The Rockstar Chronicles

Dance off

I toweled off my hair, finger combing it quickly in my reflection in the mirror, before padding into the hallway and down the stairs. The loud whoops and yells of the boys echoed down the hallway and I soon discovered why.

Video games had been included in our apartment and all three of the boys were playing some sort of army game. None of them could spare a glance in my direction, so intent were they on the unfolding virtual battlefield in front of them.

I took a deep breath, sighing loudly. It looks like all boys really are the same, I thought.

“Where’s the pizza?” I asked, but my simple question was apparently too difficult to answer under such a situation.

“Where’s the pizza?” I tried again, raising my voice.

“Shh, Lindy,” Grady shot me a dirty look. “Can’t you see we’re busy?”

You could have answered me in the time you took to say that, I thought, glaring at him. I opened my mouth once more, ready to really let loose this time.

But to my surprise, Hardyn spoke before I could make a sound. “It’s in the kitchen,” he said, tilting his head in the general direction.

“Yeah, Lindy,” Grady rolled his eyes, as if it should be perfectly obvious.

“At least she won’t bother us now.” I heard Hardyn mutter and my previous goodwill towards him vanished.

I frowned and went to the kitchen. The tile was cold on my bare toes and I hurried to slide two steaming pieces of pizza onto a plate. Grabbing a bottle of water, I ran back to the den, leaping onto an armchair as wide as our old couch at home.

“So is this the plan for the rest of the night?” I asked a few minutes later as I started on my second slice. I sat hunkered down under a throw. I was chilled to the bone in this house.

“Yep,” Grady said, not taking his eyes from the screen.

I sighed again. I had experienced enough of Grady’s game nights to know how boring they were. I was thinking of a way to escape, my mind far away, when a controller landed in my lap.

“Here, you can be on my team,” Ryder said, ruffling my hair. Again.

“That’s okay. I don’t want to play,” I replied.

“No, really, we want to play team games and we need four. I guess you’ll have to do,” Grady said, taking a sip from his drink.

“But I don’t know how to play,” I objected. The last thing I wanted to spend the night doing was embarrassing myself in front of two (rapidly becoming former) crushes.

“She’s right. She’s pretty terrible,” Grady said. “I tried to make her play with me once and it was a total nightmare.”

“Well, what else do you have?” Ryder asked, going over to the station and flipping through the games.

Grady shrugged, leaning back against the couch and stretching. Hardyn disappeared into the kitchen, in search of snacks.

“It doesn’t matter,” Grady said, pushing the arms of his shirt up. All three boys had changed into baggy combinations of sweatpants, t-shirts, and pullovers. “The only thing she’s good at is the dance video stuff.”

“Like this one?” Ryder asked, picking out a game and holding it aloft. “Let’s play.”

“No,” I shook my head. I definitely did not want to dance in front of them.

“Yeah, let’s see your moves, Lindy,” Hardyn said, somehow managing to make even his harmless comment drip with arrogance. He leaned against the door frame, a half-eaten slice of pepperoni pizza in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.

Ryder paused, scanning the back. “Hey, Hardyn, one of your songs made the cut.”

“One of mine?” Hardyn asked, raising his eyebrows and tossing the pizza crust in the trash can near the couch. He grabbed the case, quickly read it and then met my eyes.

“Think you can beat me?” he asked, smirking.

Under no other circumstances would I have danced in front of them all, but the minute Hardyn challenged me with that cocky grin, I couldn’t help myself.

“Yeah,” I said, standing up and tossing the throw on the couch. “I think I can. Put it on, Ryder.”

And so the Epic Dance Tournament began.

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