Catch Me

Winter: Our Dance

"Ready to go guys?" Alex asked. That snapped me back into reality. Alex is our team leader and she even choreographs our dances sometimes. Like this one. I nod and follow her to Practice Room B.

"Today is our Half-Way Mark Presentation to Mrs. Daniel. So we got to perfect this," Alex says. We all nod our heads and get into our positions as Alex turns on Stupid, our chosen song, on. 

(Here's the thingy if you guys want to hear it.)

We ran through our dance Twice when Alex suddenly stopped us.

"It's good, but you know about the 'it's sad but true,' part?" she asked. 

"Yeah," I said. At that part, we all surround Alex in a circle. Dixi stands right behind her and Isabella, Maddie, and I go into the splits. As she moves her arms, we arch our backs to match the rhythm. Then, when Dixi starts controlling her like a puppet, we slide out of the splits.

"I think we should put you in the middle instead of me," Alex says looking directly at me. 

"Um, no. That's okay," I say quickly.

"Alex, you fit that part so well though," Isabella says. 

"But Winter doesn't have a lot of center parts," Alex says.

"True," Madeline says.

"No, no, no, I'm good," I say. I give Alex the "look." She knows the rule: Don't bring too much attention to Winter. She knows what happens when I'm in the public eye too much. People start noticing, people start talking. Then, people start dying. She was there the last time.

"I guess if you're fine with it, we'll keep it the same. We don't have much time anyways," she says as she goes to turn on the music. As we go to our positions, I give her a grateful look. In return, she gives me a slight nod, just as the music plays.

About 15 minutes later, the teacher pokes her head in to tell us that we need to head to Practice Room A to present what we have. We go to the room and sit about 15ft away from C1, who were already working there. They were working with the teacher today. 

Five minutes later, everyone was ready. 

"Alright, does anyone want to go first?" Mrs. Daniel asks. Somebody raise their hand that's not in my group, somebody raise their hand that's not in my group. 

"I guess we'll go first," CeCe said to an absolutely silent room.

"Thank you for volunteering CeCe!" Mrs. Daniel praises.

"Always ready to do what's best for the class," CeCe charmingly replied. I almost choked on the air. The teachers are oblivious to the real  CeCe. Manipulative, self-absorbed rat. Kyla seemed to think the same because she rolled her eyes and made a gagging noise. I stifled a laugh.

As everyone got into their positions, the teacher turned on their song: My Ex's Best Friend by Blackbear and Machine Gun Kelly. (Here's the song! I love this song.)

They were good, obviously, because they are A2. But something was off about their dance. It was more like a performance for CeCe with everyone as backup dancers. They even let her lay across them and held her up. Kyla looked like she was about to chuck her across the room. 

"What is this, CeCe's solo debut?" Isabella mutters. The teacher shot her a glare that said: Be quiet. 

When the performance finally ended, everyone applauded. I gave a slow clap. It wasn't that great. 

"Great job everyone. I do have to ask, who is the leader of this group again?" Mrs. Daniel asked. 

"CeCe is," Evan said sarcastically. He's brown-haired, tan, and well-muscled from basketball. I only know him because he used to hang around Alex a lot. 

"As a leader, CeCe, you should let others have the spotlight," Mrs. Daniel said reapprovingly. 

"Sure, whatever," CeCe said. It was obvious she had no intentions in doing so.

"Go ahead and sit down. Let's have A1 go next," Mrs. Daniel said. I didn't resist. CeCe's performance and her response made me frustrated, irritated, and competitive. It was about time someone put her in her place. At this point, I would've volunteered to go. 

I could feel the same tension roll off our entire group. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt like this. Alex just sighed, like she was used to this. She probably was.

As soon as the music turned on, I knew this was going to be a good performance. Confidence and precision radiated off of us. 

When the "it's sad but true" part came on, it was so in sync and so good, that Evan shouted, "Go Alex!" I could see her blush a little.

Throughout the entire performance, A2 stayed frozen. By looking at CeCe's face, I knew she knew she was one-upped. It made my day. Only Kyla and Evan stayed moving. Kyla was enthusiastically clapping and Evan was watching Alex. 

When we finished, everyone clapped with more energy than they did for Alex. I know it was petty to notice, but I couldn't help myself. I smiled.

"Good job A1! 10/10! I see no need for improvements!" Mrs. Daniel praised.

"Thanks," Alex warmingly replied. There was a difference between when Alex talked and when CeCe talked. She sounded genuine. CeCe...the opposite.

"Your welcome. Now please take your seats," Mrs. Daniel said. As we were walking back to our seats, I heard someone mutter, "When Winter smiles and when she dances, she's actually really pretty." I turned around to find the culprit. 

And there was Dean smiling right at me.