~CHAPTER TWO~

Ryan’s official line of work was comedy, but he was good looking enough that people often thought he could model. He almost always refused, but every time Andrea went out with him; be it shopping, clubbing, or even a quick run to the bank, she was reminded of how much people, particularly women, loved him. As far as Andrea could tell, the most exotic thing about him was that he was half Japanese, but even then, it wasn’t like he could speak any other language other than English, besides knowing about as much Spanish as anyone who has lived in LA their whole lives know.

Nevertheless, girls flocked to Ryan, often with angry dates, brothers or boyfriends following soon after—even if Andrea was with him. This didn’t bother Andrea as much as it would have if she and Ryan were dating, but it still seemed a little rude.

Ryan, however, didn’t mind; even if it meant having to deal with angry, possessive males.

 And tonight, that was his job. Getting people to come over to them.

Though most of the people Ryan managed to introduce to Andrea were girls, none of whom were interested in Andrea’s offer, Andrea pressed on.

They were somewhere in LA; they didn’t even know the actual address, they were simply told the general location of the place, which was a building both Ryan and Andrea had to have seen hundreds of times in their lifetimes, but had never really looked at, just before a semi-formal b-boy battle. Most of the time, battles would be spontaneous, with separate crews simply try to out-do each other, without coming up with a pre-choreographed dance. This battle was considered semi-formal because people knew about it beforehand and would come up with a dance to show off their skills. The upside to this style of battle for Ryan and Andrea is that because it was planned, people knew about it and would show up; whether they be in a crew, looking to join a crew, or maybe even just fans.

Ryan and Andrea were targeting those who were looking to join a group. Ryan, being the First Impression King, lured people to where Andrea was, then Andrea, who was actually known to be quite persuasive, would test them to see if they were interested in even trying out for a crew. If they were, she’d give them information about a date and time for an audition. If they weren’t, she would signal to Ryan, who would get them out of the way.

The process continued for a little bit; before the competition started.

But after a while, however, Ryan decided that they had met with enough people and had created enough interest to leave Andrea and go to make new friends. Andrea didn’t really mind; she knew that Ryan was a social butterfly, and she wasn’t going to keep him from people just because he had agreed to do her this favor.

Besides, the amount of interest they had created made Andrea feel a little more confident, and decided to approach people herself. Usually, she let Ryan talk first, since she was always shy at the beginning, but tonight, she felt pretty good.

She worked the crowd that were hanging out along the walls; those furthest from the performance area. She managed to get a few other people interested, and the fact that she had managed to do so without Ryan’s guidance made her feel even better.

“Are you the one recruiting?” a man asked as she passed.

Andrea stopped and turned to face who had spoken, a light smile on her face. “I am,” she told him. He was Asian, leaning up against the wall, wearing a black wife-beater and loose-fitting jeans, and she had to admit, he was quite good-looking. He was sort of short, but Andrea was only five foot two on a good day, so it wasn’t too much of a factor.

He held his hand out and said, “Can I see?”

Andrea fumbled quickly and handed him one of the simple flyers for the auditions.

“It’s so awesome,” he said. “Seeing stuff like this. Very old school, really. Crews now seem to be either made up of people whose families have been in the same crew for generations, or made up of people only interested in the social aspect. The dancing part seems to have become a forgotten part of this whole thing.”

Andrea tried to keep from squealing in excitement. She had been trying to tell her family and friends the exact same thing for ages, but it was sort of hard to talk about, since no one else was as passionate about it as she was.

“Do you have any dance experience yourself?” the man asked before Andrea could speak, taking his eyes from the paper to her face.

Andrea nodded. “I’ve been dancing my whole life.”

“Breakdancing?”

This time, Andrea shook her head. “I’ve been breakdancing for about seven years.”

“Ah,” he said, nodding. “That’s about how I am. I never was formally trained until I was about eighteen, but I’ve always been dancing.”

Andrea nodded appreciatively, still shocked that she had met someone so similar to herself. “What’s your name?” she asked.

“Jay,” he answered, holding out his free hand for her to shake. “Jay Park.”

Andrea took his hand and shook, saying, “Andrea Moreau, but I go by Dre.”

The lights dimmed, signaling the start of the competition.

Letting Andrea’s hand drop, Jay nodded towards the performance area, where people were beginning to circle. “Got to go,” he said, smiling. “It was good meeting you, Dre.”

“Good to meet you too, Jay,” Andrea said, returning the smile.

She watched him walk towards the crowded dance floor for a second, then started walking back to where Ryan was holding court with a few girls.

“Who was that you were talking to?” Ryan asked with a smirk and a wink.

“Prospective dancer,” Andrea answered slyly, trying to hide her giddy smile. It wasn’t very often a guy could distract her from dance.

“Sure…” Ryan winked, making it obvious that he didn’t believe his best friend.

“Shut up, Ryan,” Andrea laughed, playfully shoving him.

A new beat started up, and one of the girls Ryan had been talking to turned to her friend and asked excitedly, “Isn’t this that new crew? The one with your old members, Dre? I heard they were going to come tonight…”

Andrea ignored the girl’s liberal use of her nickname. Andrea generally didn’t like when people she hadn’t introduced herself to called her by her nickname, but she was a little too distracted to correct the girl.

As soon as the song had started, Andrea had turned to stare at the stage. She knew this song, and, watching the dancers, she also knew the dance.

How could she forget? She had choreographed it.

She scanned the dances, each face familiar.

Jake, Corey, Mark, Jordan, and on down the line.

There was one dancer that Andrea didn’t recognize, but she couldn’t see his face. He was dancing her part; the leader’s part, and that just annoyed her even more.

She watched their dance, seething.

Everything about it was what she had wanted. Everyone was wearing the same style of clothes, each in a different color, and the leader was the only one wearing a baseball cap. To make matters worse, the crowd was loving the dance.

The only problem was that Andrea had always imagined being on stage, doing the dance with her crew, rather than standing in the crowd, watching it. She couldn’t believe how angry she was. Sure, she had been angry when her crew members—the people she had considered family—told her that they had found a new leader. Sure, it hurt having to start all over again. But nothing could compare to the hurt she felt as she watched her dance, one she had poured her heart into choreographing, be performed without her consent by the people who had left her. It made everything worse. Before, she could delude herself into thinking that they just didn’t think she was skilled enough. Now, because they had still kept her dance, she now understood that they left because they just didn’t like her.

Andrea watched as they performed, moving nearly flawlessly.

The end was Andrea’s favorite.

Or at least it had been.

She—or this new guy now—would finish with a series of tricks done with the baseball cap.

Again, it was pulled of nearly perfectly. It wasn’t perfect, Andrea knew. She would have to be the one doing the dance in order for it to be perfect, but it was very close.

For the end, the leader threw the hat into the crowd making the crowd go crazy and giving Andrea a clear look at his face.

And she was angry all over again.

It was Jay.

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