(Phew!) LOL I'm glad you guys enjoy how I put in the songs! I felt I was taking a big risk with it since I know songs can either hurt or help out a fanfiction story. Thanks to "Spinelli Woods, Esquire", "goofy monkey child", and "lilvickiryan" for reviewing! It means a lot!
Chapter 7 (Continued): The Holiday Winter Dance
It's just moments after Renee leaves the gang.
The gang felt a wave of disappointment seeing Renee leave. Vince reacted, "Man! This really whomps guys!"
Spinelli thought over what Renee had done for them and said, "I don't know about you guys, but she really helped me to enjoy the party a whole lot more!" The rest of the gang agreed with Spinelli since they couldn't believe they would have so much fun dancing when they didn't know how to really begin.
Mikey's eyes bulged open when he realized something, "Guys! I just remembered! We didn't even tell her our names!"
The rest of the gang looked at Mikey in disbelief and loudly said, "WHAT?!?"
Mikey looked up and put his hands on his head. He felt ashamed and began, "We were too focused with the dancing that we didn't even tell her our names!" The gang replayed the conversation they had with Renee and closed their eyes, in shame and guilt, knowing Mikey was right.
"You're right Mikey." said T.J. softly. The gang looked at T.J. when a moment of silence between them was broken. T.J. focused on the wall of the gymnasium, but his mind was somewhere else...thinking about who Renee was. T.J. slowly continued, "Is there even a Renee that goes to Third Street?"
The gang tried to think hard over who Renee was but Ashley A deliberately bumped into Spinelli to get her attention. "Hey watch it!" Spinelli reacted and turned around, "What's your problem clown painted Barbie?"
Ashley A and the other Ashleys were right beside Spinelli, they were looking at her condescendingly. Ashley A looked up at Spinelli with a haughty attitude, "That's typical! Just like standing around there and not even dancing, you couldn't even dance to save your life!"
"WHAT?!?" Spinelli angrily yelled but the music drowned out the loudness of her shouting.
"Yeah just totally look at your boots!" Ashley Q snottily replied, "And wearing them on a dance floor! Honestly!"
The Ashleys giggled and squealed, "Scandalous!"
Spinelli's competitive spirit surged back into her and there was no way she was going to back away. The Ashleys walked 10 feet away from Spinelli and started to dance yet they kept on eye on Spinelli hoping to get a hilarious kick out of seeing Spinelli make a fool of herself.
Ashley B giggled with anticipation, "This is gonna like be totally hilarious!"
Spinelli looked bitterly at the Ashleys, her right eye lid started to twitch in frustration, and her fist clenched up. She turned around and faced T.J. while the others just took a few steps back knowing that Spinelli was not to be messed with when she was angry. The others stared at her cautiously wondering what insane thing Spinelli was going to do next. T.J. gulped feeling both nervous and frightened seeing the burning wrath in Spinelli's eyes. Spinelli, without asking, just grabbed T.J.'s hands and looked directly at him. She calmly and casually said, "Let's dance and show 'em what we know Teej!"
T.J. was out of it for a few seconds and his eyes bulged out with surprise. He couldn't believe that Spinelli wanted to dance remembering how much she resisted it more than 30 minutes ago before Renee came. His senses came back and he stuttered thinking about how much they knew about dancing, "But...Spinelli we just know the basics! We don't know how to even dance together!"
Spinelli boldly dismissed it, "Hey I saw Renee and Vince dance! It shouldn't be that hard." T.J. took a slow, deep-breath feeling that they were going to make fools of themselves because he knew that neither one of them knew how to dance as a couple. They had always teased about couples dancing, in the past, being a mushy-gushy grownup love thing especially seeing their parents dance together.
Spinelli was rehearsing the dance moves she saw Renee do with Vince. She tried to pace herself, thinking, '1...2....3....' but without warning she stepped on to T.J.'s left foot.
"Ahhh! Spinelli!" T.J. hollered, "Man! What kind of boot is that? My toes feel like they've been crushed!" T.J. was trying to lessen the pain, by taking his right foot and gently rubbing it onto the left toes. The top white portion of T.J.'s red left sneaker had a slight, but still visible depression of where Spinelli's boot was.
Spinelli was too determined to impress and beat the Ashleys. Spinelli snapped, "C'mon Teej! You need to focus!" The deejay began to play another song and Spinelli and T.J. looked to the deejay at their side.
"Another night, another dream, but always you
It's like a vision of love that seems to be true
Another night, another dream, but always you
In the night, I dream of love so true..."
Spinelli quickly glanced at the Ashleys like a ruthless tiger. She looked back at T.J. and demanded, "C'mon Teej! Let's start this!"
T.J. was completely clueless on where to begin; he felt stumped like Gretchen had left him one of her inventions to watch over and he had no idea how it worked, much less how to maintain it. T.J. took his baseball cap off and wiped his forehead and put the cap back on. T.J. looked at Spinelli seriously with his baby blue eyes and asked, "Are you sure Spinelli you wanna go through with it?"
Spinelli looked deeper into T.J.'s eyes and annoyingly responded, "Duh! Yeah!" She grabbed T.J. closer and his eyes immediately bulged out, in surprise that she did not notice how forward and close she was. The others from the gang, were surprised as well, and looked at each other excepting someone between them to know what was happening with Spinelli. She sighed harshly feeling irritated that T.J. didn't understand how badly she wanted to beat the Ashleys.
"Just another night, another vision of love
You feel joy, you feel pain, cause nothing will be the same
Just another night, is all that it takes,
to understand the difference between lovers and fakes..."
T.J. and Spinelli were dancing pretty badly on the dance floor. They were stepping on each other toes, taking the wrong steps, and they were not synchronized with each other. Vince slapped his hand on his forehead and looked down on the floor in embarrassment. Mikey, Gus, and Gretchen gave strange looks to the two dancing wondering if they were still going to try to continue. T.J. would slightly shake a little whenever Spinelli stepped on his shoes, but he tried to maintain an optimistic attitude with a nervous smile knowing that it wasn't going well at all.
Spinelli was tensed up in anger that things were not working out and was about to speak when she remembered what Renee had told her. It replayed in her mind, 'Now first listen to the beat and just sway with it.....' Spinelli had been too preoccupied and focused on beating the Ashleys rather than the dancing; she gave up her way and gradually listened to the song.
"So baby, I talk, I talk, I talk to you
In the night in your dream, of love so true
I talk, I talk, I talk to you
In the night in your dream, of love so true..."
Spinelli listened mindlessly into the lyrics of the song. Her eyes slowly moved from side to side to assess her situation, her location, her feelings... She became more and more 'freaked out' seeing what was before her. The wave of fear came like the anticipation of a tidal wave; she could feel it build and grow inside of her as her heart rate accelerated. It was a feeling of deja vu for her since she had dreamed something like this before. She kept on taking several glances of her body, her friends, and then T.J. who was looking worried at her. (T.J. was trying to determine what made Spinelli to freeze up.) Her mind blanked out seeing how close she was dancing with T.J. and she quickly let go of his hands and took a few steps back. She tried to think back on how she came to the dance floor and how she could have danced so closely with T.J....
"In the night, in my dreams
I'm in love with you, cause you talk to me like lovers do
I feel joy I feel pain, cause it's still the same
When the night is gone I'll be alone..."
(Lyrics from Real McCoy "Another Night")
Spinelli eyes became wider and her body temperature rose in embarrassment on how she danced with T.J. She quickly ran off the dance floor and rushed between the crowds of students. The other five of the gang just looked at each other wondering what happened to Spinelli. They couldn't understand how, in a few seconds, Spinelli could become aggressive and then suddenly scared. The gang observed that she ran into the girls' restroom and, after a minute or two, Gretchen knew she was the one to speak with Spinelli.
Gretchen slowly and concerned walked toward the girls' restroom, but before she could enter the Ashleys cut in front of her.
Ashley Q put her hand in Gretchen's face to stop Gretchen from entering, "Like sorry! We Ashleys have to powder and pamper up and no other girl is gonna be in the restrooms while we are busy using it."
Gretchen rolled her eyes in frustration, "Look here Ashleys!" Gretchen thought about how Spinelli was still inside, but she did not want to let them know it; out of fear, the Ashleys would enjoy Spinelli's bad situation. "I have to go to the bathroom!" Gretchen started jumping back and forth as if it was an emergency. "....really bad!"
Ashley B snapped, "Well too bad! It's not, like, our fault you are not smart enough to predict your own bladder content!"
Meanwhile, Spinelli was sitting on one of the toilet seats in a closed, locked stall. She could still hear the crowds and the music in the background, outside of the bathroom. She needed to take a break from the party and know where she was going....in her life. She was thinking deeply over how she was feeling and behaving for the past few weeks....the dreams, avoiding T.J.'s emotions, and her own crush about him. It was a feeling of openness, uncertainty, and fear about letting her guard down to the emotions of a crush and her being a tough girl made it all the more difficult to be emotionally unguarded. She looked around the stall and sighed over her surroundings. She dully commented, "Why do I seem to think more clearly in here than anywhere else?" She began to hear another song being played back at the gymnasium...
"La da da ddee da da da da...
Be my lover, wanna be my lover
Looking back on all the time we spent together
You oughta know by now
If you wanna be my lover, wanna be my lover..."
Spinelli glanced up and looked around the walls of the stall and just sighed. She couldn't believe another love song was being played and she believed that fate seemed to be teasing her about her situation. She was about to get ready to leave the stall and head back to the gang when she heard...
"Like I can't believe that Gretchen was so totally rude to us!" Ashley Q said checking her hair. Spinelli froze hearing the Ashleys arrive and quickly, but silently stood on the toilet seat. She crouched down on the toilet seat so that the Ashleys would not see her legs down below the stall door.
The Ashleys were beginning to fix up their hair and make up in the bathroom mirror. "Yeah...she was so totally bluffing about going badly. Talk about annoying...she was such a mosquito!", commented Ashley B. The Ashleys began to hum to the music.
"Go ahead and take your time, boy you gotta feel secure
Before I make you mine, baby, you have to be sure
You wanna be my lover
Wanna be my lover, wanna be my lover..."
"Uh huh, those guys have to be really sure if they can handle an Ashley!" Ashley T said teasingly while looking toward her fellow Ashleys.
They all giggled and squealed, "Scandalous!" Ashley A was sensing that the four of them were not alone and slowly turned to face the bathroom stalls while the rest of them were joking and playing with their make up.
Ashley Q noticed Ashley A wasn't participating in their discussion and questioned, "Ashley A! You look like as if you know someone is going to tamper your walk-in closet. Like what's wrong?"
"La da da dee da da da da...
A ha ye heyee, wanna be my lover...
I hear what you say, I see what you do
I know everything I need to know about you
And I want you to know that it's telling me
You wanna be my lover?"
(Lyrics from La Bouche "Be My Lover")
Ashley A put a finger to her lips to signal to the others to remain quiet. The only sounds were the songs being played at the party, in the background, and the buzzing sound of the florescent lights. The 3 Ashleys looked at Ashley A strangely wondering what she was doing as she was listening to each stall individually. She crept up to the stall Spinelli was in and instantly opened it. Spinelli, in shock, couldn't believe Ashley A found her and she lost her balance but quickly regained it by leaning on the walls of the stall.
Ashley A smiled smugly while the other 3 hysterically screamed, "Scandalous!"
Spinelli was in a loss of words. She was brushing herself off and began, "How....how did you know I was there? I didn't even make a peep!"
Ashley A went back to face the bathroom mirror. She looked at Spinelli through the reflection and gave a cocky look saying, "An Ashley knows when another Ashley is nearby." The other 3 continued to snicker and giggle. Spinelli looked up in embarrassment and sluggishly walked back toward the entrance of the bathroom. Spinelli didn't feel ready to go back out yet but being anywhere else than with the Ashleys was far better. Ashley A glanced to see Spinelli at the corner of her eye and intrusively asked, "Like can't deal with T.J. again, huh?"
Spinelli immediately turned around in disbelief and defensively yelled, "I can deal with T.J.! Thank you very much!"
Ashley B entered in saying, "Uh huh...like whatever Spinelli. Like keep telling yourself that."
Ashley Q butted in before Spinelli could get a word in, "So how are you gonna deal with T.J.?"
Spinelli snapped, "It's none of your business!" She looked at the Ashleys strangely to determine what they were implying. She harshly and curiously asked, "What's your problem? Why do you keep mentioning him?"
Ashley A teasingly replied, "Like c'mon Spinelli, it's so obvious that you have something for T.J. What it is....is like totally beyond me!" The other Ashleys sighed rudely in agreement. They couldn't understand how any girl could like T.J. with him always getting in trouble, having a messy appearance, and pranking them.
Spinelli raised her voice, "Something for T.J.?!? Now I know all that perfume has gone to all of your heads!" Spinelli knew that the Ashleys were right and she felt that they were cornering her emotionally and that they could see right through to her.
Ashley B pressured Spinelli saying, "Like whatever Spinelli! You can't even look at T.J. without feeling uncomfortable. You can't look at him in the classroom, at the playground, and just now you totally ran away from him!"
Spinelli was about to yell out, but Ashley T spoke as they were beginning to walk out of the restroom, "Like you can lie to yourself all you want! But sooner or later you gonna have to deal with it!"
The Ashleys walked out leaving Spinelli with her and her thoughts as the holiday party continued outside the restroom. She faced the mirror and looked at herself....she just stared into the mirror, into the dark black pupils of her eyes. She knew deep inside that the Ashleys were right about everything, as much as she didn't want to admit it. She sighed thinking how ironic that the Ashleys knew more about her than any of her friends did. She walked back to her stall, locked it, and sat there thinking....and thinking...
Back at the party, Renee got her coat and was trying ever so hard to not be noticed as she tried to exit the gymnasium doors (that led to the playground outside.) She looked to her left and right sides constantly like a burglar would and slowly crept to the doors like a rat. She tried to appear normal walking out of the doors, but carefully closed them behind her. Then, they closed.....CLICK! Renee felt a rush a relief and her heart could beat normally again since she was able to avoid seeing the boy that caused her to panic and leave the gang. She looked at the starlit night and smiled to herself thinking that even though she spent about 50 minutes at the holiday dance, she was able to at least keep her mind deviated....that at least her mind wasn't worried and frightened until the boy showed up. She casually went down the stairs and walked toward the sidewalk back home. The cold night was silent except for sounds of her breath and her walking, in which, the cracking of ice and mushy sounds of slush would come now and then. Renee looked around herself and was even more relieved that no one was outside to spot her walking back home; otherwise a teacher would have forced her to wait for her parents back inside the school. That relief of her being alone would instantly change...
As Renee pressed on though the cold temperature and biting winds, she felt someone grab her shoulder from the back. The hairs on her neck stood on end and before she could scream out, the boy she was so terrified about earlier put his hand over her mouth to silence her. She knew exactly who he was and her eyes bulged out...it was too surreal for her. The boy was an African American, 11 year old who was a tall as Gretchen. He wore 'ghetto-style' clothes that included baggy dark black jeans, an oversized red sports shirt, and a silver chain around his neck. He put a finger to his lips, signaling for Renee to be quiet.
She started to breathe quieter but was still terrified. She had confronted the boy who had just now reopened the scar of her past. She gulped and nervously tried to appear calm saying, "What are....you doing here Jamal?!?"
The boy sarcastically answered, "I could ask you the same question." He took another look at Renee's clothes and commented, "Uh huh. You are a piece of work."
She looked down on the ground and was too scared to meet up to see his eyes. She asked, like a whimpering puppy, "What do you want from me?"
Jamal took Renee's left arm and began squeezing it hard. He then fiercely pushed Renee toward the fence where she made the entire side of the fence to rattle. The vibrations of the blow made the fence slam against her head and back reminding her that this wasn't a nightmare...it was really happening. He looked at her with burning anger and hissed, "You know exactly why I'm here! You just left me...you thought that it was the end?!? You are gonna help me one way or the other!"
Jamal noticed Coach Kluge walking down the sidewalk and quickly looked back at the girl. Jamal continued, "You can bet that I'll be back." Jamal ran down the street before Coach Kluge could catch up with him. Renee darted into a different direction before Coach Kluge could catch up with her also because she knew that she was supposed to stay inside. Her pulse quickened and she became more unbalanced as she was trying to balance herself on the slick ice streets and sidewalks. She would slip a little bit now and then, but she just wanted to keep running and running... As she continued running she felt small and weak all over again, and the cold air pierced inside of her chest. She never felt so alone and vulnerable...her emotions made her physically susceptible to whatever the weather threw against her. Ever since she was here she tried to avoid her past and run away from it, but now she saw it literally face to face.
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To Be Continued…