Partners With The Badboy

Chapter 39

This time, they walked in together and started in the middle. The lights dimmed, and clocks ticked from the speakers. Each tick made the lights pulse, causing eerie shadows to be castes on the two. The ticking and the lights stopped. It was pitch black.

"'I woke up like this...'" Beyoncé's voice poured from the speakers. Light shone on the stage, and Hannah watched their silky movements.

"It's weak," Luhan muttered in her ear. "Their dance is weak."

Hannah saw that it was true. It was too slow; they'd run out of time to show everything they're really capable of.

There was nothing unique about it. Their dance wasn't making a statement.

The music stopped and Hannah groaned quietly. "You don't have time for this!"

Their movements were slower, this time. At one point, they were even slow dancing. Sehun stumbled over Lay's foot, and Lay stumbled over his own, but you could see that the stumbles were fake. Why would they plan this?

The music gradually picked up. Lay suddenly faced Sehun and shoved him. They both got into position, and a fast pace song began to blare.

Their dancing was stronger this time. Hannah had just begun to relax and let herself enjoy the performance, when the same irritating voices shrieked from behind.

"OHMYGOD THE DANCE OFF!"

What?

"THAT'S THE SAME SONG FROM THE DUKE AND SEHUN DANCE OFF!"

So?

"I GET IT! THEY'RE TELLING THE STORY OF THEIR JOURNEY!! BUT THEY'RE DISSING DUKE AGAIN!"

Oh. Shit.

Hannah watched carefully and saw the truth in their observations. In the beginning, they were unsure of their movements. They seemed awkward. Then, you could see the drastic improvement in the dance. In the end, they would be strong, and make an impression nobody would forget. It was their story.

Duke would be pissed for sure, for being dissed once again.

And the crowd loved it.

Suddenly, their movements slowed, and they danced the last part of their first performance, and froze. The same clock began to tick, and the lights dimmed again. The dance was waiting for the future.

The center shrieked with cheers, some even catcalling for the boys.

Victor showed himself once more, with a wide smile plastered in his face. "What a moving and brilliant performance."

He announced the next pair and they came on stage and danced.

The next, maybe 20's, dances were good, but not as good or thoughtful as Sehun and Lay's. Hannah was feeling confident.

"Up next, we have Duke and Duchess!"

The music started playing even before they got on stage.

"Poor ass don't have money, I get paychecks and you gotta hope for the best-"

Luhan scowled at the two as Hannah clenched her fists. "Oh. Hell. No."

Obviously, whoever knew about the situation Sehun was in with the dance studio... wait, how does Duke know about that?

Maybe it's just a coincidence.

"Prize money, prize money, I win the prize I get money-"

At the end of the song, Victor was smiling (as usual).

"Hold on," he asked Duke. "You had that song custom made just for your performance?"

Duke grinned and took the microphone from him. "Yeah."

That dick.

~

Hannah worried that Sehun would lose his shit. Again.

"Well, there you have it! The middle part of the competition has now ended," Victor announced. "Let's give our judges some time to evaluate the pairs and go into our two hour intermission!"

Luhan stood and stretched, then he helped Hannah up.

He shook his head. "Let's go check on Sehun."

"Actually," Hannah stressed the word out, "You can go check on him. I'll explain everything to the rest of them."

Luhan nodded and left.

"Guys," Hannah called for her friends' attention. They glanced at her. "I have something to tell you."

~

Luhan came back and sat down next to his sister. Sehun was mostly fine, a little mad... okay, more than a little...

The others took the news fairly well, but their expressions were grave now. Only Arlene was cheerful.

"Come on, we have to believe in them. They need our support," she persisted.

Hannah nodded.

~

The crowd members were silent when Victor came back with an envelope identical to the last one. His smile was so fake, so artificial.

"We have the results."
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Yee, long time no see guys :)