Best Friends (ON HOLD)

Chapter 20. (Pt: 1)

A/N: The video is the dance Jacob and Justis are teaching the kids. It's all the same dance, just in different groups. This chapter is supposed to be from yesterday, so the date for the chapter today is December 23rd, 2015.
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(Ari in mm)

•Jacob•

I walked into the dance studio and saw Justis free-styling. I sat on the floor and scrolled through my Instagram feed until she was ready. A lot of times during the weekend, after school, or when we don't have school, we both come to this dance studio and teach some classes for free. Justis looked at me and looked back. She wasn't even giving me the silent treatment after I told her I don't like her, so it's making me wonder.

"Well hello to you too." I said. "Hi." She said dryly. "What is wrong with you?" "Just pissed." "At?" "At life." "What did life do to you this time?" She's always mad at life for stupid stuff. Last time she claimed she was the mad at life, she broke a nail. "I lost my earplugs." I chuckled and shook my head.

The first student came in and she was a regular. Her name was Jay. She never told us what it stands for, she just makes us guess all the time. "Hey Jayla!" Justis shouted. "Nope!" "Wassup Jaylynn!" I said. "You guys say those all the time." "You could be lying to us though." I protested. "Or I could be telling the truth. You never know!" Soon all the other kids started coming in. All of them have been here before. At the last minute a lady came in with a little girl. "I'm so sorry. Can you fit her into this class?" She asked.

Justis and I exchanged looks and shrugged. "I guess. You'll have to fill out some papers though," Justis said, before turning to the little girl, "What's your name?" "Ari." She said. "Ok. Everyone this is Ari! I want you guys to make her feel welcome and get to know her. But y'all the rules." "No talking while dancing." All the kids said. "Exactly." I went to my computer and started playing Worth It by Fifth Harmony. I don't even choose half the songs the kids dance to, but when I do I have to make sure it's mostly clean.

"You already know how we do stuff, but since we have someone new I'm going to repeat it. Jacob and I will show you, then we do it together, then you guys do it by yourself. Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" Justis said. We started demonstrating the dance, and when we were finished we faced the kids. "Y'all got that?" I asked. Most of them were going over the steps, and I couldn't blame them. They were pretty fast, but if they ever want to go far in dance they'll go to auditions and they only show you the dance once. "Did you guys hear Jacob?!" Justis shouted. "Jus, it's fine. Calm down." I whispered. It's like nice cop mean cop. Except we're dance instructors. I'm the nice one and Justis is the mean one. I guess that's what made us a good team, if you would even call it that. "We'll go over it again. Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" We showed them the dance again and most of them had it down. "Now, do you have it down?" I asked, just to make sure. They all responded with head nods, and saying 'yes'. "Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" We started dancing along with the kids and they were good. "You guys did good. We'll do it one more time with you guys, then you show us." Justis said. We went over the dance one more time, then we watched as they did it. They were good, but they could just use a little more practice.

We gave them free time since we were done with the routine practice for the day, and we still had half an hour left. The kids had started a dance circle and we're going against each other. "Justis and Jacob! Battle each other!" A boy named, Dylan said. Soon the kids started chanting 'Battle', so we gave in and got in the circle. They put on Do It Like Me and Justis went first. When she finished she looked me up and down and blew a kiss. All the kids 'ooed' and waited for me to start. I danced and at the end I walked up to Justis and lightly pushed her. She threw her head back and laughed, then pushed me back.

Soon the parents started paging the room, meaning they were here. The kids got their stuff and then went down to their parents, except Ari. "Ari, don't you want to go down to your mom?" I asked. "That wasn't my mom." "Then who was it?" "She's my guardian. Her name is, Haley." "What do you mean guardian?" "I'm an orphan. She's the orphanage director." Justis gasped, and looked over here. "I used to be in an orphanage." Justis said. "Really?" Ari asked. "Yeah. I got adopted when I was a baby." "Lucky." "You'll get adopted soon." "I've been there since I was a baby. It's boringggg." "How old are you?" I asked. "Six." I was shocked. She danced really well to be only six. "You're a good dancer. Let's go down and see if we can find Haley." We went downstairs and we saw only one lady sitting there, so I figured that was Haley. "Hey sugar!" Haley smiled. "Hi Hals." Ari cheesed. "Hi. I'm Jacob, and this is Justis. We're her instructors, so obviously we'll need you to fill some stuff out." "You guys are young. Do you own this studio?" Haley asked. "No, we used to dance here when we were younger, and they let us teach classes." Justis said. "Oh wow. So how much is it?" "It's free." "Really? That lifts a whole weight off my shoulders." "Yeah. We just want to teach the kids. They have a lot of fun, and so do we." "That's so sweet." "I guess. It's just something we love to do." "So what papers do I need to sign?" We handed her some papers, and Justis talked with her. Ari was over there twirling around. I went over to her and watched. "I like your hair." Ari said, pulling it. "I like yours too." I pulled hers and she smacked my hand. "Never touch a girls hair." "Never touch a mans afro." "You're funny." "You're adorable." "I know!" "And cocky." "Confident my friend. I am confident." "You're pretty smart." "I don't like school though." "Neither do I." "I have a question." "What?" "What are you mixed with? Cause some of the boys in my orphanage have afros, but they aren't curly and soft like yours." "Puerto Rican and Black. Are you mixed with anything?" "Same. Do you have any siblings?" "Nope, but I have a big family." "Is it fun having a big family?" "Sometimes. Like sometimes when your favorite cousin comes over y'all just hang out and stuff, and talk about everyone. But at family gatherings and they just start coming in your room one by one, it gets annoying. I think I have like 5 cousins that are around your age." "Are they girls?" "Three boys and two girls. They always do this challenge thing to see who's the better team of the day, but the girls are outnumbered. You could make it even." "You mean like if I came?" "Yeah." "You'd do that?" "I'd have to ask my parents first, but yeah. I've always wanted to be an older brother." "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You'd be a cool older brother!" Ari said, wrapping her arms around my neck. "No problem. But let's keep this a secret. Just until my parents say yes." "Fine." We locked pinkies and smiled at each other.

"Ari, you ready?" Haley asked. "Yeah! Bye Justis and Jacob!" Ari waved. I smiled at how happy she just got. We were walking to our cars and Justis asked, "What were you two talking about?" "Nothing." I smirked. "Mhm." Justis got in her car and waved. "See you later bitch. Oh! The orphanage Ari's stays at, is the one on 57th." She said, winking. I smacked my teeth and said, "Bye hoe." I walked to my car and started it up. Soon I got home. When I walked in my parents were kissing. "Get a room!" I shouted. "Oh hush child. At least we show you how you should act when you're married." Mom said. "You right." "I know." "Let's have a talk." My mom and dad looked at each other worriedly, then sat down. "You ain't about to be a father are you?" Dad asked. "No." "Better not be." "Anyway. How come I'm not an older brother?" "Cause after you I wasn't popping out anymore babies." Mom said. "You can adopt." They slowly nodded. "There was a girl who came into dance practice today. She's six
years old, her name is Ari, and her orphanage is the one on 57th." I got up and went to my room, not giving them a chance to say anything.

I hope they adopt her.