Chapter 235. The Valentine’s Day School Dance: I Said I Won’t Let Go. (3/4)
At the start, the first years occupied the wall I was on. The second years who arrived second occupied the opposite wall. The third years who were last to arrive weren’t at the walls. They were, for the most part, all at the center of the gym at the front, opposite the entrance, closest to the DJ where the music was blasting the loudest.
Guys typically grouped up together with other guys while girls were grouped together with other girls. Some of the more effeminate guys mingled together with the girls who were dancing together. The tomboyish outgoing girls hung around with groups of guys.
Yes, this was how these sorts of school dances always divided up. There were factions and camps within each grade. Different cliques and types of people grouped together. As the odd one out, I didn’t belong to such groups. I was stuck at the edge of two such camps. To my left, closer to the DJ, a group of first-year girls chattered together excitedly. To my right, on the side closer to the makeshift glow stick shop near the back corner on our side of the wall, a group of first-year boys discussed their war tactics to infiltrate a girl camp.
The guys were all about the glow sticks while the girls were more interested in dancing and the music.
Yes, what was about to unfold was an ancient tradition from time immemorial.
One where guys used glow sticks to make themselves stand out like peacocks. They’d start busting out their moves to appeal to girls and show them what they’ve got. As for me, I’d enjoy watching the monkeys dance to the music. Dance monkeys, dance.
As one of the dancingly challenged, I must look down upon those that danced well. It was a coping mechanism.
My stomach turned just imagining myself trying to replicate their flagrant rhythmic movements.
It took a little while before the people around me got into the music and moved to the center. The first years were always the slowest to get into action. It was up to the third-year students to take the lead. The second-year students followed the third-year student’s lead. Lastly, the first-year students who saw the others having fun joined the fray. Several circles formed at the center of the gymnasium where boys would enter the middle and rave about with glow sticks in their hands.
As expected, some attached them to strings. There were even some who tucked them into their shoes or hung them off their belts.
I noticed Jass entered the fray at some point and I was shocked from what I could see. He had one thick yellow glow stick in each shoe facing outside. Two yellow glow stick wristbands, one on each arm.
I could only see everything because he entered the center of a first-year circle nearby on the side facing my wall where people were sitting down.
He started breakdancing and showing off his moves. I was ready to punch the guy. You jackass, if you can dance like this, you have no excuse to not have a girlfriend yet! Don’t fuck with me! You don’t need any help from me! Never talk to me again you traitor.
Directly out of a windmill, he transitioned into a head spin then pushed off the ground into a handstand before he finally flipped back onto his feet. He started popping and locking his joints moving in sync with the music. From my point of view, I was watching a bloody slideshow in real life. A frame-by-frame animation.
I tried to imagine myself replicating that and I vehemently shook my head. Impossible. It was absolutely impossible for me. He was a regular on the basketball team with an athletic body. He had the core strength to pull off such moves. I’d just look socially awkward if I tried such moves.
Suddenly he did a backflip and the glow sticks in his shoes flew up in the air spinning in circles. When he landed on his feet, he caught the glow sticks in both hands as they returned to the ground.
He twirled them around his fingers and arms, occasionally throwing them up in the air, crossing them over while making robotic popping and locking movements to catch them. Honestly, it looked like fun.
As the song he was busting his moves out approached the end he did one last frontflip. He’d thrown the glowsticks in his hand vertically upright as he flipped forward and while he was still upside down in the air and his feet passed in front of their trajectory, the glow sticks suddenly disappeared mid-air.
When he landed on his feet the song ended. He pulled his pant legs up and the mystery of the vanishing glow stick was solved. They’d slipped back in where they’d originally been, but they’d been covered by the leggings of the pants he had on.
I couldn’t help but clap to myself. It actually looked pretty damn cool. Damn it, why the hell does he not have a girlfriend! Where is the justice in this world? This man needs a girlfriend, now! He’s like superman.
The guys in the circle all freaked out and swarmed him while jumping excitedly like kangaroos.
“OHHHHHHHHHHH!”
I couldn’t hear anything specific over the cheers, but from their lips, I could make out some of their words.
‘That was sick!’
‘Holy shit man!’
‘You’re crazy good dude!’
‘Bro teach me how to do that trick!’
There were a lot of girls whose eyes had been drawn to Jass’s show of athleticism and break dancing.
Come on Jass, just ask one of these impressionable young ladies to slow dance when a song comes up and you’re sure to get a girlfriend. Instead of looking at the grass that appears greener on the other side of the fence, take a look at the grass all around you.
Sadly, his eyes were focused on a specific person in the gymnasium. That would be Alicia dancing together with Rosa and a few other friends of hers. Alicia’s group was pretty close to the first-year side and their attention had also been drawn to the commotion when Jass started dancing.
Alicia, who realized Jass caught her staring at him, stiffly averted her eyes away. It was only when Jass faced her that she recognized who’d been dancing. The same guy who approached her at lunch right before the dance started.
Honestly, if Jass had met Alicia before me, there might have been a possible spark. It looked like they both enjoyed and had fun dancing.
That was when a little commotion stirred as a gap in the circle opened up in the direction of the DJ. The one who made an appearance amidst the first-year circle was the student council president who’d joined in with the other normal students at some point.
Oh dayuuum, shit’s getting spicy. I couldn’t help but muse to myself.
I looked like they actually weren’t on that bad terms despite what happened earlier though. It was then that I remembered that the student council president was also involved in many sports teams. It was likely they knew each other because they’d played together on the same team.
Still, despite the fact that they seemed on relatively good terms. It looked like they were more than happy to compete against each other. It was a rather hot-blooded battle.
The student council president confidently stood at the center with Jass who had his arms crossed cockily. ‘Show me what you got, Mr. President.’ That was the sort of insolent attitude he had.
Even I felt a bit excited to watch.
The student council president started moving about the circle of first years like a wave. His moves were fluid and continuous. The crowd started to get larger as second years and third years were drawn in. The circle expanded much wider until other circles were pushed back and a competition moved toward the center of the gym. I had to stand up to continue catching glimpses of what was going on.
The student council president continued shuffling his feet across the floor rippling like a wave as he did so. Jass returned his fluid movements with intense crisp fast ones filled with fiery energy. They were clean.
It was like a battle between waves of water and a torrential blazing flame. A battle between an ambitious first-year punk and a wise calm level-headed third year. Anything Jass did, the student council president skillfully countered and deflected. It was a clash between an unstoppable sword and an immovable shield.
The ultimate battle. Man, it was like I was watching two protagonists clash and I was just a mob background character there to watch the show.
Well, there was nothing I could do about that. I can’t dance to save my life.
Alicia was the female protagonist, the love interest the two were fighting over. How did a mob character like me even end up with her again?
Hmm… wasn’t my existence in danger right now? It never ends well for the mob character who’s with the female protagonist out of his league, right?
Am I actually in a pinch? Caught between a rock and a hard place?
Chapter 235. The Valentine’s Day School Dance: I Said I Won’t Let Go. (3/4)
At the start, the first years occupied the wall I was on. The second years who arrived second occupied the opposite wall. The third years who were last to arrive weren’t at the walls. They were, for the most part, all at the center of the gym at the front, opposite the entrance, closest to the DJ where the music was blasting the loudest.
Guys typically grouped up together with other guys while girls were grouped together with other girls. Some of the more effeminate guys mingled together with the girls who were dancing together. The tomboyish outgoing girls hung around with groups of guys.
Yes, this was how these sorts of school dances always divided up. There were factions and camps within each grade. Different cliques and types of people grouped together. As the odd one out, I didn’t belong to such groups. I was stuck at the edge of two such camps. To my left, closer to the DJ, a group of first-year girls chattered together excitedly. To my right, on the side closer to the makeshift glow stick shop near the back corner on our side of the wall, a group of first-year boys discussed their war tactics to infiltrate a girl camp.
The guys were all about the glow sticks while the girls were more interested in dancing and the music.
Yes, what was about to unfold was an ancient tradition from time immemorial.
One where guys used glow sticks to make themselves stand out like peacocks. They’d start busting out their moves to appeal to girls and show them what they’ve got. As for me, I’d enjoy watching the monkeys dance to the music. Dance monkeys, dance.
As one of the dancingly challenged, I must look down upon those that danced well. It was a coping mechanism.
My stomach turned just imagining myself trying to replicate their flagrant rhythmic movements.
It took a little while before the people around me got into the music and moved to the center. The first years were always the slowest to get into action. It was up to the third-year students to take the lead. The second-year students followed the third-year student’s lead. Lastly, the first-year students who saw the others having fun joined the fray. Several circles formed at the center of the gymnasium where boys would enter the middle and rave about with glow sticks in their hands.
As expected, some attached them to strings. There were even some who tucked them into their shoes or hung them off their belts.
I noticed Jass entered the fray at some point and I was shocked from what I could see. He had one thick yellow glow stick in each shoe facing outside. Two yellow glow stick wristbands, one on each arm.
I could only see everything because he entered the center of a first-year circle nearby on the side facing my wall where people were sitting down.
He started breakdancing and showing off his moves. I was ready to punch the guy. You jackass, if you can dance like this, you have no excuse to not have a girlfriend yet! Don’t fuck with me! You don’t need any help from me! Never talk to me again you traitor.
Directly out of a windmill, he transitioned into a head spin then pushed off the ground into a handstand before he finally flipped back onto his feet. He started popping and locking his joints moving in sync with the music. From my point of view, I was watching a bloody slideshow in real life. A frame-by-frame animation.
I tried to imagine myself replicating that and I vehemently shook my head. Impossible. It was absolutely impossible for me. He was a regular on the basketball team with an athletic body. He had the core strength to pull off such moves. I’d just look socially awkward if I tried such moves.
Suddenly he did a backflip and the glow sticks in his shoes flew up in the air spinning in circles. When he landed on his feet, he caught the glow sticks in both hands as they returned to the ground.
He twirled them around his fingers and arms, occasionally throwing them up in the air, crossing them over while making robotic popping and locking movements to catch them. Honestly, it looked like fun.
As the song he was busting his moves out approached the end he did one last frontflip. He’d thrown the glowsticks in his hand vertically upright as he flipped forward and while he was still upside down in the air and his feet passed in front of their trajectory, the glow sticks suddenly disappeared mid-air.
When he landed on his feet the song ended. He pulled his pant legs up and the mystery of the vanishing glow stick was solved. They’d slipped back in where they’d originally been, but they’d been covered by the leggings of the pants he had on.
I couldn’t help but clap to myself. It actually looked pretty damn cool. Damn it, why the hell does he not have a girlfriend! Where is the justice in this world? This man needs a girlfriend, now! He’s like superman.
The guys in the circle all freaked out and swarmed him while jumping excitedly like kangaroos.
“OHHHHHHHHHHH!”
I couldn’t hear anything specific over the cheers, but from their lips, I could make out some of their words.
‘That was sick!’
‘Holy shit man!’
‘You’re crazy good dude!’
‘Bro teach me how to do that trick!’
There were a lot of girls whose eyes had been drawn to Jass’s show of athleticism and break dancing.
Come on Jass, just ask one of these impressionable young ladies to slow dance when a song comes up and you’re sure to get a girlfriend. Instead of looking at the grass that appears greener on the other side of the fence, take a look at the grass all around you.
Sadly, his eyes were focused on a specific person in the gymnasium. That would be Alicia dancing together with Rosa and a few other friends of hers. Alicia’s group was pretty close to the first-year side and their attention had also been drawn to the commotion when Jass started dancing.
Alicia, who realized Jass caught her staring at him, stiffly averted her eyes away. It was only when Jass faced her that she recognized who’d been dancing. The same guy who approached her at lunch right before the dance started.
Honestly, if Jass had met Alicia before me, there might have been a possible spark. It looked like they both enjoyed and had fun dancing.
That was when a little commotion stirred as a gap in the circle opened up in the direction of the DJ. The one who made an appearance amidst the first-year circle was the student council president who’d joined in with the other normal students at some point.
Oh dayuuum, shit’s getting spicy. I couldn’t help but muse to myself.
I looked like they actually weren’t on that bad terms despite what happened earlier though. It was then that I remembered that the student council president was also involved in many sports teams. It was likely they knew each other because they’d played together on the same team.
Still, despite the fact that they seemed on relatively good terms. It looked like they were more than happy to compete against each other. It was a rather hot-blooded battle.
The student council president confidently stood at the center with Jass who had his arms crossed cockily. ‘Show me what you got, Mr. President.’ That was the sort of insolent attitude he had.
Even I felt a bit excited to watch.
The student council president started moving about the circle of first years like a wave. His moves were fluid and continuous. The crowd started to get larger as second years and third years were drawn in. The circle expanded much wider until other circles were pushed back and a competition moved toward the center of the gym. I had to stand up to continue catching glimpses of what was going on.
The student council president continued shuffling his feet across the floor rippling like a wave as he did so. Jass returned his fluid movements with intense crisp fast ones filled with fiery energy. They were clean.
It was like a battle between waves of water and a torrential blazing flame. A battle between an ambitious first-year punk and a wise calm level-headed third year. Anything Jass did, the student council president skillfully countered and deflected. It was a clash between an unstoppable sword and an immovable shield.
The ultimate battle. Man, it was like I was watching two protagonists clash and I was just a mob background character there to watch the show.
Well, there was nothing I could do about that. I can’t dance to save my life.
Alicia was the female protagonist, the love interest the two were fighting over. How did a mob character like me even end up with her again?
Hmm… wasn’t my existence in danger right now? It never ends well for the mob character who’s with the female protagonist out of his league, right?
Am I actually in a pinch? Caught between a rock and a hard place?
