The Dance Academy (ON HOLD)

05

Chris's POV

I sat in the classroom and waited for Dancer to walk through the door. She was thirty minutes late for class today. The last time I saw her was at the diner Saturday afternoon. I barely paid attention in class because my mind was focused on her. I tapped my fingers on the desk and stared at the door for the entire period.

"She's never in first block on Mondays." Kyle informed me as we left class.

"Why not?"

"Mannnn, I don't know. She just never is. Her pops comes in and tells all the teachers not to look for her on Mondays and they never question it. Her dad is somethin'. It's like he runs half the city now. Nobody messes with him or his money. That's for sure." I nodded at his statements and walked over to our lockers. He exchanged his books and I poked at the conversation more.

"Have you ever noticed any bruises or something on her?"

He shook his head, "Nah. She always has on long sleeves or a jacket or long pants. Something like that. Always got her hair down." He paused and looked at me before chuckling.

"Now that you mention that, it is kind of odd. It can be 100 degrees outside and she got on sleeves."

"I noticed a bruise on her when we were at lunch Saturday. She said she fell but I think it's some bull. Her dad showed up and took her away. Then made her say 'yes daddy.' Like some sexual stuff. It's almost like she was trained to say that. It was pitiful honestly." I explained.

He nodded and closed his locker. "Come with me."

I followed him into the stairwell and looked at him.

"This is what I know. He's got people around the school watching her. You know, teachers, other students. He pays them to make sure she's doing what she supposed to. I overheard some guys at the basketball court yesterday talkin' about 'Chris, watch Chris.'"

I looked at him and frowned. "Me!?" I asked, touching my chest.

He nodded. "Yeah man. Watch your back. I'll watch your back for you because I think you're cool but if you want to find out about her, you gotta find a different way. You can't keep approach her directly or you'll end up like Mike."

"Mike?"

"Yeah, they called him Blue." I nodded and remembered what Christian told me about him.

"Okay. What do you think I should do?"

"Prom is coming up. See if she'll go with you. I can get some of my boys together and see if they can help us get up the gate." He nodded, before someone came down the stairs. He quickly stopped talking and we both walked into our second class.

Dancer sat at the desk and stared at the table top. I walked over to her and sat down without speaking. I took heed to what Kyle told me, considering the fact that people were watching me now. Every now and then, I noticed her glancing at me. I kept my eyes away from her and wrote a small note on my paper. I wrote it under one of the questions the teacher provided us with so no one would suspect anything.

'Come with me to prom?'

Her eyes glanced at my paper then she looked back up to the teacher. Her small hand went up to her face and she chewed her thumb as she wrote on her paper. I stretched my arms and looked at her paper quickly.

'YES' she wrote and circled it a few times. I nodded and looked back at Kyle. He smiled and I gave him a thumbs up behind Dancer's back.

Let the games begin, Mr. Parks. I hope you're ready.