Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate the time and energy you put into them. Please keep 'em coming!
So here's Chapter 2. Hope you like!
Lil :)
P.S. I just found out that Tamara Levinson (Daniel Campos's girlfriend) is 35. Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against older girls dating younger guys. But am I the only one who's a liiiitle put off by the fact that she's 7 years older? Meh. Probably just jealousy, right? I thought so.
Disclaimer: I don't own Step Up or any part of its franchise.
"Annie, what do you think of the club so far? A little dingy compared to ours, in my opinion," sniffed Julien as he slid into one of the side booths.
I flashed him a grin as Kid and I slid into the seats opposite him. "Oh, I don't know Julien. It's got that rough feel, you know? Like you'd better leave everything on the dance floor with no regrets. I like that."
Julien shrugged and just took another swig of his beer.
"I don't think he's ever thought about it that way," whispered Kid. "Actually, I'm pretty sure none of us have."
I smiled. "Well then, I guess I brought something new to the Samurai."
"You sure did," he said while staring into my eyes.
For a second, it didn't seem like he was only talking about what I had just said. But that was all it took for me to become captivated by Kid's eyes again. They were dark but beautiful. They stared into my own orbs with a genuine innocence that Julien's lacked.
But there were flickers of uncertainty and regret in there as well. Still, Kid's eyes didn't hold any secrets. They held stories. I couldn't help but hope that one day he would trust me enough to tell them.
I felt another blush rise up my neck as neither of our gazes wavered. Finally, I was forced to avert my eyes in embarrassment. When I looked again, I saw Kid glancing at me with his smirk on his face. I suppressed the urge to giggle. Instead I just pushed my face into my wrist and snuck a quick wink at him.
Julien looked over at the both of us, and his expression hardened.
"I'm going to go get some drinks," he said stiffly. "Annie? You want something from the bar?"
"I'm only 17," I replied.
Julien gave me a mischievous smirk. "So?"
I stiffened and looked down a little. They couldn't have known this, but after doing weed that one time, I could never feel the same about breaking the law. The guilt just ate me alive, and it felt like I was going to be eternally damned or something. It was that bad.
"Well?" Julien asked, his impatience tainting his voice.
I still didn't answer. I wasn't going to tell them that I had done weed, but I was afraid that if I told them about my pet peeve towards breaking the law they wouldn't want to hang out with me anymore. Even if I'd rather stay away from Julien, if Kid was part of the package I would bear with it. I wanted to get to know him, but what if he was a rebellious bad boy? What if he didn't want to associate with a goody two-shoes?
"I…" I looked over at Kid. His dark eyes bore into mine as if he was trying to figure me out.
I turned back to Julien who was still waiting expectantly. I took a deep breath and said quietly, "I'll just have something…small." It was okay if I didn't drink it right?
Kid touched my arm lightly, supportively. "You don't have to do this," he whispered.
The feeling of guilt was making me nauseous. I glanced at him in gratitude. "Thank you."
He gave me a light smile before Julien coughed, getting our attention. "Well, ok then," he nodded towards me. Then he gestured toward the bar and said, "Kid, come with me for a sec. I need to talk to you about something."
I scooted out of the way to let Kid out. He grinned at me before walking away with Julien.
I let out a sigh and decided to look for Moose. He had to be around here somewhere. Suddenly two girls surrounded me.
"You must be Kid's girlfriend," one squealed.
"Oh, I-"
"Silly me! I forgot to introduce myself." She lightly facepalmed and laughed. "I'm Carly. This is Shana," she pointed to the girl next to her. "We're Samurai too! Welcome!"
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Annie," I said nervously. Carly was really perky, but nice. "But I think you guys are mistaken. I'm not Kid's girlfriend. I don't even know if we're friends."
Shana snorted. "Hello? You're the first girl he's ever brought to the house. With all the girls who flock around him, I'm surprised he hasn't done it sooner. But seriously, it seems like a pretty big deal to him. There's definitely something going on between you two."
I shook my head. "There definitely isn't."
"But he went to buy you a drink!" Carly pouted.
"Actually, Julien's buying. Kid just went because Julien wanted to talk to him. Besides, I don't even drink."
Shana's eyes narrowed. "Julien's buying you the drink?"
I nodded. "What's the problem?"
"Whatever you do, don't drink it," she warned.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Look, Annie," she murmured so that Carly wouldn't hear. "Julien and I used to date. He was…cold, almost evil sometimes. He uses people and then throws them away, and I think that's what he's going to do to you too. Don't drink anything he gives you. I mean it."
"Ok," I said. It wasn't like I hadn't seen it coming. Julien definitely was someone to be careful around.
"Did she tell you?" Carly asked. I gave her a confused look. "Did she tell you that I'm totally crushing on Julien? He's hot. Annie, we may be friends, but friends don't steal their friends' guys. It's a rule. So NO flirting with him, 'kay? He's mine."
I gave her a tiny salute.
"But Kid on the other hand," she gave me a suggestive look. "You should totally go for him. I can already see the chemistry." She winked.
I looked over at Shana exasperatedly, but she merely shrugged. "I can't say I disagree," she said.
Before I could deny that there was anything between me and Kid again, they quickly pointed out that he and Julien were heading back. They headed back into the crowd to dance while I walked back to the booth.
"Here," Julien handed me a drink. I held it up to my lips, but didn't swallow any.
"It tastes…good," I lied.
"That's good," he said slowly, as if waiting for a different reaction. "Well, I'm going to go dance now. If anything ever starts to bother you, just come get me."
What was with the sudden camaraderie? Did he know that I was going to get bummed out tonight or something?
I watched Julien's retreating form as he sauntered into the crowd. I sighed. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Staying guarded around Julien took a greater toll on me than I thought.
I noticed that Kid was still leaning on the table instead of on the dance floor. I gave him a small smile and pointed at the drink in his hand.
"What drink is that?" I asked.
"Probably something you've never heard of," he replied gruffly. Hm. Something was wrong. The atmosphere was tense.
"Are you allowed to be drinking that? How old are you anyway?" I asked again, trying to start a decent conversation.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He almost sneered.
I took a slight step back. Why was Kid acting like this? Just a few minutes ago we were so chummy around Julien, and now he was being hostile?
"I'm sorry if I offended you," I said after a short pause. "You don't have to tell me if it's too personal."
Kid's eyes flickered towards me. I saw a newfound indifference in them. But wait! There it was. For just a second, there was a flash of regret. It disappeared as soon as it appeared, but it was there all the same.
"Sorry," he muttered a little nicer than before, but still not quite as friendly as when we first met.
This wasn't going to go anywhere. At this point, I just wanted to find Moose and go home. And not even NYU home. I meant home home. Like Maryland home, where there were no complex guys and Daddy was always there to give you a hug when you needed one. I sure needed one.
"Look Kid, you obviously don't want to tell me what's going on with you, so how about you just go and dance? It'll make you feel better, I bet."
"Are…are you sure?" he asked uncertainly.
Oh, so now he was going to be the caring pal who looked out for his friends' wellbeing? I didn't think so.
"Yeah. Just go. I'll find Moose and head home."
He nodded. "See you around?"
I shook my head sadly. "I doubt it, Kid. I've got school, and I don't know where you'll be. But it was nice to meet you." I thought it would be fun to hang out with Kid every once in a while, have some fun. But it didn't look like that would happen, especially if he acted all aloof. And I had to work on that Tony anyway.
Kid opened his mouth to say something, but promptly closed it and nodded subtly to himself.
"Okay then…Bye," he said swiftly before propping his glass on the table and walking into the crowd.
And that was it. Friendship – no that wasn't it – acquaintance over. Just like that. I sighed. No use mulling over the past… what might've been. I had to find Moose now. It was getting pretty late, and we had classes the next day. Besides, Camille was waiting.
I began walking aimlessly around the club, mostly avoiding the dance floor so as to avoid seeing Kid. Look at me, I was acting like a brokenhearted loser. I hated to admit it, but I already missed having Kid to glance over at, just to acknowledge the fact that I had someone in the strange dance world. So much for Miss Independent…
Eventually – I don't know how – I made it to the bathrooms. I was about to turn in the other direction, when someone rammed into me from behind, sending both of us toppling to the floor.
"What the – MOOSE?" I yelled while rubbing my elbow. It got skinned a little, and the tiniest drops of blood were oozing out. No reason to be alarmed.
"Annie! What are you doing here?" he said surprised.
"The Samurai brought me here to look for you! I…why were you running out of the bathroom?"
"Oh, right," he chuckled sheepishly before grabbing my arm and yanking me towards the crowded dance floor.
We slowly maneuvered through a compact throng of grinders (awkward) until we were well mixed into the crowd.
"Alright. Spill!" I shouted over the pulsing, hypnotic beats.
Moose nodded, and swallowed thickly. "They're after me! The Samurai are after me because I beat Kid Darkness! They want a rematch, but I don't want to fight them."
I held my tongue about the "Moose beating Kid Darkness" thing. Instead I asked, "Why be afraid? They seem to be nice people!"
He gave me a wide-eyed stare, like I had genuinely lost my mind.
"Are you kidding me, Annie? The Samurai…they're vicious! At least, from what Luke's told me, they are the baddest of the bad. And not in the good way. I would stay away from them. Honestly, I'm surprised they even brought you here."
My head was spinning. Sure, Julien might have been bad, but that couldn't possibly mean everybody was. I mean, Shana, Carly, even Kid? I didn't think they were particularly malicious. How could Moose generalize like that?
"Moose," I said in my irritated mom voice. "You can't just group them all together like that. Maybe one or two use 'underhand' tactics, but not all of them do. Most of them are great people, and if I want to spend time with them, then I should be able to. I stay out of your dance business, you stay out of my social business. Deal?"
Moose looked at me reluctantly.
"Fine," he groaned. I nodded, but I soon became alarmed when I realized there were three figures headed right towards Moose, running full speed.
"Uh…Moose?" I said shakily. "Someone's coming for you."
I heard him curse, as he grabbed my hand again and pulled me through the crowd in attempt to shake our pursuers off. It was all fine and dandy, until Moose went and tripped over his own two feet. How could a dancer be so clumsy?
He was sprawled on the floor when the three figures made it to us. At this point, everyone had cleared a space in the middle of the floor. They were waiting for something. But what?
And then Moose was being picked up by two guys from the sidelines. I took a step towards them, but before I could reach their group, a hand hooked around my waist and pulled me close.
I looked behind me. Of course…it was the Kid Darkness.
What was up with him? Why was he being so friendly, and then distant, and then friendly again? Didn't he know how confused this made me?
"Uh, hello?" I waved my hand in front of his face. His eyes flickered down to meet mine.
"Yeah," I said. "That guy over there, you should recognize him. His name is Moose, the boy you told me to find so I could go home. So please, do tell why you are not letting me get to him now."
He merely gripped me a little tighter as he looked back at the dance floor. My eyes followed his, as I finally began to understand.
Ah…Dance battle.
SORRY SORRY SORRY! I know this chapter is really short and not very satisfying, but I wanted to at least give you guys something for all of the story alerts, favorites, and reviews I've been getting. I'm not sure how other authors do it, but I'm planning to just sorta mention everyone who has been contributed in the very last chapter of the story. So don't unsubscribe or unfavorite until I'm done! :O Unless you want to be forgotten, which would make me sad. Anyway, I hope this sates your desires for a couple weeks, as I try to get my academic life back on track. Next chapter, I guess you'll see more of Julien's dark side, the reason behind Kid's mood swings (PMS?), the dance battle (which I will eventually put a link on my profile for), and whatever else I feel is worth mentioning. Again, I really appreciate all of the positive feedback, and I hope you guys stick with me for the course of this story!
Til next time!
Lil
And please review? Pwetty pwease?
