Luke's POV
A few weeks after Christmas...
I walk through the halls of the all too-familiar school. Christmas break feels like it was so long ago, when it's only been a few weeks. I hate school. I don't know why even have to come here and learn. I mean, who needs to know addition or reading a wall clock. When are we ever going to use any of this knowledge in life? I keep on walking in the halls and Kris runs up to me and grabs my arm.
"Hey Kris-" I start, but she yanks me forward, trailing me behind her and she leads me down the hall.
"You've got to see this." She says, stopping me in front of a bulletin board where a bunch of posters are hung. She points at one of the flyers. I make a face.
"You want to join the chess club?" I ask curiously. "That doesn't really seem like your thing, but okay-"
"What? No!" She exclaims. "The poster next to it Stupid!" I look beside the chess club poster. This poster looks much cooler.
"Dance C-o-om-mp-pe-e-ee-ti-tion..." I try to sound out the big word. Kris rolls her eyes at me.
"It's A Dance Competition!" She explains, obviously giving up on my reading. "It's in two weeks, and we should totally sign up for it! Think of it Ross! We could partner up again like the Christmas show and win for sure!"
"That'd be awesome! We should totally do it."
"Great!" She pulls a pen out of from behind her ear and signs her name. She hands the pen to me and I write down my name right under hers. She smiles and sticks the pen in her back pocket where her phone is sticking out. "Thanks Ross." She says playfully punching me in the arm. "I'll, uh, see you around." She turns around and walks off towards her next class, leaving me by the bulletin board, looking at the flyer. I look up the competition on my phone. Apparently this competition is the whole school district, which means that all the local schools will be competing. That also means that Sam will be competing. His name is on the list online. Great. Kris is not going be happy about this.
After school, Kris comes over to my house to talk about the competition.
"I was thinking we should do a hip hop routine. We could do all sorts of cool tricks and flips and duo moves that will really make our performance over the top." She suggests.
"That sounds perfect!"
"Great. We should start rehearsing right away if we want to win at school, then the county, then the city, and then finally nationals! This gonna be great."
"Then let's get started right now." I say. She turns on the stereo and starts to skim through the playlists of songs until she finds one that we both agree on. And we start to try out some moves to the music, coming up with combos and tricks to fit the music. We work on it for hours until we have a rough idea of what to do. She quickly jots down the routine on a notepad and we rehearse it again. Then we take a break. Bertram had reluctantly brought us out some glasses of water and I pick them up, handing one of the cups to Kris.
"Thanks." she says, sitting down on the fire place ledge across from me while I sit on the sofa. I watch her as she takes a sip from her glass. Her eyes catch mine and she puts her glass down. "What?" she asks looking at me, tugging her jacket tighter around her.
"Nothing, I was just-" I stop talking and Kris rolls her eyes.
"So, I think the dance is going pretty well so far." She begins the conversation again. "We've made a lot of progress for just one rehearsal."
"Yeah. We work really well together." I reply, setting down my glass. "Let's get started again." She stands up and we start rehearsing again.
A few days later...
Kris and I have been working on this dance for nearly a whole week now, and, if I may brag, the dance is almost perfect. We've been rehearsing for about two hours now, and we are about halfway through our dance. We start to do a combo. As soon as we're about to finish the move, I slip on Mrs. Kipling's tail and fall forward, crashing into Kris, who just so happens to be standing in front of the fireplace ledge. I groan since I hit my leg on the ledge of the fireplace again. Kris laughs and I look at her.
"Wow." she gasps between laughs. "Serious Deja Vu moment."
"This is just like the first time you came over to my house." I say.
"Yeah, except for one thing." She replies. I look at her puzzled, wondering what she means.
"What?"
"This." Suddenly she flips us over so she is the one on top of me. "Now who's the one being squished on the bottom?" She teases, pushing her arms down hard on my wrists, pining me to the ledge.
"Oh, you're asking for it now." I use my strength and speed to wrap my arms around her tightly, pining her arms at her sides, and roll over so now I'm on top. She struggles to get free from my grip, but I'm very muscular, and all of those lifts that Kerry made me do with Kris for the Christmas show only added to it. Sometimes a little pain is all worth it in the end. I can lift up Kris easily now, so pinning her down is no sweat. "Now who's on top?" I smile a cheeky smile down at her face. She looks rather annoyed that I'm winning at this whole 'pin me down' competition.
"Ugh! When did you get so strong? You've never been able to pin me so easily before."
"You can thank Kerri for all those lifting practices. And I've kinda been working out." I smile at her defeated face.
"Okay fine. Whatever. Just get off of me." she demands, squirming around in my grip.
"I don't know. I don't think I will. I kinda like it up here." I smirk at her. She rolls her eyes.
"Ross, get off."
"Umm...no."
"Please get off of me. You are squishing me." she complains.
"And What if I don't?" I lean my face closer. "What are you gonna do about it?"
Kris's POV
I struggle to get out of Luke's grip. Good grief. All that lifting has done him good. He's so strong now, I can't believe I can't even get out of this simple hold. His face is inches from mine.
"Ross-" He leans in closer.
"Whatcha gonna do about this?"
"Luke, I-" His lips meet mine before I can finish. Great. Now I forget why I'm mad at him. Stupid Ross! His grip slackens just enough for me to get free and I flip him over onto his back.
"Wha-?" he starts but never finishes since I crash my lips onto his. After a few seconds, I break the kiss and look down at him. I smirk.
"That's what I'm gonna do about it."
"Oh you-" Luke lunges forward, pushing me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me. I struggle to get in air as he kisses me again. All of a sudden, I hear the elevator ding and the doors open. We quickly break apart and Luke rolls away from me and stands up. "Nice move Kris." he covers, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, "But what about this one?" He starts to go down into his favorite move when Jessie marches over next to him.
"Luke," she says, "What's going on?"
"What do you mean? We were just dancing." he lies straight to her face. I laugh a little on the inside at that one.
"Oh yeah, sure, whatever." Jessie snaps, leaving us alone. Ross offers me his hand and I stand up.
"Well," he says, "I guess we'd better get back to practicing." He smiles at me. I touch my hand to his cheek.
"The dancing, Ross, only the dancing." I tease.
"Sure. That works to." He flashes his cheeky smile at me. Oh good grief Kris, get a grip girl! I start the music back up again and we start to practice our dance again.
Luke's POV
Kris and I passed Stage One of the competition, which was kinda like tryouts. There are only so many spots in this competition. Both of us make it. Surprisingly, we are the only pair dancing. Well, it's not that surprising. Kris and I are amazing. No one would stand against the two of us together.
Kris and I are at the auditorium at some other school that I didn't bother to learn the name of. We're signing in for the first round of the dance competition. Before the actual competition begins, all of the contestants are called out onto the stage to meet the judges and the host so they can explain the rules, policies, procedures, etc. of what's going on today. Kris and I walk onto the stage together, looking at the competition.
"Ross, look over there. That little redhead boy obviously just got in because of his age. By the looks of him, the only dance he's good at is ballet. Just look at how he arches his feet and back when he walks." Kris points out to me.
"I know! And look over there. That girl only got in because of her looks. She can probably can only kick to about her chest and can only dance in character shoes and to classical marches." I say and Kris nods in agreement.
As dancers, and as good ones, Kris and I are able to tell what people are good at based on their walk, positioning, attitude, esteem, dress, etc. And by looking at our competitors, there's very little competition. This is gonna be a piece of cake. As soon as I have this thought, Sam walks in, checking out his competition and laughing at them. He sees Kris and me and saunters over to us, a snobby grin on his face.
"Well well well, looky here. If it isn't little Kristin Mosley and her pathetic friend-Luke, was it?" Kris clenches her fist and tries to step forward towards Sam, but I step in front of her.
"Yeah, and you're that loser who lost to some amazing dancer in the park a few weeks ago. Who was that great dancer again? Oh right, ME."I get in his face. He glares at me. Kris steps between us, pushing us apart.
"Guys, break it up. If we get caught fighting, we could get disqualified. Luke, let's go." She walks away. I start to follow her, slowly turning my head away from Sam. Man I hate him. Kris takes my wrist and leads me a seat in the auditorium. The judges, while I was glaring at Sam, had come in and asked all the contestants to sit in the house. A man, maybe in his late twenties, stands in the middle of the stage, two females, who look about the same age as him, are standing next to him. The man clears his throat.
"Hello dancers, and welcome to the competition. I am Mr. Scott, and this is Ms. Ella and Ms. Linda. We are the judges of the competition and we want to congratulate all of you. You all are winners since you made it here, but the slate has been wiped clean. From this point on, it doesn't matter that you got first or second, you are all on the same rank now. Rank 0. No one here is automatically gonna win. You gotta work for it. The schedule for the contest tomorrow will be on the judges' table. Wait for us to get seated then make a line in front of our desk, and we will hand out the schedule and dressing room assignments." Mr. Scott and the other judges make their way to the table and sit down. A bunch of the littler kids rush up to be first in line. Kris and I make our way to the table, and we end up being last in line. After waiting about ten minutes, we finally reach the desk. Ms. Ella smiles at me and hands me a schedule.
"And who might you be?" she asks pleasantly.
"Luke Ross. And this is my partner Kris."
"Oh, you're the duet." she sounds sad when she says this.
"Oh, is there something wrong?" I ask.
"Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but-" she starts, but Mr. Scott interrupts her, and she looks relieved that he did.
"It's just that duets aren't allowed." He puts bluntly. I feel a pit drop in my stomach.
"What?" I croak.
"Pairs are against the rules. I'm sorry."
"So, you're saying that we have to dance alone? We have one day to make up a solo for ourselves? How is that fair?" Kris interjects, obviously pissed off at the judges.
"Yes. We're sorry, but there's nothing we can do about. From this point on, you're no longer partners, you're competitors." Kris and I look at each other for a second before she turns to the judges table. They hand her a schedule and dressing room assignment.
"Thank you." she says, before turning away and walking up the stairs to the stage so she can get backstage. I follow her and we stop behind the backstage curtain. She turns to face me.
"What are you doing Ross?" she asks.
"Following you out." I say. Awkward silence. "Look Kris, I'm sorry about this."
"About what? The fact we can't do a duet? Don't be, it's not your fault." She turns and starts to walk before I grab her wrist and turn her around. I lean in to kiss her but she puts her hand on my chest and pushes me away. I look at her questioningly.
"Look," she says, flustered, "we're competitors, opponents now. We, we can't keep doing this. We need to keep this professional." she states. I feel like someone just punched me in the gut.
"What?" I ask dumbfounded.
"We have to. It's the only way. We have to be able to focus, and if we're seeing each other, it's like cheating, and I don't want to use anything against you, and I know you don't want to do that to me." I stare at her face. Her face shows no emotion. I can't believe she's doing this. She turns to walk away.
"Kris, I-" I start but she turns around and holds a hand out to stop me from talking.
"Don't make this harder than it already is." Her face is already contorting into something sad. I can't stand to see her like this.
"Kris-"
"Don't." she commands, her voice cracking. With that, she turns away and runs down the dark hallway and out the door. I stand there, letting this sink in. I feel my eyes start to swell up with tears, but I brush them aside, telling myself to stay strong.
It's a competition. It's just gonna have to be this way. Don't get upset over her. She's the enemy now. I take a deep breath, hold my head high, and start to walk home.
Jessie is waiting in the kitchen, just as perky as ever. I dump my junk on the kitchen table and plop down into a seat.
"Hey Luke, how'd it go?" she inquires, smiling at me. I grunt at her. "Luke, is something wrong?" I groan.
"Why don't you take a frikin' look yourself!" I snap, standing up and throwing my papers at her, sending them flying everywhere. She picks them up and starts to shuffle through them. She finally lands on the right sheet and covers her mouth with her hand. I stand up and go over to the fridge to get a drink.
"Oh my gosh Luke. I had no idea. Why would they do this to you two?"
"I don't know! And now Kris doesn't want to see me anymore, because she says we need to keep this 'professional.' We can't hang out anymore."
"Oh Luke, I'm so sorry." Jessie comes over and places her hands on my shoulders. "But, maybe it's for the best." I jerk at this comment, pushing her hands off of me, and standing up.
"What?" I ask loudly. "For the best? What do you mean 'for the best?' What are trying to say Jessie?" I feel anger rising in me.
"I'm saying that I know you and Kris were, uh, you know, close, but eventually, I knew one of you was gonna gt hurt in the end. It''s how it always works. Believe me, I know."
"Yeah, we know that." I reply smartly, earning a look from Jessie. "But that's with your lame-o love life. Mine was different. The only reason was because we couldn't dance together."
"Keep telling yourself that, and it will slightly lessen the pain." Jessie says.
"Forget it! You know, you are the worst nanny ever. Instead of helping me, all you do is criticize me and judge me and compare me to my siblings! Screw you Jessie!" I shout, running up the back stairs in the kitchen.
"Luke! Luke! Get back down here this instant-" I slam my bedroom door, muffling her demands.
Stupid Jessie. She doesn't know anything about relationships. She can't help me.
She never tries to help or support me. All she ever says is: "Why can't you be more like Ravi?" "Or Emma?" "Or Zuri?"
I'll figure this out myself. I can handle this. Kris means nothing to me. We're opponents now. Enemies. And one thing's for sure.
Kristin Mosley is going down.