Is That A Challenge?

Chapter 4

Back to the b-boys! This crew, by the way, is based off the Gamblerz crew. Look them up if you wish! :) A new guy comes in by the way! Oh man <3 

                I wasn’t really quite sure how long it had been after I came home and crashed on my couch until I fell asleep. I hadn’t even gotten to brush my teeth, change clothes, or even take a shower! The day’s schedule hadn’t been much different from the norm, but for some reason, all my energy was gone by the time my shift had ended at the restaurant.

                Those were just a number of my reasons that I felt like shit when I woke up the next morning. Groaning, I stretched my arms above my head, muscles feeling sore after sleeping through the whole night in an awkward, bent position on the couch.

 The sunlight that had shined through my window, effectively waking me up, and as grumpy as I was to have to get up, I was glad I hadn’t overslept too much. There was still money to mad and dancing to be done. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I swung my feet over the side of the couch, letting the pads of my feet touch the ground. I dragged myself to the bathroom, getting dizzy just at the sight of my disheveled self in the mirror. My hair stuck up in different directions while my make up was smeared every which way. It looked like a tornado had ripped through me!

I quickly stripped and jumped into the shower to remove all the grime and dirt from the day before. I sighed at the warm water that poured over my body, relaxing my tense muscles as I washed myself with soap. Once my hair was tangle free and I didn’t feel so dirty anymore, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me before padding my way to the bedroom, quickly grabbing out clothes to change into and putting them on.

I looked towards the clock, seeing that it was still only half past ten. I had time to grab something to eat before heading out to start setting up my dance spot for the day. With not much money to spare on food anymore, I grabbed the only thing I really had around, bread, and toasted it before taking it with me to eat it as I tried to dry my hair and put on make-up.

Finally, satisfied with how I looked and with a decently full stomach, I left the house, ready with my b-girl clothes and boom box in tow. I was just about to start spreading the cardboard out when I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I took a small second to pause, figuring it was just Jenni or my manager, but my eyebrows shot up to see the unexpected ‘Jaycen’ on my screen. I hesitated to answer but eventually pushed accept before it went to my voicemail.

“Uh- hello?”

“Hey.” I paused, wondering what to do. I would be stupid not to know what he was calling about, but I felt intimidated just talking to him through the phone.

“So… what’s up?” I awkwardly made myself say to break the silence.

“You know what’s up. We got a session in 15 at our studio, gonna make it?” Jaycen got straight to the point, and I wasn’t the least bit surprised. He obviously wasn’t one to beat around the bush.

“Um… I kinda gotta dance on the street right now.” I said, scratching my head. Even though I had promised Jenni just the day before that I’d literally jump at the next chance that I got to practice with a crew this legendary, but letting it interfere with some of my daily money made it not such a perfect situation.

                “Please, you’re not gonna make that much anyways.” I heard him say coldly over the phone. Scowling, I opened my mouth a couple of times, closing it promptly each time as I tried to find the appropriate words to respond with.

                “Jerk! I earn more than enough.” I lied.

                “That’s why you have to be a waitress too right?” Damn. I was really starting to hate that he was constantly right.

                “Not like I’d make more by just practicing with you guys.” I huffed.

                “We’ll buy your food for the day.” Jaycen added. I narrowed my eyes, thinking about how good of a deal this had become. I didn’t make more than 30 dollars a day from dancing, ever, and if it was a full day of food, I wondered if that was a better value. “Still there?” He asked, as I had been silent in thought.

                “Oh, right uh-“ I paused once more to give it a little more thought. “I… I guess I can go then.” I agreed finally. They said food was a way to a man’s heart, but I’d argue that it was a great way to convince me too!

                “Good. Hurry then… it takes like 15 minutes to get across town.”

                “What, I have to get all the way across town?” I scowled even though he couldn’t see my expression.

                “Are you that lazy?” I could almost picture his expression as he said those words.

                “No! That just takes more money! I’m not made of money, you know!”

                “Geez, I’ll pay back whatever it costs you to get here alright?”

                “You better.” I pursed my lips, though feeling very victorious. “What’s the address?” I took note of it once he told me, and soon enough, I was packing up my stuff to drop off back at home before going towards the closest subway station. I was lucky enough to recognize the street that the studios were on, and so I knew to get off six stops later, climbing back up the stairs to reach the bustling city streets again.

                I soon spotted the dance studios, the street number confirming that it was the right one. The building was impressively large, but I thought what else could I expect from such a renowned crew? They only deserved to have such a large place to practice. The bell rung as I walked in, and there wasn’t anything around except a hallway to my left and stairs leading to the second floor. Looking back down to the piece of paper that I had the directions written down on, I remembered that I was supposed to go to the second room on the first floor as Jaycen told me to.

                Straightening the strap of my bag over my shoulder, I started for the long hallway before finding the second door. The music was loud enough to hear from outside already, but I was hesitant to walk right on in. My hand was just hovering over the door knob, half afraid of it being the wrong room, but even more afraid of if it was the right room.

                “You gonna go in?” A voice behind me caught my attention. Spinning around, I found the owner of the voice, but soon after my jaw nearly dropped to the ground in surprise. The unmistakable face of Wesley Lee was all that I could see. As big as Jaycen was in the b-boy scene, the guy before me was even bigger. He was the one who created this whole entire crew and brought it to the fame it has today. He could say he basically gave Jaycen the fame he has today too.

                “U-uh,” I somehow froze up, words not coming out of my mouth like I wanted to. Good job Mila, you really know how to make yourself look stupid!