Chapter 4: Dancemania
They arrived at Dancemania with ten minutes to go before ten o'clock. Clarence couldn't help noticing how big the two bouncers were who stood at the door and how they looked like identical twins. The counter staff and the other club goers all looked big too. To his surprise they weren't all black.
At the youth club dances and the raves that he had been to in the past, most of the people were around his age. As these places he was quite well known. But here he was just like anyone else. He felt a sense of adventure, like going into an unknown world.
Sumo and Jeff handed their three dollars each to their leader Clarence and he paid the entrance fees. This gave him a feeling of importance. The woman taking the money just waved Sophie on and they were in. The dance floor was packed with bodies moving to the music. There was no order. This was freestyle with people dancing any way they wanted to. A cloud of tobacco smoke hang just below the ceiling. Clarence thought that the way the lights impacted on the smoke made the place look heavenly.
The four newcomers started into the dance floor, the music was a loud as the raves that they were accustomed to but the outstanding feature with this sound system was the bass. The floor shivered with the bass notes and even though the four had not fully acclimatized yet, they could not stop themselves from nodding their heads and tapping their feet to the beat.
The bass made sure of that, it was unnatural to fight it.
Sophie felt someone gently pull her Ponytail. It was one of the girls from the Rough Riders Fried Chicken shop, the one wearing the Jamaican flag. She had to shout directly to Sophie's ear to be heard. –So ya made it, den?-
-Yeah-Not having spoken since begin inside the club Sophie did not realise how easy for words to get lost.
-Pardon?-
-I said YEAH!-Sophie Shouted.
-Which one's ya boyfriend, den?-
Sophie pointed to Clarence, who by now was nodding frantically to a record by the rapper Freak Froggy Frog.
-Does he likes rap, den?-
-He does now-Sophie replied with a smile on her face.
-Come here and meet me home girls-
-Meet your who?-Sophie Shouted
-Me home girls, me crew, me frens-
Sophie signaled the three to follow her and they followed Sophie's new friends to a corner of the club were music was just a couple of decibels lower than on the Dance floor.
The painted brick walls covered with condensations made it look at if even the walls were sweating. This corner was more relaxed, people came here to chill out or cool down when things got too hot. The other two girls that Sophie had met outside the Rough Riders Fried Chicken shop were drinking beer and looking out for people they knew. As the two groups met they greeted each other with a nod. Not a word was spoken until Jeff felt that he had to say something and exercise his tongue.
He leant over to Sophie. –Hey, Sophie, introduce us to your friends, I feel Stupid-
Sophie leaned over to the girl wearing the Jamaican flag. –What's your names?-
She gatered them all together into a tight little circle and they introduced themselves to each other.
The Jamaican flag girl was called Marica. She was the small one, only five foot and a great basketball player. The girl wearing the I Love Jamaica T-shirt had just returned from Jamaica with her parents. This was the reason for all the Jamaican Paraphernallia. Her name was Tina but everyone called her Teen. The tallest of the three was called Nasreen which meant Jericho Rose. When she first told Marica and Teen what her name meant they began to call her Jericho Rose and she hated it, so they now called her Naz. Because of her height people always thought she was a basketball player but she hated basketball and was crazy about West Ham United Football Club.
A couple of attempts were made to strike up some conversation but the volume of the music only allowed a few words to be said at a time. An exchange of ideas or a debate on a theory was very difficult.
For the next couple of records, everyone stood around nooding their heads to the music. Teen let the group and quickly returned with two large cans of beer. She pulled the rings and opened both cans. After taking a sip from one she passed to Marica, then she taking a sip from the other can and passed it to Clarence.
Sophie leaned over to Clarence and shouted over the music –What are you doing? You don't drink-
Clarence smiled and replied back loudly, -This ain't drunking. Two cans between seven people, you can't get drunk on that-
-You can-She insisted
-Don't be silly-
Clarence put the can to his mouth and took a really big gulp before he handed it to Sophie. –Just have a sip, it won't hurt you-
Sophie took a small sip and passed it on to Naz, Naz took a sip and passed it on to Sumo. And so the two cans circulated around the group before ending up empty on the ground. Clarence drank a lot. Sumo tried to look like he had drunk a lot. Jeff drank very little and Sophie had two minute sips. Soon Clarence was really going into the music, and now he was not just watching but admiring some of the dancers on the floor. He notices that Sophie and her friends were happily dancing away as if the had been friends for years.
Clarence couldn't contain himself any longer. He turned his basketball cap backwards and hit the Dance floor. His head was doing fine, on the beat every time. Now he had to get rest of his body to work. He ment which worked –He looked around to make sure no disappointed-. From there he added a sideways step that seemed to work, and he continued with a one, two, three, forward, a one, two, three, left, one, two, three, right trip which meant that he commanded even more space and still no one complained –the fact that he got the room he needed was a sign that he deserved it-. After a minute he realised that he had to do more, it was becoming a bit routine and his hands weren't doing much, so he took all steps and applied the chaos theory, going forward, then left, then backwards, then left, then forward, then right, any way at all. The he put his hands in the air and…PANIC! No one else has their hands in the air, He thought. Do I look like a raver? I don't want to look like a raver in here.
At this point he noticed a couple of people looking. His hands were still in the air but he didn' want his concerns to be known, so he moved his hands from side to side and whilst he was doing that he lost the rhythm in his feet.
Now he really began to panic. He scream internally, Oh, no, I look like Cliff Richard, I'm dancing like my parents.The more he tried to return to his credible steps and find something useful to do with his hands, the more he though he'd lost it. No, they're looking at me, he said to himself. What can I do with my hands?
In front of him he saw somebody dancing and adding gymnastics moves to the dance. That's it, Clarence thought, I can do that. His feet found the rhythm and he close his beat well. When it hit the went down for the splits and bounced back. It worked, he counted in his head one, two, three, and lounged forward as if he was going to fall on his face and at he last minute he put his hands forward to cushion himself. Now the other gymnastic dancer noticed and came to dance in front of Clarence, copying his moves and falling at his feet. The crowd made space and Clarence realised they were now the central attraction.
The boy went down into the splits position and put both his hands on the floor to his left, then he bounced again, bringing his hands to the right as he came down, then he rolled forward and headed-first on to his feet, and as he landed he was still dancing with his hands on his hips.
The crowd clapped, Clarence looked around and there was Marica, Sophie, Naz and Teen bopping to the beat looking on. –Go on, Clarence, do ya stuff- Came a shout from behind. It was Sumo.
Jeff stood silent, suffering from disbelief.
Clarence dropped into the splits with his hands to he left, then to the right. He then put his hands one to each side and picked himself up. After a little fancy footwork he dropped down again, spun himself around and rolled forward head-first on to his feet.
This was enough to get the crowd going, but then to everyon's astonishment Clarence moonwalked backwards, took two steps and somersaulted. He landed perfectly, finishing in a muscle man pose.
The crowd loved it, they cheered and reached out to touch the two dancers. The two dancers slapped their hands in the air and went their separate ways. It was a friendly competition and not a word has been passed between the two dancers. There was rapturous applause from the crowd and Clarence, now the cool white brother, had earned some respect.
Sophie and her friends made their way back to their corner. The Gang of three followed after Clarence had received all his congratulations and what he felt like a hundred of pats on his back. Sophie was speechless –less two hours ago he didn't like rap. In the past when she saw him dancing he looked as if he was being forced- now he was the star of the show.
Marica didn't know all this of course. –Hey man, ya didn't say ya boyfriend was a dance champ-
Clarence decided to be honest –I can't dance, I'm just good at gymnastics-
-I've got over a hundred witnesses, you just rocked the house-Marica shouted.
It was Naz and Teen's turn. Clarence couldn't tell who was saying what as a compliments rained down on him.
-Yu bad guy-
-Yeah man, ya wicked-
-De cool ruler-
-Cool and easy does it-
Clarence was on top of the world. Going from a nobody to being the main attraction had done his ego a world of good. His credibility was sealed and Sophie was proud of him.
Jeff looked at his watch. It was now after midnight and he was beginning to felt tired. His was never much of a clubber and even though he was enjoying himself, his eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. He was sitting at a table with Sumo. Clarence was still standing, nodding his head and trying desperately to understand what these rap lyrics meant. The alcohol did not help to make out what all these American rap artistes were saying.
Jeff was beginning to really feel the pressure. The noise and the smoke were getting to him but he didn't want to spoil for the others.
Then he heard a voice from behind. –How ya doing, mate?-
Jeff turned around and look behind him. It was a man who he did not know, with a tattoo on his neck and short blond hair. He was dressed in a brown three-piece suit and first thing that came to Jeff's mind was the heat. How could he stand it in that suit?
The man leaned down to Jeff until his lip were almost touching his ear. –I got Es at prices no one can beat if you're into a bit of coke or smack, give me fifteen minutes and I can do ya a bargain-
Jeff looked around him. In the corner the girls were dancing and all smiles, Clarence was into the beats and Sumo was practically asleep. Jeff stood up –Piss off, mate-
-Who ya talkin to?-the pusher replied
-You ya bastard, Piss off-
The pusher put his hand in his pocket and they looked into each other's eyes. Jeff was scared but he had to stand his ground. He thought the pusher could have a knife or even a gun in his pocket –or he could also be calling his bluff-. They stared each other in the eyes for 20 seconds. The pusher was the first one to look away, checking to see if they had been noticed by anyone else. All around them life carried on as normal. –Don't mess with me, schoolboy, cause I don't mess. I cut flesh like you!-He said with a menacing growl.
Jeff still wouldn't back down. –Piss off- the pusher turned away and disappeared onto the crowd.
Jeff stood up. He pushed Sumo, startling him, -Get up, come on-
Then he walked over to Clarence. –Come on, I'm going-
Clarence was confused. –What happening, man?-
Sumo was just as puzzled. –I dunno, I ain't done nothing-
The three went to Sophie, who tried to convince Jeff to stay but he wouldn't. He would only say that he would tell them later. Marica, Teen and Naz sensed that something had happened to cause them to act this way but they weren't going to ask questions now.
-Listen-Marica said-we be down here next week so come down if ya can, check some more grooves. Weekdays sometimes we out buy the Rough Riders Fried Chicken shop. Stay cool-
-See ya- and Sophie followed the boys out of the club.
Don't be unpatient...soon I submit the chapter about the Crash and the Car accident.
Hope you like the chapter and leave a review! :)
I'm sorry if I don't submit chapter 5 later...but I have to study for a test and I don't have enough free time :(
See you later.
N3k00-Ch4N