Hope you liked the last chapter. Like I said, the plot starts turning here. Sorry if I might make Leaf a bit of a Mary sue, I haven't perfected the skill of not focusing too much on one person yet. So please bear with me. Oh, and a very devious little person makes her debut. OC or canon character? Only time will tell…
Disclaimer: I want Leaf to be in the anime, and that's not happening. So that should be a clue to you, people.
Read on, y'all.
-Listening With Your Feet-
The girls all walked into the hall, and all movement stopped for a second. All eyes riveted to them, or more especially Leaf. Then the music started back up, and people started moving again, but whispered and murmured as Leaf and the others walked through the crowd.
Leaf looked down as she walked through the crowd, not looking up until she nearly walked into Paul.
"Watch it," he sneered, before plugging in his earphones once more.
"Tch," Leaf said. "So rude…."
"Is there something you'd like to say, slut?" Gary suddenly cut in as everyone else broke into conversation.
"Who spoke to you, hedgehog?"
"You don't have the right to just go around throwing insults at anyone you see."
"Says the stupid hypocrite who pushed me down and stroked me just some hours ago—"
"Shut it, bitch." Leaf raised her eyebrows. Who the hell did this guy think he was?
"Excuse me, who do you think you are?"
"For your information, hoe, I'm the son of the president of Silph. Co. worldwide. You're not the only one famous around here."
"Gary, I think that's enough for now." Ash stepped in.
"Why? You want to screw this twat?" Excuse me?
"Speaking of screwing, Gary, where's your slut?"
"Gary?" a voice called. When Leaf looked, she saw a redhead come up to Gary and start kissing him.
"Looks like that's the new stripper for the week." Leaf shook her head, and Ash used this as an opportunity.
"Would you like to dance, Leaf?"
Leaf's POV
I looked up at Ash, and felt my heart speeding up when I saw the wide grin on his face. How was it possible for someone to be both sexy and cute at the same time?
"I'd love to!"
He grinned wider, if that was even possible, and before I knew it, he'd dragged me out onto the dance floor.
I noticed that they were playing 'Havana' by Camila Cabello.
"Oh my gosh, I love this song!"
"You too, right! I like Camila Cabello."
"I LOVE her! And Ariana Grande."
"Um, not really, but I like Bruno Mars and Travis Scott."
"Say, Ash. You never told me what type of dance you do."
"Um, I do break."
I rolled my eyes. "Typical."
"You?"
"I do mainly contemporary and acro, but I do a little of the others as well. Including stripping of course," I wiggled my eyebrows at him, and he leaned in closer to me.
"I'd love to see a live demonstration…" he whispered, and my blood ran faster.
Then, all the lights went out, and only one focused on the stage. Onto it came a tall blonde woman, and a younger blonde…
The one that was with Porcupine Head.
"Good evening, students, and welcome back to Unova Dance Academy!"
The students whistled and clapped.
"Thank you. Now, this is a new semester, and for those of you who don't know, I am Principal Baker, and this here with me is my daughter, Veronica Baker. I'd love to announce that we've changed all our classes to strictly dancing. After all, practice makes perfect, and the Regional Dance Competition we've been anticipating since the beginning of this school year will be taking place in a month, and very soon, auditions for the official team, the Rhodium Troupe, that will be representing us against Jewel High and other schools will be organized. Also," she tapped the mic, "we have a very special person joining our school this session. A celebrity, like many of you…"
My face lit up in hope. I wasn't any of those cliché shy girls, I couldn't wait to show these people how good I was. I wanted to get on that team and become dance captain, but with the Principal's daughter guaranteed to be on the team, that would be hard. Still, I had to get in.
"… give it up for a renowned and very famous dancer and gymnast… Emerald Ocean!" Principal Baker shouted.
Another light came onto me, and soon the whole crowd was clapping and chanting "Emerald! Emerald!"
I glanced to my left, and all the girls were clapping excitedly, Drew was clapping, Paul smirked and gestured to the stage, and Gary scowled at me, rolled his eyes and kept eating his girlfriend's face.
"Would you come up stage, Miss Ocean?"
This time, I looked to my right, and Ash was clapping and looking at me. "Go on!" he urged me, pushing me up onto the stage.
I didn't need to be told twice.
I practically skipped through the opening the cheerful crowd had made for me, and bounded up to the stage. As I made eye contact with Veronica, she sent a smile my way, but I could see right through her steely blue eyes.
That bitch. And she was so skinny and… flat. So low for even Gary.
Shaking my head, I ignored her and turned to the crowd. "Hello, everyone. It's nice to meet you all. I hope that I can build on my knowledge and really get into the things I love here, and make some amazing friends. You can call me Leaf, it's my real name. I'm really looking forward to this, and…"
"Why," a squealy voice called out, "don't you show us what you've learned already?"
Of course. Veronica Bitcher.
"I mean," she continued, "since you're a dancer already, you should know some stuff. And you should be top-condition. So, like I said, show us what you've learned. Because dressing up good is certainly not one of them."
"Veronica!" her mom scolded her.
"No, mom, she's probably better than all of us, right?"
I widened my eyes. "I never said—"
"So why doesn't she go up against someone?"
I felt my blood simmering. Without thinking, I yelled, "send out your worst."
She seemed to smirk, and I realized that I might have dug myself into some deep shit.
"Alright, I pick. Raina."
The entire crowd burst into murmurs.
"Yikes. Raina's the best dancer in this school."
"Okay, Raina is as good as even Emerald Ocean. Maybe even better…"
"Oh no. No one's ever beaten Raina before."
"Raina's always saying that no one in this school is good enough for her. She might have met her match, at last."
"Let's just see."
I looked down at my sneakers. What type of dance would I do?
As I was pondering, a girl came up to the stage. She had long strawberry blonde hair in a high ponytail, and was tall. Like taller than Misty. Maybe she was a senior? I was a junior.
"'Kay, newbie." She cracked her knuckles. "Let's do this."
I smiled. "Yeah. Let's."
-Listening With Your Feet-
(A/N: To get an idea of what this scene looks like, go look up 'Riverdale dance-off scene' on YouTube. I'm making Leaf Veronica, and Raina Cheryl. The dances Leaf and Raina will do won't be the same as Veronica and Cheryl's, but the music will be the same, as well as the Victor.)
We can turn it up better think I bring her back x2
I moved my hair behind my shoulders, listened…
And danced.
Jumping up, I swung my arms around me and started to perform a series of somersaults, cartwheels and flips, until my turn was over.
Then Raina stepped forward and started to dance, while the crowd cheered her on. And I stared.
Man, this girl could dance. Very well. She'd be some good competition. But of course I was still better.
When she finished, I stepped in and we both performed the last part of the dance, moving in perfect sync with the music. When it stopped, Raina finished with a dramatic flair of her hair, and I did a triple Arab somersault and landed in a middle split.
The crowd was dead silent, and I knew I'd done well.
Misty, who had been smiling and restraining herself, jumped onto the stage. "If you liked Raina say Raina!"
"Raina!" Almost the entire crowd cheered. Shit…
Including Gary.
"If you liked Leaf say Emerald!"
The crowd was quiet, and my face started heating up.
"EMERALD!" The whole crowd screamed, and started clapping. "Emerald! Emerald…"
I jumped up and down, a smile on my face. Raina came toward me and stuck out her hand.
"You're an amazing dancer."
I shook it. "Thanks. You'd have won if I hadn't carefully contemplated my every move."
Misty dragged me off stage, into the crowd, who carried me on their hands.
"YOU KILLED IT!" Ash said, reaching up to high five me.
"Yeah!"
-Listening With Your Feet-
Man, I was having the time of my life.
Everyone wanted to dance against me, not so they could see if they won me, just for the fun of it. But still, I won them all. Apparently, it was what almost all dance schools did at parties. But I was freaking LOVIN' IT!
"Hey, Emerald!" A blonde boy called to me.
"Please! It's Leaf!"
"Cool, cool!" He seemed to be impatient, making me curious. What did he want?
"Could we dance?"
I nodded gleefully, smiling. "Of course!"
The nearby people heard and made another space so we could go at it. Hey, don't blame me, I love dancing! After the dance was over, the crowd cheered and I hugged the guy.
"That was so cool." The crowd had dissipated.
"Thanks!" I replied happily. He held out his hand, and I took it.
"I'm Barry."
"Leaf, as you already know."
We stared at each other for a while, then burst out into laughter. Why? I didn't know.
"See you around, Barry." He nodded and walked away.
When I heard cheering somewhere, I looked and grinned.
May was dancing off against a very attractive boy with white hair, and the crowd was going crazy. I could see them both laughing as they danced, and when they stopped, I ran over and cheered for May. She laughed about something with the guy, punching his arm, and funny enough, I saw Drew fuming behind her.
Hmmm… I smell romance…
When the guy walked away, I ran up to May.
I yelled over the beat of the music. "May! You were amazing!"
"Not as much as you!" her cheeks were flush, and her hair was flipped but still looked great. I also noticed that she'd ditched her slides so she could dance more easily, like I did a lot.
"So who was that guy you were talking to?"
Her eyebrows raised, before she remembered. "Oh, that's Brendan. He's one of my friends…"
"Right." I scrunched up my eyebrows suspiciously, smirking. "Friends. Which explains why Drew's face would beat a beetroot in a redness contest."
"Oh?" she looked surprised, before turning around and seeing Drew's face, then sighed exasperatedly.
What was going on?
May noticed my confused look, and explained. "Drew's my boyfriend, in case you were wondering, and Brendan's a close friend of his as well. He just doesn't want him to be friends with me because he's scared that I'll fall for Brendan and dump him."
Needless to say, I was confused. "And why would you?"
"I have no idea. I wish he'd trust me more…" she mumbled, looking sad. Okay, I'd been through this with the girls at the club. I knew exactly what to say.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't pull that card." She looked at me, lost. "Listen, May. It's not because he doesn't trust you. Not at all. I think you two are a match made in heaven, you go so well together."
May giggled "Thanks…"
"But still. I can tell from the way you interact that he loves you with everything in him, and surely that means he trusts you. He just doesn't want to lose you to anyone else, May. If that's not love, I don't know what it is. Or maybe he's just one of those boys that go overprotective if you're with another guy… I don't know. I don't know him, May. But you do. And to be honest, you should have enough faith in him, and him in you, if you want this to work out."
"Wow…" May gazed away thoughtfully. "That makes a lot of sense."
I nodded. "But what you need to do right now is go over there, assure him that you'll always be with him, but fight for your rights. You should be allowed to be friends with anyone you want to. Sure, you're dating, but even if, you don't belong to him. Well, you do, but I mean… like… he doesn't own you, if you get what I'm saying. He has no control over what you do. So go clarify that."
Wow. I was proud of myself. Didn't think I had it in me…
May hugged me gratefully.
"I've only just met you today, Leaf, but I love you already. I can tell we're going to be great friends." She walked away.
I felt funny. Like a warm little sun was growing in my belly. Walking over to the food table, I grabbed some punch, enjoying the sweet taste of it on my tongue.
Not on my clothes, or my skin for that matter. What the hell?
I turned around to see Veronica and five girls with her. Laughing their sorry little asses off.
"You shitty ass-wipes," I growled out, wiping the punch out of my eyes. How dare they.
"WHAT THE F**K?!" (A/N: The 'f' word is, like, the only bad word I don't use. Note that bad words are different from swear words. All swear words are bad words, but not all bad words are swear words. Like 'shit', 'damn', 'hell' and 'sex', including stuff like 'cunt' and 'twat' are bad words only. Interlude over, please continue.)
The brunette girl beside Veronica walked up to the front, pushing my shoulder. "You're too salty for you own good, new girl."
"Yeah." The other blonde apart from Veronica walked up, too. By now, a crowd had started gathering, and Misty and Dawn were standing cautiously, ready to step in if anything happened. "So we helped to tone you down a little. You should be thanking us for that, newbie."
"Cara. Laurel. Back," Veronica ordered, and the two of them scurried back to where they were standing before, like little squirrels.
Sick.
"Now listen here, Emmie," she sneered.
"It's Leaf."
"Whatever. Look. Stay out of my way, and Gary's way…"
My face morphed into a 'what the hell' expression. "Bitch? That jerk dumped you!" I rolled my eyes. "Desperate much?"
"Stay away from me, and no one gets hurt."
I was getting annoyed. "Um, yeah. Yourself included, am I right?" I tilted my head and bitch-smiled at her as she gasped in horror. "And I wouldn't want to come four feet near your nasty ass, terrible dancer that you are."
"EXCUSE ME? I'll have you know—"
"Know what? You're a good dancer?" She nodded. "But good dancers don't doubt themselves because they know that they can never match up to someone's ability. Namely, myself."
I smirked in satisfaction as her eyes widened, then narrowed in anger, and Ash, joined by Misty and Dawn, came up to me to back me up.
Veronica was seething. "You better shut it down, newbie."
"Or what, Slut-nica Bitcher?" I raised an eyebrow, my blood sizzling and my heart speeding up. I loved a good fight, even more so when I was involved. "You had to call out someone to dance against me," I said, moving closer to her, "because you're a bad dancer yourself, am I right?"
The crowd was whispering furiously, eager to see what would happen next.
"No, I love dancing!"
"But that doesn't mean you're good at it. Or why would you call Raina to do it for you?" She pursed her lips, and my voice dipped down to a menacing hiss. "Just admit it," I spat at her face, her whole body trembling with restrained fury.
"You knew you wouldn't be able to beat me."
I stepped away in satisfaction, walking back to my… friends? Would I call them that?
I was about to walk away with them, when I heard the asshole's voice.
"Oh, really? I could finish you any day."
I whirled around, smiling in surprise. She wasn't tired yet?
"Fine." I faced her squarely. "Prove it." By now, my blood was searing hotly, preparing for another face off. I cracked my punch covered knuckles.
She seemed to smirk. "Oh, I will. But, not here."
"Why? Too scared?"
"Of course not." She scoffed. "I want to see the look on your ugly ass face when I, number one, get into the Rhodium Troupe and you don't, and/or number two," she raised up her index and middle finger. "I get the Dance Captain spot." She cocked an eyebrow. "Think you can handle it, Mucus girl?"
I smirked, my heart racing, my blood pounding. I was never one to turn down a good challenge.
And at that very moment, as we stood nose to nose in the center of the crowd, our supporters behind us, and the crowd screeching with anticipation, I knew that a rivalry had just been born.
I wasn't about to back down. I loved dance with my life.
And no one dared to use it as anything less than the beauty that it was, which is what Veronica did. I was going to show her who's boss. Who's the Dance Master around here.
And as we stood, opposite, with her cronies behind her and Dawn, Misty, Ash, and now May, by my side, I felt it. The battle cry in my ears. The thrill of excitement thrumming in my veins, propelled by my heart, energized and prepared for what was to come.
Of a war that had bloomed. One that never would be forgotten.
"You're on, Veronica."
And that's your third chapter for you, people. I've made it longer than usual, because I know how much I get irritated when I see a short chapter in any story. Sorry it took a while. I've got a lot of tests, but I managed to put it up for you.
So what do you think? Was it a good chapter?
Leaf's found a rival, people. Serious shit is going to go down.
I can't tell when the next update is going to be. Probably sometime next week, but nothing definite.
R&R F&F. PM. Bye.