CHAPTER 2:  BABYSITTER

 

“Are you deaf Eun Mi? I don't like repeating myself. You should know that by now.” She glared at me.

“Oh. I mean. Sure.” I said not really having a choice.

“Good. Its settled then.” She said then left.

“I never did catch your name.” Rain said smiling at me. Why was he always smiling? It's a little creepy, if you ask me.

“Eun Mi.” I said under my breath.

“Rain” he said extending his hand.

“Yeah. Yeah. I know who you are already.” I said annoyed as I spun around and gathered my things. “Look, I don't know why Ms. Callahan gave me the task to babysit you, and I don't know what you have in mind, but I have class right now so, bye.” I said making my way towards Ra.

“Okay gurl, who is the stud muffin?” Ra whispered as I met him by the door. He was continuously glancing at Rain.

“New guy. Callahan told me to babysit. Long story.” I said pulling him out into the corridor.

Hand in hand, Ra and I rushed to our next class on the third floor. When we got there, people were just beginning to file in. Whew. Good thing we weren’t late.

 

“So K, spill the beans about mister blonde and blue eyes.” He said referring to Rain. We were both seated on the floor changing into our sneakers.

“Nothing to spill actually. We just bumped into each other before Callahan’s class. Then at the end of it, I get to baby sit.” I sighed.

“Well why are you all sighing? He’s hot. I’d be jumping up and down if stud muffin was someone I had to babysit. Damn. Did you see those arms?” Ra gushed. I couldn't help but giggle as he showed his interest in Rain.

“Well, you can have him sister. Go for it.” I said standing up to adjust my pants.

“Oooooohhh guurll… speaking of the devil.” He said quickly standing up and tapping me on my bum. And just like what Ra had said, Rain had just walked into the studio. Was he in every single class I had? Seriously?

“What's he doing here?” I asked more irritated than curious.

“Obviously he has hip-hop too.” Ra said stating the obvious. Before I could plan an escape, Rain had spotted me from across the room.

“Oh great. He saw us. And is making his way here.” I mumbled through gritted teeth. When I looked at him he was smiling again. What was it with this dude and smiling? All the female students he passed were blushing and giggling, clearly taken with his machoness.

“Hey, you have hip-hop too?” Rain asked me once he was close enough to be heard.

“Yeah.” I said. I wanted to keep my answers as simple as possible so that I wouldn't have to engage in a lengthy conversation. Yes, I was being mean but I was annoyed. This man didn't need babysitting. He was a grown man in a grown world.

“It’s her minor.” Ra blurted out. Surprised he had shared that piece of information, I punched him in the arm playfully.

“Ra! What did you do that for?”

“What? I was just telling him the truth.” He said and ran away to avoid any other punches.

“He seems funny.” Rain commented.

“Yeah. He’s my best friend.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Okay ladies and gents! Places please.” Monique had walked into the room together with Drew, her co teacher. Everyone did as they were told.

“So welcome to second term advanced hip-hop. I won’t waste anymore of your time because we want to be able to teach you as much as we can so that you’ll be ready for the variety show.” Monique explained.

“Okay. For today, you will be working in pairs for the choreography.” Drew explained even further. At the sound of ‘pairs’ Ra and I had caught each other’s eye and winked. One look was all it took for us to understand what the other was saying. That was what was so nice about having your best friend in the same class. “But we will pick your pair for you.” Oh great. What a way to ruin things. I was only hoping I’d get paired with anyone but Rain. I don’t what it is about him, but he annoyed me.

“Let’s start with Ra and Jaime. Clark, you and Therese will give it a go.” One by one Monique and Drew called out the names of the pairs. One by one I was waiting for my name to be mentioned. But much to my dismay, I wasn't called until only 3 pairs were left in the room.

“Who are you again?” Monique asked Rain upon realizing he was a new face.

“Woo Rain. I’m new.” He answered flashing her his 1000 watts smile.

“Oh yeah. The new kid. I heard about you.” Monique said. “Ok, so, you and Eun Mi will be partners.” Great. Just perfect. He slowly made his way towards me as everyone started settling into their new places.  As he got closer to me, he started flashing me his megawatt smile. I rolled my eyes and focused my attention back to class.

“Now that all has been settled, lets start this thing.” Drew said hitting the play button on the speakers. Immediately, Bobby Valentino’s “Anonymous” filled the whole room.

 

Slowly, Monique and Drew taught us the steps. First one by one, teaching the girls first, then the boys second. Rain was doing well for a newbie. He was getting the steps really quickly and was generally performing well. Before Monique and Drew could teach the partners’ part, there was time left for just one last run. As Monique hit the play button, it was go time.

I started dancing the part I was taught. Grooving and shaking to the bass of the song felt good. Popping and locking with me, Rain soon followed on cue. I was watching us dancing the same choreography in the mirror. To my surprise, we were both getting it right. On beat and on time, we were hitting all the right stops and gos. He was smiling again. He looked silly, I thought. It wasn't long before I started laughing quietly.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked breathless as the dance ended.

“Your face.” I said flopping on the floor even more breathless.

“What’s wrong with my face Eun Mi?”

“You just looked silly, smiling and dancing. Found it funny.” I laughed again remembering the face he had a few seconds ago.

“Haha.” He fake laughed. “At least I don’t look like I’m about to kill someone.” He retorted.

“Excuse me.” I said standing up. “I was concentrating.”

“Whatever you say Eun Mi.” He laughed. Oh how annoying he was.

“Good job everyone. We’ll see you next time!” Monique bade, signaling the end of the class.

“Hey gurl. That class was off the chain!” Ra exclaimed jumping towards me. Rain and I couldn’t help but laugh. “You two looked like you were doing ok.”

“Yeah. Weirdo here just couldn’t stop smiling. He looked so funny.” I snickered. We were headed to our bags.

“Is it so wrong to smile while dancing? Come on. I was just happy I was getting the steps right.” He defended.

“Guys! Guys!” Suddenly Mi Kyung was running towards us looking excited. “Have you heard? There’s this new guy. I heard he’s SO hot. Oh, why hello there.” Mi Kyung had flirt mode on as she noticed Rain standing beside me.

“I’m Mi Kyung. And you are?” she said batting her eyelashes and extending her hand to Rain. Mi Kyung always looked so funny when she was flirting. You could tell exactly what was going through her mind. Ra and I were snickering at Mi Kyung and her total lack of tack sometimes.

“Rain.” He took her hand and shook it. “The new guy.” Mi Kyung immediately turned red. Ra and I only laughed louder.

“Oh Mi Kyung.” Ra said in between laughs. “You are so stupid sometimes.” Rain was laughing with us now.

“You guys are so mean!” She whimpered. She was as red as a tomato.

“Relax. You were just so funny to watch.” I tried my best to cut the laughing and I think I succeeded well as I introduced Rain to Mi Kyung and Ra- formally at least.

“You should come with us tomorrow to Caliente.” Mi Kyung offered as soon as the laughing had died down.

“Mi Kyung.” I protested. “Rain may be busy tomorrow. We shouldn't be interrupting him.”

“Hey, who said I was busy tomorrow? And if I remember it correctly, YOU are in charge of babysitting the new guy.” He smirked.

“What? Babysit?” Mi Kyung asked still not knowing the whole story. I only rolled my eyes at him.

“Whatever. Go if you want to go.” I said finally.

“Great! It’s settled then!” Mi Kyung said all bubbly now. “We’re leaving at around 8. Meet us at the front of the Academy?”

“Sure.” He smiled at her. And in that instant I could tell Mi Kyung was swooning inside.

“See you Rain!” Ra called as we went our separate ways.