Kick, Punch, Dance?

Chapter 6- Ace of Sapde

~Declan~

I sat in a corner; in what I thought was out of the way. Turns out Tess can pretty much use every space in the dance room, especially with hard music. She was just so graceful to watch. I felt like I was in some kind of hypnotized state as I watched her. 

Her dance style was so illuminating. That and the fact that the main song she was dancing to was one of my all-time favorites- Comatose by Skillet. i mean the girl can dance but when you add a favorite song of my, it's like a drug. 

During the song she would hit the floor, spin in circles, and fly though the air. I watched without blinking. The way she moved was slow leading up to the chorus of the song and then she would burst into intense movement.

Tess would twist and turn until she hit the floor and then she would do some sort of crazy summersault that ended with her back on her feet. The last part of the dance she would pound her closed fist and shake her head and on the last note she would drop to her needs in waht looked like defeat.

I was so engrossed with her dancing, that I hadn't even noticed another person walk into the room, until they spoke.

“You timing is off for the whole last part of the song. Your arms are flailing around, not gracefully swinging, and don’t get me started on your footwork.” said a very Russian voice.

I looked over to see a small woman with sever features. Her cheekbones were pointed and her eyes were a pricing brown almost black, her nose pointed sharply, and her voice had a hard edge to it. But her body was built even for its small size. You could see the muscles in her calves covered by the black legging material.

“Ms. Casey” Tess said. “I didn’t know you would be here.”

“I hadn’t planned on it. But I figured you would come in today. And you could use all the help you can get, Tessa Finnley. Now run it again, and this time stay on point.”

Tess started the music again, and for the next 2 hours she was critiqued for her moves. For my untrained eye, she looked amazing, but that apparently was not the case for Ms. Casey.  When the teacher was finally satisfied (if that was even possible) she called time.

“Good. Now stretch and I hope to see improvement next time.” Casey said and left.

After the door closed behind her, Tess fell to the ground on her back with a sigh. I was slightly alarmed until she spoke.

“That. Was. Hell.” Tess said from the floor. I got up off the floor and made my way over to her in the middle of the dance floor.  Her bare stomach was showing from her lack of a shirt which she tore off about an hour ago after sweating through it, and I had to say I was slightly impressed by her toned shape. I had to give the girl credit- she worked hard for that.

“You ready to get home?” I asked holding my hand down to her.  She took my hand and I hoisted her up and was a little surprised by how light she was. Tess probably had no body fat what so ever.

“Yeah let me grab my things and I’ll meet you outside, OK?” she said. I nodded and made my way out of the dance room. 

I was waiting in the lobby when I turned to look out saw the last thing I’d ever hope to see.

~Tess~

“OK, I have my shirt, shoes…” I thought out loud, it had been just a few minutes ago when Declan left the room and now I was trying to find everything I needed to go home. I was spent and I still had my Biology project to do.

“iPod!” I exclaimed when I had remembered what it was I was looking for. Once in my hand I made my way out of the dance room and down the hall to where I thought Declan would be in seeing range.

I did see him, outside by his car talking to another boy about his age. He was taller than Declan, more lenghty and his hair was long- almost to his shoulders- golden and wavy. However that was not the the part of him that struck me as odd. What struck me was the tattoo that was clearly visible on his upper right shoulder.

it was picture of a playing card but instead of any numbers it just had a large Spade in the middle with two A's in the corner signifying the Ace of Spades. 

I pushed open the door, to hear the last of their conversation. 

"Heart, he's coming after you. He's pissed about you leaving like that, and he's none to happy about you burning down he's building either. I know you had to get your mom out of their but, Dimond's pissed." Tattoo guy said said. 

It took me a second to figure out the connection between Ace of Spades, him calling Declan "Heart", and referring to "Diamond" as a noun. He was using nicknames for Declan and someone else. and they were talking about a burning building.

Interesting. 

"You know I didn't burn down DoJo. He just thinks I did because I did everything else. Look thank you for coming to warn me. But I'm laying low, and if they come after me I'll-"

"If who comes after you?" I asked curious. Shit. I hadn't meant to speak up. Both boys turned and looked at me as if I'd grown a third eye and and a second nose. I pulled my dance bag up higher on my shuolder trying to forget that i was still in just a purple sports bra and yoga pants taht were sticking to me like a second skin. 

"How long have you been standing there?" Declan demanded when at the same time the boy step forward offering his hand to me saying "Why hello there, I'm Spade."