River Dancer

Chapter 3- Lunch

We enter a huge café called "Le Danseur". It is filled with people I'm assuming are dancers here. Some of them don't look like dancers though, but as Dad loves to say, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

We sit at a small table in the corner. I begin looking around at the place so much, I don't realize they are staring at me.

"What's the problem? Have I got something stuck in my hair or something?"

They both laugh and I have a confused look on my face.

"Silly, you still haven't told us your name", Chloe says grinning.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realized."

"So aren't you gonna tell us?", Avalon asks looking as if she's gonna burst.

"River."

"What river?", Avalon asks with the same confused look I had on my face not too long ago.

"You seriously aren't gonna tell us your name?" Chloe looks sad when she says this.

I suppress a laugh. "My name is River, River Daniels."

They both burst into laughter and I can't help but to join.

"So River is your name, huh? At least I see why you don't think my name is odd", Avalon says while still laughing.

We all order burgers, fries and orange juice. We're dancers for God's sake! We eat a lot.

"There's a next bed in our room. Whose is it?" This has been on my mind since we were all in our dorm and I thought now was the perfect time to ask.

"Leila Dale", Chloe responds.

"What's she like?"

"Well she's a snobby rich girl. Rumour says that her parents paid a large amount of money to get her in. She can dance, but there's nothing extraordinary about her dancing, but she thinks she's better than everyone else."

"Haha, just wait until she meets Isabelle. She's gonna be freaked. She likes doing whatever she wants but Isabelle seems like the type of person who loves order." Avalon really is a talker but it's actually nice not having to do all the talking.

"She kinda gives me the creeps", Chloe says looking as if she's cold.

"I second that", Avalon chimes.

"I third it", I add, feeling so comfortable around these girls.

"River?", Avalon calls my name looking sort of worried.

"Yes Avalon."

"I have to warn you about Leila. She'll probably try everything to get you to leave."

"Ava is right."

"Why though?"

"Well for one, she doesn't like competition and you're like the competition here. She loves attention and you're gonna stand in her way." Avalon pauses for a while before she continues. "Plus you're really pretty and Leila loves having all the guys fall over her."

"Well no need for her to worry. I'm only here to dance. I've never had time for boys and I won't for now."

"Wait! You mean you've never had a boyfriend before?", Chloe asks looking as if I told her I plan to rule the world or swim across the Atlantic Ocean or something of the sort.

"Umm.... Actually, I've never had friends before."

"That must be boring."

"Avalon, it actually isn't. I focus on dance more than anything. I didn't like my old schools or the people there because they wouldn't be able to understand me."

"Wow!", they say in unison.

"I see why you're that great." Chloe still looks really shocked. "At least you have Ava and I now."

I smile feeling for the first time like I belong somewhere other than performing on stage.

* * * *

A really good looking guy is headed towards us and I can't help but stare. The girls see that I'm no longer focused on them, and turn to see where my focus lies.

"Who is that?", I ask.

"Brent Matthews", I hear a guy's voice reply.

I turn to see a well built guy sporting a great tan. He has dark shaggy hair and hazel eyes. He's wearing a red polo shirt, black skinny jeans and red converse. He leans down and gives Chloe a peck on her lips and I realize he must be her boyfriend. He sits down for a while and exchanges a few words with her.

"This is my boyfriend Brayden Adams", she says to me after a short while. "And this is my amazingly great dancer friend and new roomie, River Daniels", she says, turning towards him, almost out of breath.

"Hi", we both say to each other at the same time.

Chloe and Brayden leave for a while, and Avalon and I sit in silence for a bit.

I look out to see if I see the guy, Brent, but to my surprise, he was actually headed to a girl beside our table and not us.

I was a bit disappointed but I tried my best to hide it. Unfortunately, it seems as if Avalon has noticed.

"River, please promise to never get caught up with Brent. He's a player. One minute he's with one girl and the next minute he's with another." She pauses for a while. "I know he is really cute and damn hot, but he'll do everything in his power to get a girl, and treat her like royalty, then as soon as a next girl comes along, or he's tired of her, he'll just break her heart, just like that, without any regards to her feelings."

"Avalon, have you guys been together before?"

"Oh no! And might I say, thank god! I wouldn't be able to manage all of that drama, and I don't think you could too."

"Avalon as I said before, I'm only here to dance."

"Why don't you call me Ava?", she asks, changing the subject after a moment of silence.

"I told you that I really like your name, so I don't see the point of shortening it, so I probably won't most of the time.

"Oh", she says not knowing what else to say to my response.

"Umm, do you have a boyfriend?", I blurt out.

"Nah. Why did you ask though?"

"It's just that Chloe has one so I was wondering if you had one too."

"Oh. Well there's a guy I like and I think he likes me too. His name is Connor Simms and he's really hot."

"So why don't you talk to him?", I ask looking confused.

"Cause he hasn't asked me out?"

"So why don't you ask him out?"

"You really have never been out with a guy!", she sighed. "Well guys are the ones who do the asking. Us girls don't ask them out."

"Okay", I say wondering what sense there is to that.

"I'm back", Chloe says in her cheerful voice. You can tell she's really happy that she saw Brayden. "Let's get back to our dorm now."

We pack up and head back home. It's really weird for me to call somewhere else home but now, that's what it is for me.