Winter's Daughter

Placement

(Lui's POV)

"So, Lui's up first. What song did you get?" David looks at me. "I got Animals, by Martin Garrix. It's funny cause I am a monkey!" I squeak the last part. I rise my hand so that the motion sensors could let me choose the song. The song starts and I begin dancing. I'm not the best, but I can at least do my best. Plus, the difficulty rating isn't very high, so I don't have to worry about it. I don't care about the scores I get, about the hate I might receive in the comments of the video, I only care that I'm having fun with your friends. As I hit the final pose, the game rates me with a perfect and tops off my score. "Not to shabby for a person like me!" I say. "Yeah, you looked like you were trying pretty hard." David comments. "Johnathan, you're up next." Evan ushers him.

(Evan's POV)

When I push Johnathan off of his ass, my hand accidentally brushes his thigh. I saw him tense up a little but then relax. My cheeks flare up, but thanks to the shadows from the window shades, no one could tell. At least, I think. The song he had chosen snapped my out of my trance. Cool for the summer, by Demi Lovato. Suits him pretty well, if I do say so myself. The song starts, and the movements he does makes it hard for me watch. His hips keep swinging in front of me, distracting me from watching the dance on screen. My eyes keep drifting from the tv to his ass, then snap back to the tv, only for the process to repeat again. This is starting to feel like torture. "I need to get some water" I tell Clara. She nods in response as I get up and walk away. When I arrive in the kitchen, I place my hands on the counter and hunch over. The picture of Johnathan dancing like that kept replaying my head, like it's taunting me. I shake my head to clear the thought and continue to do what I said I would. I reach up to the cabinet, take a glass, and fill it with ice and water. When the glass is almost full, I feel strong yet comforting arms wrap around my waist. "Evan, you missed my final pose~" Johnathan whispered in my ear. My cheeks once again flush in color, but to my dismay, the windows were wide open. "Sorry, I got thirsty and came to get some water." "Well I am H2ODelirious." He winked at me. I shook my head and closed my eyes. I took a sip of water and open my eyes again. Instead of Johnathan in front of me, he's across the room sitting at the bar. Must've been a hallucination. I sit down next to him and drink more water. "You okay man? You look a little pale." Johnathan turns to me. "Yeah, just lightheaded." He takes the response and walks towards the group. I guess I am starting to have feeling towards him. I don't know when it started, but I really need to control fucking my feelings. I set my glass in the sink and head back towards the group. When I return to the room, Clara is in the middle hovering her hand to select her song. The song titles scroll across the screen, flashing color. When she stops scrolling, Under the Sea, from the Little Mermaid plays in the background. "I think you should wear a wig!" Lui says in his squeaker voice. "No one has a fucking wig nearby though." Johnathan laughs. "Actually, my sister use to act a lot when we were younger. She even dragged me into a few of them." I pointed towards the garage. "There should be a box full of costumes and other shit." While everyone except for Clara and I run to my garage, Clara looks to me and whispers, "Do you have any escape routs or really good hiding places..." I just laugh at her. "You don't wanna play a little game of dress up?" She playfully slaps me. "No not really. I don't like wearing multiple layers of clothes, except for a jacket and shirt. Like wearing two shirts or two pairs of pants. I don't like it." I shrug. "Reasonable. There's a little cabinet that actually is connected the gaming room in the kitchen. Whenever I got bored and I had company over that I didn't like, I would crawl through it to go play video games." I walk away and motion for her to follow me and she laughs back at me. "That's so sad, yet funny!" I open a cabinet. "Inside here and through. Doesn't take that long." Clara gets on her knees and crawls in. "Thanks a bunch! See you on the other side." When I close the cabinet, loud thumping comes from the living room. "Where's Clara?" Max holds up a long red wig. "I found some accessories to go with the wig." David holds up a starfish headband and a shell necklace. "She left, she's doing her business in the bathroom." They all set the stuff down on the chair that Clara was sitting on, and sat down.

(Clara's POV)

I can't stall the inevitable, maybe I can just ask if I can not wear the costumes. Yeah, they're nice enough to let me do that. Well, I would do that if I could even get out of this tunnel! Why is this tunnel so long anyways, his house isn't even that large! I think. A small door appears when I take a right turn. Fucking finally. I crawl through the door only to meet a black and white room with red bean bags and a tv. Video game consoles lay around the room surrounded by the corresponding game versions. Not a bad way to organize your shit. I sit in one of the bean bags a d pull out my phone. I text Max, "Is everyone okay with me gone?" Ding. Instant reply, that's so like Max. "Yeah, Evan just said that you were in the bathroom so we paused the recordings." I bit my lip. "Okay, be out soon. Btw, I'm not wearing those fucking costumes." "Fine with us." I get up from the bean bag and head out towards the group. "Hey guys, sorry for keeping you waiting." "No problem! Just dance when you're ready." David tells me, getting up from his seat. I nod in his direction and select the girl on the screen. The song is fairly easy, just some simple movements. By the time I actually start trying, the song is over. "Well shit. Right when I was about to actually start trying." I cross my arms. "Oh well." I shrug and sit down. Evan pulls out his phone and writes down my score. He turns to the camera, "In third place, Lui!" Lui stands up and bows, laughing. "And the winner of the tournament is, Clara!" Everyone claps for me while I just bow. "Thanks for your support!" I smile towards the camera. Evan, Lui, Johnathan, and David all take their cameras to separate rooms to do their outros. I turn to Max. "Swell dancing back there." "You too. Reminds me of the good old days when we would play games like that for hours upon hours just because we were bored." He stifles a laugh. "Yeah, I would lock myself in my room when you were busy and I was bored." I chuckle. "Anyways, today or tomorrow we have to start the transition of fall to winter. Do you think we could do it today instead of tomorrow?"