My Next Door Neighbor

Chapter 8

School finally ended so I grabbed my clothes out of my locker and headed to the gym for dance auditions. I had ignored Carter all day, not knowing if I would slap him or cry when we talked. By the time I reached the gym doors, I could see more people entering. Uh oh. Competition. I noticed girls, and even guys, warming up and what could I say, they were good. Scary good.

I headed into he girls locker room to change into my shorts and t shirt. I took a deep breath before entering the gym again and hoped for the best. Sitting at a table were three people. On the right, a guy whose name tag read Dustin. He had blonde hair, almost bleached, with hazel eyes. A smile was plastered on his face. I had a feeling I would like this guy. On the left was a wavy brunette. She was filing her newly manicured nails, a blinged out phone next to her. Her name tag read Mia. I didn't think I would have any trouble with her. The girl in the middle, however, looked like she could be some trouble. Her jet black hair was board straight and cascaded down her shoulders. Her ruby red lips were in a tight line as her steel grey eyes bore into me. I gulped and walked forward.

"Oh let me guess, you're the new girl. Cassidy, the Richard's cousin." She leaned forward a bit on the table as I stopped in front of it.

"Yeah. And you are...?" I tried to read her name tag but she beat me to it.

"Alissa James." She said proudly. Captain of the school dance team, most popular girl in school.

I raised my eyebrows. "Right. Okay then. I'm just going to...." I took a pen and wrote my name on the audition paper.

"Stand over there with the other auditionees." She pointed a bright red finger nail in the direction of a group of kids cluttered in a group.

I nodded and walked over there. I then began doing my warm up routine. "What are you doing?" I heard an annoying voice ask. Oh gosh.

"I'm warming up. Is that a problem?" I asked nicely though this girl was already starting to get on my nerves.

"Here, we warm up as a group. Under my rules." Alissa narrowed her eyes at me. I sighed and got up.

"Fine." I put my hands on my hips and looked at her, waiting for her to begin.

She smirked and flipped her hair, causing me to step back to keep from getting hit.

"Alright! I need you to get in 3 lines in front of me!" Alissa yelled, swirling her hand in the air to get us to move. I stood in the second line, not trying to draw attention to myself. I was a good dancer, or so I was told, but I didn't want to brag and i sure as heck wasn't as good as some of these other dancers.

"Now, before we begin. There is only a few spots on this years dance team. That means, not all of you will get in." Her eyes focused in on me before she continued to stare down the others. "So, I will do the dance and you will have to repeat it exactly. If you can't do that, you can leave because there is no more use of you. Understood?"

Everyone nodded her head and looked over at Dustin who clicked a song. As the music filled the gym, my eyes trained on Alissa's moves.

I've got this.

She began don't a few moves, simple things that a third grader could get. I was beginning to think this was gonna be easy but then the music sped up and the moves got more and more complicated. I could see Alissa's eyes on me, smirking when she finished. She thought I was going to fail. Funny, because I certainly DON'T fail. Especially not in front of an arrogant queen bee.

I lifted my chin up as the music began again. This time I closed my eyes, quickly going through the dance in my brain and took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes again, I was in my element. As the cue for the dance to begin came up, I was ready. With that, I did what I do best, I danced.

(Picture is Alissa)