The Dance

6 - "Weirdo Chick"

Time passes and soon it is morning. I feel like an old man by the time the sun decides to wake up. I was awake the whole night. White nighting is something I would never do, because sleep is such an important part of having a good morning, which later turns into a good day, but my body simply refused to fall asleep.

Near the 10:00 PM range, I gave up blankly staring up at my ceiling, and pulled out my phone to listen to music. I pressed random buttons half-thinking through what my body was doing, and magically my ¨Dance Playlist¨ songs started to play through my ears. The songs completely clashed with the mood and tone of the terrible insomnia I was in, but I just closed my eyes again and listened to every song I ever danced to in my highschool career. It got me reminiscing about meeting Mrs. Chang for the first time.

The little Chinese woman had lined us then fresh-meat freshmen in a straight line and taught us how to properly address her, the proper way to bow, and how to greet and dismiss ourselves in front of her. It was pretty intense for a first-day of school thing, and it did not help that Dance was my first class of highschool ever, what with the upperclassmen standing along the mirrored walls, bowing alongside us freshies. I remember walking out of the studio feeling weirdly formal, and like I was in some sort of cult innsination.

Dance Playlist plays one of the only slow songs I had danced to, a classical dance to Debussy's "Clair De Lune". Daniella and I did a sort of magical, fantasy maskers dance together. Trying to explain the premise sounds weird, but if you were there, (or knew what it properly looked like, or at least was supposed to look like) it was a different experience altogether.

I miss Daniella. She was good at what she did.

I shake my head, if anything was going to get done, I could not afford to be reminiscing on the past. The future awaited me. I just needed to figure out what the future wanted from me.

"Ethan, are you heading out? You're going to be late."

My body heaves forward as I take one final breath, grabbing my bag and running out the door, my mouth sending Mother an automatic farewell that does not receive anything back. There is no time for breakfast, but I guess I deserved it for wasting my time in my bedroom this morning.

In no time at all my car is surrounded by the suburbs that I live by, perfect houses and families that have happy parents, happy children, and have never experienced the death of a loved one. If only I could relate to any of that. My playlist is still playing in my ear, and its sound fills the inside of my car as I drive, the soft, poignant notes of the piano leaving my mind focused on the road and not on hypothetical families.

A red light keeps me from moving forward. A buzzing from my phone takes my focus away, and I grab it. I start to feel somewhat better when I see who it is from. A smile spread across my face. It's a text message from Carlos.

"Yo man heard from Chang about you and Daniella. Sucks."

Well, I did not expect this from my normally chill friend. I could not notice how he phrased his message like Dani and I were a thing or something. I write him a quick text back, my eyes flicking up to the still-red lights above me.

"Yeah, I guess."

"'I guess'? Man, you two were the best dancers in the whole school. How are you going to find a replacement?"

"I know we were great. It's going to be hard to find someone else to dance with, much less someone as good as her."

"Well, I'll you at school. Where are you at right now?"

"Traffic."

And someone behind me honks their horn. I jump and realize the light is now green. I press my foot to the pedal and the whiplash pushes me back in my seat.

***

In no time at all I get to school. The crowds surround me even though I am running slightly late. A friendly hand gets my attention; it's Carlos.

"Ethan, over here man!"

I walk over to Carlos and we enter the building together.

"So, what's you plan for the rest of the year? Chang told me nothing outside of Daniella's ditching us for Xavier." He shakes his fist angrily at the ceiling, as if truly angered by this betrayal. We know she is a good dancer, but Dani leaving most likely had nothing to do with the school.

I shrug my shoulders, returning back to the conversation. "Anyway, I don't know what I can do here. Chang said I could 'pick my own partner' but I don't know what to do with that. It was just you and Dani that liked to dance."

My friend nods along, "And count yourself blessed I did not abandon you like Daniella."

"You know she probably didn't abandon us on purpose. Didn't she tell you she was leaving?"

Carlos stops, turning to me. "Uh no. Did she for you?"

I nod. "Through messages. Said she could not deal with school."

"So she actually is an abandoner! And just when I decided to tell her—"

I groan. "Can we stop talking about her? Please."

Carlos looks at me and nods. "Sure, man."

I sigh, thankfully for the peaceful while noise of school hallways. "Thanks, Carlos."

We walk towards out dance class, when someone who I did not expect to find stands at the side of the door.

What was her name again?... Amari?

The girl looks a tad stressed, her eyes darting all around the hallway, constantly looking up. It takes me a couple times until I realize it's because she is looking at the clock and probably does not want to miss class. In her hand is a small bag. But where are my shoes?

Carlos sees Amari and leans over to me, "Ethan, who is that weirdo chick?"

An idea pops into my head and I smile wickedly. "She's my new dance partner."