My Next Door Neighbor

Chapter 9

"Alright, the list of those lucky enough to have gotten in will be posted tomorrow after school. Now.....just go away." She shooed us out of the gym, Dustin and Mia next to her.

Well, I gave it my all. Hopefully my all was good enough. With that, I headed out of the gym, grabbed my bag, and headed toward the exit of the school.

"Hey!" I heard someone yell. When I turned around I saw Dustin running to catch up with me. "You're Cassidy right?"

"Yeah, but I go by Cass usually. And you're Dustin." I smiled.

"Yeah. Hah. Well, I just wanted to say that you're a really good dancer. I got to see you a bit and you were amazing. I hope to see you on the list tomorrow." He winked and we both laughed.

"I hope I'm on their too. Though, I don't believe Alissa likes me much." I smiled.

"Oh, her? Don't worry about it. She is just jealous that finally someone is a better dancer than her." Dustin playfully punched my arm and we walked out of the building.

We talked for a little bit before we split ways, him going to the left and me going to the right. I took to time to put my earbuds in and cruse down the sidewalk, coming up with new dance moves to use in my routines. It's just something I do when I listen to good music. I've done it ever since I was a little kid. I was always dancing whenever music came on. Now, I have a playlist of around 300 song that I have labeled DANCE. Most of the, I already made routines for, but some I'm still working on. I want to be a choreographer when I finish college so coming up with routines now saves time later. Besides, it can be a lot of fun to just let the music guide you around. Some Of my best work has come from me just closing my eyes and letting the just speak for me.

By the time I got home, it was around 7 o'clock. I hadn't realized just how late I was getting home. Of course, the walk home was pretty long in itself, but the audition was also pretty long. Wow. I headed up the steps and opened the door, dropping my bag by the door.

"Cassidy Margret Richards where on earth have you been?" I looked up to see a very angry Aunt Claire. Her hands were on her hips and she was in her night robe. Beside her was a very upset Derek. Steven was leaning against the wall by the door clenching and unclenching his fists, a habit I noticed he had when he was trying to control his anger. Wayne was no where to be found.

"I was at....auditions." That's when I realized I never even told them I was going to be auditioning.

"Auditions? For what? If you were going to be staying at school you should have let one of us know. Wayne's out there looking for you." Aunt Claire was definitely in a bad mood. Her face was stern and, to be honest, it scared me a bit.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to not tell you, I just forgot. I forgot that I didn't tell you yesterday." I said, stepping forward.

"That's still no excuse. Now, you're food is in the microwave, heat it up and then go to bed." Derek stepped aside and followed me into the kitchen.

"You don't need to hover over me, it was an honest mistake." I groaned, pushing the buttons on the microwave to heat my food up.

"Mom almost had a heart attack, I almost called the cops, Steven punched a hole in the wall and Wayne went out looking for you. We thought something happened to you. After you crying last night and sulking this morning, we weren't sure what to think. Like....maybe you...." He didn't finish. I knew what he was talking about.

"You're worried I'm going to crash sooner or later because of my parents. You think I'm going to start doing drugs, cut myself, or worse. Well, I'm not. I promise you that I'm not going to do that." My voice was growing in anger. "Does no one trust me?! So I accidentally forget to call once and suddenly I'm out doing something horrible!" I slammed my hand on the table. At that precise moment Wayne walked in. He looked around, probably noticing the tension in the air. He hung up his coat and slowly walked into the kitchen.

"Where the hell were you?!" He said, his eyes hardening.

My eyes narrowed back at him as I pushed off the counter and looked at everyone. "Stop being up my ass all the time!" I yelled before running up the stairs. I didn't even get my food, the microwave beeping to tell me it was done.

I ran up to my room and slammed the door. I don't know why but whenever I have good news, it always seems to be that something bad happens afterwards.

(Picture is Dustin)