As we were walking along, we were suddenly engulfed by a huge crowd that surrounded a shabby looking stage. There were streamers decorating it and half of them were ripped.

“What’s going on?” I asked Taemin, squinting to see the brightly coloured banner.

“I think it’s a dance contest,” he said, going on his tippy toes to look. “Yeah, it is.” He narrowed his eyes, and then brightened up. I looked at him, and raised my eyebrows, but before I could say anything, a host stepped onto the stage.

“Welcome to the Dance Revolution Competition! We have our returning champion, Woo Soobin!” the host said. A boy around my age leaped onto the stage from the audience and pumped his fist like one of those egomaniacs in the movies.

“I love you!” some random fangirl called from the stage, and thus began a long chant of “Woo Soobin! You’re the best! We love you!” I gagged, as I watched last year’s champion walk around the stage like a flower boy.

“Do we have someone to challenge last year’s king? Or will he remain undefeated?” the host cheered, clapping along with the audience. I turned to Taemin as I rolled my eyes, and then realized he wasn’t beside me anymore. He was walking up to the stage. I ran up behind him and pulled at his arm.  

“I will!” Taemin said clearly, as he made his way to the front. He shook me off, and before I knew it, he was on the stage with that Soobin guy.

“What’s your name?” the host asked, clearly delighted to have a contestant. Taemin hesitated and then looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders nervously. He should’ve thought about that before he went on stage.

“I’m, uh, John,” Taemin said lamely, fidgeting all the while.

“Well John, I saw you staring at a certain lady in the audience. Care to tell us your story?” the host said, winking at Taemin. I blushed slightly, and started backing away from the stage.

“She’s a girl I really love,” Taemin said confidently, not stammering at all. “She’s strong, independent, and beautiful. I’m going to win this for her.” The crowd sighed and I smiled up at him. The other guy, Woobin or whatever his name was, snorted derisively.

“As tradition goes, last year’s champion will begin,” the host said, as he stepped down from the stage and cued the music. An upbeat song drifted over the audience, and I heard a few screams coming from hysterical girls. The first guy started dancing, and he wasn’t half bad, but I was more interested in counting the stripes on my tiger stuffie. His moves were more ual than I was comfortable with, and I buried my face in the tiger when he started taking off his shirt. From what I could see, Taemin wasn’t even paying attention to Soobin. Taemin stuck his tongue out at me, and I waved my tiger’s paw back at him. A few minutes later, as a finishing touch, Soobin threw his jacket into the audience, and a couple of fangirls immediately started clawing at it…geez.

“What an impressive performance,” the host said, wiggling his eyebrows. “I wonder how our challenger’s going to do!” He cued the music, and once again, the funky beat of the previous song came on. Taemin stepped to the center of the stage with his eyes closed and danced.

This time, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him; Taemin’s moves were so well connected and beautiful to watch. Slowly, I pressed the tiger stuffie closer to my chest as I fought an urge to scream alongside some of the girls. Most of the girls were beginning to crowd the stage as they tried to touch Taemin’s feet. 

As the last few measures of the song played, Taemin sank to his knees and winked at me. Of course, all the girls in my surrounding area thought he was winking at them and started to scream and clap wildly.

“Amazing,” the host said, as he walked back up on stage. “Now we’ll do the judging! Everyone, please cheer and clap for your favorite dancer!”

Soobin and Taemin stepped into the center of the stage, and I could see Soobin sizing Taemin up. As soon as Soobin raised his arm, a few loyal fans screamed, but that was it. I could practically feel his ego deflating, and smirked a bit.

Before Taemin even raised his hand, the entire crowd screamed and clapped so hard that the ground shook. I smiled foolishly at the ground, waiting for the crowd to settle down. 

I don’t know whether it was adrenaline or just plain stupidity that caused what happened next.

Even though he was wearing a very loose fitting wig, Taemin gave a bow. A very low bow.

And the stupid wig, which hadn’t moved throughout his entire dance, chose that time to fall off his head.

All hell erupted when Taemin’s curly hair was revealed.

I was going to kill Key for getting Taemin that stupid pink hoodie.