You Had Me At Hello

Chapter Five

Zendaya’s POV

I walk into rehearsal with sort of a frown on my face; the last few days have been brutal because the hate has gotten worse, and worse. There’s this one guy though, who is pretty obsessed with me, but he’s been sticking up for me, so we’ve been talking for a while now. His name is Jay, I thought he was pretty creepy at first, but I realize he’s pretty sweet, and I tell him everything, from what happened with Trevor, to the “mini-fight” I had with Bella, and even the “almost kiss” with Val. He’s very understanding and trustworthy.

When I first walk in I see Val smiling widely, “I know it’s been rough for you for a couple of days now, but I’m sure the dance this week will put that winning smiling that I love right back on your face, we are doing the Argentine Tango, but there’s one thing…”

I raise my eyebrow, “What is it?”

He shrugs his shoulders, “Surprise, surprise—I haven’t danced the Argentine Tango either, but this week we are pairing with a couple and the couple we are pairing with knows this dance.”

“Who’s the couple we’re dancing with?” I ask Val with a frown still on my face.

Val smiles widely, “A couple that will turn that frown upside down.” He points to the door, and a lady with long beautiful ginger hair walks in, and that’s when I recognize her, it’s Anna Trebunskaya. She’s such an amazing dancer with a fiery personality, I love watching her dance.

Anna smiles, “Hi, I’m Anna. I just want to say, you are such a great dancer and I think with your spunkiness and Val’s charisma you guys make a great dance duo.”

I smile, “You’re the amazing dancer, you are so elegant but so fierce at the same time!”

I turn to Val, “You said couple—where’s the male dancer?”

Val rolls his eyes, “He just wants to make an entrance…he should really just HURRY UP”

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Sheesh, no need to get hostile.” The voice said, and I recognize that voice from anywhere, the person comes in and it’s none other than Maks. I smile widely, and run into his arms,

“Maks! Oh my gosh, I missed you so much.” I said as he is hugging me.

He smiles and pulls away, “See little bro, I told she likes me better.”

“Haha that’s such a funny joke! Dayachka does not like you better isn’t that right Zendaya?”

I was spaced out for a bit, and I didn’t realize that they were arguing, I sigh deeply and Val turns to me with a frown on his face, “Oh Zendaya, I hate seeing you so distressed. Are you still getting hate comments?”

I nod my head, “Yeah, but there’s this slightly creepy, but super sweet guy who’s been standing up for me. So I guess I’m holding up better, but it still hurts.”

“A—a guy?” Val asks in a sort of hurt voice.

I smile and nod, “His name is Jay Howden, he’s really nice and he’s kind of cute. If I wasn’t, you know—famous. I would definitely try the whole “cyber-dating” thing, but I can’t, so we’ll just stay really good friends.”

“Oh ok, let’s practice now.” I could tell Val does not like this conversation, because he is getting all tense. He gets that way when I mention Trevor, now Jay. I think Val might be jealous, but I don’t know why.

“Why don’t we watch Anna and Maks dance first, so we can get the feel of the Argentine Tango?” I say nonchalantly as I shrug my shoulders.

Val nods, so we sit next to each other as we watch Maks and Anna dance. Their passion and chemistry makes me wish that Val and I had that connection also. I draw closer to him, and he puts his arms around me. I smile, because this feels so—right.