I woke up early and headed to school with Mark and a healthier looking Jackson. Our first few periods were a blur and before I knew it, I was waiting outside the dance studio for the first time. I put on my dancing sneakers and leaned against the wall in the hall, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Someone leaned against the wall beside me, glancing out of the corner of my eye I saw Kai looking down at his shoes. He was wearing a black wife beater singlet, along with a pair of shorts. One thing we needed for dance class, comfortable clothes to dance in.
'You left school early yesterday.' It was more of a statement rather than a question. Kai tilted his head to look at me.
'I wasn't feeling too good.'
'So Mark picked you up on his motorbike?'
'What?'
'I saw you two ride off from the rooftop.'
'So you were skipping class?' Kai sneered.
'So sue me.' I rolled my eyes and shifted from foot to foot.
'So, why'd you sign up for dancing anyway new girl?' Glaring at Kai, I shrugged.
'Wanted to try it out.' Kai went to reply but the teacher showed up. We all entered the studio and stood in a line. The teacher plugged in his phone into the stereo and selected a song.
'I want you all too follow the music and freestyle. I'll teach you later, this is just a warm up.' The song began playing and my mind shut down. My body took control and started moving on its own. I saw Kai dancing in front of the mirror, making sure everything was going well. The teacher walked around the room, stopping when he reached me. As he paused to watch me, someone slipped on the studio floor. Everyone stopped and stared as the girl held her ankle. The teacher walked over to her, helped her up and headed to the door.
'I'm taking her to the nurse, Kai you're in charge as dance captain I trust you.' Kai nodded.
'Sure Mr Lee.' Mr Lee left and everyone went back to dancing and Kai wondered over towards me.
'Dance captain?' Kai grinned.
'Yep. Captain of the school's Dance Club.' I rolled my eyes at his smug expression and went back to dancing. Mr Lee came back and stood at the front of the class.
'Alright, I hope you're all warmed up. I have an assignment to hand out to you all and you will be doing this in pairs. And before you choose, I've already selected your pairs for you.' A few groans were heard throughout the studio as he handed out sheets of paper to each student. Once everyone had gotten a sheet of paper, Mr Lee stood in front of the mirror.
'Get into your pairs as I call you out and start on your assignment. You will have each class to practice before you present it to the whole school at the end of term.' I shuffled from foot to foot, anxious as I didn't know anyone in this class, except Kai. Mr Lee looked down at a sheet of paper and read off it.
'Leo and Kris, Krystal and Jessica, Amber and Victoria, Kai and Kora....' The names kept going but I didn't hear them, all I could focus on was Kai as he walked over to me, a grin on his face.
'So partner...' I shoved him away and sat down. Reading over the assignment, I glanced up as Kai placed his sheet down.
'Have you got an idea already?' Kai nodded and pulled out his phone. Scrolling through his music, he handed me an earphone and clicked on a song. I listened to the song and immediately recognized it. I had heard in a lot on the radio in Sue's car. Once the song ended, Kai put his phone down.
'Think you can come up with choreography for that?' I nodded and stood up, Kai doing the same.
'Can you play the song through your phone?' Kai nodded and played the music. I listened for a few seconds before I began to try out a few things. Kai watched me for a moment.
'Why don't we do that but maybe change it up a little bit like this.' He copied what I did but changed how the moves flowed together.
'Yeah, that works.' Kai smiled but it wasn't one I'd normally see, it was a smile that reached his eyes and showed his dimple.
'Thanks.' Mr Lee whistled and we all fell silent.
'Class is over for today. You will have every lesson to work on your assignment as well. Dismissed.' I walked out into the hallway only to be tackled from behind to the floor by Jackson. He sat on my back and I could practically hear the grin as he yelled.
'HAPPY SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY KORA!!!' I groaned and went to curse but a chuckle to my right stopped me. I looked to my right and saw Mark grinning as Jackson started singing the birthday song. My eyes narrowed and I glared up at Mark.
'Get him off me!' Mark laughed and pulled Jackson off of my back. I stood up, glaring at Jackson as I dusted myself off.
'Got any plans for after school?' I shook my head at Mark's question. Jackson smiled and put his arms around both mine and Mark's shoulders as we walked down the hallway. Once we all grabbed our bags, we headed out of the building and out the school gates.
Walking down the main street, Jackson dragged Mark and me into a hat shop. He went straight over to the caps and tried on a few different ones, turning to Mark when he put a fourth hat on.
'Does it suit me?' Mark frowned, shook his head, took the cap off Jackson's head and put a blue snapback with a black brim in its place. Jackson looked into the mirror before turning to Mark.
'Better?'
'Much better.' Jackson took the cap off with a grin but it faded when he looked at the price tag.
'Damn, too expensive.' With a sigh, he put it back and walked out of the shop. Mark grabbed the snapback and headed over to the counter. With the hat in a bag, Mark and I exited the shop and found Jackson waiting. Mark gave the bag to Jackson whose face lit up when he saw the cap inside. He looked at Mark with a slight pout.
'You didn't have to buy this.' Mark smiled.
'I said I'd buy you one didn't I?' Jackson put the cap on, smiling as he did so and nodded at Mark.
'Yeah, you did. Let's go get ice-cream! I'll buy.' Soon enough we were all eating ice-cream and walking towards the woods. Taking a path I was all too familiar with now, we sat down on the rock overlooking our little sanctuary. The pool of water rippled from the slight wind created by the trees above us. We sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying the warmth from the sun. Eventually, Mark spoke up.
'Let's go back to our place for a bit.' Jackson and I nodded. All of us got up and headed down the path - we found a few weeks ago - to Mark and Jackson's place. A car sat out the front of the house and faint voices were heard from inside the house. Jackson froze and Mark grabbed onto his hand. The voices stopped and Mark tugged on Jackson's hand.
'Come on, we'll go over to Kora's instead.' Jackson nodded and they both turned to me, Mark pleading.
'Please.' I nodded and we walked over to mine. Sue's car was out the front and John's truck sat along the side of the house. I opened up the front door and let Mark and Jackson in.
We went upstairs to my room and sat in silence. Jackson sat on my bed and Mark sat on the floor, leaning against Jackson's legs. I sat on my desk chair, thinking back to how they both reacted when they saw the car out the front of their house. I looked over to my friends, Jackson was running his fingers through Mark's hair and Mark had his eyes closed.
'Why didn't you want to go inside at your place?' One of Mark's eyes opened.
'Because Jackson's parents are home and Jackson is scared of them. Anyway, they'll be gone by eleven tonight.' Jackson bit his bottom lip, his hands going still in Mark's hair.
'Mark...' Jackson mumbled. Mark opened his other eye and tilted his head back to look up at Jackson.
'What's wrong?' Mark looked at Jackson worriedly as Jackson's fingers twitched nervously.
'What if they don't leave?' Mark turned around and knelt in front of Jackson, putting a hand on his cheek.
'Don't worry so much okay? They'll be gone tonight.'
'But what if-'Mark cut Jackson off.
'Jackson. I promised I'd look after you and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Your parents will be gone by eleven. I read your mothers mind when we were outside the house. Don't worry, they won't hurt you.' Jackson's shoulders slumped in relief and he leant into Mark's hand. Footsteps made their way towards my bedroom and someone knocked on my door. Mark sat next to Jackson on the bed as I opened my door. Sue smiled and walked in with a tray.
'I thought you kids might want something to eat. Kora, we're doing cake soon.' I nodded and turned to my friends.
'You guys want some cake later?' They both nodded and we dug into our food. An hour later we all sat down at the table. John got out a camera as Sue placed a cake in front of me. They all started singing happy birthday, I blew out the candles and picked up the knife. Mark and Jackson ran out of the room and peeked around the corner as I cut into the cake. I stopped just before the bottom and looked at my two friends.
'I wasn't going to hit the bottom.' Mark and Jackson came back into the room and sat down.
'We were just being cautious.' I threw a napkin at Jackson.
'Idiot.' He stuck his tongue out at me as we finished off our cake.
Half an hour later, we were sitting up in my room. Mark and Jackson sat side by side on my bed while I sat in front of them on my desk chair. Jackson reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, black ribbon tied in a small bow on top of it. He extended his arm towards me and smiled.
'Happy Birthday Kora.' I took the box and untied the ribbon. Opening up the box I snorted at the note written inside before I picked up my present. It was a plain silver chain with my name in black hanging off it. I smiled and put it on.
'Thanks Jackson, it's really nice.' Jackson grinned.
'I'm a master at getting presents.' Mark scoffed and handed me a bigger box. I took it and read the small note that was on the box. Smiling slightly, I opened the box and my eyes widened. Inside the box sat a pure black watch with red hands and numbers. I took the watch out of the box and put it on, looking at it.
'Thanks Mark, it's great. But didn't these presents cost you guys a lot?' Jackson shook his head.
'They didn't cost that much.' I got up and hugged them both.
'Thank you guys, for everything.' The two of them hugged me back.
'How did you two know it was my birthday by the way?' Mark grinned and I knew he read my mind.
'You told Sue and John obviously because I never did.' Jackson laughed.
'Guilty.' I threw a pillow at him. This was the best birthday I've ever had. But, there's always calm before the storm.