Chapter 3: A Sudden Change of Heart

Nicki

I walked into the gym and sat by my friends as I always do. This past week has been the same basic pattern. We stretched, ran, worked out, and then if we had time we danced. I felt like I was on the football team for all of this but at least we’re practicing in the summer. We used to practice in the summer for about three weeks and then be done. Now Coach Graham had us practicing the week after school let out for summer vacation. Hopefully this will all be worth it. I looked over and saw Cassie staring at me and her friends started laughing.

“You got a problem with me bitch!?” I was quick to my feet and my friends followed suit.

“Just trying to figure out why your bitch ass is still here. Give it up Onika, you ain’t shit.” She smirked as she rose to her feet. Her friends stood also as we stared each other down. This bitch got on my last nerves.

“We got a problem here?” Coach Graham asked as he looked in between us.

“Nah no problem.” I broke the stare to glance at him. He looked at me differently as if to ask if I was okay. I nodded and he walked away.

“Deal with your bullshit outside of practice,” Coach Chimere snapped at us. I rolled my eyes as I went back to my conversation. Her ass annoyed me. All she did was yell at us and act like a stuck up prissy bitch.

“Nic.” Nae nudged me while everyone else was talking.

“Huh?” I looked at her.

“Why is he so mean to you sometimes but can be so caring at other times?” She asked.

“Hell if I know. I swear he’s bipolar.” I crossed my arms as I looked at my crew. “You okay Blake?” I asked her. I knew she was shy but I kinda got her to break her wall down a notch.

“Yeah I’m just nervous. He’s making the first cuts today,” she told me.

“You know you’re gonna make it. If anyone should be nervous it should be me,” I informed them. 

“What? Nicki you’re the best dancer here.” Nia looked at me like I was crazy.

“I know but he doesn’t seem to like me as a person. I mean he tells everyone that their doing a good job except for me. He always has something to fix about what I’m doing. It’s like nothing I ever do is good enough for him and I’m getting sick of this.” I rolled my eyes as he blew his new whistle that he recently bought.

“Okay ladies! Today we’re making the first cut so four of you are getting cut. If I call your name then you’re staying. Parlan, Da-Xia, Christina, Bethonia, Kayanna, Maxine, Casandra, Chaslynn, Meyshia, Blakelynn, Leslie, Natania, Jaznae, Carmelina, Blythe, Carrington, Shreya, Tasmine, Brooklyn, Cenedra, Jaycee, Carlynda, Zhaleh, Galaxy, Alani, and Onika. Everyone else, I’m sorry but you are dismissed,” he sat his clipboard down and walked away. That means Alezae, Benoite, Noxolo, and Yetty were cut from the team. Everyone said bye to them as we all were relieved that we made it.

“Okay ladies huddle around. First off, congratulations for making the top 26. Don’t get too big of a head because tomorrow one of you will be cut. One by one you will watch this team get better and become into one. My mission for when I’m through with you is for you all to be one big family. I might not be your friend but at the end of this season, you all should be there for each other. You have to come together to build a team so we can compete against everyone else. If you can’t even trust each other then what’s your point in being here?” He asked while looking between Cassie and I. I sighed because he had a point.  “I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He smiled slightly and turned to walk away but turned back around to look for someone. “Blakelynn, a word in my office please,” he said and then walked towards his office.

“Yo B, what did you do?” Xia asked. She shrugged and followed behind him. The doors closed and my crew and I just stayed sitting. We were gonna wait for her.

 

Blake

I sat down in the seat that was in front of Coach Graham’s desk. He took his seat at his desk and looked at me. I looked at him wondering why I was here.

“Hi Blakelynn,” he said simply.

“Hi Coach Graham,” I said in the same tone of voice that he did.

“Something just doesn’t add up about you.” He scratched his light beard.

“And that would be?” I was beyond confused by this point.

“You moved here this year because you were bullied at all of your other schools. Is that correct?” He looked over at me. I shifted my eyes to avoid eye contact.

“Yeah.” I looked down at the ground. I really didn’t like talking about this.

“Why were you bullied?” He asked.

“Why does it matter?” I was done with this conversation.

“I don’t want it to happen again because you’re a really good dancer. I think you could make it all the way to the end and stay on the team,” he shrugged. My heart just sped up. I could make the dance team? I tried out with no intentions of making it. I moved in with my cousin, Nicki, and she has been showing me around. Somehow she convinced me to try out and now here I am.

“They didn’t like my views on certain topics.” I shifted uncomfortably.

“Okay well if you need to ever talk, my door is always opened.” He gave me a light smile.

“Thanks.” I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and walked out. I looked up to see Nicki and her friends waiting for me.

“What did he want?” She asked me.

“He just wanted some basic information about me since I just moved here,” I lied successfully.

 “Okay.” She shrugged and we started walking towards the exit. I walked behind Nicki and her friends but Jaznae walked next to me.

“Can I ask you something?” She stared straight ahead as we headed to the car.

“Sure.” I didn’t know why she would have a question for me. I’ve barely said two words to her.

“Do I know you? You look really familiar. Did you use to live in California?” She looked over at me. I guess without the brown hair, glasses, and braces, that I’m unrecognizable. I knew she was thinking about this since I moved in with Nicki.

“Um I don’t think so. I guess I just have a common face.” I quickly ended that conversation. The less they know the better. I didn’t want to have to deal with this again. I just need to leave everything in Cali.

Shad

“So what do you think of Nicki?” I looked over at Drake and Mere. I was still grateful that they agreed to do this. Not only could this help the team but this could help Drake to get back into what he loved.

“She’s good but has a bad attitude. Shit half the girls here have a bad attitude,” Mere said.

“She’s amazing, one of the best dancers I’ve ever seen,” he stated simply. There was this look in his eye when he talked about her. I knew that look. He only did that when he thought that they were even better than him.

“You think she’s better than you huh?” I questioned.

“Now let’s not get carried away,” he laughed.

“She’s only been dancing a year and I’ve never seen a girl who could dance the way she does. I made Cassie captain last year but this year I might want Nicki to be captain.” I thought about it for a while. Nicki has a way of making everyone want to watch her; want to listen to her; want to be her. There are few people out there who are like that and I just see so much potential in her. She could go far, maybe even further than Drake.

“You’re right though, she’s better than me. She dances so carefree and I rarely ever did that. She makes all the complicated techniques look easy. It’s like she erased the world around her but at the same time you can see her pain and all of the struggle she’s been through,” he nodded while thinking about her.

“She’s special, people like her only come once in a lifetime,” I told him.

“So what’s her story? I mean she’s an amazing dancer, she’s beautiful, but she has the ugliest attitude.” He looked at me.

“Her name is Onika Maraj. She’s lived in Trinidad but moved to New York a couple years after she was born. Her mom had twins, Micaiah and Mylan. A few months later when Nicki was about fourteen, her mom and brother got in a horrible accident and died immediately on impact. All that was left was Nicki and Mylan.  Her dad walked out on her family after that accident and she hasn’t seen him since. Her aunt moved up to lived with them so she could finish school. Blake is Nicki’s cousin and she lived with her grandmother until this year when she moved up here with Nicki. Nicki’s been through a lot so she has this wall up. Last year she missed two months of school because she was in and out of the hospital for her sister. Even though she was barely at school, she managed to get straight A’s and pass her junior year. She’s smart but she’s guarded,” I explained.

“Wow she’s been through a lot.” He shook his head in disbelief. Mere looked at him curiously. He’s thinking about something that I couldn’t put my finger on. It seems like her just saw a completely different side of her and fell in love but that’s ridiculous.