Chapter 3: Dazzling Nightmare
Lavanya was at a club watching teenagers dancing under the bright neon lights. She fiddled with a lock of her hair staring at the floor until she saw a pair of shoes right in front of her. Slowly looking up she saw a young man smiling seductively at her.
"Hey baby..."
Lavanya woke up, startled then she looked at her clock- -It was 5:45 AM. She panted softly, wiping her forehead that was slightly covered in a light sheet of sweat. Momo looked at her and squeaked softly.
"Momo..." Lavanya called then she smiled petting her chinchilla's head.
"I'm fine... It was just a bad dream..." She said calmly then she stood up and opened the curtain. She could slightly see the sky changing color as morning rises. Changing out of her pajamas, Lavanya got dressed and was ready to head to work.
"Momo, watch the house while I'm gone okay?" She said then Momo was right in front of her and he squeaked happily.
"Morning, Mr. Smiley sir. I'm ready to get started!" Lavanya said with a smile.
"Wow, you're full of enthusiasm. I like it! Okay, Lavanya, you can start by getting customer in. How good are you with signs?"
"Uh... Signs...?" Lavanya repeated. Minutes later, Lavanya was standing outside the arcade holding a sign that says "Come on in, we got the games".
If I knew I was gonna be holding a sign all day, I'd rather work at Jenny's family's restaurant... Lavanya thought then she sighed.
"Hi, Lavanya!" A familiar voice greeted then Lavanya turned and saw Steven along with a girl she didn't recognized.
"Steven, hello. And hello." Lavanya greeted looking at the girl. She had dark brown puffy hair that went all the way down to her waist and dark skin.
"Lavanya this is Connie. Connie this is Lavanya. She's new to Beach City."
"Nice to meet you, Lavanya." The girl, Connie greeted, holding out her hand then Lavanya put the sign down and shook Connie's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Connie."
"Lavanya has this cute friendly pet too! What was Momo called again, Lavanya?"
"Momo is a chinchilla."
"A chinchilla? Can I see it?" Connie asked her eyes filled with excitement.
"Sure. Unfortunately Momo isn't with me right now. But tell you what, how about after work you guys can come over to my house and play with him?"
"Really?! Can we?!" Steven asked excitedly then Lavanya smiled.
"Sure. It can be a little quiet when it's just me and Momo."
"Don't you ask Sour Cream to come over?"
"Sour Cream is a nice guy, unfortunately if he plays his music at my place, it would probably scare my poor Momo."
"That's true... Chinchilla's can't handle very loud noise because it'll startle them."
"So when are you done working?" Steven asked then Lavanya picked up the sign.
"Well, Mr. Smiley told me to attract customers to come to the arcade by using this sign."
"Oh! I know how you use that sign to get customers to come in." Steven said then he held out his hands and Lavanya handed him the sign.
"My dad showed me these cool moves when holding a sign." He said as he started twirling the sign around then both Lavanya and Connie clapped their hands.
"Amazing Steven! That must've taken years to master that!"
"It's quite easy." Steven chuckled bashfully then Lavanya pulled her phone out and played some upbeat music.
"Some music and your mad sign twirling skills will surely bring a crowd."
"Don't worry Momo, we'll get those customers and see you real soon!" Steven cheered then he twirled the sign. After an hour of Steven explaining and even showing other sign twirling moves both Lavanya and even Connie learned how to twirl the sign like Steven.
Another hour passed and there was a crowd circling around the three as they were dancing and passing the sign to one another to twirl. The crowd cheered some went inside the arcade to play when they couldn't see Steven, Connie, and Lavanya.
"I gotta have it to ya Lavanya. You sure brought in a big crowd, and on your first day too. Tell you what, I can take it from here." Mr. Smiley said then Lavanya looked at him with a shocked look.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. You worked pretty hard. And it sure paid off." Mr. Smiley said as he looked at Connie and Steven passing the sign and twirling it.
"Take the rest of the day off. My treat." He said then Lavanya hugged Mr. Smiley.
"Let's wrap it up, Steven and Connie! Mr. Smiley gave me the rest of the day off!" Lavanya said happily then both Steven and Connie nodded.
"Time to show the crowd the Razzle Dazzle!" Steven said as he started twirling the sign over his head then he gracefully tossed it to Connie and when she caught it she started moving towards Lavanya twirling the sign around her body. As Lavanya was about to catch the sign, her heart sank when she saw someone hauntingly familiar in the crowd. The sign fell and everyone gasped and started murmuring to one another. When Lavanya shook her head she saw that the person was someone else. She gripped her chest, her face was sickly pale.
"Lavanya? Are you okay? What happened?" Steven asked worriedly then when Lavanya looked up and saw Steven, Connie, and even the whole crowd looking at her, her heart almost stopped. She quickly ran away from the crowd and headed straight home.