Exiled (AmBw)

Chapters 7

Layla: "Damn, he got some moves." I thought after filming him dance my socks off and walk out of the circle like it was nothing.

Sato: "Not bad, right?" he nudged me.

Layla: "I mean, he was aight." I said, fronting like I wasn't gawking a minute ago.

Sato: "Oh, okay! He was just aight?" he said, putting up air quotations. "Well then, why don't you go ahead and show us all how to do it."

Layla: "Oh, no, I'm good. I'm just going to chill right here and film."

Sato: "Come on, get in there." he said, taking my video camera from me.

Layla: "I can't, I don't have the right shoes on, and my calf... it's...um... I might have pulled it." I said, faking an injury.

Sato: "Sure ya did. You were walking just fine a minute ago," he said, smiling. "Plus, your shoes are fine, go on," he said, gently pushing me into the cypher.

Layla: "Why is it every time we meet, you force me to dance?" I asked.

Sato: "I don't know, I'm just a jerk like that." he laughed then started to film me in the middle.

How did I get in the middle of another cypher? I haven't danced in a cypher for over five years then all of a sudden, I come to Japan, and I've been in two cyphers, and it's only been the second day. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to buy a pair of sneakers. I can't afford to get stuck in another cypher with 4-inch heels on like I am now. As I stalled, I heard T-pain's "Church" intro begin to play.

'Oh man, this used to be my jam.' I thought, walking the breadth of the circle, measuring how much space I had to work with before I began to dance. As soon as the first verse began, I pulled out all the stops. I've never been that fond of dancing in heels, but today I was feeling it. I was feeling myself so much it was like Beyonce and Ciara had a child and named it Layla. For a while, I played to the crowd before I singled out Sato for putting me in this predicament. Noticing he was wearing a snapback, I took advantage of the opportunity to show off a few hat tricks, courtesy of my old classmates. I took Sato's hat off, did a few neat tricks before I purposefully dropped the hat on cue to the song, then I backed away from it like I just dropped the mic. It was like I was begging for competition. Sato's jaw was wide open as he dramatically held his hand to his chest. Sato happily took my challenge then proceeded to lay me out flat with his moves. I was alright, but Sato was a street performer at heart. I didn't stand a chance. He knew how to give the crowd what they wanted. Sato's pop lock B-Boy style was, on its own, enough to shut the whole thing down but apparently, that wasn't enough. The way he ended his performance put things into perspective.

When the lyrics, 'before the end of the night, I'm gonna have to take your ass to church' played, Sato grabbed his hat from the ground, sashayed over to a nearby beanbag. Then he made the sign of the cross on his chest, looked up, put his hat on his face, clasped his hand like he was praying, then fell back onto the beanie bag as if he died. The whole place exploded with screams. After receiving well deserved praise from almost everyone, he walked over to me with the most 'I-totally-schooled-you-son' kind of look on his face.

Sato: "Good job! You killed it out there 'miss my calf is hurt.'" he said, holding up air quotations.

Layla: "Obviously, not. I got buried out there." I said, remembering the whooping I just received from him.

Sato: "Nah, you held your own. You made me bring out the big guns. I never bring out the big guns." He said, consoling me.

Nana: "He's right. The last person he brought them out for, he married." The lady from before in the checkered jumpsuit said, walking up to us.