Chapter Four

He gazed out the window, dwelling on the picture of the outside world, the picture perfect faces of children playing basketball across the street, the cautious cars as they swung out through the thickening traffic, and finally, the young couple who walked, hand in hand, smiles on their easygoing faces. They looked so happy together.

He looked away from the window, wondering what to do when there was nothing to do. Nobody ever visited the school on a Saturday, not even the janitors. They came on Sunday evenings, grumbling about the speed with which the weekend came and went. Of course, they always believed no-one could hear them when they gave out, but there Robert was, listening in to their conversations, their hushed whispers as loud as the catcalls of the students in the mornings and evenings.

A light flashed in his eyes when he thought of the choreography for the piece he believed the MSA crew were missing. MSA crew, he chuckled. Yeah that sounded just right. He could always teach Cam- Whoa, he stopped himself. He couldn't. He wasn't allowed to go near her, not anymore. Not now, not ever.

He paced himself, as he turned dejectedly away from the window. He couldn't go near her anymore, and so, he couldn't interact with anyone again. No-one, he noted, had ever seen him before, not like she had. No-one ever noticed the ghost who prowled the corridors late into the night, and stalked them every morning when the students believed they were alone.

He swallowed, and sighed. He couldn't have a friend, even though he so badly wanted one. If there was nobody here for him, then who was? Why was he here? Why did he get placed here, when he should've been off, in that "other place" people went to when they died?

He started walking from room to room through thick walls. When he found himself in the dance hall, he easily clicked his fingers by his side and the familiar sound of Bounce filled the room once again. Popping, and twisting from one side to the other, tipping an imaginary hat upward and flipping it through the air, he pretended it landed on the ground far from him, and he continued to circle and bounce through what he believed would be some kind of a wet floor. Just in this minute, he forgot about the black ache of loneliness in his chest. All he could think was that he was one of the MSA crew, that he was helping them, that somehow, he could be one of them.

He stopped when he heard the unmistakeable sound of elecricity cutting out, and the room was filled with silence. Breathing heavily, he turned toward the Player, and saw the shape of a small girl with long brown hair stare right back at him. She didn't speak, only took a step toward him. Robert was so caught off by this, that he stepped away. How the hell did she get here? How could she be here when the school was locked up?

He took another step back. "You shouldn't be here, Camille," he whispered. "The cops-"

"The school is open. Teachers conferance. I wanted to come here, and talk to you," she gestured to him, tilting her head forward. Robert turned and walked away.

"You don't have to talk to me, honestly," he spoke so fast, too quickly for her to understand. She walked, following him, dropping the plug. "Please, just go home."

I don't want to hurt you, he tried to add, but the thought of it only made him feel worse.

"Can you just stop, and hear me out, please?"

He stopped, just as he was about to go through the closed door. He tilted his head over his shoulder. She stood there, her shoulders hunched, her eyes wide. She watched him, his near see-through body in a firmly real universe.

"Thank you for saving me yesterday. And-" she stopped, before she started again, "And I was wondering if you'd hang out with me, during school." Robert knotted his eyebrows together.

"You do realise I'm... I'm a ghost, right? If anyone were to see that you spoke to air, I think they'd run a mile to the principal," he stated, chuckling at the end of the sentence. He put his hands in his pockets, peering down into Camille's wide eyes. "Don't do that for me, just becuase you want to thank me. I'd do it anytime, any day for anyone. And don't worry, I'll watch your back, if you're worried." Her shoulders slumped.

"I-I don't want that," she shook her head softly. "I just want us to be friends, because I don't have any, and you're a good person." If there was ever a sign that Robert had made someone cry, it was this. Her shoulders shivered, and she looked down to the ground, but before she done so, a single sliver of silver slid down her cheek. Robert jumped.

"Hold on, Camille- Oh God, oh, um-" he scratched the back of his head, worrying about how to deal with this, and as he reached out a hand to touch her chin, to tilt her head up, he felt a shock of something run through him.

For just a split second, he thought he heard the sound of a heart monitor, a single beep.

He pulled back, watched as she looked slowly up to him. "Did you hear-"

No, he shook his head fast, his curls flying out like a mask around his face. No, he didn't hear what he thought he heard. It couldn't have been.

"Oh, okay," she sighed and looked back down to her feet, biting her lips. "How-" she pointed to the Player at one corner of the room, trying to dismiss the subject. "-how do you do that, you know, switch the song and put on your favourites?" Robert looked at her, before he fixed his eyes on the Player, and on came Let's Go by Ne-Yo and Calvin Harris. Even without the plug stuck in the wall, the music still played, the bass thumping as loud as Robert moved his head from one side to the other, trying to cheer her up.

She laughed. "Your hair!" she pointed to it as it moved comically from one side to the other as he pumped his head while he kept his body stock still. "You must fill it with so much mouse for it to be so curly."

"Hm, thanks," he joked in reply. "Maybe I'll curl it more often for you, little lady." She chuckled, a hand going to her mouth, before she turned away from him. "What? You aren't going to dance with me, Cammie?" She looked over her shoulder, before she groaned and swivelled into a full pirhouette in front of him.

He bounced, clutching a hand to his heart, about to fall, and then popped his chest and flew back up, turning back to her, pointing a finger in her direction, waiting for her to follow up. She grinned, before she held both hands out and cartwheeled, turning full circle and bowing into the splits, before she used both her hands to propel her up onto her feet, popping her chest, and bringing both her hands out as if to topple him over. In retaliation, Robert swerved and started to going full into it, popping, turning, breathing the dance he immersed himself in. Camille jumped and circled around him, placing a mock hand on his chest as she done so, before he held out a hand to her, and closed his eyes, imagining that he was able to touch her, able to feel her skin under his.

He jolted back from his reverie when he felt another shock, and another beep. The longer he tried to touch her, the more he felt some link, like a deep connection trying to root itself in his being. He pulled away as some Prodigy song filled the speaker with loud lyrics and even deeper bass.

He pulled back, like he was a robot, and jumped up, as if he was falling, before he clamped both hands and feet on the ground in one motion, pounding his hands into the ground as if trying to create a tribal, drumming beat while he felt Camille move around him, her legs sweltering under a swaying movement. After two seconds, he came back up, and twisted himself, before he pushed his hand down to her, and she caught herself, bowing back as far as she could, trying to prevent herself from being touched by him. The look in her eyes was comical, and she held back a smile as Robert looked into her eyes with the most serious expression on his face.

After a moment, he smiled and started to laugh. He was enjoying this, enjoying the movement, enjoying the feeling of being here, with her. Time seemed to stop, and they looked into each others eyes.

"Not too bad, Moose," she whispered, and Robert cocked an eyebrow.

"If I remember correctly, my name is Robert, not Moose," he chuckled.

The song faded out from the background, and all he could hear was her breathing, and he saw her pulse under his fingers, the trembling of her heart. He pulled back as he heard the clearing of a throat, and both him and Camille looked up to see a group of students looking at her with a funny look on their faces.

They couldn't see him, so it did look bizarre to see someone half bowed backward, ready to turn into the bridge, while looking at the ceiling with a funny smile on her face. Immediately, Robert whispered his apologies to Camille, knowing she was embarrassed. Camille scratched the back of her head, and started to walk toward the Player just as it was about to switch to a different song, before she turned it off and turned to look each of the students in the eye.

"Um, I just wanted to come in and dance for a while, clear my head, sorry. The room's yours now-"

"That was amazing," Robert saw Andie smile, and he smiled too, laughing with what he knew was the knowledge that she would ask her if she wanted to join the crew. He looked to Camille, and said quickly-

"Say yes, say yes, say yes!"

"I really like your moves. You looked like you were dancing with someone else, actually," she continued, looking around her as if her partner was right in the room. The whole crew looked around with her, and they laughed. "Would you like to join our crew? Were thinking of competing in the Streets, a sort-of illegal dance competition," she joked. Camille's eyes widened, and her mouth opened in shock.

If it weren't for Robert nodding his head right beside Andie, then she would've said no straight on the spot, but instead she smiled, laughed back and said "Yes" straightaway. Robert suddenly started to pulling of Micheal Jackson tricks straight out of the hat just as everyone started to cheer.

He knew what this meant for her. He knew this meant she had friends, and that MSA would have a much better chance in fighting for the crown in the Streets. Now, they were finally a crew, a real one, and they were ready to take on the 410.

Now, he didn't feel so lonely anymore.