The Sky Dancers

Chapter 1- Curious Boy

 "Jayce? Jayce, what's wrong? You seem distracted."

The boy looked over at his dance partner. Her curly blond hair was being pulled back into a bun for their dance practice. She wore her usual light blue leotard and white tights. Jayce wore his white shorts and black wife-beater. As usual, it was freezing up in the clouds, but the Cloudites had all gotten used to the temperature. 

"I was just wondering," he answered her, glancing at the spiraling grey cloud in the distance where the cursed girl lay, "why doesn't Vivica practice with all the other Sky Dancers?"

"You know why!" his partner said annoyed. "She can't leave it." She motioned to the large, dark cloud. "Besides, why do you care? I'm your partner not that thing." She made a disgusted face.

"She's a person!" Jayce yelled at her unexpectedly. "She deserves to be treated like one!"

"Whatever! Let's just practice."

They began their routine of swirling, jumping, running, and diving off clouds. They then conjured up a cloud and landed with a graceful flip. Jayce and his partner were part of the Ballet team. All of the Sky Dancers had the choice of being in one of two teams, the Ballet team or the Jumpers-who always warmed up the large crowd for the Ballet team. They would dive down from clouds and come dangerously close to the crowd. Sometimes, they would grab someone from the ground and hold them up in the sky on a cloud, but that rarely happened because of how hard it is to keep you and a regular human up on a cloud. If the Sky Dancer's focus was to slip for a second when they were holding up the human, they would both plummet to the ground and die.

A couple hours later after arguing and redoing , Jayce and his partner landed on a cloud with their final pose. In the actual show, they would be surrounded by the other dancers and their partners.

"Do you want to practice tomorrow?" his partner asked as they prepared to depart. He shook his head and headed back to his personal cloud. His thoughts were focused on one thing the entire time he had practiced and as he left.

Vivica.

"Hey Jayce." his roommate, Simon, greeted him when he got back to their small white dorm on their cloud. 

Jayce didn't answer. He collapsed on their light grey couch and picked up his book. He tried to read it for a couple minutes, but he couldn't focus. The boy sighed and put the book down, turning to his also reading roommate.

"Isn't. . . Vivica's birthday tomorrow?" he asked Simon.

He nodded. "Why?"

"Well. . . I kind of want to get her a present or-"

"What!" Simon shot up from his chair and threw the book down, accidentally making it go right through the cloud. He didn't notice. "Don't! The only thing that girl is good at is following her curse. I can tell, something bad will happen if you go near her."

"Why does everyone act like she's some sort of disease!" Jayce yelled back, also standing up. "She's a person, and I think her birthday is important!"

"Jayce, what is going on with you? You've been acting really strange lately, and it's freaking me out!"

"I'm fine! But what I find strange is how everyone treats Vivica! She deserves to be treated just like every other Sky Dancer. That's what she is." Jayce walked for his bedroom, but turned back to Simon. "I'm going to do something nice for her on her birthday, not matter what you and anyone else says." And with that, he slammed the door on his friend.

The next day Jayce sat on his bed, wrapping the present he had bought in baby pink and white stars wrapping paper. After he had tied the white bow on the small box, there was a knock at his door. His roommate walked in and handed him a card. On the outside it said Happy Birthday Vivica and signed by Simon on the inside.

"Give it to her, will you?" he asked. Jayce nodded, stood up, and walked outside towards the edge of the cloud. Simon followed him but stopped at the edge. Jayce conjured up a wispy cloud, which held him up easily. He walked across the moving cloud, it following him in perfect sync. He held the card and box in his left hand, the other resting by his side.

After a few minutes, he approached the dark swirling cloud. Beneath the dark cloud was the barely visible outline of a small grey building. A door was awaiting him through the funnel. As he stepped through the cloud, he could hear the music that was assigned specifically for Vivica. It was dark but classical. She was always the final act of the show, with her own music and solo dance. Jayce knocked on the door and immediately heard a shriek from inside the little house. Slowly, the door opened and an eye peaked through the crack.

Although it was only a bit of her face, Jayce was astonished. She was far more beautiful than all the other female Sky Dancers. Their hair always being a shade of blond or light brown, but Vivica's hair was jet black with streaks of purple and dark blue. Their eyes being blue or green, and her's being bright purple, like lightning. Her skin was a spotless pale peach, and her lips a natural light pink. Jayce had imagined she would look different then them, but not like this.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the boy.

"What do you want?" she said. Her voice was angelic. It made Jayce even more intrigued.

"I, uh, heard it was your birthday today, so I got you a present." He held the box out for her, but she just eyed it like it might bite her. He noticed the card also in his hand. "Oh, and my friend wants me to give this to you."

Reluctantly, Vivica opened the door more and stood aside for Jayce. He walked in and she closed the door behind him.

In one corner of the room was a small kitchen, the other had a bed and dresser nestled in the corner. A stereo was resting against the wall. She rushed over to it and turned off the music. Everything in the house was a dark color, even the wispy cloud flooring. They stood there, awkwardly, in silence.

"So, how old are you now?" Jayce asked her. She looked away from him.

"Seventeen." He hoped she would say something else, but she stayed quiet.

"How are you?" She shook her head. Jayce was confused.

"Why are you here?" she asked. She walked to the dresser and pulled some shorts on over her leotard.

"I told you, I wanted to wish you a happy birthday and give you these." He held the gift and card out for her to take. She slowly grabbed them and looked at Jayce. "Open them." He quietly said. She did as he said and opened the card first. She read it and dropped it on the ground, since there weren't any tables.

"I can tell this Simon really meant what he said." she muttered sarcastically. Jayce frowned slightly but didn't say anything. She ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the box. She looked up at him with eyebrows raised. He smiled and picked up the item in the box. He held up the bracelet so Vivica could see it better. It was silver, with three blue sapphires in a row. It sparkled even though there wasn't that much light in the dark funnel cloud. He slowly put it on her wrist as a small grin appeared on her face.

"Thank you." she said. "It's very beautiful."

"You're welcome. It fits you perfectly." Her eyes widened as he said that. She started shaking her head repeatedly.

"No, no. Uh, you should leave. Now." She pushed him out the door and locked it. A few seconds later, Jayce heard the sound of her music blasting louder than before. Confused, he walked back to his dorm where his roommate awaited him.

"Hey, what happened?" Simon immediately asked as soon as he walked in.

"I have no idea." Then Jayce locked himself in his room.