Romance on the Dancefloor

I sat down on the schoolyard’s bench, I sighed. I couldn’t wait for the weekend to begin. Don’t get me wrong. I liked high school and I should enjoy ever minute of it as this was my last year, but I got a bit bored lately. I was tired of hanging around with the same people every single day. Seeing the same faces, having the same conversations. "Okay enough of the negative thoughts" I thought to myself while grabbing my Ipod from my bag. Before even turning on the music, I heard someone calling my name… "Hey Layla!" I turned around to find my friend, Theresa, on the other side of the schoolyard waving at me. She came closer. "What are you doing here by all yourself, why didn’t you come sit with us, like always?" She asked. I rolled my eyes "I just wanted to enjoy the sun with some music, is that such a crime".

"Don’t be silly, let’s go", she ignored my irritation. I guess she was used to me being negative all the time. But I wasn’t negative all the time. I was just distant. I’ve known Theresa for 2 years now and we never seemed to bond. I don’t know if it was me or maybe the fact that we were so different from each other. There was just something about her that didn’t made me trust her. And I just can’t get close to people I don’t trust.

Against my will I got up and joined her. "We were just talking about the battle of tomorrow. I need everybody focused, okay" Ty said while looking at me. He was talking about a dance battle we will have tomorrow at the Clipse, a club. Ty was the leader of the crew where Theresa, Luke, Devon, Ray and I were part of. Ty was very severe, expected too much from everybody. We had to practice everyday after school, on weekends, holidays, …. Maybe that’s the thing that bothered me so much lately, the pressure and the obligation. I needed my space. But dancing meant everything to me. It was my life, my drug,… and I was part of one of the best crews in town. It kept me focused on my dance.

While going to my seat in class someone bumped into me, which made me almost fall to the ground. I turned around to find Sean standing there. I saw that he was ready to apologize until he realized that it was me he bumped into. He was tall and very strong, so it really didn’t do me any good. I felt rage going through me. Sean was a member of another crew. I hated him, he hated me. It was as simple as that. "Watch your step, you jerk" my voice was mean. That's the only voice he knew of me. That’s how we talked to each other. And that’s how we called each other, jerk, ass, fool, …. Well, actually I never heard him calling me names, to be honest. But anyway I think I made it very clear that we couldn’t stand each other.

"Hey, I didn’t see you, okay" he replied with a strong mean voice, looking at me with his firmly deep eyes. He was handsome I have to admit it. He had the perfect body and his eyes… he’s eyes were deep and had a light brown colour, which made him look mysterious. "I don’t recall being invisible", I said. "Funny you’re saying that, your quite invisible to your crew, why should it be any different to me" he smiled viciously. He hit a nerve. He hit a nerve because he was right. Ty never let me do solo’s, I’m always pushed to the back, and he never cared for my ideas. I knew I was talented, but for some reason Ty didn’t believe in me. I tried to hide my anger, to not confirm his comment. I gave him a cold look and said "If I were you I wouldn’t talk that way". He raised his eyebrows and said "oh yeah and why is that, you’re going to tell mummy?". Our voices were loud enough for everybody to here. Everybody was looking at us, waiting for my answer. The teacher arrived "What’s going on?"

Without paying any attention to the people in the classroom I continued "You’re commenting me, but we’ll see who will make a fool out of himself tomorrow". I was referring to the battle at the Clipse. He laughed "You know what…?".

Before finishing his sentence the teacher interrupted. "Okay, I had enough of you two." Mrs. Thompson looked angry, and that didn’t happen very often. She was very sweet and calm. She was in fact one of my favorite teachers. "You're both going to sit down, and be quite". Her voice was even louder. We gave each other a cold look and went to our seats.

The bell rang, "Mr. Miles and Mrs. Williams? Would you like to wait for a moment, I need to talk to you two", Mrs. Thompson said while everybody left the classroom.

I sighed, and so did Sean. "Do we have a choice?" Sean said. "No, as a matter of fact you don't". She got up from her chair. "Please take a seat" she said. She went around her desk and leaned on it. We both looked at her waiting for what she had to say. She was looking at us in an analyzing way. "This thing between you two needs to stop. I mean really, I don't know why you kids tread each other this way. What did she do wrong?" she said while looking at Sean. "Her presence is enough" He said self confident. "And you Mrs. Williams? What's your reason?"

"Well I guess for once I can agree to what he says."

"Okay, now that that has been cleared up. I expect you in detention Saturday morning." she smiled.

"WHAT!!" we both said. "This can't be, why..." I tried to say that it wasn't fair. But Mrs. Thompson seemed determined. "This is not discussable. You may be excused now." she smiled again, as if she had a vicious plan for us.

I sighed. This was the last thing I wanted right now. The timing couldn't be worse... I took my bag and ran out the classroom furiously, leaving Sean behind me, still arguing with the teacher.