Instructions for Dancing

With Danceball four weeks away, Fifi increases Evie and X’s rigorous training from three hours daily to four hours. The tango remains the hardest dance to master; though Evie and X know the steps, the two aren’t as sensual as Fifi demands. Evie can tell it’s because she’s uncertain about her future with X—especially since he’s become a part of her friend group and enjoys brunches at Cassidy’s house each Sunday.

The last week before Danceball, Fifi schedules a full dress rehearsal. Fifi, Archibald, and Maggie sit in chairs as Evie and X’s audience, not judges. Evie wears an emerald sequined dress and feels like a real dancer. X is late, but when he arrives, Evie is stunned: He’s wearing a pressed shirt, suspenders, and tailored black pants. X admires her too, stating she looks “astonishing.”

After Evie and X dance, their audience compliments them. The couple is so enamored with each other that Evie doesn’t notice Archibald and Maggie kiss, triggering a vision.

In Evie’s vision, a young Archibald walks up to young Maggie in a line of performers. He tells her that this is the third audition they’ve attended together, and Maggie teasingly says she doesn’t remember him. Archibald admits he doesn’t want her to be the one who got away, so she prompts him to pursue her.

In a small living room, a group of Black men and women watch as Archibald dances. Maggie screams “There he is!” with excitement, and Archibald holds her close (215). They say “I love you” to each other.

At their wedding, Archibald and Maggie twirl in a dazzling waltz, looking as though they’re “made of joy” (215). Later, in a hospital, Maggie holds their firstborn; Archibald lays next to her, and they adore the baby. A few years later, Archibald holds up their bills and discusses taking a teaching job, but Maggie doesn’t want him to give up his dreams. At the birth of their second child, Maggie shows the boy to his older sister, telling her that their hearts will grow bigger to love more. Then, Archibald leads a blindfolded Maggie into an old dance studio that needs remodeling. When he takes off her blindfold, Maggie is giddy that they’re starting their dancing dreams again.

Evie sees Archibald and Maggie’s current kiss. Then, in an open field, the couple stands above a coffin being lowered into the ground; they hold each other in sheer denial. At the end of their lives, the couple dies peacefully in their sleep while embracing.

Though Evie’s father believes there’s a word for every emotion, she doesn’t have a “single word for the way Archibald and Maggie’s vision makes [her] feel” (218). Evie finds their love transcendent, one that grew to make children, then grandchildren, and then her own love with X. She thinks the point of love may be to “make more of itself” (218).

That night, Evie can’t sleep, her recent vision repeating in her mind. Danceball is the next day, but she can’t stop crying, laughing, and smiling at Archibald and Maggie’s love. She wonders if this is the lesson her power was supposed to teach her, not that love always ends—and that she’s in love with Xavier.

Evie wakes up with dark circles around her eyes. She wakes Danica and insists she help her with her makeup, like they did as children. At Danceball, Evie and X get the last number for the amateur section, meaning they’ll be called last when the judges announce dancers moving onto the next round. Evie’s mother compliments how dapper X looks, and Evie admires him again, fantasizing about unbuttoning his shirt. Evie and X scope out the competition, and then take to the dance floor.

Evie and X dance with precision, and cheers ring out as they fly across the floor. They’re nervous at first, but calm down by the time they get to the West Coast swing. Though the tango is their weakest dance, they move on to the semi-finals. Archibald, Maggie, Fifi, and Evie’s family scream their support.

In the next round, Evie and X lose themselves in the music and each other. She tenses up during the tango, and worries she lost them their spot in the finals—however, they’re the last number called for the final round. X hugs her and tells her, “I told you” (228).

Danceball finals occur the next day, so Fifi schedules one more practice. Fifi states that Evie and X’s biggest competition, a talented couple from Westside Dance, may outdo them because their tango is “like sex”—but on a technical level, they aren’t as good as Evie and X (229). The couple practice with extra determination.

The next day, Evie and X meet at the practice room before their performance. X seems off and shares that he spoke with his father and plans to finish high school this summer. Evie worries that their future will come to a close soon; she’ll be attending NYU for college, and X will stay in California to finish school and follow his music dream. When X asks what he should do, Evie says they can make their relationship work over long-distance, but that the music scene in New York is great. X agrees to move the band to New York, promising their future together. Two months ago, Evie wanted to take their relationship slow, but this decision feels right.

Riding on the thrill of their future, Evie and X perform their dances with undeniable chemistry. The couple’s supporters, even Evie’s father, shout for them to win. During the last dance, the tango, Evie remembers it’s about “passion and release” and finally gives herself to X, flying across the floor with him (232). When the music stops, Evie says she loves X, and he reciprocates. When they kiss, Evie sees their vision.

Evie watches her and X’s first meeting, the day he rode her bike around the dance studio. Then, she sees them on their Hollywood tour. Then, they’re writing the “Black Box” song during a dinner date. The vision then cuts to their first kiss on the beach—and then their current kiss.

Evie and X drive a car out east, windows down as they listen to music. During their road trip, they stay at a hotel and make love for the first time, all “wanting and having” (236). Then, Evie and X hang out in her dorm room, with X strumming a guitar he bought her. She works on a new song, and X suggests she sing it at the band’s next show. Although she’s nervous, she agrees.

Suddenly, Evie is alone in her bedroom, crying. She’s holding a funeral program, with a photograph of X’s face: X’s death is 10 months from now.