Debuting... Kristen Gregory!

I silently gasped at the guy with the bloodied nose in front of me. With the glares he was shooting at the other boy, he didn't look like the nice guy I'd met back at the airport who helped me with my bags.

Yes, I'd met Cam Fisher before. And I've gotta admit that I know why there's probably a Cam fan-club, since I'd be the president if the opportunity ever came. This guy is handsome, nice, and has the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen.

"What's going on?" Massie asked, crossing her arms.

I patiently waited for them to respond, but they remained scowling at each other. The girls who had stayed behind, some redhead and a short blonde, began to climb down the stairs.

"Derrick?" the blonde gasped. "What happened?"

The puppy-eyed boy, Derrick, looked away.

Cam's glare deepened. "What? You aren't going to tell your little sister how you punched me out of the blue?"

"You were insulting me," Derrick spat.

"I was telling you the truth: that you're an idiot! Just because Alicia dances ballet doesn't give you the right to call her an 'airhead with no future'," Cam growled.

Massie perked up at this. "What?"

I could feel the tension between them, which made me uncomfortable. It seemed as if they were going to lash out at each other.

Massie frowned. "Go look for another place to fight, I don't even know why you came here-"

"I came here to strike a bet with you," Derrick smirked, eyeing Massie up and down. "Prove to me that Cam is not a jerky chicken, and I'll give you the opportunity to kiss me."

Remember my previous fear of them lashing out at each other? Well, it happened.

I jumped as Cam dived on top of Derrick, both of them somehow rolling to the backyard. Derrick's sister and the redheaded girl, who I later learned were Sammi and Dylan respectively, ran down the stairs and jumped outside. Massie and I were too afraid to go outside like the other students, but we could hear the grunts and punches thrown at each other. I could spot two guys, a light brown-haired one and a redhead, trying to pull the boys away from each other. But I guess their anger made them stronger, because as far as I knew, they were still glued to each other. I could see the crowd's expressions. Some seemed astonished and shocked, others were cheering it on. Among those, there was a tough-looking boys with olive-colored skin, who was smiling.

I could see Sammi crying. "You guys are going to kill each other! Please, stop!"

She was trying to jump in and do something, but I could tell she was too scared to do so.

Massie glanced at the clock, pale. She gasped out, "Why isn't Head Burns coming?"

I spotted a glass of water on the counter. If I didn't want to have witnessed a death in my first day of school, I had to do something. Grabbing it, I pushed my way outside and, careful not to throw it at the boys trying to pull them away, I dumped the cold water on Derrick and Cam. The sight was pretty gross. I'm not going to go into detail, but there was a lot of blood.

Derrick was frowning at me. "What in the world?!"

Cam was about to punch Derrick, taking advantage of his bewildered state, but the brown-haired boy held him back.

"Let me go, Plovert!" Cam growled, glaring at Derrick.

Massie had joined me, and she looked as if she wanted to puke at the sight of the boys' faces.

The redheaded boy looked at me gratefully before managing to pull Derrick to his feet.

"Why did you have to butt in, Todd?" Derrick grunted, scowling.

"Why did you guys nearly have to kill each other?!" an exotic-looking girl exclaimed. I recognized her voice as Alicia's, even though it didn't sound as confident as it had an hour ago.

"Because I can't stand boys who dance what girls should be dancing!" Derrick spat at Cam.

Cam's jaw tensed. "You did not just say that."

"I did. What are you going to do about it? Try to beat me up? Because a few seconds ago, I was sort of winning until blondie here cut in," Derrick replied. He turned to look at me. "What's your name?"

I crossed my arms, pressing my lips together. I simply gazed at him.

"What, can't speak?" he urged.

"She doesn't want idiots like you to know her name," Massie told him.

Derrick smirked. "And I don't want weak girls who prance around in tutus knowing my name. But, hey, what can I do?"

Massie scowled. "You jerk! Think that I'm a weak girl? You wouldn't survive half a day in ballet practice!"

"Yeah, out of embarrassment," Derrick wittily answered.

A roll of laughter swept by the crowd, most of them from whom I guessed were hip hop dancers by the way they looked at us.

"Derrick, please, stop it," Sammi begged him. She wasn't crying anymore, but her freckled cheeks were stained with tears.

"Ballet is one of the toughest sports around! We bleed, we hurt and we don't even say a peep. If you see us dancing, you'd be surprised of how much pain we might be in," Massie told him with anger. Her amber eyes were narrowed, and her delicate hands were balled into fists.

Get him, Massie! I wanted to exclaim. But I just smiled at her.

"Oh, really?" Derrick asked. "Well, then... you 'tough' girls wouldn't be able to survive a day of practice in hip hop. And not because you're weak, but because ballerinas are robots. They can't really feel the music like a dancer should."

I crossed my arms. Loving ballet more than anything else, I take offense.

"What if I told you I can beat you in a hip hop dance-off with just one month of practice?" Massie continued, placing her hands on her hips.

Derrick laughed, and so did the other hip hop dancers. "What?"

"Yeah, we can strike a bet," Massie pressed the matter on. She was smirking with confidence. "I'll win, so you can choose your choice of punishment."

Derrick raised his eyebrows, smiling in amusement. "You sure are confident, Block. Well... for a month every Friday, we'll go around Westchester Mall wearing tutus, leotards and tights included, with a banner on our back saying 'ballet dancers kick hip hop dancers' butts'. And if we win... us hip hop dancers get to handpick our servant, who is going to attend us twice a week for a month." He turned to look at me. "My choice is either that blondie, Mr. Fisher or you, Block. Just to let everybody else know that when we win not to choose either of them until I've decided whom I'll be choosing."

"You've got a deal, Harrington," Massie answered, coldly.

"Good," Derrick replied. He nodded, his lips pressed together. "See you tomorrow at practice, then."

And with that, the blonde left. His hip hop followers left too, but not before glaring at us or smirking.

The tough-looking guy from before crossed his arms. "Gee, I don't know which I'm going to side with, since I hate both ballet and hip hop dancers."

"You and your stupid jazz dancers should just leave, Josh," Cam told him, glaring.

"We were about to," Josh told him, smirking. "I was just contemplating if I should finish off Derrick's job since you called us stupid."

To my surprise, a spark of fear flashed in Cam's mismatched eyes.

"Let's go, guys," Josh ordered. He left, and the other jazz dancers followed him.

Taking one glance at Cam, who was now sitting on the ground wiping blood away, I decided to quickly rush inside. Wetting a towel and filling a clean glass with water, I returned outside. Not every ballet dancer had returned from the party, but the ones who had were already heading to their rooms. Chris was kneeling down next to Cam.

"You okay, dude?" he asked. He spotted me, and smiled. "You must be the new girl, er..."

"Kristen," Cam answered for me, his eyes on the ground.

My heart skipped a bit. I smiled. "That's right."

Chris looked at Cam, surprised. "You know her?"

Cam finally looked up at me. "I helped her out with her bags back at the airport."

I tucked a strand of my straight hair behind my ear, trying to act as if him remembering me didn't mean a thing. Though, I'm sure my green eyes were as bright as a Christmas tree by now.

Chris nodded. "I see... well, welcome to Dance Academy. Where the hip hop, jazz, and ballet dancers hate each other. Hope you have a nice stay!" He patted Cam's shoulder. "I'll meet you back in our dorm."

Cam nodded, pursing his lips. Chris smiled at me before leaving.

Once Cam and I were left alone, I made my way toward him, sitting on the grass next to him. I handed him the towel. "Here."

He gazed at me before taking it and wiping off his face. He slightly smiled as I handed him the glass of water. "Thanks."

"No problem," I replied, feeling my heart beat faster when his shoulder brushed with mine.

One look at him made me know that his pride was hurt. From some comments I heard, Derrick was winning the fight. And it was quite obvious by the state of his body. Mustering all my courage, a placed my hand on his shoulder. "Are you feeling better?"

He turned to look at me, slightly smiling. "I guess..." He shook his head, chuckling bitterly. "Head Burns is going to kill me tomorrow."

I gazed at his bruised eye. "I don't think she'll want to after looking at you."

Cam grinned, nodding. "Hopefully. Head Burns turns crazy when she's angered."

I bit my lower lip, grinning. "Sort of reminds me of my ballet teacher back home."

"Must be a ballet thing," Cam replied. "Even Massie turns crazy when she is angered by the smallest things. Hopefully, you aren't that way. I'm not sure if your pretty face would look so nice all scrunched up and furious."

I giggled, trying my hardest not to blush. But I'm sure I was bright red. Cam's growing smile was a giveaway.

"You're from Pennsylvania, if I remember correctly," Cam told me.

"From Philadelphia, to be exact," I added, smiling up at him.

Cam nodded. "I'm guessing your parents must've been so proud of you getting a scholarship to a New Yorkean academy."

I shrugged. "Not really."

Cam frowned.

"In my family, dancing isn't really a thing to be serious about. It's more of a hobby," I explained. "My mom wanted me to become a lawyer, so she was pretty disappointed when I told her about my application for the scholarship."

"What about your dad? There's gotta be at least one person who supports you..."

"My dad is probably the reason why my mom hates ballet so much," I told him. "He left us for a ballerina."

Cam's smile disappeared. "Oh."

"But it's okay," I quickly added, not wanting to stir the conversation into an awkward position. "I was really little when he did, so I don't remember him well."

Cam nodded. "If either my parents would hate ballet, I don't think I would've kept on with it. What they say means the world to me."

"Yeah, I know how you feel. At first, I wanted to please my mother. But in eighth grade, after attending a ballet recital, I realized I really hated law. So I joined ballet in ninth grade," I revealed. "I know it's pretty late, but I did advance in my pointe technique faster than most, so... I mean, there's still a lot to get better at, but to have joined two years ago I guess-"

Cam chuckled, ruffling my hair. "For you to have gotten a scholarship to Dance Academy is because you must be really good at it."

I smiled.

"Kristen, I'm about to close the door to our room in one minute! If you're not here by then, I'll close the door and you'll have to bunk in with Cam, since you like talking to him so much," I heard Massie exclaim, leaning by the door.

Cam grinned and I blushed.

Massie turned around, and I spotted her climb up the stairs.

"Massie will always be the Massie I know," Cam commented.

I stood up. "I've only been here one day, and I know what you mean."

Cam jumped up to his feet, grinning. "Good luck on being her roommate."

"Thanks," I replied. "Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow."

"You can bet on that," he informed me.

"Good night."

"Good night."

He smiled at me, and I looked down. "Bye." And with that, I turned to leave.

Once I was inside, I found myself facing a white-blonde girl with wide blue eyes, and a dear-in-the-headlights expression. "Is he gone?"

"Huh?"

"Cam," she detailed.

"He just left," I answered.

She sighed, clearly disappointed. "Alright..."

She turned around and climbed up the stairs, and I followed. I spotted her entering the dorm in which Massie had said Claire and Layne lived. I'm guessing she must be Claire... when I turned around, I found Massie looking at me, her arms crossed.

"Hey," I said.

Massie sighed. "I told you, if you wanted a boyfriend, go for Chris. You saw him. Isn't he cute?"

I looked down, rubbing my arm. "Yeah... but he seemed more like a friend."

"Look, stop finding Cam attractive," Massie warned me. "He's my friend and a nice guy, so I didn't want to tell you this before. But he has this thing of leading girls on. Remember what I said about Claire? How she's, like, obsessed with him? Well, she would've forgotten him a long time ago if it weren't for him. They talk only a few times, but whenever they do, I can tell Cam makes Claire feel as if he's interested. I know because I've been there and seen that."

I remained silent.

"I don't know if he does it because he wants to, or because that comes naturally with him," Massie continued. "But if he made you feel as if you had any chance with him... forget it. Understood?"

I bit my lower lip, nodding.

"Good," she sighed. "Now, let's go."

Now all the main characters have been mentioned! I think I'm only missing a couple or so. Well, thanks for your reviews last time! Hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter :) Stay tuned! Also, feel free to guess whose POV I'll write next chapter!