Dying to dance
1. How one night would change 4 lives forever
'And.. one, two, three, four!' Hélène, in the U.S. usually called Helen, Maissan yelled through the gym which was full of sweaty, dancing teenagers.
'Can't we take a break?', Colleen Jones asked. 'We've been dancing for 3 hours straight now!', she whined.
Helen glanced at her watch. 'O dear! You're right, sweetie. I'm sorry children, as you all know I just forget all means of time once we're doing so well as we are today. One more time! From the beginning!', she said and pressed the 'play' button on the ghetto blaster. The song 'Sunshine' started to play and the 6 pairs of teens started dancing again. All of them had a little duet-part. Jennifer Warner and Jason Woods were on first.
Jennifer liked to dance, but it wasn't her 'passion' as it was to her best friend Anna Chase. The two had been friends since Anna moved to Los Angeles and joined this dancing class. She turned out to be really good. 'Not weird if you count that she's been taught by the greatest dancers of Europe. She travelled through the whole world with her mom. You would think, cool, a mom like that! But not if you count the 'her mom being a an evil vampire who abused her for years' part. Anyway, Anna lives with her dad now. Also a vamp, but he has a soul. Better than nothing.', Jenny thought to herself.
When Wesley, the best friend of Anna's father Angel, started to date Jennifer's mother, Holly, the friendship between the two girls had grown.
Most of the girls in the dancing class didn't really like Anna. They were jealous because she mostly got all the main parts in their performances. Jennifer didn't mind, her real passion was writing. She knew it should be dancing, because she was in this professionally taught class her mom paid a lot of money for, but it just wasn't. Anna was very different. She once said 'the only thing that can stop me from dancing is dying.', and she probably meant that too. A few months ago she had the flu, and could hardly walk because she was so weakened by the fever, but she showed up at the dance-class. Only to be sent home by Helen, of course. But that didn't work until she eventually gave in after a lot of arguing. Anna would never say something she didn't mean
. 'Very good, Jason! A little more passion, Jen!', Helen commented when they finished their duo-solo, as they called it for fun.
Next were Colleen and Thomas, followed by Sarah and Christian. All of them did really well today. Or 'magnificent', as Helen said, her French roots sounding through in her voice. The last pair were Anna and Liam. It was always a pleasure for everyone to see them dance. Anna always seemed to put her mind, body, and soul in it. She 'became' the music once she started to dance. Even the greatest idiot could see that. Liam was really good too. Jenny thought it was a pity his parents couldn't afford Juilliard. That school is like the key to fame.
Anna would go to Juilliard, she won a scholarship and was busy making plans to move to New York after this summer. Of course she would be at home during holidays, but that wouldn't be the same. Jennifer knew she was going to miss her friend like crazy. She still had to spend at least a year on high school herself, because she was only fifteen. Anna recently turned seventeen, so that changed the case. 'Perfect Anna! Liam, excellent! Très bien, mes enfants!', was Helen's encouragement to them. When everyone had had their turn, she decided it was time to call it a day. ' Mes enfants, that's it for today! Don't eat too much junk food and make sure you're well-rested because it's an extra long training tomorrow!', she said enthusiastically as always, already looking forward to the next day. Groaning and exhausted the 12 teenagers made their way to the separated changing rooms. Several minutes later, after taking a shower and getting dressed again, Jennifer glanced at Anna. 'Are we still going out?', she asked. 'Sure, unless you have a reason not to go?', Anna replied, starting to comb her long straight blond hair. 'I was just checking. I thought you might've forgotten.', Jen shrugged. 'Bryan is probably waiting for us outside again, so we should hurry.'. Anna nodded and swallowed hard at the comment that she 'might have forgotten'. It sounded like she couldn't remember anything but appointments of dance-training, rehearsal, and performances. It made her sound like dancing was all that mattered to her. And that, made Anna wonder; 'Was Jennifer right?'.
'There you girls finally are!', Jenny's brother Bryan, who had already been waiting in the car with Liam for about 30 minutes, exclaimed. The two girls stepped into the car. It was Holly's car, so they were supposed to be extra careful with it. 'Can I drive, Bryan?', Jennifer asked. She would turn sixteen in about 3 and a half months, so considered herself old enough to drive. Unfortunately the California law disagreed with her at this point. She'd driven before, but that was in Bryan's old car which wouldn't look bad on the pile of write-off cars. Something very different than driving in her mom's Corvette!
'You're not going to drive.', Bryan assured her. 'And why not?', Jenny asked, grumpy. 'Mom told me not to let you drive and you know it.', he said plainly, driving off towards their favourite club called Insomnia., where they would spend the Friday night. 'O, right. And you do what mom says since...?'. 'Since I don't wanna work all summer to pay the damage you'll cause once you put your little hands on that steering wheel. ', he stated. His sister spent the rest of the ride to the club pouting and glaring, but once they entered Insomnia and she spotted the boy she liked, she forgot about what had happened in the car and became a happy, crushed teenage girl again.
It was a great evening for all of them. Bryan and his girlfriend Julia were more in love than ever, and Liam and Anna were the highlight on the dance floor. They both were a little tipsy and felt like they could dance all night. 'I love you Anna!', he shouted, because the music was too loud to talk on a normal tone. 'What!', Anna shouted back, unable to hear him because of the strong continuous beat of the loud r& b music. 'I love you!', was his next attempt, and this time Anna did hear him. She smiled brightly. 'I love you too!', she exclaimed. That was the first time she said 'I love you' to someone else than her dad or step mom Cordelia. And it felt great. But the music started to become really annoying now. Liam couldn't hear a word of what she was saying. He did see the words being formed on her to him perfectly shaped and red- coloured lips, but he needed to hear it too. 'What!', he yelled, cursing the music under his breath. Anna sighed, wishing now that they'd g one to a more quiet place, where they could actually talk. But unfortunately, talking wasn't an option now. So, as a response, she grabbed Liam and kissed him on the lips with a sudden move. That made her reply clear to him. He soon recovered from the shock and started to kiss her back. He wrapped his arms around her slender waist, no longer bothered by the music, because they heard their own music now. And it was the best he ever heard. But it didn't last long however..
After a few minutes, they were tapped on the shoulder by Bryan. 'Sorry to interrupt, but we need to go home.', he said, actually hear able on a normal volume because the music had turned into a soft love-song. 'Go home? It's only 12:30.', Liam frowned, not bothering to hide his displeasure about this. 'I know, but I promised mom to take her home at twelve.', Bryan said, glancing over at his younger sister who was chatting at the bar with the boy she had a crush on. 'All right then. Fine.', Liam sighed, and wrapped an arm around Anna's shoulders.
A few minutes later the four teen's headed back to the car. Jennifer was struggling against Bryan's hand which was dragging her by the arm and extremely angry.
'It is 'so' unfair!', she yelled. 'You can't just show up while I'm talking to Dave!'. Her brother rolled his eyes, let go of his sister and unlocked the car. 'I'll never go out with a child again.', he promised himself, muttering. 'I am so not a child! How dare you calling me a child!', she said indignant. 'Yes you are.'. 'I am not!'.
Anna and Liam gave each other a glance. 'Ehm, guys.. We're freezing here.', Anna said. 'You may want to continue this at home?'. 'Fine', Jennifer said. ''If' I can drive now.'. She really didn't let an occasion go by to ask the same question over and over again.
'No you can't drive.', Bryan answered, the same as always. 'But you're drunk!', Jen said, grinning because she finally had a reason to drive. 'I'm not drunk, Jen. Okay.. I maybe had a few beers, but ..'. 'Ha! I knew it!', she exclaimed joyfully. 'Mom will kill you if she finds out you drove after drinking.'. 'But she will kill both of us when she finds out I let you drive.', Bryan replied, wondering why 'he' had to have a sister like this. 'I'll be really careful. 'And' I'll do the dishes for you this week.', she offered with a sweet smile. He thought about it. If she would do his dishes that meant he could spend more time with Julia. Not bad. He considered that too, and eventually gave in. 'don't go past the speed limit.', he said., taking place in the passenger's seat. 'I wouldn't dare.', Jenny grinned, and started the engine. 'You're letting her drive?', Anna asked worriedly, having a bad feeling about this. Bryan shrugged. 'She's done it before.'. 'I just don't want to end up dead.', she said. Jenny laughed. 'You're such a bore sometimes, Anna.', she put her foot on the accelerator, speeding up. 'See? She's doing fine.', Liam attempted to comfort her.
'Yea! I'm doing great!', Jennifer laughed, letting go of the steering wheel one second to turn and face Liam and Anna. 'The road, Jennifer!', Anna screamed. Jenny rolled her eyes and turned back, but she was losing control over the car and hadn't seen the sharp corner coming up. She desperately tried to keep the car on the road, only vaguely hearing the screams of her brother and friends.
'Bryan!', she asked panicky. Her brother tried to take over, but they were too far gone already. It all went so fast, in less than a second the car had 'rolled over' and crashed with full speed into a tree...
Several minutes later Jennifer opened her eyes. 'Was it morning yet?', she wondered. 'I don't want to go to school.. Head hurts..', she groaned, and wondered where the wind she felt came from. Was there an open window? It was only then that she realised she was in a car... Why was she in a car? Did she sleep here? Why? Glancing at the side and seeing Bryan unconscious with blood dripping from his forehead it all came back to her; the car had crashed. Oh no! Her mom's car! She needed to see how bad the damage was! Slowly she sat up. Her vision was rather blurry, and she was in too much of a shock to think clearly. The fact that her head hurt like hell and that she was really nauseous didn't help much with that. She vaguely heard a soft groan coming from beside her. 'Bryan!', she thought. Her next thought was; did anyone get hurt? Oh no.. What is someone got hurt? It would be her fault!
She was blinded by the panic. 'Jen?', Bryan asked, confused and slowly regaining consciousness again. 'What happened?'. 'I think we crashed..', she replied thoughtfully. 'Are you okay?'. Her brother touched the wound on his forehead and nodded. 'I'll live.', he said. 'How's the rest?'. Jenny sat up a little more and turned around to face Liam, who was sat on the backseat and just waking up. 'Is everyone okay?', he asked when he spotted the familiar, but unusually pale, face.
'I think so.', Bryan replied. 'A few cuts and bruises but that's about it.'.
Jennifer was so nervous and in shock that it made her laugh. 'It's kind of funny don't you think? I mean, Anna pretty much warned us for this.'. Her laughing turned into crying. 'Right, Anna?', she sobbed. She waited for Anna's reply and turned around when none was heard. Only to find that Anna was no longer in the car...
Apparently, they all had been too shocked and confused to notice Anna was missing. Jennifer felt a cold shiver going down her spine and the very little colour left on her face disappeared.
'Anna?', she asked again.
'Anna where are you?'. She hardly recognised her own voice. It was all shaky and squeaky. She sounded like a lost little girl. Where was Anna? Was she okay? And, what would happen if she wasn't...?
She felt Bryan's hand on her shoulder. 'Liam and I think she got swung out of the car or something.. We need to find her. Do you think you can walk?', he asked her in a soft tone, understanding this was a rather hard time for her. Jenny nodded. She didn't say anything because she didn't really trust her own voice yet, and climbed out of the car., followed by the two boys. They walked down the road they just crashed on together, desperately looking for any sign of their friend.
'Anna!', they all yelled.
And at the moment Liam saw two feet coming from under a tree.
Anna's feet.
He slowly walked over.
Anna's feet..
Anna's legs...
Her whole body, from the waist up covered in blood. He didn't dare to look further, but his eyes didn't want to obey and looked up at her anyway.
His breath caught.
It was Anna.
His Anna.
The shock disabled his brains to work. The only thing he could do was just stand there. He hated himself for it at that moment. He wanted to kneel by her, check her pulse, call 911, or at least yell to the rest that he had found her. But it was like his body had just stopped functioning. When he heard Jennifer and Bryan's voices come closer, he still just stood there, tears running down his cheeks, wanting to stop them but couldn't.
After what seemed an eternity, finally two ambulances and a police car showed up.
Liam felt someone put a blanket around his shoulders. He heard an unknown voice but didn't understand what it was saying. He was taken into the same ambulance as Anna.
Anna..
He remembered seeing her body all covered in blood.
And now he didn't even have guts to ask how she was...
Bryan and Jennifer watched the ambulance drive off. Both tangled in their own web of thoughts. They didn't notice the young blond police-officer walking by until she started talking. She introduced herself as detective Kate Lockley and showed them her badge.
'Can any of you tell me what happened here?', Kate asked.
'The car.. it crashed..', Bryan told her, stammering a bit because he was shocked to find the police being present so soon already.
Jenny nodded, looking rather timid and scared. Kate wrote some things down in a little notebook. 'All right.', she said. 'Whose car is it and who was driving it?', was her next question.
'It is.. it 'was' our mom's car.', Bryan answered, looking over at the pile of metal that used to be his mom's expensive Corvette. He swallowed slightly.
Kate followed his glance and raised an eyebrow. 'Who was driving the car?', she repeated her question.
Jennifer glanced at her brother.
He looked back at her.
Seconds passed and Kate was getting annoyed
'I don't have eternity, you know. Come on, answer the question. 'Who' drove that car?', she asked one more time.
Bryan stared at his little sister one more time and eventually said; 'I was.'.
'That wasn't so hard now was it?', Kate asked, again making notes.
Jenny didn't know what to do. Why was Bryan taking on all her blame! Was he insane! She wanted her mom now. Holly would know what to do. She felt salty tears start to run down her cheeks. Bryan put an arm around her.
Kate paid no attention to the tears. Doing this job for so long had hardened her. Tears no longer affected her. She looked at Bryan.
'May I see your driving-license?'.
He nodded, put a hand in his pocket and got out his driving license. He handed it to her, and she took a quick look at it.
'Bryan Warner..', she read out loud.
'Phone number?'.
He gave it to her.
'Are your parents at home?'.
'My mom is.', he replied.
'Does Bryan have to go to jail now?', Jennifer asked scared and panicked. Again she was speaking in that trembling, unfamiliar voice. If he would have to go to jail, then it would be her fault!
'I can't say yet. You're both in shock and need to be examined at the hospital. There they will call your parents and we'll have a talk about what happened and what will happen further together then. Also not unimportant; how bad your friend is doing, will also be important to decide your punishment.', Kate answered, and she started to lead the children to the ambulance, where the paramedics helped them in.
'I will see you both soon.'.
She started to walk back to her car.
'Do you think it's bad with Anna?', Jennifer asked.
Bryan shrugged. 'She didn't look so well. Let's hope it's less bad than it looked like.'.
'But what if she.. what if..'. Jenny hardly dared to say the words. What if Anna wouldn't survive? No.. she couldn't think of that.
She 'had' to survive!
Else... else she would be a murderer!
And Bryan would get the blame...
