Random Short Stories

The Dance off

"Get out of here Melody!"
"You don't want to be a part of this."
"But dad... I want to stay with you."
"No! Leave! Get out of here! You'll get hurt!"
A loud sound shot through the air, everything seemed to go in slow motion... and then silence.
~~~~~~~~~

I woke with a start, sitting up in my bed. Ugh, it was the same dream that haunted me since my dad died. I didn't know much about him, only that he died when I was six and somehow I ended up in the hospital with a scar on my right arm. I looked around my small room and managed to glance and my alarm clock.
"It's only 4:30." I muttered to myself.
I'm used to waking up this early, it's natural for me ever since I started high school. I'm a sophomore now and could care less about it. School was a waste of my time, going there and seeing everyone's smiling faces. I can't believe they all are faking it, how do they do it so well? I gave up on that forever ago. Something pings on my phone, I pick it up and glance at it. It was a message from my mom's boyfriend.
'Hey buddy! Sorry it's early but I wanted to know if you were okay with me proposing to your mom later on?'
I roll my eyes, I could care less. Me and mom haven't been close since I turned ten. She started to neglect me and focus on her dating life. She never was mean to me, she just acted like I was some part of her life that didn't exist. Recently she's been dating this man named Bryan, he's okay for the most part. He's given me a lot more attention than my mom ever did the three years they've been together. He's also managed to make me smile with his jokes and he taught me to cook. I pick up my phone and text back.
'Sure. That's cool with me. Are we gonna have a fancy dinner to celebrate?'
I slightly smiled to myself. Bryan is one of the best cooks I've ever known, I just make sure not to show it around him. Today will be interesting. I finally decide that I've had enough of sitting in my bed and jump out to go shower. I make sure to be somewhat quiet so I don't wake mom. Even if I don't like her, it doesn't mean I have to treat her like trash. After all, I'm living in her house and she could kick me out anytime if I was rude to her.
After my shower, I slip on my worn, black hoodie over my shirt and put my hair up into its regular ponytail. I never knew the big deal about makeup and trying to look good so I just hid myself at school using my hoodie. After I finished with that, I walked downstairs to grab breakfast, there wasn't much and I didn't feel like cooking so I just grabbed some cereal. My life is pretty boring, I wake up, shower, grab breakfast, go to school, come home, do homework, and then eat dinner and go to bed. Somehow, today felt like it would be different.
'Maybe it's just the thought of Bryan proposing to mom.'  I thought to myself as I finished up my food.
I then grabbed my bag and walked out the door, I thought I could kill time by going to the arcade since school doesn't start for another hour and a half. I always walk to school because it isn't too far from my house, and the arcade is right next to it. I plug in my headphones and listen to music as I walk. I hurry to the arcade before it gets to full, kids love to come here before school and some are really mean when it comes to playing games. When I arrive, I see that my favorite game is being crowded around with kids chattering and laughing.
"Woah! Look, he's beating the high score of the game!" I heard someone say.
What? Who could ever beat my score?! I'm the best player of that game! I tried looking over the crowd of people to see who my competitor was. No such luck, it sucks being short sometimes. I may be taller than most people but not the guys, they are almost always taller. The crowd cheers and finally parts to show a tall guy with a big smile on his face, he was at least 6 foot and had dirty blonde hair with dark chocolate eyes. He was wearing a football jersey and had the build of a football player.
'What a loser.' I thought to myself.
The crowd followed him as he moved across the arcade and started at another game. I turned away and decided to see what score he got.
"Heh, it's only 400 points more. I can beat that no problem." I said to myself.
The game was a dancing type game. You had to follow the dance moves it showed and was fairly easy. It's kind of like just dance, but in an arcade. When you score high in a song, it puts it on the leaderboard, and I was not about to let my crown go to some pretty boy football player. I started the game up and scrolled through the songs, trying to find one that I could use to beat his score with. I finally settled on Bet my life by imagine dragons and chose the hard level. It would play the song faster so It coordinated with the dance moves. I prepared myself and turned up the volume so others could hear, and so I could tune them out. The song started off normal and slowly sped up so I could get used to dancing fast. Soon, I was a pro, nailing every move and no giving a care to the world. I didn't notice the crowd of people that slowly started to form. I kept dancing until it was finally over, I slightly leaned over to catch my breath as I watched my score climb.
"Ha! Best that pretty boy! 1,500 points ahead!" I said, standing up and walking away from the crowd. I could hear the chattering and laughing as I walked to another game. He won't be beating me anytime soon. I checked the time, grabbed my bag, and headed to school.
"Day of Hell, here I come." I grumbled.