CHAPTER 4: DANCE O’RAMA

The sun was irritatingly bright today. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, which was bad for me.

“Just try to stay indoors.” Gustav had said after he dropped me off at school because for obvious reasons, I couldn’t use my bike.

So here I was stuck inside while the majority of the student body frolicked outdoors. Austinford normally had a gloomy weather so this particularly sunny day was like a breath of fresh air to them.

“Why aren’t you outside?”

I looked over my shoulder and saw my Physics teacher Mr. Thatch standing behind me. He greeted me with a friendly smile which I couldn’t help returning.

“I’ve got pretty sensitive skin.” I answered.

“That explains everything. No wonder your dad brought you here.” he patted my shoulder. “Well, I’d love to chat but I’ve got a ton of test papers to check.”

He was the first teacher to approach me since I enrolled in school. It kind of brightened my day.

A shriek pulled me back to reality. The hairs on my back bristled at the sound. I ran through the empty halls half expecting to see Lionel’s killer feasting on my classmates, or maybe that creature from the forest. But I knew I was being ridiculous. I exited using the canteen’s back door and carefully maneuvered myself away from the sunlight and under the shade of a tree.

The lawn was packed with students, freshmen to seniors and loud music blasted through the air. I heard the shriek again and traced it to a petite girl with curly brown hair. She and a few other girls were giggling and elbowing each other.

I saw one of my classmates, I think her name was Laura and tapped her shoulder. She was the quiet type who sat in front and diligently took notes and aced every pop quiz. I could tell she was a sweet girl, though we’ve never spoken to each other.

 “What’s going on?” I asked her.

She looked genuinely surprised to see me, but answered all the same. “It’s a dance showdown. It became quite the rave for the past two years. Anybody can join, but most of the challengers are from the junior and senior class.”

I nodded timidly and she took it as a signal for the end of our conversation. I was quite intrigued. I’d never seen a dance showdown before. I also wondered how much the time transition had affected the dance itself. I quickly moved to another tree, closer to the center of the commotion. I squeezed myself between two fat guys who automatically made way when they saw me.

Carver, a boy with chocolate brown skin whom I knew from Trigonometry stood in the middle of the makeshift dance arena. He was holding an inverted baseball cap which contained scrunched up paper bills and a few coins. He was waving it around obviously collecting bets.

 “Alright let’s get this party started!” he shouted to the crowd.

In return, everyone – except me – whooped with enthusiasm. The music grew louder, though I couldn’t find where it was coming from. All at once a group appeared on my left, dancing to beat of the hip-hop song. The lyrics were mostly rap which seemed very garbled to me. The two dancers in front – two boys – tumbled and spun quickly on the floor. The crowd cheered. Then moving to the same song entered another batch of dancers. Their steps were more coordinated than the first group. The music suddenly changed and someone came flying through the air from the back. He landed heavily on his feet, right in front of me. The girls squealed more loudly and my breath got caught in my throat. It was the same height, the same tousled black hair, and the same golden brown eyes from the rooftop. He got down on the ground and masterfully balanced his lean form while standing on a single hand. His shirt rode up and exposed his hard pectorals which earned another ear-splitting scream from the female population followed by a rhythmic chanting from the audience.

 “Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!”

Well I guess I don’t have to ask for his name anymore. When Jesse stood upright he joined his group mates in a powerful finale for their performance which made them victorious. Carver himself was jumping up and down smiling from ear to ear. He thrust the baseball cap with money into Jesse’s hands and clapped him loudly on the back.

“You the man!” he shouted.

The crowd was slowly dispersing but I was rooted to the spot. I watched Jesse as he hugged each of his friends heartily. He suddenly turned and became momentarily distracted when he saw me. He smiled and waved at me. I tried to return his smile but failed when I felt a stinging pain on my arm. I looked down to see that the sun had shone through the leaves and hit my exposed skin.

 I hissed and immediately ran indoors. I shoved everyone out of my way and crashed into the girl’s bathroom. I entered an empty cubicle and sank to the floor. My skin was reddened and very tender but it was beginning to heal. Way to go Sanguine, you’ve just managed to make an utter fool of yourself.

Lunch was drearier than usual. My pizza didn’t look so appetizing while replaying my most embarrassing moment in my head over and over and over and…

“Hi.”

My head snapped up at the sound of a familiar voice, one that I have never been able to forget.

“Is this seat taken?” Jesse asked, smiling.

“No.” I shook my head slightly.

His smile widen as he slid into the vacant seat in front of me. I gaped at his tray, piled high with food. Maybe all the dancing made him hungry, really hungry. He caught me staring and chuckled.

“I get that look quite a lot.” He bit into his hotdog sandwich. “I have fast metabolism. No matter how much I eat, I never gain a pound.”

“Lucky you.”

“You on the other hand have a terrible appetite. You look so pale.” He stretched out to touch my cheek but I recoiled away from his reach. He looked instantly apologetic. “I’m sorry. I forgot that we’re not on the touching basis yet.”

“I’m sorry too. ‘Cause you can’t touch me no matter what basis we’re on.”

He cocked a brow. “Really?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t advise you to be so sure of yourself, mister.”

“Don’t pretend that you don’t know my name.” he retorted. “You probably heard the whole school scream it.”

“Precisely, and a large portion of which came from the progesterone-producing part of the school.”

He rested his elbows on the table and placed his chin on his cupped hands. “Then say it.”

“Say what?”

“My name.”

“There’s no reason to.”

He shook his head. “On the contrary, you have every reason in the world.”

                His irises swam wildly with color. I was captivated entirely. Everything about him was pulling at me, fighting my will to resist, but this had nothing to do with my bloodlust. He returned his focus on his food and began slurping the pasta into his mouth. I saw the ice bitch, Melanie approach our table.

“Hi Jesse.” She called out in a rather over exaggerated way.

                Jesse didn’t mind looking up from his food and simply waved, unfortunately it was in the wrong direction which made Melanie turn redder than her blouse, and it made me happy thinking that other people had it worse than me.

“Are we all set for that party tonight?” she continued.

“Yep with our newly earned funds we can keep the beer flowing all night.” He turned to me. “Hey why don’t you come?”

I opened my mouth to answer but Melanie beat me to it. She had unbelievably fast reflexes for a human.

“Oh she can’t go Sanguine’s allergic to social gatherings and things on the same wavelength.”

 Jesse looked dubious. Melanie was obviously pushing me aside. It was a bad idea for me to be around so many humans but I enrolled in a school, didn’t I?

“I’d love to go. What time does it start?” I countered.

“Ten pm sharp. I could pick you up if you like?”

That did it for Melanie. I could have bet five dollars that she’d claw my eyes out with her sparkly fingernails but she just turned on her stiletto heels and stormed off.

“You just wanted to piss her off, didn’t you?” Jesse asked once the ice bitch was out of earshot.

“Of course not, why would I do such a thing?”

“You’re still coming to my party, you know?” he cleaned up his tray to the last crumb and stood up simultaneously as I did. “I’d feel really bummed out if you only used me as an excuse.”

I rolled my eyes and picked up my tray carrying my half-eaten pizza. He followed me like a lost puppy grinning stupidly. I sighed out of exasperation.

“Can I take that as a yes?”

“It’s up to you to decide.”

“Then a yes it is. I’ll pick you up at nine-thirty?”

“No, don’t! Just meet me at the old windmill by the highway.”

Jesse stepped in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. 

“You’re not telling your dad, are you?” I was about to spout some lame excuse when he stopped me with a finger on my lips. “You don’t have to make up an excuse. I get it in fact; I do it all the time.”

The bell rang somewhere down the hall and Jesse turned to leave.

                        “See you, Sanguine.”

Chapter 5