You're My Favourite Subject

Five

·Jonathan·

It takes me a while but I finally find the right room
As i line up in front of our room, I got a little worried.
There were a lot of girls lining up but no other boys, I really didn't want to be the only boy in a class, especially not dance.
After another minute or so of mild panicking, another boy was at my side,

"You're new here?" He asked, seeming friendly. I nod, thank God another boy.
"What's your name, man?"

"Uh..." I forgot my own name again, this time out of nervousness. This guy had an intimidating vibe.

"Well, Uh, I'm Leslie." He chuckled, I smiled a little and looked away. I kept my head down and my fists balled at my side until our teacher showed up.
She told us to take our shoes off before coming in, I think I was the only student without mismatched socks.
As we entered the room, Leslie pulled me along a little roughly until we were in the far corner of the room. Another two boys already sat there.

"This is Uh." Leslie told them and joined them on the floor. They all laughed.

"What's your real name?" One asked after the laughter had subsided.

It took a lot of will power to not say uh before I spoke. "Jonathan."

"Two Jon's." Leslie smiled, pointing to both me and the boy who asked for my name

"I'm Thayne." Said the other boy who'd been quiet just now.

"Are you gonna stand there all day or join us?" Leslie asked a little rudely but I didn't call him out on it. In the sort of circle they had, I sat between Leslie and Thanye, hugging my knees close to my chest.
The teacher began to mark the roll.
Please don't call me out, I think to myself with my fingers crossed.

"Jonathan?" She asked as she scanned the room.

"H-here." I said but she kept looking, having not heard me.

"Jonathan Groff?"

"Here, Mrs." Leslie called, pointing to me. The teacher noticed and smiled enthusiastically as she ticked off my name then gestured for me to stand up. I hesitated but did as she kept insisting.

"Where are from?"

"Pennsylvania." I mumble, she nods.

"Did you do any dancing back in Pennsylvania?"
I nod, my fists balled at my sides and my knuckles going a little white.
"Like what?"

"Just dancing." I shrug, wanting only to sit back down and have everyone's eyes off me.

"Well, you can have a seat now." She said as she began setting her computer up with the data projector at the front of the room.

"What's her name?" I whisper to Thanye, he shrugs carelessly.

"We call her Mrs." He tells me, sighing.

"You came on a good day, Jonathan." Mrs said, looking at me with a smile.
"We're starting something new." She announced louder, speaking to the whole class.
Thayne sighs and Leslie rolls his eyes.
I glance back to the front of the room, Mrs now has everything set up and is waiting for the projector to turn on.
I think I smiled more just now then I have all day when I saw what Mrs had up on her computer.

"Sutton Foster fan?" She asked when noticing my expression, I nodded enthusiastically.
On her screen was Sutton Foster's Tony Award performance of Anything Goes - which I've probably seen more times then there are words in the song.
Mrs played the video and I mumbled the lyrics, not wanting to be heard.
Most of the other students were watching, Thayne was playing on his phone, hidden in his lap, Leslie and Jon seemed to be gawking at the girls dancing in the video.
After the video ended, Mrs turned off her computer and stood in the center of the room.

"Okay, so who can tell me what we will be learning?" She asked, clasping her hands together.

"How to dress up as sailors." Thayne said sarcastically which earned a few laughs.

"Okay, who would like to give me a serious answer?" She asked while rolling her eyes. "Jonathan?"

"Uh...Tap dancing." I mutter, not expecting to be called on.

"Exactly." She smiled at me and made us stand up, we started doing warm ups.
After that she told us the basics of tap dancing, all of which I already knew.
Mrs then gave us a demonstration, it was easy and from the corner of my eye I saw Jon actually trying, Leslie in the midst of giving up and Thayne not even trying.

"Keep it up, you're all doing great." Said Mrs as she walked around the room, observing us.
"Did you do this in Pennsylvania?" She asked me, I nodded to which she smiled, she then looked past me and frowned, probably at Thayne.

After a while longer the bell went. We have a lunch break now, then another lesson then school's over.

"You gonna hang with us?" Leslie asked me as we put our shoes back on, I had planned on sitting with Lin and his friends.

"I don't know. " I mumbled, tying my laces. Leslie frowned.

"C'mon, it's not like you have any other friends, right?" He said and stood up.
Do I have any other friends? I ask my self, I thought maybe Lin was my friend - but he has plenty of his own.

I agree, "I'll hang with you." I mumbled, Leslie grinned and took me by the arm, leading me through the crowded hall.
Well, more like dragging me.
He took me to the end of the oval, far from the cafeteria, where Jon and Thayne were sitting on the fence. Jon was smoking and Thayne was playing on his phone.

"Jonathan's hanging with us." Leslie said, throwing his bag down and jumping the fence, Jon and Thayne following in suit.

"Where are you going?" I asked, perplexed.

"Store." Thayne answers simply, gesturing for me to go with them. I don't want to but with the way Leslie looked at me, I was too scares to say no.
I drop my bag at the fence and climb over.