“Hey, if we win this time, it’ll be our 12th one, right?”

He counted silently in his head “13th, no?”

“Woah, no kidding?! If we keep this up, we’ll break his record!”

“Records are meant to broken, aren’t they?” His smirk reflected his victorious intent. It gave the other two enough confidence to overcome the nerves.

They weren’t rookies to the underground dance scene, but nerves were always present when a battle was on.

Excited, anxious, tense—it accurately described the air around them.

The music blasted from the speakers with a loud bass, running through everyone’s pulses. It felt like the music controlled your heartbeat, and everyone was on the same beat, the same rhythm. That was the power this place had, and why people flocked to it every night.

The music died down, drowning slightly to the screams of avid fans.

“Let’s go~!”

The three got up from their corner and headed towards the center, where everything took place. The screams got louder as they appeared, bustling their way to the open space in the middle.

Another thing they loved about dancing here—they got paid for their talent. They were popular enough, and now money was being waved furiously in the air as a man went around collecting them. Getting their music ready, the DJ smiled as he saw the boys get into position.

Now, the hall was filled with loud beats once again. The three danced in coordinated and fierce movements, earning cheers of approval from the rampant crowd.

They were on a high, absorbing the crazy energy from the crowd as they fell into the music they felt deep into their cores.

** ** **

“Jing Jing!!”

Sitting on the floor, inches in front of the television, she flinched at the sound of her old nickname being called. She scrambled to hide the game system in front of her and the controller in her hand. She knew someone wasn’t going to be happy.

“There you are!” Sohyun said as she walked into the living room, “You! Why aren’t you—?“

“I’m sorry!” She cut off immediately, “I really am! But, I was too tired from work last night, I got out really late…”

Sohyun stood there, crossed arms and suspicious glare, “Hyuna, you know—“

“I know.”

Well, she looked remorseful enough. Sohyun sighed, letting the older girl off the hook this time. She sat on the couch, Hyuna joining her comfortably.

“How was school?” Hyuna asked excitedly

“Same old.” Sohyun replied, “Some idiot decided not to show, though”

She knew she had that one coming, “Sorry” she repeated, “But… Sohyun, you know how I feel about that, it’s just… it’s not for me”

“Hyuna, we’ve been through this already! Your education is important!” Sohyun turned to face her, “…your parents would want it”

Hyuna’s face was blank, Sohyun would always bring up her parents when they had this conversation. And she never knew how to react to it. “Sohyun…”

“I’m sorry” Sohyun muttered as she looked at Hyuna’s pained expression, “But you know it’s true…”

It’s not that Hyuna didn’t want to go to school, in fact, she’d love to have a vibrant school life again. Where nothing else mattered except how you did in school, where she could have many friends to share the experience with, where she could have fun without it being the dead of night, occasionally getting lectured by an uptight teacher who everyone hated but knew only cared for their future.

She missed it. School life was the only thing that made her feel like a normal girl. And sometimes, she would blissfully, and regretfully, replay her old memories of middle school just to get that feeling again.

But it was a different story now. School had a different meaning for her, a different experience.

“It’s not for me” She repeated firmly

“Why?” Sohyun asked loudly, “Why isn’t it?! If it only helps you—“

“It’s embarrassing!!!” Hyuna yelled, burying her reddening face in a plush sofa pillow to hide.

Sohyun’s mouth gaped, “What?!”

Hyuna mumbled something inaudible into the pillow as she squirmed in place, not able to show her face. It took almost everything for Sohyun to keep from laughing, but she knew it would worsen the situation. Hyuna obviously had strong feelings for the issue.

“Hyuna, that’s just being childish!”

As intense as her feelings were on the subject, she couldn’t deny the childish tones it had. But she was beside herself with fear at the thought of returning.

Ever since she took a year off her studies to help her siblings back home, it had been difficult for her to get back to that lifestyle. The rhythm was hard to get back into, and that only resulted in her getting pushed further and further back.

Before she knew it, she was no longer able to attend normal classes. Instead, they had a special program to help people who hadn’t had previous education get sufficient assistance, separate from everyone else and designed specifically for each individual. They consisted of mostly older people who wanted to get an equivalent to a GED.

And she was bumped into that category. Meant to be a senior in high school, she was just beginning basic language and arithmetic. It was embarrassing, to say the least. The people in the program were placed in a separate building, often referred to as “special” students.

And it wasn’t just a clique of elites on top that looked down on them, it was the rest of the school. There seemed to be this mentality that they were inferior to everyone else.

‘Snotty, ungrateful bastards’ she had once referred to them as.

The tuition was on the cheaper side, but she still had to help around the school to keep her tuition low.

“I’d rather not go back”

“You’ll only get pushed back further than everyone else, Hyuna! Sooner or later, you’ll have to go through it, better now”

“Or never. How bout I just not go? It takes time, when I could be working and earning money, then I’ll be able to pay for his bills faster, and then maybe he’ll get better!”

“Don’t pull out the ‘sick family’ card! You have plenty of time to attend, and they have flexible schedules!”

“I’ll double my shifts!”

Hyuna was being too persistent, so Sohyun just let the argument end. There was no point when Hyuna was being too closed to the idea. No matter what she said, she knew Hyuna would just pull out some random excuse, senseless as it was.

“I don’t even understand…” Sohyun muttered, “How you could make time for that stupid dance thing, in the dead of night no less, and not make time for something that could help your future”

Hyuna wanted to defend herself, but Sohyun wouldn’t understand—no one would. The underground dance scene was the only thing that kept her from going insane, her ‘stress relief’, you could call it. It was where she shined.

“Speaking of which, it’s weird that you aren’t there now” Sohyun said, after a short while

“Oh…” Hyuna perked up, “No reason… Just tired from work, I got out at 7 in the morning”

Sohyun nodded, reaching for the remote to turn the TV on. “How are they back home?”

“Doing well” Hyuna said proudly

“That’s good to hear” Sohyun smiled, once she clicked the TV on, her smile got wiped out of her face. Blasting noise boomed from the speakers, a scene of zombies and soldiers running around in the background covered the screen.

Sohyun noticed the wires coming out from the drawer under the TV, and the controller half visible from behind it.

She turned to Hyuna, her eyebrows raised “No reason, huh?”

Hyuna grinned sheepishly, “I’ve been wanting it for a year and it just got released—“

“Hyuna, don’t even go there!”

“—Sorry!”

** ** **

It was another long trip, and he was tired. Sitting in the backseat of a silver SUV, earphones on and plugged to his iPod, he leaned his head back and shuffled into a more comfortable position.

“How much longer?” He asked

“Just a few more hours, honey” His mom reassured him, “Don’t worry, we’re close”

“Ok, mom” He said, flashing a smile when she looked at him through the rearview mirror.

He was the good kid. Hardly complained, and always understanding. But the constant moving had taken a toll on him. The longest they’ve stayed at one place was two years, but even then he managed to take moving out nicely.

Now, they had been on the road for nearly two days to get to the new place. His mother quit her last job, which relocated her countless times and led to all the moving, in hopes that this one would finally keep the family settled in one place.

“This’ll be the last time” She said, “Don’t you feel kinda weird? I think I’ll miss moving” She joked, laughing slightly as she uttered the words.

“I won’t” He muttered dryly.

“Go to sleep, honey” His mother said, noticing his surly expression, “You’ll need the rest. We’re checking the school’s first thing in the morning”

He grunted in response, lying back further in his seat and pulling his hat down over his face.

It was almost 1 in the morning, water splashing as rain fell down hard on the streets. He tried to clear his thoughts, in an attempt to fall asleep. He couldn’t help but wonder about what the new town held for him.

Probably the usual, he would have to keep his regular friendly disposition to keep his school life trouble free. He had a popular face, and he found that usually all he needed to do was smile, and people would flock. That and a kind attitude, always thinking twice about what to say or do next, kept him from any problems or drama.

He would be immediately accepted, and loved, by everyone. Not that he himself liked the attention, but he was afraid of the opposite. The new kid was always more prone to be the outcast. And he was particularly sensitive to that.

He was bored, but he didn’t know any other life. He wondered if the new town would hold anything exciting for him, deep down wishing he didn’t need to act anymore. Wishing someone would see past everything, and see him. For everything that he was.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Sooooooo…. What did you guys think? any comments? Suggestions? Thoughts? Reactions? Predictions? >o< im crazy, sorry lol!

Thanks for reading!
-Nin