Mountain

2.7

i walked inside the studio and James's eyes sparkled and he smiled at me. "Izzy there you are. you have to hear what happened at my uncle Manny's house this weekend." he said.

"okay." i laughed and put my bag down.

"this story is legendary. anyone in the next 200 years that is closely related to me will talk about this story."

"okay so could i maybe hear the story?"

"yeah okay. so you know my uncle, right?"

"yeah."

"always riding a motorcycle. he's just rolling like a block away from Holmes going for a ride tries to pop a wheelie, okay? completely he just falls off the bike. the bike lands and keep going straight. my aunt Karla she's at home, chilling, sees the bike go by, runs up to it, hops on the bike, and goes grocery shopping. what are the chances of that?"

to be honest, James's story was confusing. but he told it so happily. i love seeing him happy.

"so you mean to say that you're uncle popped a wheelie and then fell off the bike?"

"yeah."

"well is he okay? did he get hurt?"

"he sprained his ankle but that's not from falling off the bike. he sprained his ankle cause he was jumping up and down because he saw his wife take off."

"this does not make sense. at all."

"it's a joke."

"so you made it up."

"no." i rolled my eyes.

kate came over. "alright guys i have an announcement." she said and we followed her.

"alright guys i wanna explain the rules of nationals to you, okay? nationals are totally different from regionals."

"it's all group dances?" Chloe asked.

"no. it's way different than regionals, guys." Michelle said.

the first round is male solo. than you move on and you go to small groups which is around 3 to 6 dancers. there's duets. and then female solos.

"and after that we do a group dance for semi finals and finals. it's an illumination competition which means if you lose one round you're out." kate said. "i just wanna focus on solos and duets for now."

"i think Michelle and Eldon should do the duet i mean they are pretty much the reason we won regionals." Chloe said and everyone agreed.

"umm actually—" Eldon spoke up. "i don't wanna do the duet."

"what?" we all exclaimed confused and he left the studio.

after a while we all came back to studio, warmed up until miss kate came. "everyone decided what you wanna audition for?" she asked.

"i would like to audition for the male solo." Eldon said.

"okay thank you Eldon."

"you know what miss kate—" West started but James stopped him.

Daniel took a step forward but James stopped him.

Jesus christ what is he doing?

"okay, female solo. who would like to audition?" Kate asked.

James pushed my hand slightly to make me go forward.

doing the female solo means a lot of pressure. i don't know if i could do that.

"anyone?" kate asked looking at everyone. "anyone?" she asked again looking at Michelle but she refused.

"okay. i'll give you a little bit more time to think about it. Michelle can i talk to you in my office?"

"sure." Michelle and kate walked away and James pulled me aside.

"why don't you wanna do the solo?" he asked me.

"because—"

"there's no reason you shouldn't audition Iz. you'd be perfect." i stared at him. "it's the same reason you were afraid of being a dance captain and look where it got you. you're an amazing dancer and right now you don't have a competition."

when James pushes me to audition for the solo my head is splitting into two. for one side i wanna do it, i really do. but—

"what about the duet?" i asked him.

"what?"

"a duet. you and me."

"you wanna dance with me a duet?" he asks and i nod. "really?"

"why are you so surprised?" i asked sharply and then he kissed me.

"okay sure." he said smiling.

right now i was in the studio warming up but James wasn't there. "okay so have you guys decided who's gonna audition for duets?" Kate asked.

"we are." Giselle said referring to her and Amanda.

"great."

"we are." Tahlia and West said.

"me and James—" i stepped forward but i was cut off by James running inside the studio.

"duet." he said out of breath pointing at the two of us.

"awesome." Kate said.

"Michelle and I are gonna be doing a duet as well." Hunter said.

i thought Michelle is auditioning for the female solo.

"i've kinda decide to do the solo instead. it's too much." Michelle said.

"that's right. Michelle and Chloe are auditioning for the female solo, and Daniel and Eldon are auditioning for the male solo. so anyone else would like to audition?"

"miss kate. there's one more duet to add to the list. Hunter and I." Emily said and i was really surprised.