Karyn was the first student to notice the literal vacuum that was left in the center of the hallway with the cheerleaders' exits. Somehow all of the other students just kept milling about their usual patterns in the hallway, leaving room for the group that always occupied the center space, even if they weren't currently occupying it.
Karyn grabbed Jon by the wrist and dragged him along with her as she squeezed through the crowd of students and popped through into the now-calm eye of the hurricane. She could spread her arms out wide and twirl in a circle, and the only person she'd hit would be Jon, and that was just because she'd dragged him into the eye with her.
A bluetooth speaker emerged from Karyn's backpack and it was placed right in the middle of the empty space, where it pumped out the sound of Pharell Williams singing "Happy."
Karyn immediately started doing dance moves that Jon had never seen her perform before. "Come on, Jon!" she shouted loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear. "Dance!"
She pulled at his wrist again, and Jon found his body moving to match Karyn's. He'd heard the phrase "lose yourself to the rhythm" before, but he'd never experienced it until just this moment. Karyn was still center stage, but Jon was almost keeping up, and very quickly all eyes were on the two dancers in the middle of the hallway. Very quickly, all hands were clapping for the two dancers in the middle of the hallway.
The first chorus ended, and Karyn retreated from the center, pulling Jon with her but pushing another boy from the crowd to take her place.
"Go Jacob!" Karyn was the loudest, clappingest person in the whole hallway as she cheered on the kid she'd propelled into the middle of the hallway. Jacob wasn't very good at dancing, but you'd never have been able to tell by the reaction he was getting from the crowd, all lead by Karyn.
After his verse, Jacob retreated back into the group and was replaced by another teenager. And when she was done, another student took her place. On and on until the song ended and a new one began, and the circle collapsed in with the entire hallway dancing and cheering, one solid mass of students with no real group at the center.
No group at the center, because there was only an individual at the center: the girl in the denim vest who had put the bluetooth speaker on the floor in the first place. And she was as loud and animated as the entire cheerleading squad usually was, combined.
