Dance Moms - Chlobird

Chapter 1 : Rush Hour

Pittsburgh was beautiful in the autumn, trees were blooming in yellow, orange, and fiery red. The air was warm enough to be out in a T-shirt, yet cool enough to put on one's favorite jacket or overcoat. But all that could turn bone-chilling cold with just one fall of rain.

Hurried out of the studio, Brooke held her big tote bag over her head, hopping over the puddles.

"Fuck!"

She stomped into one, and it wasn't shallow. Water soon soaked up her socks like icy claws, but that was the least of her worries now.

The night bus was arriving in four minutes, and she has two blocks to cover. Her jacket was wet and so was her beanie, but she kept running, because she couldn't afford to be late again.

Coming around the corner she could see the 84 shutting its door and ready to leave. Brooke darted across rushing traffic, ignoring the honking from moving vehicles, jumped into the middle of the road in a spread-eagle posture, blocking the moving bus with her flesh and bones.

The bus driver stomped on the brakes, throwing all passengers off their seats, pulling to a stop so close its windshield was pressing against the girl's face.

"ARE YOU NUT??" the driver yelled so loud it was audible behind the glass.

Brooke went around the side of the vehicle, banging on the door like it was the last hope of her life. The door swung open, let out a thick air of cursing from both the driver and passengers. She ignored them all and paid the fare.

"Yeah! Yeah! Shut the fuck up!" she barked at the crowd, waved her bus pass and quickly scrambled to the rear.

Avoiding all the hostile eyes, she found the only vacant seat on the bus, half occupied by a snoring fat man, whose volume was taking more than he paid for.

The man was as soaked as she was, and releasing a stench from his breath, but she had no choice, she worked all day and her feet were killing her. She needed to rest before her second job started.

As the bus got moving again, she put on her earplugs and shut her eyes, played the music and began working on her choreography. It was the only thing that could take her away from this stinking world.

She sank into her music, let the notes flow through her system, imagining them guiding her movements. Dancing is the only thing that sets her free, so she could shut her eyes and put her mind at rest, letting her body do all the work. Then those eyes popped open again.

Shit!

She was so hurrying to get on the bus she forgot to grab a muffin from the convenience store. Now she has to go to her second job with an empty stomach.

No matter! I can improvise! I always do! She told herself.

She wished her life could be more organized, that things could just stop for a moment, so she could think, and plan ahead for once. But that was never the case, she had been running as soon as she learned how to walk, and kept running into obstacles.

* * *

She was already banging at the door like a crazy person when the bus approached her stop, again stirring up curses from the passengers.

"Yeah! Yeah! Shut up!" she barked back, squeezed out of the gap before the doors could fully open, freeing herself from the suffocating complaints.

She took in a deep breath of fresh air. The rain has stopped but the air was cold. Her stomach was screaming food but her mind was screaming work.

Running in her soaking sneakers for another block, she turned into a dark alley, stepping on more puddles over the poorly maintained path, holding onto her tote bag and making her final dash into a door.