Into the World of Twisted Wonderland Pt 2

👑 The Beautiful Tyrant: Chapter 8 👑

"See you later, guys..." Epel sadly says as he joins Vil and they walked away. The four could only look at the scene, seeing that Epel looked sad as they turned the corner.

"Mraaah..." Grim groans. "After all that, he still got yoinked away."

"What a downer," Ace says with an annoyed tone. "Is there some kinda rule in this school that you can't be a housewarden unless you're a tremendous jerk?"

"We were unwise to pick that fight," Deuce sighs. "If Housewarden Rosehearts hears about this, it might be off with our heads." Deuce thinks for a moment. "But if I'm being honest, I could so without the whole competition," Epel mumbles. "The Song & Dance Championship, huh?" Deuce mumbles as he looked at where the two disappeared.

In the distance, without knowing, someone was watching the four  walking away with a smirk. "Hmmmm. Most intriguing..."

The next day during lunch break, the four were in the gymnasium, with Ace and Grim still grumbling over the events from yesterday and Deuce stretching, while Angel observed the four and getting the music together. "Your moves are all utterly unchoreographed," Ace mocks Vil. "It's embarrassing to watch, frankly-and woefully inelegant, to boot."

"You get a five out of one hundred!" Grim finishes. "Oooooh, he makes me so mad! I'm gonna wow 'em at the audition with my slick moves and dulcet tones! They'll be all like, 'Please, o Great Grim, you have to represent us!' Just you wait and see," he huffs.

"Yeah. Totally," Ace agrees. He looks to Deuce, seeing that he was almost finished. "Soooo, Deuce," he starts, getting his attention. "You changed your mind about auditioning. What gives?"

"I'm not taking all that smack lying down!" He snaps. "Besides...I'm a little worried about that guy."

"You mean Epel?" Ace asks.

"Yeah," Deuce says. "He didn't seem like he was taking part in the SDC because he wanted to."

"I got that impression myself," Angel says, thinking about the whole situation, especially seeing that Vil was eyeing Epel's movements. It's almost as if he was forced to be a part of it...

"Back when he and I bumped into each other, he was crying," Deuce states. "As an honor student, I can't ignore someone being forced to do something against their will."

"Y'know, a real honors student wouldn't refer to themselves as one," Ace states. "Annie's here more of an honor student than you are, despite the trouble she and Grim gets into." Angel pouts at Ace's statement, unfortunately, knowing that what he said wasn't wrong. "Epel's clearly faint of heart. I mean, just look at the guy. Forcing someone like that to compete just seems mean. I mean, even we don't force Annie to join in and she's a pushover."

"I-I am not!" Angel retorts.

"That's why I say we put on a better performance than Epel's," Ace says, ignoring her. "We can knock him out of the running for the contest ourselves. You said it yourself, right? 'It's not appropriate to audition on a lark when you're not serious about gunning for the top spot.' If he doesn't want the spot, we'll take it for ourselves."

"Sounds good to me!" Grim happily agrees. "Let's start with some dance practice. Angel, cue the music!" Grim says. Angel look at the three and sighs, pressing the play button on her phone. Music start to fill the room while the three get ready.

"Okay, let's run through the whole thing once first," Ace says as he gets into starting position. He looks to Grim, seeing that he was starting to wobble a bit. "You up to this, Grim?" Ace smirks. "I can't imagine you having any dancing experience."

"Heh heh," Grim smirks. "I'll show you what my hind paws can do!"

"I practiced as much as I could, but I wonder if I can pull it off," Deuce says with uncertainty. "Could you help us stay on the beat by clapping your hands, Angel?" He asks and nods, giving him a smile. Once the first words started to come about, the three started dancing, with Angel clapping to the rhythm, giving them a sense of the beat. As Angel observed, they tried their best to follow the dance in the videos she's been watching, but they were uncoordinated, off rhythm, and stumbling a bit at the steps. It only reminded her about how she tried to dance, comparing herself to Kalim. She saw that out of everyone in the group, Ace was the one that was closest to the actual dance, though making major mistakes, but compared to Grim and Deuce, he was at least better than them. Grim did his best to follow the dance, or in this case Ace's dance, but kept wobbling on the steps that required standing on one foot, or paw in his case, almost stumbling and falling on the floor. Luckily, his tail was able to keep his balance, but even so, it did get a bit in the way every now and then with a turn and step. She looked to Deuce, seeing that his moves were all over the place, looking stiff as he tries his best to move his arms in the same motion as Ace, but it felt off, both off rhythm and in terms of movement. She watches as even his body doesn't move the way it's intended, keeping his arms close to his body, his feet shuffling and being off position, and his body not being as expressive as the others at least, looking around to see if he's following the others' moves. Soon enough, before she even knew it, the music stopped and the three stopped dancing, using this time to take a break. "Sweet! That was easy," Ace says as she wipes sweat off his face.

"Hold your right hand out as you back up, and..." Deuce mumbles, motioning his words. "Wait, which foot do we use?"

"How 'bout a peace sign right here?" Grim suggests. "Not that my front paws can really do that..."

Ace looks at Deuce, performing the steps, only to be confused at the placement of his feet and hands. "Dude. This is the easy part, and you're already having this much trouble?"

Deuce was shocked at the statement. "Urk...Just you watch!" He says. "I'll get the hang of this in no time! Angel, start the music back up!" Angel presses the play button again, watching the three start over, performing the dance again. She sees that at least the dance this time was a little better than the previous dance, but could see that Deuce was still struggling with this moves, lagging a bit behind from the others as he tries to carefully follow the moves, but end up missing the net set of moves instead. After a few minutes, the song ends, with Deuce and Grim out of breath and Ace watching the two. "Ugh, the footwork for this part is too complicated. I can't remember it at all," Deuce groans.

Grim sits on the floor, catching his breath, seeing that Ace was smiling at the two. "How'd you learn to dance like that, Ace?" He says between breaths.

He smirks. "If you beg me, I might be inclined to teach you." Deuce and Grim only glare at his comment.

"Myah! Don't act high and mighty just 'cause you're a little better than us!" Grim angrily exclaims.

"I'll learn to dance WITHOUT your help. Just you watch!" Deuce says.