I was very young when I first saw a man move like he could fly. I got to see something that few people saw. They called it the streets. I wanted to learn how to do that. I wanted to learn how to dance and move. It was tough but my mom said life was too short not to follow your dream. I was 16 when she got sick and a few months later, she was gone. That was when everything, including the streets.
I was on the subway. Downtown Atlanta was one of the few places that still had them. A black woman was taking some pills. A white woman was with her baby and suddenly a few people in masks began to dance. One of them came over to me and started to touch me. I resisted at first before I put my own mask on and began to dance with them. Yes, I was one of them. We called ourselves The Treblemakers. It was more of a flash mob than anything else. The people on the train seemed surprised and a little disturbed. It was then a cop showed up. We began to disperse and soon made our exit.
"Man the Treblemakers were awesome." My friend Cynthia-Rose declared. There weren't a lot of girls in the group. There were only three of us, including my friend Flo.
"That's because I'm a genius." I stated as I began to move.
"Girl, get out of here." She replied before she removed my mask. "We need to get this on YouTube."
We headed up to a roof and looked it over.
"Alright, who's uploading it?" Flo asked.
"You are." I replied with a smile.
"What up, bitches?" Our leader Luke interrupted. Flo and I both jumped a little. "I wish y'all could see your faces."
"Quit it with the jokes." I responded. "So what did you think?"
"On the real?" Another guy, Donald replied. "We killed it. The streets aren't going to be ready for us this year."
We all took turns congratulating ourselves.
"So what's up? Are we going out tonight?" Luke asked me. He was kind of my boyfriend, but it was still a very loose term.
"I don't know. It's pretty crazy at home with Gail and all." I explained. Gail was my mom's sister. She was basically the only family that I had left.
"I hear that." Luke declared before Donald told him that they needed to go. "I'll see you at rehearsal."
I headed home where I found Gail. I prepared to head upstairs.
"Not so fast, Chloe." Gail responded. It didn't sound like a good thing. "You're late. Dinner was an hour ago."
"Chill, Gail, I'm here now." I stated. I didn't know why she was so hard on me. Maybe it had to do with grief from losing her sister. Maybe it was because she didn't have kids and didn't know how to deal with a teenager. Maybe it was because she was just a bitch.
"I know where you've been it's all over the news." She stated. "You were with that gang: those troublemakers."
"First, we're called the Treblemakers and it wasn't a big deal." I explained.
"You could have been arrested." She pointed out. I was pretty sure I couldn't be charged with anything. "You can't be with the Treblemakers forever. Those people are criminals."
"Those people are my friends." I argued. "Who are you to tell me how to live my life?"
"I am your aunt and I promised your mother I would be your guardian." She pointed out. I wasn't sure why she was telling me since I already knew that. "You're skipping school, you're out all night. What the hell are you doing?"
"Dancing. I am dancing!" I answered.
"Well I can't let you live here anymore." She responded. "Your uncle John and I having been talking."
"I don't want to Texas. Do you think I haven't lost enough already?" I asked. "I can't lose my home."
"Your mother never would have let you get away with half of the stuff I do." Gail responded.
"You don't know what my mother would have done." I replied as I got in her face. I then headed up to my room. It looked like I would have to run away.
I headed out into the night and took out my phone.
"Flo, where are you? I need to talk to you." I stated.
I headed to a club where some guy named Pitbull was playing. It was more of a dance club than a nightclub.
"Yo, Bumper." I greeted the bartender.
"Hey, Red." He replied as he fist-bumped me. "You want to do some damage tonight?"
"Just take my bag." I told him.
I then watched the various dancers. They were pretty good.
"Well look who's all grown up now?" A voice greeted me from behind. I looked behind and saw a blonde.
"Bree, what are you doing here?" I asked as I gave her a hug. Aubrey Posen was an old friend. She was several years older than me and had left to become a professional dancer. "I thought you were in New York with Jesse."
"I am but I came back for the rest of my stuff." She explained. "Jesse and I are going on tour."
Jesse and Aubrey weren't the most traditional couple. They met at this arts school that Aubrey only went to because of community service.
"So, I need to know what's going on with you and Gail." Aubrey declared.
"She called you." I stated.
"No, she didn't." Aubrey corrected. "I came to your house and she told me you were gone. She's going crazy."
"Well did she tell you that she was sending me away too?" I retorted.
"She doesn't know what else to do." Aubrey shouted. "She's trying to help you just like your mom and everyone else helped me."
"I can't believe that you are taking her side over mine." I declared as I tried to walk away. She then grabbed me.
"Hey, if you stop being so dramatic, maybe you would realize that there are other options." She remarked.
"Like what?" I challenged.
"BSA." She answered. I laughed. "Barden School of the Arts."
"I know what it is." I said. "Do you think I look like the ballerina type?"
"Would you rather leave?" Aubrey replied. "Look, Gail will give you one chance, but Barden is no joke. You have to go to class, you can't skip. You have to study."
"No." I responded. I wasn't going to sell out like that.
"Fine, then I'll battle you for it/." She declared. "If I win, you have to go to Barden. If you win, I'll leave you alone. You know I get it if you're scared. You can't beat me anyway."
She knew that I couldn't turn down a challenge.
"Looks like we got royalty here tonight." The DJ declared. "Aubrey Posen is in the house and here to battle."
We shook hands before the start of it. I didn't expect her to do anything dirty. We began to battle and I showed off my moves. There were some trampolines on the floor and I took full advantage of them. Of course, I soon realized that I was out of my depth as Aubrey began to show off. I knew that I had lost. I couldn't believe that I had lost.
I went to pick up my bag. I couldn't believe that I would have to study ballet. I knew that I would hate it. Wasn't ballet dead anyway? A deal was a deal though and I wasn't going to risk my friendship with Aubrey by not living up to my end of the bargain. I had a feeling that I was going to hate it though.
Before I could make my way out, I came across a with brown hair who was shorter than me. She wasn't someone that I had ever seen in the club before and she was kind of hot.
"You know I thought that you were better than her." She remarked before she left. Okay, that was random. I also couldn't help but wonder why. Aubrey was clearly better than me. I had been served.
"So, do you want to go again?" Aubrey asked.
"No." I answered.
"You know I'm looking out for you." She stated. "So, I guess you're going to Barden."
"You know I can't just go to a school like that." I pointed out.
"Come on. I need to get you home." She remarked. "Plus, I have to tell Gail."
"I thought she agreed." I said.
"Just let me do all of the talking." Aubrey declared.
I watched the two of them talk. I could tell that Gail was hesitant to the idea. After a few minutes, she came back outside.
"Got it." She remarked. "You know she thinks that I set a good example for you. Of course, the school did help me stop being a crook. Now all you have to do is get in."
"I thought you said that you took care of that." I replied in confusion.
"I didn't say I got you in. I said I got you an audition." She stated. "Good luck and stay out of trouble."
I couldn't help but think how much I both loved and hated that girl. I hoped that I would be able to get in.
So I took to writing this story because I already have an adaptation of Step Up. I know what you're thinking that Beca and Chloe would make better swapped, but I want to do Chloe as the edgy one for a change. Please don't forget to review.