Hey guys. I'm here with another update! Yeah I know I don't update consistently but I'm pretty much busy with life itself that I don't really get that much time to write anymore. But hey, I am never abandoning any of my stories and if you guys can wait a couple of months, then I really appreciate that. :)
Enjoy this chapter, because it's finally time for the first part of the competition.
"Welcome one and all to Unova High's dancing competition!" Marian, the MC, spoke through the mic with high enthusiasm. "This competition is a blast every year and I'm sure this year will be no different. Let me go over the details. There are five rounds in total. At the end of the competition, the winner will receive various prizes and will be awarded with the title 'The Dancin' Legend'. Tonight's the first round of the competition: Freestyling! Each competitor will have the option of performing their own dance style. You will be judged on style, flow, coordination, grace and movement. So, are we ready?"
I heard the audience cheering as a response, and that included my own mother. I smiled from backstage.
"Okay, let's hear from our judges," Marian said as she gestured to the left three judges seated. "First up, Nurse Joy!"
A light was illuminated on her and she smiled. "I'm looking forward to the competition and I can't wait to see the amount of talent that Unova High has."
"I bet the contest will be remarkable!" The male judge said enthusiastically.
"Good luck to all of you and may the best win," the final female judge commented.
Marian started to give more details and I eventually tuned her out because I was trying to get a hold of myself. No doubt, I was nervous despite the fact that I had practiced my dance routine over a hundred times and I had polished my moves to perfection.
"Dawn?"
I turned around to the familiar voice. My eyes wavered to the person's outfit, causing me to grin silly. Kenny was wearing some light blue capri pants and a yellow checkard shirt covered with a black vest. "Nice outfit, Kenny," I giggled, my nervousness diminishing within a few seconds.
He only ignored my comment but still smiled. "You look great. Are you ready?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I sure am." I licked my lips and then cocked my head. "Aren't you worried that I might beat you?"
Kenny shrugged. "It's just a school competition, nothing to be worried about. I won't break up with you if you beat me," he added with a smirk and I rolled my eyes.
"Oh, would you two stop flirting already?" I heard May say, as she approached towards us and she had a slight smirk graced upon her lips. She was wearing a long black skirt and a white crop top that had the words 'Baby' imprinted upon it. Her brown hair had been adorned with white flowers in the midst of it, instead of the usual bandana she'd always wear.
"May! You look amazing," I told her.
May instantly blushed. "Thanks, Dawn. So do you. You wouldn't happen to be dressing up for your boyfriend, wouldn't you?"
I only rolled her eyes at her teasing comment and I noticed Kenny's cheeks tinge with a slight pink. May giggled at our embarrassment. "Anyways, are you guys ready?"
"Yeah, I can't wait!" I said.
Kenny shrugged. "I guess so." I smacked his arm lightly at his lack of excitement.
"Oh!" May suddenly exclaimed, "Dawn, I have news!" she said excitedly as she pulled me towards her and we ventured to the corner, leaving Kenny behind.
"What is it?" I asked her.
May couldn't contain her grin and squeal as she said, "Drew asked me to be his girlfriend!"
I instantly smiled at the news and embraced May. "That's great, May. I'm so happy for you guys."
"I know and it's unbelievable that just a few months ago, I couldn't bear anything about him. He constantly teased me and flipped his hair arrogantly, but he just does it because he really likes me. It's really funny how relationships work. I mean, there are so much couples that are drained of love or trust, you know?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Where's this coming from?"
"I'm just saying that it's funny how things work out sometimes. There are people in a relationship with who they don't even want to be with or love and there are some people who don't even realize that the one in their life could be right under their nose," May emphasised. I gulped a little and glanced back at Kenny. He took out his phone and appeared to be reading a text.
I thought about what May said. Sure, I did like Kenny but…do I want to be with him?
I shook my thoughts away. I couldn't think about that right now.
A hand touched my shoulder and I turned around to face Kenny. "Hey, I'll be right back, I just gotta talk to someone really quick. I'm one of the persons going up early on stage, so you might only see me when I'm up there."
I nodded. "No need to worry, good luck!"
He smiled. "You too. Do you want a ride home afterwards?"
My eyes softened at his suggestion. Kenny was so selfless, understanding and sweet. Despite all of those qualities, I was doubting our relationship. But the question is why? "Sure. Thanks, Kenny. You're really sweet," I said, smiling.
Kenny shrugged. "Well if you wanted to walk home, I guess you could do that," he said jokingly and I playfully knocked his arms, giggling and May laughed as well.
Kenny grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him and we were impossibly close. He leaned down and touched his lips gently with mine while caressing my face lovingly. His lips were soft against mine and suddenly grew passionate and I had to suppress a moan. He pulled back, staring in my eyes.
"What was that for?" I asked, breathlessly.
He shrugged. "Good luck?"
I laughed lightly and he pecked my lips once more before stepping back from me a little. "I'll catch you later," he said and I bid him goodbye with a wave of my hand.
I looked back at May, who was texting someone. "Who are you texting?"
"Drew. While you guys were making out, Drew told me that he's going up first," she replied, with a smirk on her lips.
I scoffed. "As if you've never had any lip action with Drew. Where is he, by the way?"
"He must be getting ready. After all, he is the first to perform." May replied. I nodded in understanding.
Footsteps were heard from behind me and May and I turned around to see who had appeared behind us. We both smiled to see the rest of the club members, Gary, Misty, Zoey, and a few other members as well.
"Are we late?" Misty directed the question towards us. Misty and I weren't that close but I did consider her to be a friendly acquaintance.
"Nah. It's about to start soon. You all look great, by the way!" I said. Misty blushed a little and I noticed Gary pop the collar of his black shirt a bit arrogantly. Zoey scoffed in annoyance at Gary's tactics.
"Thanks," Gary said smugly while Misty rolled her eyes.
"Guys! Look!" May said, as she pointed towards the TV screen above us, "It's starting! And Drew's gonna perform first," she said happily, with an excited gleam in her blue eyes.
Everyone directed their attention towards the monitor above us and as Marian was about to introduce Drew on stage, I briefly noticed one of our club members missing.
"Hey guys, where's Ash?"
"Shh!" May said, placing a finger on her lip and slightly glaring at me. "Now is not the time," she said as she watched the screen again. I rolled my eyes and lightly smiled at May, and just decided to sit back and give my full attention to the monitor screen and forget about the question asked a few minutes ago.
"And our first performance will be from Drew Hayden! Please give him a warm welcome!" Marian said, and after the audience roared with applause, the curtains were pulled to reveal Drew walking confidently to the center of the stage. He was wearing a red T-shirt with grey skinny jeans accompanied with a bright tennis.
"Good luck, Drew," Nurse Joy remarked and Drew smiled. "What are you going to be performing?"
He scratched the back of his head. "It's a mix of different dance styles, really," he said sheepishly.
"Well, show us what you've got, Drew."
The lights dimmed for a second and for a second, nothing but black was displayed on the TV screen, until a spotlight illuminated on the chartreuse teen for a while. It was quiet for a while, keeping us and the audience in suspense…until Drew pulled out a hat seemingly from thin air, placed it on the top of his head covering his green hair and turning around while popping his right arm into the air, all in one swift motion. That got the audience and the rest of us excited.
"That's my man," Gary commented.
Music echoed through the stage and Drew began pumping his legs to the beat of the music and he turned around, giving a charming smile to the audience. It seemed as if some people were mesmerised by the sight of him as he constantly popped his chest and arms in a forward motion. Then he grabbed black sunglasses and placed them upon his green eyes, while moving to the music. He surprised us a little when he moonwalked while straightening his arms.
The dance performance continued with a little more popping and locking, some occasional winks towards the audience and it ended when he pulled out a red rose from nowhere and threw it to a random girl at the audience. He turned around, showing his back to the audience while raising his fingers up for a peace sign, and the crowd went wild.
"Wow, what a performance from Mr. Hayden! Judges, your thoughts?" Marian directed over to the panel of judges.
"Remarkable!"
"Excellent as always, Drew. This competition sure is going to be tough."
"I will add to that by saying that Drew has always been able to demonstrate fantastic skills and movement and he's not failed this performance either. Though, I recommend another dancing style, one that doesn't involve a popping and locking feel," Nurse Joy said, and Drew's face fell slightly but he quickly composed himself.
"Thank you," he said before waving to the audience.
"Oh my gosh, Drew was amazing!" May said from beside me.
"I can't argue with that," I admitted. Drew was sure enough, tough competition. Could I even be compared to someone with skills like those? Of course I had witnessed Drew perform many times before, and each one of them showed true potential but this one displayed perfection in my eyes.
"Yeah, Drew is great at dancing!" Zoey exclaimed, "he's really tough competition, though."
"Yeah," Misty said, "and so is Ash and Gary," she added.
Gary smirked at that comment. "Afraid you're gonna lose, Waterflower?"
She crossed her arms in annoyance. "Please. I could defeat you with both of my hands tied behind my back," she said confidently.
"We'll just see about that." Gary's smirk widened.
Soon enough, I had noticed Drew approaching us with a big smile and his eyes were directed towards May, probably with the intention of talking to her first unsurprisingly. However, before that could happen, someone accidentally collided into Drew, resulting both of them falling to the ground with a loud thud.
May immediately sprinted over to where Drew was, with a worried expression on her face and we all flinched at the chartreuse and blonde sprawled on the floor. I suppressed a small laugh.
"What the hell, Barry?!" Drew exclaimed in anger, rubbing his forehead.
"You need to watch where you're going!" The blonde pointed a finger accusingly to Drew, who rolled his eyes.
"I'm not the one running around crazily and crashing into people," he said as he stood up. May put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
He dusted his shoulders with the palm of his hand. "I'm alright," he said.
"You need to a pay a fine of ten thousand dollars for crashing into me! Pay up!" Barry said, as he motioned his hand towards Drew. I scoffed.
"Oh, Barry shut up!" Misty yelled and the blonde boy muttered as he crossed his arms.
"You were amazing out there," May said as she embraced Drew in her arms. He gave into the embrace and gave her his thanks before she said, "but I don't like what you did out there," she said.
He broke the hug and looked at her. "What?"
"You were flirting with a random girl. You gave her a rose! That's our thing!"
Drew simply chuckled at his girlfriend. "Cute."
May blushed a crimson red. "Don't flatter me, mister! We're going to have a serious talk about this," she said, glaring at him.
He gave her a dubious look. "Really? It was just part of the performance, 'ya know, it didn't mean a single thing, May."
"That's what they all say," she protested and Drew rolled his eyes and then placed a light kiss on her cheek.
"I love it when you get jealous," he whispered but it was loud enough for me to hear and I giggled when May blushed yet again.
"Ugh, enough of this love nonsense, who's next?" Barry questioned.
"I am!" Zoey replied, raising her hand.
My eyes widened slightly. "Really?" I gave her a smile and said, "Good luck!"
"Thanks, Dawn!" Zoey winked.
As Zoey made her way out on stage, I got a text from Kenny. I opened it up.
Hey, I hope you can handle being without me. :( Sorry I'm taking a while, I'm just dealing with something. - Kenny
I quickly typed a reply.
No need to worry, I have May and the others to gossip to. :P And what are u doing, btw? - Dawn
As Zoey quickly greeted the judges, all members directed their attention towards the screen. I couldn't wait to see her performance and hopefully, it would impress the audience and judges.
Zoey closed her eyes and crossed her arms and started to spin around with one foot out, in a circular motion and her expression remained totally neutral. We all remained with our eyes widened in awe as she continued spinning gracefully. I had never seen this graceful side of Zoey before and I had never expected my sporty and smart friend to present something like this to us.
The music suddenly shifted to a faster tune and like a bolt of energy, she quickly changed her neutral demeanour to a more upbeat and quirky style as she swayed her hips in a sporty fashion. She bent her knees a little and constantly pumped her arms while beating her chest out. She was doing a great job at making the performance exhilarating and capturing the audience's attention.
And, while her knees were bent forward, she fell down, her head reaching towards the floor while her chest was out and then she quickly propelled herself forward, effectively getting loud cheers and whistles from the audience. I know for sure, that everyone was amazed at the sight of her, not that I expected anything less from her anyways.
The performance ended when Zoey landed on her two knees, striking a hand straight into the air, a bit breathless over the performance.
"Wow," I breathed.
"Damn." Gary spoke.
"I know…that was spell bounding," Misty said, and May nodded.
"Yeah, Zoey may not look like it but she's one hell of a dancer alright," May said.
Before I could say anything, my phone vibrated.
Just dealing with a family thing. – Kenny
Oh, okay. You better get here quick, we're already at the third performance and everyone is doing so well :D It's actually making me wonder if I'll be able to match their performance. – Dawn
For someone whose catchphrase is 'no need to worry', you sure do worry a lot. You'll be fine :) and I'll only take a few mins more b4 I come do my performance. I'm the seventh person to go up. - Kenny
I smiled at Kenny's words. He was right; this was no time to be doubting myself.
Ur right. Thanks, Kenny. I'm the tenth person to go up, so hurry up and come over here, do ur performance and watch me strut my stuff :p – Dawn
I blushed a little when his reply came.
Oh, don't worry I surely won't miss u shaking ur booty out there ;)
I shook my head in amusement, when Zoey suddenly approached us. "Zoey! You were awesome!"
"Yeah, you totally rocked!" May added.
"Thanks guys," Zoey smiled, "the judges seemed impressed at my performance as well, they practically told me that I'm undoubtedly going to be moving on to the second round."
"Wow," Gary said, "you seriously got skills, Zoey. I'm a bit impressed."
"Only a bit?" She asked cheekily.
Gary rolled his eyes. "Wait 'till Ash performs, your socks will be knocked off and your dance will be nothing compared to him," he said.
"I do this for fun, not to beat Ash," she said, shrugging. At that, I wondered where Ash would be at this moment, considering it was a bit late.
"I wonder who's next to perform…" May said.
Drew shrugged, while I did the same. "I have no idea."
"I'll give you a clue. His name starts with 'B' and ends with 'arry'," Barry said jokingly to us and I lightly chuckled.
"Great, good luck Barry."
"Thanks, May!" He smiled at her. "Get ready to be amazed, guys 'cause I am going to blow your mind!" He exclaimed excitedly as he walked out on stage.
My phone rang suddenly and I placed it towards my ear. "Hey, mom."
"Dawn, when are you going up?" My mom asked me.
"I'm the tenth person, so you're gonna have to wait a little while longer," I told her and she sighed.
"Okay, I can't wait to see my little bunny perform," she said, probably with a cheeky smile on her face.
"Mom!" I exclaimed in annoyance. "Stop it with that nickname," I grumbled.
She lightly chuckled. "Good luck, dear. Oh and I think I see our neighbour Ms. Ketchum and her son pulling up," she said, "Ash, right?"
So Ash had finally arrived. "Wonder why they took so long. Ugh, rich people," I rolled my eyes.
"Dawn, that's not nice," my mother said in a warning tone.
"Whatever." I mused. "I'll see you out there mom."
"Bye dear and good luck!" I heard my mom say before the call ended.
Barry had yet to perform as he was still speaking to the judges, and I looked down at my phone, noticing the time. It was getting really late and I wondered how long it would take for Kenny to come back. Pursing my lips, I excused myself and decided to call Kenny.
"Hey Dawn, where are you going?" May asked, and all the other members glanced at me as well.
"I'm going to speak to Kenny, it's almost time for him to perform," I said, beginning to dial his number.
"But what about Barry? Aren't you going to watch him?" Zoey questioned.
I smiled. "I'm sure he'll do great! Just tell me how he does in case I miss it, okay?"
"Sure, no problem," Misty replied.
I gave a thankful smile to the members before walking to a near corner and placing the phone next to my ear. It rung for a couple of times before voicemail was heard. Sighing, I decided to call him again, but he refused to pick up. I gave Kenny about five missed calls before I gave up, frustrated.
Perhaps I was being ridiculous and consider the fact that he did mention that he was dealing with a family matter. Sighing, I decided to just wait for Kenny so I turned around to head back to the guys when-
"Dawn."
I stopped. Licking my lips slightly, I turned around.
"Hey, Ash."
The ebony haired male standing in front of me with a red T-shirt, covered by a leather jacket, white pants and red shoes, with a small smirk on his face, said, "I didn't expect that you'd be the first one I'd see when I go backstage."
I rolled my eyes. "Why are you so late anyways?" I asked, ignoring his comment.
"I was just dealing with something small," he said, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. "So," he added, taking a step closer to me, "are you ready to witness the dancin' legend on stage?"
I scoffed, unintimidated. "You won't be the legend for that long."
"Right. Well, we'll see what little miss Blue can do," he said, clear amusement on his face.
I had nothing but the look of determination. I stood there unfazed by him, as confidence built up in me like a fire.
Before anyone could say anything, I heard May's voice. "Dawn! Dawn!" I turned around to see May running up to me frantically, with a weird look on her face.
"What is it, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly.
May's expression changed to that of a choked laugh. "You'll never believe it! When Barry was performing, he accidentally tripped on his two left feet and landed on his face," she giggled.
I flinched slightly. "Is he okay?"
May rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he's fine but unfortunately with that accident, he's probably going to be eliminated from the competition," she said.
"Barry is always the first to get eliminated," Ash added, "It's sort of an ongoing trend, I guess."
"That sucks," I commented. "Wait, so that means it's time for the fifth performance!"
"Yeah," May said.
"Well now it's time for a small break, so don't go anywhere because we still have a bunch of performances coming up! I hope you all are enjoying the night so far!" Marian echoed through the mic and I sighed, a bit relieved. A break would be great right now.
"Ash? Ash?" I heard a voice say and I noticed Ash face-palming as Serena arriving backstage. She seemed to be searching for Ash. When she saw him, she looked a bit relieved. "There you are! Where were you, I thought we'd agree to meet up before you go backstage," she said, placing her hands on her hips. The honey blonde was wearing a sleeveless blue crop top, with some black leather leggings and black high heels. Her hair was placed neatly in a bun and her eyes were smeared with smoky eye-shadow and her lips had dark red lipstick.
"I forgot," Ash admitted sheepishly, but I could tell that was a lie to which Serena bought.
She rolled her eyes. Then, she looked towards May and I and lightly scoffed. I narrowed my eyes at her. What the hell was her problem?
"Why is it that whenever I talk to my boyfriend, you just happen to be there?" Serena commented, and truth be told it felt like she was snarling at me.
"I don't know, why is that you accuse me when I coincidentally happen to be with Ash?" I retorted back.
Serena growled and before she could yell profanities, May backed me up. "Dawn, you don't have to listen to someone like her," she said.
"Who asked you to butt in?" Serena yelled.
"Serena…stop," Ash suddenly spoke and to my surprise, he had an angered expression etched on his face as he pumped his fist and clenched his jaw. "That's enough, okay?" he said, in a warning tone.
Serena could only stare in shock at her boyfriend and she stepped up towards him. "No! Why is Dawn always with you?!"
His anger only increased. "Serena, stop acting like you're the most perfect girlfriend because you and I know both know you're not, so stop it with this shitty act of yours. And for the record, you don't need to accuse Dawn all the damn time, because there's a plausible reason why I talk to her. In fact there are plenty of reasons. First of all, we're in dance club together, we're neighbours, we're classmates, so of course engaging in a conversation with her is inevitable! And please for the love of God, you need to stop acting like a bitch." Ash spat.
To say that I was shocked was a vast understatement. I couldn't believe it. Ash actually…defended me. May's jaw had literally dropped at what she heard and apparently, the other guys had heard what Ash said as well when I noticed everyone else look at Ash in awe.
And meanwhile, Serena couldn't help the tears that started to form in her eyes. No doubt the fact that she couldn't believe that Ash had actually raged towards her, something which I believe he seldom did.
"Wha…how could you even say something like that? And, to me?" She managed to say, tears falling from her face. "I'm your girlfriend, Ash! I deserve to be treated with respect!"
"Respect?" He scoffed. "You wouldn't know the meaning of respect if it hit you in the face," he said.
I was flabbergasted. Never would I have thought I'd actually see the day Ash standing up for me and Serena in tears.
"Ash, don't do this to me! You know that you can't! You're being brainwashed by her," Serena said, pointing to me. I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. "Why are you defending her? You're supposed to crush her in this competition, Ash!"
"Just shut the hell up, Serena." Ash said, popping a vein. "Not everything is about this competition," he muttered before he walked away angrily.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Serena yelled after him, running after him but not before looking at me. "This is all your fault," she glared at me.
"My fault?!" I exclaimed. "Excuse me, your royal highness but Ash is right. You need to get yourself together and look at who you really are. And when you realize who you are right now, trust me, you won't hate me or Ash or anyone else…you'll hate yourself."
Serena didn't remove her glare from me, but her eyes wavered a little before she continued running after Ash.
It was quiet, until Gary said, "You know, this is even more exciting that the competition, I have to admit."
I sighed. Unbelievably, it was true.
A few minutes later, the drama had died down and the performances resumed. To my relief, I had finally seen Kenny backstage just when he was about to perform.
"Hey you're finally here!" I said, happily.
"Yeah, sorry," he muttered, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I would've been here sooner but there was an emergency and I had to take a relative of mine to the hospital," he admitted.
"What? Why didn't you tell me anything?" I asked.
He shrugged. "It wasn't anything you needed to be worried about."
"Of course it is, you're my boyfriend and obviously I care about your family, one day I'm gonna-" I stopped myself short when I suddenly realized I was about to give him the implication that we were going to get married one day.
Kenny caught the blush on my cheeks to my embarrassment. "What was that?" He asked, clearly amused.
"Nothing." I breathed, then cleared my throat as I heard him chuckle a bit. "Anyways, you've got to get ready now, it's almost time for you to perform."
He nodded. "Yeah. Wish me luck," he said.
"Good luck."
"Not like that," he said.
I raised my eyebrow. "Then…"
He rolled his eyes and suddenly his lips were on mine. He had had caught me off guard so I stumbled a bit but Kenny secured me against him with his arms around my waist. We broke the kiss, and I saw Kenny with an innocent and cute grin on his face.
"That seem familiar to you?"
I giggled. "Maybe," I said.
He smiled. "I'll see you after my performance," he said as he ventured onto the stage.
I sighed happily. I was about to go catch up with the others who were on the far end when I caught sight of a phone placed on the desk beside me. It had a glittery pink phonecase and it seemed to be pretty expensive. I wondered who it belonged to. As I was about to inquire who it belonged to, the phone suddenly vibrated, shaking slightly. I couldn't help but glance at the screen.
Apparently the message was from someone under the name, 'My Boo'. The phone had a password put in place, but despite that I could still see the message on the lock screen as a notification.
Yeah just give me a few mins, then we'll hang together later, babe ;)
"Ugh, I think I forgot my phone."
I instantly reacted and hid behind a tree planted as decoration. When I peeped out, I saw a familiar honey blonde take the phone from the desk and placing it in her pink purse. She brushed through a few strands of her blonde hair before she walked the other direction.
Realizing the coast was clear, I stepped out and began to analyse what happened a few seconds ago.
So, that was Serena's phone. It made sense, considering the fact that the phone would likely have belonged to her especially due to the extravagant phonecase and cost. But, why would Ash be texting her to meet up later when he was raging at her a half hour ago? Could they have made up that quickly?
No, that was impossible.
I widened my eyes in disbelief.
Serena was cheating on Ash.
Well I'd like to end the chapter here.
The competition will continue in the next chapter and we will see who advances to the second round. Now, describing dance is really tough for an author, especially where I have limited experience in dance itself, so hopefully I did a good job portraying their dance performances.
So with that said, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you guys next time.
Huh, what's that? Who's Serena cheating on Ash with? When will Ash and Dawn get together? You'll just have to continue reading. *evil laugh*