Now You See Me

two.

***
I checked my phone as I walked into the cafe. 7:32PM. Immediately the smell of brewing coffee and cinnamon hit me full force, the incredibly delicious scents overloading my senses.

Looking around I took in the semi-full dining area and chose a corner table to sit at. It had begun to sprinkle again, and I shot a text to Sarai to let her know I was already here.

"Miss Fierro! What a surprise, it's been awhile since we've last seen each other." Greeted Mr. Ray Desmond, the owner of the cafe as he wiped his hands on his apron. He shot me a wide, crooked smile, his eye wrinkles presenting themselves momentarily. His chocolate skinned hands were covered in sugar powder.

A tall, sort of lanky man, in his mid-50s with a salt and pepper colored goatee and completely bald from having battled and beaten cancer two years ago, Mr. Ray had become a strong fatherly figure to me since I could remember.

I smiled brightly at him. "If you think a day is awhile then you've got another thing coming for you, Mr. Ray." He laughed and took a seat next to me.

"You look like you're waiting for someone."

"Sarai. She should be here soon. We're going to walmart to get some snacks for tomorrow." I looked out the window in front of us, watching people walk in and out of the cafe.

"Ah yes, your big dance trip! My, time flies by doesn't it. I'm sure you're feeling a bunch of emotions right now." I turned back to him and shrugged.

"I guess. Mostly been feeling excited. I'm so ready to get out of this small town and go somewhere fun for once. This will be the longest time away from Tía though so I'm more worried about her."

"Nah, your auntie is one strong woman. Always has been. Maya and I will visit her every week, how bout it?" Oh yeah, he and Tía had grown up together here in Haymarket, Virginia. Maya is his wife, a fun, gorgeous lady he met when he studied in France in college. "I'll get you your usual. Up for a slice of your favorite lemon cake?"

He knew me so well. Shaking my head eagerly up and down, he patted my shoulder before getting up. Right as I was beginning to wonder where Sarai was, she walked in the cafe.

"Hey sis, sorry I'm kinda late. Some loser took my parking space and I had to drive like 4 times around the block looking for another one." She slumped in the chair next to me, her wet hair slightly matted down. Somehow she still managed to look pretty.

"Seriously? It seems like we've both had our runs with rude people today. On the way here some blue-haired kid almost ran me over." Upon hearing "blue-haired kid" Sarai looked at me in disbelief.

"Wait, hold up. You said blue-haired?"

"Um, yeah? Wh-"

"Dude that's crazy! The person who took my spot had blue hair too! And it was a boy!"

"Dang, this kid must be having a bad day then. Whatever, let me get my lemon cake and let's head to walmart. I'm so freaking excited for tomorrow- you're picking me up at 6 right?" She and I got up and walked to the counter where my packaged cake was sitting nicely.

"Yeah. I won't be late so be ready around 5:55. I'm also picking up Marty." We walked out of the cafe and towards her car that was parked across the street. Marty was a boy we befriended back in middle school when he moved here from Arizona after learning that he loved dance like us.

Since then, it had been our little trio that went everywhere together. His mother clicked perfectly with Tía since they could communicate in Spanish. Marty's family is from Mexico and mine is of Venezuelan heritage.

On the way to Walmart we chatted about the trip and what camp was going to be like. Sarai and I had been to every dance camp in town together and knew that this camp would be different from the past ones.

We've choreographed our own dances before and done multiple duos, even trios with Marty, and we just prayed that the two of us would be in the same room together. With everyone going to stay 4 people to a room we didn't care who the other two roommates were as long as we had each other- of course boys and girls being in separate rooms.

The "cabins" we were staying at were sort of different from your typical retreat setting. Rather than multiple, separate cabins from each other, we were staying in three large houses that each have 5 bedrooms. In the pictures our coaches showed the team, all the houses were place in a semi-circle around a roundabout that had a flower bed in the middle of it. It looked very country and homey, despite the size of all the houses. They were placed in a field surrounded by trees with a small creek in the backyard.

Our team was made up of 24 dancers; 16 girls and 8 boys, which made it super easy to figure out the rooms. I had joined this team in the 7th grade because Sarai had convinced me that the coaches were amazing since she had been on the team since 6th grade.

Coach McMasters and Assistant Coach Taylor were really good at what they do. They lead our team strongly and have decades of years of dance under their belts. Our team, the All Star Grenades, were part of the All Star Dance Program that had dozens of dance teams across the nation. Ours was one of the best.

After loading up on cheez-its, kettle popcorn, beef jerky, trail mix, and m&ms, Sarai and I were ready for tomorrow's flight. She dropped me off at the cafe and I biked back home.

No one greeted me as I walked in. I figured Tía had went to bed early. Packing my snacks in my carry-on, I got ready for bed and went on my phone until my nerves calmed down. I looked at the clock, 11:50PM. Time to get some shut eye I guess.

***
A/N:
Yo yo yo second chapter! I'm literally making all of this up as I go- I've never really written a book before so sorry for the first sort of filler chapters. I promise it'll get very interesting soooon.

Bc of quarantine I've got a lot more free time on my hands in between babysitting and work so yuh. Almost done with the cast of this book.