Dance With Me

• Danielle Seah, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

Wistfully, Cassidy watched James and Sohi rise from the circle of dancers seated on the studio floor. The music pumped through the room, the steady beat bouncing off the walls, and the couple began their duet. As they danced, her ennui began to grow, though she couldn’t comprehend why.
“You agreed to let James and Sohi used your choreography.” She thought.
Why did she feel this way? She’d known James for over two years now; they were in the same crew. Her eyes bore into the back of Sohi’s pretty head.
“Ugh, Cass, pull yourself together. It’s just a dance,” she mumbled. “Since when did it matter so much to you anyways?”
The song ended, and the room erupted with applause and whistles. As the crew rose from the floor to congratulate James and Sohi on the completion of the dance, Cassidy silently made her way out of the studio. She gathered her gear from her locker, and made stepped outside the studio, taking a breath. She hoped that fresh air would clear her disorientated mind. She plugged in her earphone, and started down the block towards her apartment, matching her footsteps to the steady beat pulsing through her ears.
She unlocked the door to her relatively new apartment, and slouched into her favourite armchair. Outside, the night sky was clear, the stars twinkling brightly; celestial beauty that could not be achieved on Earth. She could see the lights of the dance studio further down the road, and her mind wandered to the duet. She caught herself, and pulled out her earphones, oblivious to the fact that she’d had the same song on repeat for the past 15 minutes. The same song that James and Sohi were dancing to.

It was the night before the competition, and Cassidy’s last night in the studio. She couldn’t stand being in the same room as Sohi and James, and it was affecting her performance, so she decided to quit the team and find a new one. It was the best thing to do, right? So here she was, at 11pm, the room lit only by thin slivers of moonlight. She watched herself in the mirrors that stretched across three of the studio’s walls. As if in a trance, she danced freestyle to every song that came on, and eventually, she found herself dancing to James and Sohi’s duet.
She was in her element.

“Ben told me that you were quitting the crew.” A male’s voice snapped her back to reality. She swirled around. James. “What are you doing here at this time of night?”

Cassidy forced a smile. “Dancing. It helps me clear my mind. Why are you here?” She could hear that her voice was tight.

“To dance, I guess. And to find you. Tomorrow, at the competition…”

“Yes?” James took a step towards her, and she looked at him, refusing to blink or breathe until she finally heard the words she didn’t know she was waiting for.

“Dance with me.”