Stay (Topp Dogg) {Published on Amazon}

Part 1

Monday

I sighed as I looked at the building before me. I turned to my mother who drove me here. "Doesn't this place look unsafe to you?" My mother rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you saw it in the day time instead of at six in the morning, you might not think so bad of it." I looked at my feet. "You told me that I had to do something that didn't involve school. I chose something and now you're mad at me?" I hate it when my mother uses this kind of tone with me, a mix between annoyed and fed up.

"Hyein, look at me." I did as my mother asked. "You have to get over this-" she used her hands to speak, "thing. You won't talk to anybody at school and you let them make fun of you. You told me you wanted to dance, so I said yes. Then you told me you wanted to go at six in the morning? Who the hell dances at six in the morning?" I slowly crossed my arms, feeling uncomfortable. "There wouldn't be a class at this time if people didn't come," I reminded her. I could hear my mother huff in anger.

"Hyein, I told you to look at me." I met my mother's eyes. I couldn't be angry at her for making me do this. The look she gave me everyday, this look, it kept me going. I had to do this for her. "I just want you to make some friends, okay? Some good friends who won't make fun of you." I smiled and felt the warmth she gave me from her loving gaze.

"I just have one question for you, mom." She waited respectfully for my question. "What does it feel like to have a daughter who's mentally ill?" I got out of the car quickly before she could answer and ran to the front door of the building.

I zipped up my sweatshirt. It was still freezing cold outside at this time in the morning. I opened the front door and walked in. There dim lights and a few people sitting and waiting here and there. I smiled and bowed to them, already collecting their stares.

Then someone came out and stopped in front of me. "Six a.m. hip hop dance class, come with me!" It was a male who spoke. He was handsome with his straight, black hair. I wish my hair was perfectly straight like that.

I followed the man into a dance studio. There was only one other person who followed me. It was another male. His hair was perfectly straight and a blood red color, it was strange.

They bowed to me and stared at me as I bowed back. I took off my sweatshirt and pulled my frizzy, dark brown hair up into a ponytail. The two men continued to stare at me. "Hello, my name is Hyein." I told them. They both gave me an unsure smile.

The one man who I followed in here pointed to his face and narrowed his eyes in confusion. "A-are you okay?" he asked me. I gulped down the embarrassment that I get every time I'm asked that question. I nodded my head. "I have Tourette's syndrome. I'm sorry if it bothers you. I can't really control it." The mans face brightened up while the other man still looked confused. "No, you're fine. I just didn't know what was going on. It's something I just gotta get used to it, right?" I smiled the best I could and nodded. "Right. What are your guys names?" I asked. The nice man held his hand out. I shook it as he said, "I'm Kidoh." I nodded my head.

Then I turned to the not-so-nice guy. Kidoh bumped him in the arm. The man shook, then looked back at me. "Are you hitting on me or something? You keep winking at me and opening your mouth in a funny way. I don't get it." When the man stopped talking, Kidoh dropped his mouth open slightly in shock.

Ouch. I looked down at my feet at giggled. "May this wasn't such a good idea," I said to myself. Kidoh reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. "This is Xero, your other classmate. I'm your teacher. Do you want to get started?" I didn't know if I wanted to get started or not. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and didn't know if I wanted to be there. Then I remembered that I was doing this for my mother.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, lets get started," I said.

*****

This was the most I've ever talked to somebody in a long time. I'm used to just sitting in the library alone, reading my books, and getting laughed at every now and then. This was way out of my comfort zone . . . And yet, it was the most fun I had in a long time. After about ten minutes of warming up, Xero got used to it and he started to talk to me.