TOXIC

Chapter 14

I walk in and see everyone look at me. I had my black brace on that was not easy to hide and the bruise on my face was getting hard to hide. I walk in and see James in the office. He smiles at me and looks at the office lady. I laugh and walk to Hailey.

"Formal this week. Excited?" 

"Yeah. I get to dance all myself and get weird looks from everyone. Yay!" I explain. She smiles.

"Why don't you ask the guy you were hanging out at the bonfire?" she asks. I smile and look down at my books. "You like him. You totally like him" he says. 

"Shut up" I say and look around. Everyone was still looking at me. "Are you going with Ty?" I ask all flirty. 

"Yes" she says smiling.  

As she said it to me I say the same thing back "You like him. You totally like him" I say smiling. 

"Shut up" she says. We chuckle and walk off to class. James runs up behind me and hands me a note then walks off. He looks back at me and smiles. I open the note and read what it says. "Dance studio at lunch.Wear dance clothes". I show Hailey the note and she snatches it off me. 

"You don't dance" she says.

"I know" I say scared.

"What are you gonna do? And you can't dance with your hand either."

"It just wear my training clothes there and see what happens." I explain. 

Hailey smiles. "Good luck."

----

I walk in and see him dancing. I stand there and watch him dance. He was so good and I could barely do one of the dance moves he was doing. I knock on the door. He turns around and smiles.

"Hey" I say.

"Hey. Nice dance wear" he replies. I look down and see my black Nike Roshe sneakers, black Nike bike shorts and a white Nike shorts bra and an oversized vintage maroon Harvard sweatshirt.

"Thanks."

"So I was in the office and saw all the sports teams. And there was a picture of you and some other girl in a cheer leading uniform. So I figured that if you cheer you might dance and I always know when something big happens; good or bad. I dance" he explains I smile. I never knew there were photos of the teams in the office. And how much he wanted to get to know me. It was sweet.

"I can't dance" I say. He comes over and grabs my hand and pulls me into the centre of the room. He puts his hand up and twirls me around. 

"See your a natural" he says. I smile.

"No. Your great though" I say. 

"Wait" he says and moves me to a side then walks to the end of the room. He skids in to me and stands up I then fall but he grabs my hand and spins me around on the floor. He then picks me up and holds both my hands. And we sort of skip to the front. He lets do I twirl out then into his chest. He stops and we just look at each other. He moves in and I let him. He kisses me and I kiss him back. I try to put my hand on his cheek. But I'm in pain from the dancing. 

"Lunch is over guys" a voice that sounds like Hailey's says. I pull away and look. It was hear and I walk out of his arms. "You better get changed and to class."

"I have a free period. I just want to do something then I'll be out." He nods his head and walks off. I stand in there and look around. I see myself in the mirror and stand there. I put the next song on and think then just dance with the beat. 

 It takes a bit of getting back into it but I get into the rhythm and have some fun. I dance alone until half way through the song where I do a 90 degrees turn. I see James standing at the door and stop.

"Your good. Like really good considering you don't dance" he says. I run my finger through my hair and try to think of an answer.

"I don't. What are you doing here anyway?" I ask.

"Turns out I have a free period too. I was just gonna come back in and dance."

"The thing is I don't dance. Well not for ages. I used to dance alot when I was living with my aunt. Competitions and training 3 days a week but I quit when I moved here. That was apart of my old live. I left it behind ages ago. After you made me dance. I felt like dancing again. If I couldn't do cheer leading right now. I might as well do this."

"Did you do cheer leading because it was close to dancing?" he asks. 

"Yeah" I say. "I didn't want to give it up all together."

"Do you think we could do a duet?" he says.

"If you go to the formal with me" I say. He looks down and smiles. 

"Sure. Now lets work on that duet" he says. I grab some water then take off my sweater and look in the mirror and see my bruises. I furiously put my jumper on and stand there. I wipe my face on my sleeves but because of the sweat some of my make-up comes off showing the bruises on my face. He had already seen a bit of the one on my leg. I stand there and look at myself. I didn't like looking like that. He walks over and rubs my back. 

"It's ok" he says. I feel my eyes fill up with tears so I roll into his arms. He cuddles be and puts his chin on my head. I lay in his arms and try and fit away the tears. He steps back ending the embrace.

"Your perfect" he says.

"What?"

"Just the way you are" he says.