New Member - Grayson Dolan

"Twinkle Toes"

Do you remember the 21st night of September?

Music was blasting through my ears as I rolled the cart down the cereal isle with no care in the world.

Love was changing the minds of pretenders

My footsteps in time with the beat while my hips swayed to the song.

While chasing the clouds away

While lip syncing to the lyrics, I scanned the cereal boxes until I found a family size of Froot Loops on the second shelf. Then without hesitation I grabbed it and placed it in the cart before carrying on with my grocery shopping mission.

Ba de ya, say do you remember
Ba de ya, dancing in September

I harshly whispered/sang to the song when my favourite part came, the chorus. Once I realised that there was no one down the isle I decided that I might as well practise my "dancing skills" so I did a bit of head bopping and feet shuffling while I searched for my food. I knew that I was shit at dancing but that didn't stop me from having fun and banging out to a song.

Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day

Being the classic me, I couldn't help but get too into the music. I didn't pay attention to my surroundings or where I was going, because none of that mattered to me until the song ended.

After a few minutes, it ended which caused me to stop dancing and return to focused mode once again.

But I was taken back when I heard clapping from behind me.

"Dude that was freaking amazing to watch!"

My heart dropped, someone was watching me!?

The voice sounded low and slightly croaky, it was definitely a girl.

Whilst cringing, I slowly turned around to view a teen girl who was slightly smaller than me. She had dark brown hair which reached her lower back, bright blue eyes that stared into my e/c ones and a simple smile attached to her innocent-looking face.

"I-I'm sorry that you had to witness that-"

"Don't be dude, it seemed like you were listening to a great song." After interrupting me, she quickly moved her head to the side and covered her mouth while coughing.

"Oh yeah, September by Earth, Wind and Fire. You know it?"

"Of course I have. You seem pretty cool, what's your name, twinkle toes?"

I let out a small giggle before responding, "y/n."

"Emma." She stated as she held out her hand for me to shake, which I took. "Prefer the nickname though."

After our encounter Emma and I hung around the store while trying to find what we needed, which took us about two hours (we were distracted okayyyyyyyy). Once we paid for our items and exited the store, we realised that it was dark out.

"How are you getting home?" Emma asked, plastic bags in both of her small hands.

"Getting the bus." I replied whilst thinking about the dreadful ride home.

"I can take you to your place, if you want."

"You don't need to do that, I can make my own way home."

"Look, I know how creepy a bus ride home at night is. I insist."

I then thanked her before we rushed over to her car, placing our shopping bags in the back. We listened to a bunch of different songs on the way like "How To Save A Life" and "Personal". I was shocked that I had never met the girl since moving to LA three years ago, she was so nice and got my sarcasm and shitty jokes.
Time flew by and we arrived at my house. Before I got out of the car, I decided to ask Emma something.

"Hey, how come I haven't seen you around?"

"I moved here a few months ago, thought that it would help my career."

"Career?"

"I am a YouTuber."

To be honest I wasn't surprised, she was outgoing, confident and a lot of fun.

"Hey y/n, would you like to hang out with me and my friends tomorrow? We are going shopping for a YouTube video on my channel."

"Sure, that sounds great. Also if you need a camera, I do know how to use and focus one."

"That's actually perfect, we need clips from the mall. Meet us outside Bloomingdales at 11AM, be on time!" She pointed her finger at me while scrunching her nose, cuing me to get out of the car and say goodbye.

Once I turned the key inside the lock of the front door, I heard Emma's car drive away and down the block, the sound of the engine getting quieter and quieter. I entered the house to be welcomed by no one, since I live on my own. My parents decided to head back to Utah when I turned sixteen, so only a year ago. They didn't like the lifestyle here but I wanted to stay because of my music, so they trusted me to take care of the house while they were gone until the holidays when they would come back. I earn money from YouTube as well, but I write songs and sing them which had somehow gotten me enough money to survive and pay rent. My channel had a few thousand subscribers which I am very proud of, but nothing to make me famous.

As I took my shoes off, I threw my keys onto the counter in the kitchen and placed the bags on there as well. I took out the food for the fridge/freezer and began to organise them first, placing them neatly inside. Then I sorted out the rest of the groceries before taking my bag and myself up the stairs and into my room. When I reached my bed, I threw myself onto it and chucked my bag onto the floor, exhausted from the crazy shopping journey I just had with Emma. That's when I remembered about tomorrow, about meeting her friends, I had to look and act my best for them, I needed to impress them. Let's just say that I haven't been so lucky with friends while I lived in LA.

But I could tell that everything would change tomorrow.