he won or not. "You should win Queen, Chloe, but I doubt that anyone here is intelligent enough to actually vote for you."

Chloe blushed at the compliment. "You’re sure to win King, Philip."

Philip shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn’t matter."

"What?" Chloe asked, surprised.

"You know, I had thought that winning the title was more important than everything else. I got caught up in all this ‘king of the dance’ stuff. Like, I thought I had to win because when you’re a Kiriakis you’re supposed to win everything."

"Wait, you were caught up in it or still are?" Chloe tried to clarify.

"Right now I don’t care at all," Philip said.

"Why not?"

"This is going to sound dumb, but it’s not about winning anymore. It’s about being with someone you can be real with, who makes you feel good about yourself, like you don’t have to prove anything. Someone like you, Chloe."

"And the winners are…" Ashley tore open the envelope, "Philip Kiriakis and Chloe Lane!"

Philip and Chloe were caught up in each other, completely oblivious to the announcement until people started patting them on the backs and pushing them towards the stage, telling them they had won. Chloe couldn’t take in everything that was happening to her – how Philip was acting, and now she had been crowned Queen because of a red dress?

Philip led her up to the stage, unable to take his eyes off Chloe. He’d never seen another woman that deserved to be queen more. Chloe flashed him a dazzling smile as he was crowned. He watched as her tiara was carefully placed on her head.

Philip started to look across the gym at the sea of faces looking up at them. This was the moment he had so desperately wanted, but now the only reason he enjoyed it was because he was there with Chloe. He saw Shawn and Belle in a far corner, gesturing wildly, arms flailing. Had they been arguing the whole time? He went on observing as the cheers continued, and saw Jan. Her eyes were fixated on a point above him. Philip looked up and saw a bucket began to tip. He looked to the left of him and saw Jason pulling on a cord. Philip simply reacted. He grabbed Chloe by the waist and flung her to the side.

Philip was then completely drenched with chicken blood. Several gasps went out from the crowd.

"This is insane! We are going in circles!" Shawn yelled. "How long do you plan on standing here and arguing the same things over and over with me?"

"Now I’m insane?" Belle shrieked.

Belle was suddenly aware that the room was silent. In the intensity of their argument, they hadn’t even noticed that the King and Queen had been announced. She saw that Philip was completely covered in something that looked like blood, and that Chloe was sitting on the stage with blood splatters all over her legs. Belle began to run for the stage, pushing her way through the crowd. Shawn was right on her tail.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" Belle kept calling, trying to get to the front. She ran up on the stage and grabbed Chloe. "Chloe, are you okay? What happened?"

Philip stood there dripping while Shawn and Belle crouched down next to Chloe. He turned and saw Jason. His eyes flickered with murderous rage. He was going to kill Jason. How could he humiliate Chloe like that? I mean me like that, Philip amended.

"That was meant for me, wasn’t it?" Chloe whispered to Belle. She felt like she was in a state of shock.

"You’re a dead man!" Philip yelled and took off after Jason. Jason had never personally felt the K-Man’s wrath first hand, and had no desire to start now. He ran.

Philip easily overtook Jason out in the hallway. Philip pulled back and then hit Jason as hard as he possibly could. He continued to pound on him until Jason was finally able to grab Philip’s wrists and hold him back for a second. Jason’s mouth was bleeding.

"I’d stop if I were you, Kiriakis," he hissed.

"What?" Philip asked, wanting to feel Jason’s face beneath his fists.

"How would you feel if I went back in there and told your little girlfriend about the stupid bet? What do you think she’d think of you then?"

"She’s not my girlfriend but she is a better person than you can ever hope to be!" Philip hollered.

Shawn came up behind Philip. Jason looked over at him. "And just how do you think your precious Belle Black would take the news that you took out one of her best friends as a booby prize in a bet?"

Philip went to punch Jason again but this time it was Shawn that grabbed Philip’s arm and pulled him off of a severely battered Jason.

"If you screwed things up for me with Chloe, I’ll…" Philip began to threaten.

Jason put his hands on his head in disbelief. "Do you hear yourself? If I screw things up for you and Ghoul Girl? What has gotten into you man? It’s just a freaking dress! And now she’s suddenly popped up on your ‘to-do’ list?"

Infuriated, Philip lunged for Jason again as it took all of Shawn’s strength to hold him back. "Forget it, Philip! Screw him. He’s not worth it, do you hear me? He’s not worth it."

Jason smiled as if to mock them. "Better listen to your friend, Philip. You try to get me back for this blood thing, and I will make sure that Ghoul Girl and Belle know every little last detail of your bet."

"You’d better keep your mouth shut then," Philip growled. "Or I will make your existence a living hell."

"Oh," Jason smirked, "I’d love to see you try, Kiriakis." Jason walked back into the dance to find Jan and to take off before Principal Cohen started asking questions.

"He’s right, you know," Shawn said.

Philip whirled on his friend, still feeling the adrenaline rush, still wanting to punch something. "Right about what?"

"If Belle and Chloe find out, they’ll never speak to us again. Especially with the way Belle is tonight. I’ve never seen her like this. I’ve been arguing with her all evening."

Philip looked down at his suit. "I’ve got to get this blood off of me. I’m going to the locker room to shower and change. It should only take a few minutes. Would you go check on Chloe for me?"

"Sure," Shawn said. He’d always thought Philip had had a thing for Chloe, and tonight apparently something had happened to bring it out in the open. Must have been the dress.

Shawn found Belle helping Chloe to the girl’s room to wash the blood off of her legs. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he offered.

Belle glared at him. "You know, maybe if you hadn’t been so busy arguing with me you could have been an attentive date to Chloe and none of this would have happened."

Shawn stood there stunned and stared after them as they disappeared into the restroom. A minute later Belle came back out. Shawn started to ask what she was doing but Belle cut him off. "I need to call someone to come pick us up, and I have to find Mimi."

Philip came around the corner showered and changed, and saw Shawn standing outside of the girl’s restroom. He nodded towards it with his head. "Are Chloe and Belle in there?"

"Chloe is – Belle just left to get their stuff and find a ride," Shawn explained.

Philip placed his hand on the door and Shawn grabbed his arm. "What do you think you’re doing?" he asked.

"I have to see if she’s okay," Philip told him. Shawn released him and Philip went into the bathroom.