A/N: Quick question for you guys: What is the best day of the weekend? Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?
"So we do it like this?" Angel asks Kalim as she and Grim stand on one leg, trying to get a sense of balance before moving their arms, trying to smoothly move their arms to the beat.
"Yep! Just like that!" Kalim says as he watches them wobbling from the balance while doing the same thing as the others. "Keep your balance and just move your arms like that!"
"Urgh..." Grim groans as he carefully moves his arms, trying to keep his balance. "This is hard. What kind of dancing requires you to stand on one leg?"
"It's not balance," Kalim says as he quickly moves his arms and start to plant his other feet on the ground, spinning around. "It's about how fun it is!"
"I don't see anything 'fun' with this at all," Grim mumbles only to wobble faster and ends up falling on the floor. "Ouch!"
"Oh, Grim, you okay?" Kalim asks in concern. "I should have told you that your arms could have centered your balance."
"And you didn't think to say that before?!"
"Well, I always thought everyone knew it, ha ha," Kalim laughs while Grim sighs.
"This guy, I swear," Grim mumbles as he stands up, trying to dust himself off. "I'm taking a break," he says as he sits on the edge of the fountain in the courtyard.
"Jamil always said rest was important," Kalim thinks for a moment. "Maybe a party can help people rest!"
Grim only sighs at the suggestion. "Here we go again..."
Kalim laughs and looks at Angel, still trying to balance on her leg but also moving slowly, a serious face on her. "How's it going, Angel?" he asks, distracting her.
"Ah!" She exclaims as she starts to wobble, waving her arms to steady herself, succeeding as she sighs in relief and regains her balance.
"Oops, sorry about that," he says as he watches her put her other foot down. "DIdn't know you were focusing. You had this serious face on that I thought you were uncomfortable."
"I mean, it's not like we stand on one foot all the time," she says. "In fact, we don't actually dance as much dealing with balance, now that I think about it."
"WHAAAAAT?!" Kalim exclaims, shocking the duo. "You guys don't dance as much? Dancing is everything in the Scalding Sands!"
"We don't have parties everyday that requires dancing though," Grim retorts.
"You don't need a party to dance!" Kalim happily says. "Me and Jamil used to dance all the time when we were kids. In fact, dancing was a main component in our lives! Jamil doesn't dance as much anymore, but I always try to take the time to dance! It describes our feelings after all. My dad used to say, if your ever have a feeling, just say it with dancing!"
"But, we're not as good as you or Jamil," Angel states, remembering how the well the two danced during the oasis party. Even Jade and Azul were impressed, maybe with the fact that their were mermen and the fact that Azul was an octopus, trying his best to comprehend how nimble they were dancing.
"Who says that you have to be a good dancer to just dance?" Kalim says with a smile. "You just...dance!"
"Isn't that what we've been doing so far?" Grim asks.
"Not really," Kalim says, making Grim growl. "I mean, having balance is the basics of dancing. If you're not balanced, then you'll be falling all over the place. Plus, many traditional dances of the Scalding Sands requires moves that you'll be focus on one leg, so I say it never hurts to try and cover everything!"
"Do you have to know traditional dances?" Grim asks. "I mean, if they're traditional then what's the point of even learnin' them anymore?"
"My family is one of the traditional families of the Scalding Sands, so we're a cornerstone of the traditional values of the past. Dancing is one of them and I know basically every traditional dance there is, and there's about over 30 of them!" The statement shocked the two. Memorizing 30 dances was...well a lot! From what Kalim told them before, just one traditional dance could last 10 minutes, so with 30 of them with various times between 5 and 20 minutes is just too much. No wonder he dances so much Angel thinks as she recalls him dancing a lot recently. "Anyway, since Grim is taking a break, how we dance instead, Angel?" Kalim offers.
"Um...sure," she says with a small smile. "I'm not as good as you, but I don't mind."
"Great!" Kalim says as he heads to the radio, giving the students a break from performing instruments for their housewarden. "Let's get the music playing and then we can start!" He presses the play button and lively music starts to fill the courtyard, covering as much ground, or air, as possible with the open-air courtyard. "Okay! Now we just dance!" Kalim happily says as he starts to step with the rhythm, his emotions getting the best of him as he starts to go slow and careful to fast and professional, letting the music guide him. Angel watches in awe as his moves are graceful yet careful, not letting the music completely take over his move, but even if so, his body would automatically know what to do, making her look even more in awe. She watched as he spun on one leg, keeping his balance steady as he smiles at her, making her a bit nervous at his look. How can she compete with Kalim's dancing? At most, by herself at least, she can at least shuffle her feet to the beat, but anything other than that, she can't compare to Kalim. She looks down at her feet and try to feel the music, tapping to the beat, and once she got the rhythm, she starts to move her feet, only keeping it minimum since Kalim started dancing around her. Seeing him do that only brought down her confidence more, starting to feel inadequate compared to a professional dancer like him, at least, she believes he is. "Ha ha ha! Isn't this fun, Angel?" Kalim happily says as he looks at her, only to stop when he sees that she wasn't moving as much and seeing a slight frown on her face. He heads towards her. "Hey, Angel, are you okay? Are you feeling sick?" He asks in concern.
"No..." She answers sadly. "Just...feeling like I'm not good as you..."
"You don't need to be as good as me to dance, you know," Kalim softly says. "Dancing is for everyone, no matter if you're big, small, poor, rich, young, or old, and dancing is good for everyone!" He looks to her, seeing if his words made an impact on her, seeing that she was looking a little hopeful at his words. "Hmm..." Kalim hums in thought. He closes his eyes in thought for a moment. "Aha!" He exclaims with a smile, making her look at him in confusion. "I'll help you dance! It's easy!"
"You sure?" Angel asks.
"Yeah! I used to teach my siblings how to dance all the time, though they were able to get it as soon as they started walking, but they picked it up later! It's easy, just follow my steps, okay?" Angel thinks for a moment. "Don't worry, we'll start with simple moves," he reassures her, and she nods, knowing that simple steps shouldn't be much of a problem. "Great, now let's just get your hands," he says as he grabs her hands, "and we just...move!" He says as he starts moving slowly, making her follow his movements. His pulls are gentle and he doesn't pull her too much, letting her work through the steps while guiding her. She looks at down and their feet, trying her best to follow Kalim's steps to the best of her abilities and try not to trip over his or her feet, failing every now and then. Soon enough, Kalim started to let go of his grip on her, letting her dance on her own for a while, getting the feel of the rhythm and steps. Kalim happily watches her, watching for any improvement, only to see that her movements becoming more stiff and rigid. "Wait, Angel," he says, making her stop. "You're a little stiff. It'll be hard to dance freely if you're stiff."
"Ah..." She says as he recalls her movement. "I guess when you stopped guiding me, I just went back to shuffling."
"Well we can't have that!" Kalim exclaims. "Dancing requires feeling put into it. You can't just dance when you're nervous or else it's not even dancing!" Angel flinched at the words. I haven't been dancing all this time? "I know what we should do! We need to raise your mood!" Kalim happily says while Angel looks at him in confusion. She looks over to Grim, seeing that Grim has fell asleep on the edge of the fountain, probably from dozing off watching the two and sunbathing. "Anyway, let's bring you're mood up!" Kalim says with a smile, confusing her more. "I have a surefire way to bring up people's mood and my siblings agree with it, well, aside from one or two of them." Angel continues to look confused at Kalim until she felt something moving on her stomach, tickling her.
"Ahahaha!" She laughs while Kalim tickles her. "K-Kalim! Ahaha, s-stop...! Ahahaha!" She says between laughs while Kalim continues. She starts moving around and her hands trying to push him away, with Kalim following her as she continues laughing, the music still playing.
"Great!" Kalim says as he takes her hands again, spinning her around, making her stop laughing, but then looked around her, seeing that she was spinning around. Kalim stopped her, and started moving with the music, her still following and moving with the music. "Ha ha ha! See?" Kalim says as they move with the music, her movements following him closely and being wider than expecting. "You're dancing now!" He says and Angel looks to see that she was dancing, at least to Kalim's standards but she was dancing nonetheless. She started to become giddy at the fact that she was dancing, or maybe still feeling the effects from the tickling she had earlier but she started to smile, happy at the fact that she was following Kalim's steps perfectly, or close to perfect, as he guides her again, her movements becoming more free than structured. Kalim started to let go of her, and she carefully listened to the music, letting the rhythm guide her steps as she takes a step forward, then a step back, then sideways, then repeating the process with a spin. Kalim happily watched her then joined in, dancing with and around her with her happily matching his speed while keeping track of the rhythm. The two laugh as they dance, dancing through the music, with Angel not caring about dancing as well as Kalim, but just to enjoy the feeling coursing through her, letting her worries disappear as they dance. After about 30 minutes, the two sat down on the ground, leaning on the fountain, catching their breaths as they just laugh at the encounter. Dancing for 30 minutes was tiring but also very fun, and the both of them needed a break. "Aha ha ha! That was fun!" Kalim laughs as they rest. "And you gotten better! Isn't dancing fun?!"
"Yeah!" Angel breathlessly says with a smile. "I knew dancing could be fun, but I never did it on my own much before."
"You never danced before?" He asks.
"I...I'm not sure," she says, trying to recall anything about before. "At least, I don't think so."
"Well, how about this: I'll invite you over to Scarabia everyday and we can dance for hours!" Kalim happily says. "We can laugh, dance, party, and play all day! When you're feeling down, just come on over!"
Angel looked at him, seeing that he was serious. She giggles. Of course he's serious about it. "Okay then!" She happily says. "But not everyday. Don't want to make Jamil go through cleaning everyday, well, as much as he does now."
"Yeah sure! Jamil won't mind if it's just dancing," Kalim says. "It'll be our little secret!"
"Ha ha ha! Yeah, our little secret!" Angel says as the two laugh.
"Mraw..." Grim mumbles as he starts to wake up, the two looking above to see him sitting up on the edge. "What happened...?" He sleepily says, looking under him to see the two teens looking at him. "Is it dinner time yet? Kalim, can we stay for dinner?"
"Of course, you can!" Kalim happily says as they stand up. "Oh, I'll go ahead and tell Jamil about it!" He runs off, leaving the two alone.
"Man, so much energy..." Grim groans, looking at Kalim's retreating figure. "Anyway, what were you two doin'?" Grim asks while he yawns. "Were you two dancin' all this time?"
"Yeah, we were," she answers. "I feel like I gotten better at dancing. Didn't think dancing would be so much fun!"
"Heh, bet you didn't even get as good as me," Grim smirks. "I'm the best dancer there is, after all. There's a reason they call me Grim the Magnificent Dancer!" He boasts.
Angel giggles at him. "I don't think anyone has called you that."
"Hmph. Yet!" Grim sternly says. "I just got to show them my moves!"
"Hey guys!" Kalim calls out with Jamil beside him. "Jamil says you two can join us for dinner!" The two look at Jamil, seeing a bit of frown on his face, but it turned into a sigh, mainly because Kalim ignored his orders. "It's almost ready so let's wash up first before we eat!" He says as he heads off, making everyone sigh as Jamil follows him, trying to keep an eye on him.
"Well let's go, Grim," Angel says as she stretches. "All that dancing actually made me hungry."
"Heh. Now you're speaking my language," Grim says as the two follow them.
A/N: IM ALIVE!!!!! Sorry about the three week disappearance. Let me tell you guys what happened during the three weeks I didn't post: since that week I didn't go work because of the snow and ice, my work required me to work at 1 am the past two weeks for 8-9 hours six days a week, and with school, that time change affected the amount of time I was able to do schoolwork, and it didn't help that I had to sleep really early to wake up for work, so I was not able to write for two weeks because of work and school (as I said before, nursing school is a time consuming program so my main time will be towards that). It also didn't help that I had to study for an exam two weeks into the program, which was yesterday mind you, which I also had to focus on while writing this side story. It's a lot, I know but it was a rough two weeks and I'm glad to say that it is FINALLY OVER!!!
I had plans to write a valentines side story; however, that would require me to write a White's Day side story as well, but I realized that I wouldn't have enough time to focus on the side stories since I've held up Book 5 releases for so long already (I bet you guys are tired of side stories and want to get into the good stuff, huh?) so I'll just leave it to you guys if you want them. Just tell me if you guys want one, and I'll think about it.
Speaking of side stories, remember, I'm taking requests for any ideas you guys might have for side stories! I have so many ideas right now for side stories that I'll provide a clear list on the side stories I have planned so far (remember, the side stories can be placed in this book and the previous book!) so I'll just number them accordingly! Just comment what side story idea you have and I'll try to write it (give me time to cook and write y'all!)
At the time of this chapter release, 4 chapters of Book 5 has been written with the time I had during the past two weeks. Book 5 will start to be released NEXT WEDNESDAY (2/14/24, ironic huh?) and will try and keep the two chapters 2x a week schedule I did before. Remember, nursing school will take up most of my time, so there will be weeks were it'll be 2 chapters released a week, but I'll try to keep the schedule consistent and tell you guys when I won't be able to make it. Anyway, I want to thank you guys for patiently waiting, and I have been constantly going through the comments you guys have been leaving for my stories and just been so happy with how much you guys love it. I get notifications everytime someone votes on my stories and that helps me push through writing! I hope that you guys will continue to support me on this journey of writing and nursing school! 💖 (2/6/24)
This chapter was finished on 2/4/23, but since I had an exam yesterday, I'm posting it today. Did not need notification distractions while trying to study for my exam with my sadistic professor 😓. Also have another exam this upcoming Monday so...yeah