Cypher

Chapter II - Little Talks -

I apologize in advance for the editing errors you will encounter. No time to edit, will do later. okay, thanks, y'all!

The next day came and everyone seemed to be in a more determined mood. The dancers all got dressed and ate breakfast earlier then we did yesterday. Next thing I knew, we were at the bus stop with forty minutes to spare. With all of that extra time, the dancers decided to have a mini session.

We all had the urge to dance. We spent yesterday in a dance studio and not being able to dance, then the rest of the day doing homework. What a great start. All of the others came, the artists, the singers, the instrumentalists, came thirty minutes later, with a more perky attitude compared to our determined one. They probably had a great first day opposed to our war zone. But hey, I can't complain. Maybe this determination is just what we need.

As we walked into the dance room, the atmosphere was the same as the day before. Well, maybe a bit more tense. By the time we got there, the class was already in session with their plié warm ups. Mr. Kim circulated around the room and occasionally corrected some of the dancers as he walked past.

"You're late." he said sternly, not even looking at us. Timothy looked at all of us to see if any of us were willing to respond. "Urh... doesn't class start at 8am?" Timothy being as daring as he usually was, still hesitated. "Not on Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, class starts at 7:30am." Shaun looked a bit frustrated, but kept his cool. "Mr. Kim. We weren't informed of this." The slim instructor then walked towards the door and opened it. "No excuses. I hope you've worn comfortable shoes because the punishment for tardiness is a two mile jog." We were all in shock. "Wait a minute," Timothy began, "that kid yesterday was late! He didn't run!" I looked over at Ian. He had a guilty expression on his face, but still managed to look away and continue his pliés. I lost a little faith in him after that. This teacher was intentionally attacking us, and no one was helping. "I know you're not trained, so I'll tell you now. You never question the instructor. Three miles! That's 12 laps around the football field. Go! " He still stood at the door and gestured for us to leave. Anger started to build inside me. When I then walked forward and opened my mouth to speak. "Okay! We're leaving!" Shaun quickly responded as he held me back and put a hand over mouth. With that, Shaun, still having a hand over my mouth and his other arm holding my arm, he lead me out. As we left, the rest of our clique followed. Yeah, clique.

~~~~~

We had been out here for about 20 minutes, and we were exhausted with four more laps to go. Even I, with my stamina and cross country history was on my last breaths. "Man... Shaun. This... is... shady." Timothy started yelling between breaths. Alexis now stopped and bent over and put her hands on her knees. "I'm done, you guys. I don't think I can go on, go! Go on without me! Tell my family that I love them!" she said dramatically as she collapsed on the dusty dirt ground of the track. We all stopped and surrounded Alexis. "Come on," I reached out my hand, "it's just four more laps to go." Alexis grabbed my hand and stood up slowly. "JUST FOUR LAPS? You say that like it's not a lot."

As everyone caught up with us, everyone collapsed and sat down on the ground from exhaustion. "Yeah, Lex is right. This is way too much," Corey chimed in. "Why do we even have to listen to him? If he isn't going to bother to teach us anything, why bother coming to class anymore?" I could see the frustration building in Corey, which is surprising. He was always able to keep his temper down. "I'm leaving," Brian announced as he started to walk away. "I'm not going to put up with some old xxxx who doesn't even want to teach us." I wasn't shocked. That's how Brian was. He saw things rationally, and only put in effort if other people were too. Next thing I knew, everyone else was beginning to leave. I didn't even bother to stop them anymore. This was ridiculous. It was only our second day and it was pretty evident that Mr. Kim antagonized us. "Guys," Shaun ran in front of Brian in an effort to try to stop him, "We can't just give up! That's what he wants!" Everyone looked at one another, not knowing what to do next. "Yeah, he's right. Who is he to stomp all over us? Who are we to just let him do it!" Corey now found a way to channel his anger in a productive way. "I say, that if he wants to give us hell, let's give it right back!" he pumped a fist into the air at an angle towards us. Shaun joined him and put his fist up with Corey. "Mr. Kim doesn't know who he's messing with." One by one, everyone joined. "Ain't no body xxxxing with my clique, clique, clique!" Brian started to sing. "Ain't nobody fresher than my mother xxxxing clique, clique, clique!" We all began to sing as we finished the rest of our laps. Shaun then came behind me and carried me up, still singing along. Corey did the same with Alexis and everyone was now full of energy. This was the crew I knew and cherished. Hopefully, this was enough to carry us on.