e.u.p.h.o.r.i.c

chapter ten

apartment | morning | pov: mo

Two more days until the throwdown, and I hoped that Glitch and I were ready. Such a huge event would blast the speakers and I was convinced that the best dancers would be there. I had a feeling that we would be fighting against more crews than what I had originally thought. Sometimes, Glitch would go out skateboarding and tell me that word had gone viral about the dance-off. The talk was spreading like a wildfire. Everyone knew about it. And recently, a call from Angel told me the address. I hadn't the time to check it out just yet, but I did write it down. That Lu$h guy also informed me that there would be an award for the winner, although it wasn't exactly known what it was.

Glitch was a lot more excited than I was, but he also portrayed that adolescent anxiety. He didn't always look so cheerful, as if he was scared of making any mistakes. I wouldn't blame him. He had gone through so much. I was proud of him. His determination was unwavering, his passion burning. A huge smile would be on his face about half the time I saw him. Other times, he would either look nervous or just plain bored.

We had made a bit of development for our crew. He had finally decided on using his tracksuit for his Street Style outfit, using the headphones and a backpack, a teal-and-pink striped T-shirt and a wrist device accessory I got him. He would also use the yellow hair streak whenever he used the outfit. I still thought it was weird for the throwdown to have such strict rules. Why did we need two outfits when we were going there in one? I had shrugged the thought off. At least we had what we needed. A two-person crew, two outfits, and a venue. Whatever happened, we would be prepared.

Now that we only had a little time left to practice, we started to focus a lot more on memory. I had Glitch recall the routine for each song I had taught him. I also tried binding the name of each move to his mind so that if I yelled the name of a move, he would remember it. It wasn't necessary, but would do him good nonetheless. Freestyle was another matter. As the ultimate decisive, it was important that we spent time working on it. Glitch and I trained ourselves to strategically think up the moves we would use. We had to put dancer interaction to a minimum, and try to keep up with the beat and stay in the zone.

Blue visually slammed into my view as Glitch raced down the stairs in a light-colored shirt. He also wore a pair of darker sweat pants and his hair was still the usual. No difference. His jade eyes met mine and he asked, "Practice now?" with a half-bored, half-excited glow in his orbs. I nodded, then watched as he went over to the dance practice room. He switched on the light and I got down on one knee to inspect the boombox. I selected a track for warming up. This time, instead of Mai Ai Hee, I picked I Know You Want Me by Pitbull. It was definitely an Angel song, but with so few choices I didn't really care at the moment. The music started up, and Glitch looked at me. The song went on as we practiced, with the both of us making sure to correct each other. It was something I had thought of just to deepen the mentor-prodigy relationship we had. He respected me as a teacher, during rehearsals, but spoke freely whenever we weren't, just like a brother. As we did our final move, Glitch huffed a breath, looking prepared for the next challenge.

Fire lighting up his eyes, he got down on his hands, then managed a complex, fast-paced breakdance move I had showed him lately. He ended it with a strong push to keep him balanced and on to his two feet. I gave him a thumbs-up. "Impressive."

"I learned from the best," he replied. I nodded and turned up the next song: Closer by Ne-Yo. We moved to the beat, making sure we got things right. We were already getting used to these, doing a different song each day until all were done. Glitch enjoyed the sessions, and he wasn't exactly hard to teach. He was a fast learner, like I had been. Not to sound arrogant, but when I was in senior high, the dance extracurricular had proved to be easy. Taking it down was simple, just like how Glitch did it. Apparently, we had a lot in common.

Soon after we finished practicing the song, we made it up to higher levels. A while later, we approached the highest song rating, which was Off The Hook. For that, we merely picked Sexy Chick again. Glitch dropped down to the couch, laughing even though there wasn't anything funny in particular. I chuckled, poking his side as I went by. I would have turned my laptop on, if only he wasn't nearby. Since the one-week suspension had ended yesterday, he could attack my precious device anytime. So instead, I just got myself a glass of water, at the same time filling a second one for my protégé.

I handed the glass to him and took a sip from my own. The cool water made me feel better and my rapid breathing slowed to a normal pace. Glitch had the television on even though we weren't watching anything in particular. He still had his eyes glued to the screen when I was done with my glass of water. He was holding the remote and was just trying to find a good show to watch. And yet pretty much everything was lame on TV, as Glitch couldn't seem to stay watching one channel for long. Finally, I saw him give up and turn the thing off.

Then he just asked me about what we'd be doing next. Since the both of us looked dead tired, I'd admit, I told him that we'd just rest for now. He nodded agreeably, and instead asked me if he could borrow my laptop. I sighed and told him yes. A grin spread across his li'l face and he ran up to my room to grab the device. I facepalmed. I had personally kept myself from taking the laptop out so that he wouldn't remember to borrow it, but I guess he'd still remember about it anyway.

I saw him trundle down with the laptop tucked underneath his arm. He dropped down on the couch beside me, then turned the laptop on, placing it neatly on his lap. I didn't bother looking at whatever it was that he was doing with the laptop. Bored, I took the remote and tried to find something good to watch, hopefully without anything to ruin television. After a while of searching I found something interesting and spent the next half-hour with my eyes glued to the screen.

Since there wasn't much to do afterwards, I groaned. Even Glitch looked like he needed a different type of entertainment, as his eyes were beginning to droop and he didn't look all that interested anymore. He didn't have that expression that made him want to skateboard, and I guess I wasn't in the mood for dance practice, leaving us with little to do, really.

About time for lunch, it came to me that I hadn't cooked anything yet. Well, that left me and Glitch to go out and find something to eat elsewhere. I prodded him and asked him where he'd want to eat. He just shrugged, so I named a food court not too far away, but probably distant enough that we'd have to catch a cab. He nodded and replied, "Yeah, sure," with the same dull boredom in his voice.

We both changed, me letting out a sigh of relief from not having to feel hot and sweaty anymore. Looking outside, it looked like rain was on the way, with dark grayish clouds hanging above the roads. It seemed that it was going to be cold outside. No matter; I grabbed a random hoodie, and then rummaged for my wallet. I could already hear Glitch grumbling, probably looking for something comfortable to wear. He finally came out in a jacket. We were ready to go out, so I waved down a cab from the street.

Boy, was it cold. Glitch was already trying not to shiver. If it was going to rain, I didn't want it to come down soon. I told the driver about where we were going. Coincidentally, I realized that the court wasn't too far away from the crew throwdown venue. Maybe Glitch and I could spend a moment and take a look at where we were going to have our dance-off.

As the cab drive across the streets, Glitch had his mp3 player on and his eyes weren't focused on anything. He kept his face turned towards the window, resting his chin on the palm of his right hand. The left hand was in his pocket, where I could see the faint glimmer of the black watch. I kept one eye on him while also trying to find where the dance venue would be. All I could see was a line of tall buildings; they were everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up on top of an open roof terrace or a house party. Right now I do had no idea where we'd be standing in, two days from then.

Greeted by dark and unwelcoming clouds of rain, I paid the cab driver his fee and then saw the Centrepoint Mall Food Court and shoved Glitch out of the cab. He looked surprised for a second before regaining awareness. His face showed interest. We just picked a normal restaurant to have lunch in. My wallet didn't let me go too far anyway. I sighed. While we ordered our meal, I looked out the window. What I saw shocked me.

"Hey, Li'l G." I beckoned, and he followed my gaze. We were looking upon the normal city view, but if my hunch was right, the address showed me that we would he dancing atop a huge skyscraper. It appeared to me that it was still rather unfinished. I wondered again, who was setting this up for us? It looked insane. We're actually supposed to dance on a wooden beam floor or something? I shrugged. Glitch, on the other hand, kept looking at the building.

We had our lunch and I couldn't stop thinking about the venue. It was crazy. I had never heard of a crew that owned something so luxurious. Not even Aubrey or Angel, and besides, they already had their own venue on a yacht. Still, compared to a lush skyscraper, a boat set adrift was nothing.

Thinking about the Lu$h crew had me thinking. We were walking down and Glitch suggested we take a look at the mall and maybe visit the gaming zone sometime. I let him do so, knowing his soft spot for gaming. Finally, I took out my phone and found Angel's name on the top of my contacts list. I wrote a text message and sent it to him.

Angel, have u checked out the place for the throwdown? R u sure u didnt send me the rong address? – Mo

I tried not to fidget while waiting for his response. Glitch was drooling over an Xbox controller displayed somewhere near here. He was watching as some people were playing it, and he looked like he really wanted it. I sighed. If I was correct, in thirty seconds he would come barreling towards me at top speed, crashing into me before begging to get one of his own.

And I was right; that was exactly what he did. Except the crash wasn't as violent as I had expected. He put his hands together and went, "Please Mo please Mo please?" which made me chuckle. "A'ight, well, you gotta save up, too. Remember that pocket money and allowance deal I gotcha?" I reminded. He nodded, giving in, hands down. "Fine," he muttered. He looked away from me and watched as he decided to give the Xbox a try himself. I watched as he picked a game. Man, he was lucky that the local malls always had games tucked around every corner.

To just watch made me grin. He was plating real well. He picked Just Dance and he was so fired up that I could see him playing real good. He was much more of an expert at gaming that I guess he'd really deserve me getting him an Xbox. Maybe I'd catch him playing something like Call of Duty if I got him a console. He'd be happy, I knew.

He just went on derping around while I waited for Angel to reply. I finally felt my phone vibrate and looked at it.

I only got it from some other dancers. Why? – Angel

Well, turns out he never knew where it was. I shrugged and, while trying not to keep my eyes on Glitch's gaming, replied to Angel.

Well, its a huge skyscraper. Nuff said. – Mo

Just waiting for his reply made me bored. Glitch was beginning to attract attention. I wasn't exactly sure, but maybe some people would recognize him by the iconic green streak on his hair. Hopefully, we'd be even more well-known around these parts, once we brought the name of Hi-Def up. The people who lived around this part of the city seemed to really enjoy dance.

Once Glitch was done and he walked back to me, he asked me, "Why weren't you playing?" while taking a glance at my phone. He held his questioning gaze while I turned to look at him. "Oh, this? I was wondering if Angel sent me the right address. I mean, this is madness!" I said while referring to the skyscraper. Glitch nodded. "Yo point."

We came upon the decision to just go home. He just muttered something that I took for a yes, and plugged in his mp3 player to his headphones and played a track while we rode home. The apartment came into view not long after. Either I was too bored to count the time or we really did take a fast cab back there, but the ride home was swift. Rain began to fall halfway through our way home, making it hard to hear anything, blocking out all sound. The light of the sun was blotted out by clouds and made the scenery look bleary and gloomy.

The trip felt short and quick, and soon we were already home. I watched as the first thing he did was take out my laptop again. I didn't know why he liked it so much. Maybe he had one when he was younger. I'd not question him.

It took me a while before I noticed that Angel had sent me a reply ten minutes ago. Surprised, I checked it and saw the text message.

I've asked around again. The address is correct. – Angel

We really were going to dance at the skyscraper? Puzzled, I nodded slowly to myself. Once again we were left with nothing to do. The rain continued to pour, and yet my protégé looked like he didn't give a damn. I still tried to find something good to watch on television. I settled upon the news as there was practically nothing good to watch, leaving me almost completely fed up.

A couple hours later and Glitch had abandoned the laptop to me and climbed up to his room and stay there. I seriously didn't know what he had been doing. I never even used my laptop all that often. The last time I spent hours on the Internet was when I tried to find a dance training job. Even now, I still had a hard time looking for it. I rarely went on Facebook or Tumblr or any of those sites. I just did that since I had zero entertainment. And apparently, Glitch had divided some of his time to make a Facebook account and sent me a request. Not really thinking about it, I accepted it.

I gave up and went on Google to look for a prank to pull on him. With so many common pranks, I just decided on the meanest one there was: replacing Oreo cream with white toothpaste. If I was right, I still had a pack of Oreos somewhere. I found it freezing in the fridge. It was probably from a while ago, so it would be okay to use. Since the temperature was cold, I could easily get rid of the cream.

Chuckling evilly to myself, I collected the cream and then laid it out on a tissue. Mind you, I didn't really enjoy the cream myself; it was too sweet and left that annoying taste in your mouth. Afterwards, I took the tube of toothpaste and spread it evenly across two of the cookies' surfaces. Then I stuck the cookies back together. The total? Only five Oreos, as he'd not enjoy them all. Only one was filled with toothpaste. It was only chance that would decide which one he'd eat first. I put all the Oreos on a plate and left it on the table.

After that, I went to the cupboard and found the milk carton. I filled a tall glass and then put it next to the plate. I tucked the milk carton back in place before I went up the stairs, plate and glass in hand. I knocked on Glitch's door with my elbow. I opened it to see him looking bored as heck. "Hey," he greeted lazily. I nodded back and offered him the plate. He took it from me with a thanks, also taking a sip from the milk glass at the same time.

I closed the door and walked to my own room, awaiting the fury of a full-blown fourteen-year-old li'l prodigy. It would come out both hilarious and dangerous, I knew. While I waited I tidied my messy room a bit. Everything was scattered across my bed, floor, and there was a roll of socks next to my pile of clothes. I sighed, and then set to work.

Well, Glitch was taking a long while to realize my prank. I had begun to wonder if I had failed. Maybe he was eating slowly, or enjoying the milk glass first. I shrugged. He would take his time, I guess. That was Glitch, after all. I finally placed my folded clothes in my closet and that was that. My room was, for once, spotless. In the back of my mind, though, I knew my room would be a huge mess again by the end of the week.

The suspense was slowly killing me. When exactly was Glitch going to kick my door down and demand that I fix things up for him? Maybe he'd even have me tied up in shoestrings after this. No, he was taking much too long.

Grunting loudly, I gave in to myself and decided to check on Glitch. I trundled over to his room, where I could hear absolutely nothing. I opened the door and was about to say something, my mouth half-open when...

A whole bucket of freakin' Oreos were dropped on me.

Cream fell around me, staining my clothes, with the heavy cookies hitting my head, it actually felt like a bunch of damn rocks. I waited until the dump was over, and then looked at him. He looked back incredulously, his face showing sarcasm. He shrugged at me. "Karma."

He burst out laughing.

I facepalmed. "Well, next time, karma's gonna getcha too, so watch out," I warned at last. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, as if he didn't care. Well, I'll show him who's boss around here. Not today, though. And definitely not tomorrow. We needed practice. Grudgingly, I let Glitch have his title as master prankster, or at least for now. I'll get his throne, somehow.

Storming back to my own room, I tried to keep it in its clean state as I looked for something to change into as I was covered in dark crumbs and light-colored cream.

With nothing more to do, I lay down on my bed, my hands behind my head. My foot twitched once in a while, and I felt like there wasn't much to do again. I wasn't going to get back at Glitch, so what was there to do? I ended up spending the rest of the day without any events worth mentioning. The Lazy Song would pretty much sum things up.

Glitch, on the other hand, made a lot of noise from his room. At first all I could hear was hustling and bustling; he was probably cleaning up his pile of Oreos away. In my opinion, he'd be thinking that the clean-up was worth seeing me get chucked with a ton of cookies. Then, once I assumed he was finished, I heard music. It wasn't any of the songs that we usually danced to, but it was pretty loud. I decided to check it out at last.

Once I opened the door, I saw him dancing on his own to the song. Right now, it was Rocketeer by Far East Movement featuring Bruno Mars. He was doing moves like To The Moon, The Man, Archer, Pulley, Toe Taps, and more. He was dancing it down so good that I decided to join him. My choreography was different from his. Glitch's moves were simpler, while mine tended to get difficult and yet still match the song. But other than that, Glitch's choreo was also more fitting to the lyrics, in my view. I focused more on the beat, while both aspects were important. Perhaps Glitch and I would try and choreograph a song together.

The next song was Alligator Sky by Owl City. I had heard of Owl City and listed it as an artist with songs that weren't really made to dance to, but Glitch proved me wrong. I was surprised to hear that the song included a rap session. That made me want to try and choose the right moves for it. The rap was fast and catchy, and we ended up with a lot of different and yet fun moves. Exploration, First Time Around, Elevate, and Down, to name but a few.

And after that was a rock song, which was Phenomenon by Thousand Foot Krutch. I didn't know how, but we managed to think up tons of moves for this quick three-minute song.

If you're like us, calling all riders

Roll up beside us, no place to hide us,

all freedom fighters, let's unite us

Switch on your nitrous and...let's.. go...

He did Body Roll, Howl, Spare, and Camera Shy. I did some moves like Big Ticker and Roll It Atcha. With different ways of choosing the correct moves, we somehow managed to get through just fine.

Destination, for navigation,

Man up ya stations, feel the sensation

Surround invasion,

with communication, move quick

We might avoid contamination

He did a nameless move this time, with rolling his right hand behind his head and then pointing to the right while looking away to the left. Meanwhile, I did DJ RNDM and Spin.

Down, here comes the sound

Everyone pound your feet to this phenomenon

Now let's make it loud

Let's show 'em all how you move to this phenomenon

We were dancing it down like never before. He did So Loud and Breakhouse Shuffle, while I did Two Trek and Spread The Word. Glitch was laughing by the time we were going crazy.

Roll! Open your soul

Maybe lose control inside of this phenomenon

Just let your self go, and let everyone know

You move to this phenomenon.

I was beginning to lose ideas, but Glitch was full of them. He was already going mad, with so many quick moves that I almost couldn't identify them. I was already standing there, not knowing what I ought to do.

Don't let these spiders crawl up beside us

They want to bite us, inject the virus

Raise up the lighters, praise to the righteous,

We need to guide us, get...prepared..to.. go..

Once I managed to get myself back into the groove, I found Glitch doing Wish Step while I did Torch. I didn't really know the song all that well, but the beat was okay to dance to, I guess, even if it was really fast and upbeat.

If you're like us, calling all riders

Roll up beside us, no place to hide us,

all freedom fighters, let's unite us

Switch on your nitrous and...let's.. go...

After a bit of confusion we repeated the same moves. Glitch dropped down for a while to rest a couple minutes and a sigh escaped his lips as he murmured, "Chorus next," as I was doing Predator.

Down, here comes the sound

Everyone pound your feet to this phenomenon

Now let's make it loud

Let's show 'em all how you move to this phenomenon

Now that we already knew the moves, the two of us were simply repeating them. Glitch was already adding up the power to his dance, as if this really was a phenomenon. "Impressive move," I praised.

Roll! Open your soul

Maybe lose control inside of this phenomenon

Just let your self go, and let everyone know

You move to this phenomenon.

I suggested we go into freestyle, while he just nodded, completely out of breath. So I did a couple random breakdance moves, not really coordinating myself.

Can't take it anymore

Shake until we move the floor

What are we waiting for? Let's go!

I'm tired of being ordinary

Don't care if there's people staring

I'll rely on your strength to carry me on.

I'm not invisible like you,

next time things get a little messed up,

I'll shine, but I'll never be see through.

I'm fine just tryin to wake the rest up.

By now the beat was going into overdrive and was almost impossible to dance to, so I did some quick moves and at least attempted to get things right. It wasn't easy, so I would probably give myself no more than four stars for the performance.

Down, here comes the sound

Everyone pound your feet to this phenomenon

Now let's make it loud

Let's show 'em all how you move to this phenomenon

The music was now slowing down, so I did a couple moves that were smoother and easier to remember. Glitch did the same, but he mostly struck a pose with each faint beat.

Roll! Open your soul

Maybe lose control inside of this phenomenon

Just let your self go, and let everyone know

You move to this phenomenon.

Being the last chorus, as Glitch had told me, we didn't have any trouble thinking up new moves. We high-fived and did our bro handshake, which ended with a chest bump. He fell short a bit, which made me tease him. He grumbled. "Come on, Mo, get over it. I'll grow, believe me." He crossed his arms.

Well, maybe he'd grow, but I'd make fun of him anyway while I could. "Say what you will, it won't change anything," I shot back. Once we were finished and we were even more tired than before, I almost forgot the karma deal. I would still get back at him, but now...

I'll just wait for the phenomenon to show itself.