Labyrinth of Dreams (old)

4: Rae (Photo of Rae)

This Chapter is dedicated to notfound for making the pretty cover. <3

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” 

― Anaïs Nin

Chapter 4

“Time for what?” I eyed Anatolius and Lydia suspiciously, eyes only opened to slits, challenging them to lie.

“For the performance, duh!” Lydia replied, rolling her eyes as if I had just asked the dumbest question on earth. Of course, they were not speaking the truth, but I thought I would let that slide and prepare myself for the performance instead. After all, thanks to a certain someone, I lost all privacy with Anatolius.

While Anatolius talked into his walkie-talkie, prompting and double-checking with the AV personnel, I ran through my steps in my head. I could almost feel myself on the stage and twirling already. It felt as if the stage was mine and nobody could steal the spotlight from me. I danced my heart out, blending into the music as if we were one. Of course, I was just visualising.

“Ready, girls?” Anatolius asked.

I slowly opened my eyes to adjust to the light. Now, this would be the real deal. You either embarrass yourself, make Anatolius avoid you for life, or do a good job and Anatolius would probably like you more, if he even liked you now, platonically or not. I gave myself a short pep talk and an one-arm-self-hug while Lydia squeezed my right hand in encouragement.

I sauntered my way to the stage, taking in the audience before me. Lifting a corner of my lips, I beamed in satisfaction. I liked audience. I liked attention. Don’t judge me, who doesn’t adore attention? No matter what the others would think, the boy behind the curtains was the only one whose opinion I care about. Fine, add in my best friend and parents. Satisfied?

No, seriously, I really wanted to do a good job, for everyone. I would not want to waste the time of the people who were forced to come and watch this dance. I would make the practices and sweat worth it. Last but not least, I would prove to myself of who I was.

I rested my palm on my hips and held out my right hand in a pose. Lights shone on our backs. Lydia had arranged it this way so that the audience could only see two dark shadows of two females.

“Hit it!”

The first piano keys blasted from the speakers. Shine bright like a diamond. The lyrics reminded me of my purpose. Catching on to the beat, I allowed the music to call me and carry me along. I started off with smoother and generally flowy moves. Lydia did a split while I did some other twirls. Before the second verse began, the song transitioned into a more upbeat ‘One More Night’ by Maroon 5. Lydia started her moves first, with an arm wave, which earned appreciative calls from the audience. I posed by the side like statue, just a lot more coolly. No matter what negligible role I played, I would steal the breath of the audience away. The stage was mine.

That I only stay with you one more night. I took my cue and counted down from three. I improvised a cartwheel on the spot as the song transitioned into high-pitched whistles from Whistle by Flo Rida. I reached the centre of the stage while Lydia took her position to pose. I embraced the light on my face. I glided on the stage and leapt in the air into an over-split. Ballet since four earned me my flexibility. I allowed myself to slide on the stage until the rap started. I flipped my ponytail out of my face and began my dance moves.

The audience was, as a whole, enthusiastic, which I was grateful for. I could see some of them catching last night's sleep but the upbeat music probably did not help them with their sleeping. No wonder Lydia was like "We have to choose an upbeat song to wake everyone up!" The rest of the audience either started dancing themselves or just watched, clapping their hands and screaming occasionally. The student body of Ashton High was not a bad one. It might not be perfect, we were "nice people" as my mom liked to say when enrolling me into this school. Generally, there were no drug dealers, alcoholics, rapists etc. in Ashton High. Bullying cases were rare though they do occur from time to time. There were two bad things though. One, the students liked staying in cliques. It even amazed me how they were sitting in groups with distinct "borderlines" marking out their territory even in such a chaotic setting, while watching the performance. Usually the 'Popular' and the nerds sat away from each other, though it was probably more accurate to say the 'Popular; sat away from ther nerds instead of a mutual thing. The rest of us normal people fill in the gaps and become the "borderlines". Second, I could not remember. Blame it on the audience we were screaming and distracting me.