During Ms. Nordland's dance class, they'd been learning about Jamaican dances. As Candy stopped dancing for a water break, she saw a shy Jamaican girl with black hair in braids and maroon gym clothes. "Who's the shy girl in the corner?" asked Candy.

"That's just Raelynn Conner," Ms. Nordland explained. "She's having a little trouble coming up with a new dance for class due to her shy nature. Maybe you should help her out. You have such a big imagination."

"You're right," Candy said as she walked up to Raelynn. "Hey, Raelynn. I'm Candy. You probably know my adoptive mothers as the principals."

"Mgot the Quadrille, Maypole, Kumini, and Dinky Mili," answered Raelynn, "I learned them from my parents."

"That's a lot of dances you got there," Kiki said as she and Daniel came up. "I like them."

"To me, they sound like cartoon characters," Alice insulted.

Raelynn started to cry, while Candy, Kiki, and Daniel started to get annoyed. "Don't listen to Alice" Candy whispered. "She's always insulted other students who're better than her."

"I'm with you," Raelynn whispered. "Last week she insulted my dreadlocks for no reason."

"Besides," replied Candy, "we're going to help you with your dance. Come to our house after school. We're the one with the red and blue gnomes near the convenience store, down where Lexington Cross is."

"Lexington Cross?" asked Raelynn said. "My parents own the place. I've seen you come here with your brother and sister."

"Really?" asked Candy. "Looks like I'm becoming popular."

XxoxX

After school, Raelynn arrived at the Cherry residence. Davina answered the door and boy was she amused to see Raelynn. "I see your teeth flash," Davina said. "Jamaican honey so sweet."

Inside, she saw Candy, Kiki, and Daniel dancing while Bennie played his guitar and Ronnie painted. Raelynn started to feel a little shy, but Kiki let her in. "My Uncle Saptarki teaches homeless children how to dance," Kiki said. "He's my mom's brother from India. Whenever he visits West Virginia, he shows me the dance routines and the names of the homeless children. His birthday is coming up too."

"So what are you giving him?" asked Raelynn.

"A painting that Ronnie is working on," answered Kiki, "with a little help from me."

Ronnie showed the painting that she made. "I call this 'Turning Tricks for the Dudes in the Big City'," Ronnie said. "It's a Bollywood-themed painting, partially inspired by Candy, Kiki, and Daniel's dancing."

"We better go help Aunt Davina with dinner," said Bennie. "We promised to help her."

Bennie and Ronnie went to the kitchen to help Vice Principal Cherry with her cooking. Raelynn, on the other hand, sat on the sofa and felt nervous. "Island girl?" asked Cherry. "What are you wanting with the wondering world?"

Raelynn took a deep breath and said, "To be more confident, I've seen you guys perform with other kids and I don't feel sure of myself."

Then Candy just got an idea. "Let's all use our imagination," Candy suggested.

"Here we go," replied Kiki.

"Let's be in a submarine," suggested Candy. "In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where fish roam about."

XxoxX

In the sub, they were all wearing sailor outfits. All three of them were exploring the wonders of the Jamaican deep. They spotted some blue tangs, sea turtles, and some manatees. As they were looking at some fairy basslet, a barracuda came and accidentally ate part of the ship. All four of them knew that they had to abandon ship fast. Raelynn found an escape pod and they made their way to the escape pod.

After abandoning the submarine, they decided to some exploring out of the escape pod. They all got into their scuba suit and found a sea mine with sea sapphires. "This sea mine is beautiful," Raelynn replied. "Reminds me of those scuba diving trips my parents take me to. There is that one time where I found some dolphins and I hid by some seaweed because I thought they were sharks."

"Take it easy, Raelynn," Kiki said. "We're on the far side of the island."

"We should go on the surface to see what's up there," Daniel suggested.

But as they got up on the island, an ambush of warriors lead by Alice came in. In her hands, she had a Raelynn voodoo doll and it made Raelynn hit herself. "Stop hitting yourself!" shouted Warrior Alice as the other laugh at her.

Raelynn started becoming more discouraged by what Warrior Alice did. "Take it easy, Island Girl," replied Kiki. "It's okay to be shy."

"You're right," Raelynn said as she did the Quadrille, Maypole, Kumini, and Dinky Mili. After she danced through the last warrior she landed in a pile of mud.

XxoxX

Back in the real world, Candy, Kiki, Daniel, and Raelynn ended up in the mud pits of Principal Cherry's garden. "Be careful," warned Principal Cherry. "I just raked the leaves. I feel my nails scratch just like the rake."

"Sorry, Aunt Regina," Candy replied. "We were imagining that we were submarine castaways."

"You and your imagination, Cadet Candy," Principal Cherry replied. "Just clean up before dinner. Aunt Davina is fixing up spinach linguini."

In the family bathroom, they were clean and Raelynn was happy. "The mud puddles bring back so many memories of my times in Jamaica," she recalled.

"What?" asked Kiki. "You love mud."

"I was a filthy kid back then," Raelynn explained. "Some girls don't like playing in the mud, but I used to live next door to a pig farm and they let me play with them whenever I want."

"Aww," Candy said. "That's cute."

"And filthy," Daniel grossly said.

"And you wrap yourself around like a well-worn tire," Candy said. "You'll be clean in time for dinner."

XxoxX

The next day at dance class, they displayed the Quadrille, which amused everyone except Alice. "What a bunch of baloney," she boasted. "I can dance better than that. How do you like the Frolicking of the Fists?"

"No fists in the face," replied Candy. "We could get detention."

"That's right," Ms. Nordland said. "For now I'm letting you off with a warning."

Alice was relieved because she was supposed to get her weekly allowance today after work, but she wondered one thing. "Island girl, what you wanting with the bright man's world?" she asked.

"To be me," Raelynn answered.

Candy, Kiki, and Daniel were amazed because Raelynn chose to be her shy and timid self.

The End.

Note: I like to thank my older brother, "Jack" for giving me the idea of using the name, "Saptarki".