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clear out of the gym so they could have their meeting. But then some of the girls on the Dance Committee got in on the conversation, and it looked like it was about to get ugly. Just when it seemed like a fight was gonna break out, Mrs. Sheer suggested a compromise. She said we could put up the petition in the middle of the gym and the seniors could have their meeting on one half and us kids could have our dance on the other.

Everybody seemed to be able to live with that idea, and the janitor put up the petition. Losing half of the gym was kind of a bummer, what killed the mood was the LIGHTS. There is only one switch for the overhead lights in the gym, and they had to be either all on or all off. The senior citizens wanted them on for their meeting, so that was the end of the "Midnight in Paris" vibe over on our side of the gym.

The bright lights were bad for Uncle Gary, too, because now all the kids who bought shirts from him could see they'd gotten ripped off, and they started demanding their money back. Uncle Gary tried to distract everyone by turning the music up, and a lot of people hit the dance floor.

The girls danced in a big group in the middle of the gym. Every once in awhile a guy would try to dance his way into the group, but the girls had formed a kind of wall that kept the boys out. I didn't really understand that until I tried to make a move to break into the circle and got totally blocked. One of the seniors came over to our side of the gym and complained that the music was too loud and it needed to be turned way down.

So Uncle Gary lowered the volume by about 80%, and then we could hear every word of the Senior Centre meeting. LET THE RECORD SHOW THAT MRS. FISHBURN HAS SECONDED THE MOTION TO HAVE A COFFEEMAKER IN THE KITCHENETTE. That didn't seem to bother the girls, though. A lot of them took out their personal music players and just kept dancing.

By that point most of the boys had had enough. All that time being on their best behavior around the girls had taken its toll, and a lot of the guys just totally cut loose. Mrs. Sheer and the rest of the chaperones tried to calm the boys down, but it was hopeless. It was a really wild scene, and it was actually getting a little dangerous. I thought about going over by the bleachers to get out of everyone's way, but at that moment the Mad Pantser struck again and I decided I was better off where I was.