by C. M. King
“Why not? I bet you have a cleaning cupboard we can squeeze into,” he cheekily suggested.
“No, we can’t.”
“Spoilsport.” He nuzzled into my neck and sighed. “I can’t wait to see you out there. You are going to look amazing.”
“Thanks, I’m so nervous. I can’t stop shaking.”
“You will be fine. Just forget everyone is there and dance your heart out, that’s all you can do,” he soothed.
“Easier said than done with all these film crews ready to catch your every mistake.”
Oh god, I wanted to be sick.
“You just have to concentrate on the steps, you know what you have to do, so just do that, the rest of the people are insignificant.”
I moved away slightly to look up into his face. “Will you be upfront to watch me?”
He smiled. “Of course, I’ll be your own personal cheerleader spurring you on.”
“Where are your pom poms?” I quipped.
“Ahh, they wouldn’t go with my outfit.” He shrugged shooting me a wink.
“What a shame, I’d have really liked to have seen you shake those. You would have looked so hot.”
He pulled me into him. “I can maybe give you a private performance later. Just me and the pom poms, shaking it off.”
“Now that I’ll definitely look forward to.”
“See I knew that would take your mind off it.”
“Oh it certainly did that.” It was now all I could think about.
“That’s what I wanted to do, leave my girl with a huge smile on her face. Of course, I had other ideas which involved me and you pressed tight up against the wall, but this will just have to do. Now go out there and perform your little heart out. I will be standing proud watching you give it your all.”
“Thank you, I love you.”
“I love you too.” He held me for a moment longer before breaking away, we kissed once more and then he headed back outside. I soon got a text from Elijah telling me to hurry up. They were having a group meeting to discuss the morning’s events. I quickly rushed back feeling far brighter after Joel’s pep talk.
* * *
The first few chords of The Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling filled my ears. I took a deep breath patiently waiting for our cue. I completely blanked everything else out, my body just listened to the beat, and the dance moves came so effortlessly. The excitement that flowed through me was electric, the music was loud and exhilarating, giving me chills as I pounded the floor, moving with so much speed I barely had time to process a thought. I hoped I was doing good, that my timing was consistent, but I had timed this over and over again that I knew each beat of the song with such precision.
The song finally came to an end and I panted hard to catch back my breath. Loud whoops and shouts filled the air and Joel’s whistle I would know anywhere. I turned to see him grinning, he shot me a wink, mouthing that he loved me. I could barely get the words out in reply before the next song came on. I had to focus, to concentrate. I could do this, I could get through the next fifteen minutes.
My heart pounded deep, my lungs straining for breath, but I continued regardless. It was heaven and hell all in one but I felt alive, the music was my sole focus as I threw myself into the freestyle dance, giving it my all. This was what I loved, what I yearned for. This was my purpose in life to feel this exhilarated doing what I loved best. When the music came to an end, I stopped, taking in the moment as everyone around us roared with applause. The next moment I was swooped up into Elijah’s arms as he bounced around screaming. “We did it, we did it.”
I couldn’t take it all in. The moment was too much but with each breath I took that brought my lungs to slowly ease off, I knew that this would be a moment I would remember forever.
After showering and getting changed, we headed back into the crowds, Joel and my mother were waiting anxiously for me, and Sam just as eager to pounce on Elijah. I was soon smothered by them both as they whispered how proud they were. My mother started to fill up a little, which shocked me.
“You were amazing, Iz. I just couldn’t believe that was my daughter. How you managed to keep up that tempo, for that long, I will never know.”
“Trust me my lungs almost gave out near the end.”
“You were amazing, baby.” Joel leaned in for a quick kiss. I could tell he wanted to take it deeper, but with my mother barely inches away he had to restrain himself.
“Thanks.” I was hoping that it all looked good once it was uploaded, a part of me was dreading if it wasn’t. I could feel my heart rate pick up at the thought of it.
“You were amazing. Trust me, the video is going to blow everyone away, it will be viral to millions within hours.” Joel smiled reassuringly.
“Oh god don’t, I think I’m going to have a panic attack.” I could feel the nausea coming back just at the thought.
“Breathe, Izzy, seriously you were—”
“Izzy, I just wanted to come over to say how outstanding you were out there. Your freestyle in particular was just beautiful, how effortlessly you flowed each dance style together. Trust me when I say the camera was on you several times and that you certainly turned some heads today.”
My eyes flicked up in surprise. “Oh wow, Mrs Samson, I don’t know what to say.”
“Just enjoy this moment. You were remarkable, and I hope you get something from this, I truly do.” She walked off leaving me with a big smile on my face. She wasn’t one to give compliments so freely, so this was huge.
“See I told you, nothing to worry about.” Joel winked and I laughed pulling him into a kiss, I think I deserved it.
“O-M-G, what time did they say they were uploading it?” Elijah shrieked.
“They said about three p.m. They were editing and tweaking so that takes time,” I said reassuringly.
“But I want to see it now,” he all but snapped. Patience wasn’t a quality of his.
“Seriously how many red bulls has he had?” I asked turning to Sam.
He shrugged and laughed. “Just one but he’s like this without them.”
“I just want to see what it looks like. I hope I got plenty of camera time.” He pouted as we both rolled our eyes.
“Oh I’m sure you will have done, you were awesome out there,” Sam replied, kissing his cheek.
“Only awesome?” Elijah retorted looking pissed.
“Awesome is good.”
“No outstanding is good,” Elijah snorted.
Oh hell.
“You were outstanding then,” Sam added.
“Too late you already said awesome.” He jumped up looking more than annoyed.
“Elijah—”
He waved his hands in the air. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
“But—”
I placed my hand on Sam’s arm to catch his attention. “Just ignore him, he’s nervous.”
Elijah spun around. “I am here you know, I can hear every word.”
“Elijah, stop being so touchy. I watched you practice earlier you were amazing, you know that, I know that, everybody that watched you knows that.”
He nodded before sitting back down. “Thanks, Iz, I’m just totally nervous.”
“Me too.” The nausea was well and truly back.
“What’s the time?” Elijah asked again much to our annoyance.
“It’s two minutes after you asked the first time. It’s two forty.”
“Oh god, this twenty minutes wait is going to kill me.” He pushed his head into his hands looking like he might combust at any moment.
“Rather dramatic,” Joel whispered.
“Does he do anything else?” I laughed at how serious Elijah was being right now. You could cut the air with the tension, he was normally the bright and bubbly one, but this time something had spooked him.
“I think I might have another red bull,” he suggested, jumping up.
“No way, no more red bulls for you, you’ll be on the ceiling next,” Sam barke
d, looking like he was on his last nerve.
“If I want a red bull—”
“Trust me you don’t.” For all our sakes, we had to keep him away from the red bull.
He snorted in anger. “Fine, I’m going for a walk.” He flounced out the door before anyone of us could stop him.
“He’s off to the corner shop,” I warned Sam and his eyes widened in alarm.
“I’m on it.” He flew out the door looking ready to rugby tackle him to the ground if need be. There was part of me that wanted to run after and watch, but Joel distracted me from my thoughts.
“Well, now we’re finally alone, I can give you the kiss I wanted to give you earlier, but couldn’t while your mother was stood there.”
“I’m not saying no, what are you waiting for?”
His lips met with mine and I moaned, feeling his tongue slowly entwine with my own, This was the first time today I had started to unwind, for the next twenty minutes all I needed was for Joel to keep my mind off everything else.
Of course he started to get carried away. His arms encircled me in and pulled me in tighter and his fingers began to work their way down to my breast. I pulled away when he tweaked my nipple ever so slightly.
“Let’s keep this PG, you know Elijah and Sam could burst through the door at any moment.” I did not need anyone seeing the floorshow.
“But I really want an 18 rating moment right now, I want to slide into you and take your mind off it even more,” he urged, trying to change my mind.
“Joel, we can’t.”
“Spoilsport.” He pouted, turning me on even more. I was just about to give in and let him take me on the sofa when I heard raised voices.
“I don’t care. You’re not having another one. I’m not going to spend the rest of the day dealing with your hyperactive ways. Have some water instead.”
“Fuck water, I want a Cosmo,” Elijah boomed, storming through the door.
“Elijah, it’s not even three.”
“I don’t care. I need something to take the edge of my nerves.” Oh god, he was going to drive us all crazy.
“We don’t have any of the ingredients,” Sam retorted, looking like a man on the edge.
“I’ll have a coffee then.”
“No more caffeine!” Sam growled.
“I swear will you all get off my back.”
“We aren’t, just sit down and shut up.” Sam steered him back to his seat.
“Sam.” Elijah looked wounded.
“Sorry, but you’re freaking out, and I don’t know what else to do.” He ran his hand through his hair looking clearly agitated.
“I’ll just zip it then,” He huffed as we all rolled our eyes.
“What time is it?” Sam asked and I checked my watch.
“Three minutes to go,” Joel piped up.
“Oh my god, I’m going to be sick,” I said, doubling over so my head was between my legs. Joel stroked my back soothingly as I tried to regulate my breathing.
I literally did a countdown in my head, my heart beating more rapidly with each second that took me closer. I wanted to be sick, the panic inside was rising so rapidly I could feel my body almost go into meltdown.
Our text alerts went off telling us the link was live, Sam quickly typed in the title. We waited with bated breath for the link to load. It took what felt like forever though it was barely seconds when it came up. Elijah squealed making us all jump as the Black Eyed Peas filled the room, and we all sat transfixed staring at the laptop screen.
“Oh my god, Izzy, that was one epic close up,” Elijah shrieked as I stared at myself on screen. Joel squeezed me and pressed a kiss against my cheek as I just continued to stare slowly taking it all in.
After the choreographed dance finished, it went into the freestyle, the camera panned around us all, stopping on Elijah, he squealed, we all jumped. I could sense there was a pattern developing.
The camera came to rest on me again as I watched in complete awe, amazed at my fluidity. It was strange to see yourself on screen, to watch yourself dance. I was shocked at how calm I looked in the moment. You could tell by my face that I was so absorbed that nothing in that space of time truly mattered. It was just me becoming lost in the music. The camera was on me for what felt like forever before it went onto shoot others in our class.
“Fuck Iz, you were amazing. You are going to get lots of interest from this,” Elijah remarked as I blushed. I was hoping that some good would come from it after all I’d worked my arse off these last two weeks.
“Iz, you looked beautiful there. I saw your face before you went on and I’ve never seen you look so nervous in my life, but once the music started, it was like you flicked a switch, something inside you stirred and I knew that would be just fine. Watching you out there, I couldn’t have been any prouder. This is one moment that I’ll always remember, I’m so glad I got to share it with you,” Joel said, looking slightly emotional himself.
It was all too much, I could no longer hold back the tears. This whole day had been so overwhelming that eventually I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold it back a moment longer.
“I hope those are happy tears, Iz?” Joel asked, brushing them away.
“They are, I’m just so stunned seeing myself on screen. You watch yourself in a mirror, but to see myself there amongst hundreds of people, to watch the way we interacted together, it was just something I’d never experienced before. It was breathtaking.”
“That’s what everyone thought. This is going to be huge, it will go viral soon. Elijah, refresh to see how many hits it has had yet,” Joel asked.
Elijah clicked and we waited for the screen to reload. “Holy shit, we are at 20k. I need to put it on my Facebook page. Iz, I’ll tag you and get everyone sharing, this thing will go viral if it kills me.”
He spent the next thirty minutes ‘networking’ as he called it, he had well over three thousand friends so we had high hopes that they would get it trending on Twitter and shared on FB. There was lots of buzz and our text alerts went off as we all messaged each other back and forth. My notifications hit a hundred, and my eyes widened as I watched the likes build on Elijah’s link. Sam refreshed and YouTube had gone up by five thousand. We all squealed as we watched in awe as the numbers continued to climb. I got tagged in more links to our YouTube video, and I couldn’t believe the figures as we watched them rise by the hour. All the comments were really positive, and we watched in surprise as our video went viral. At fifty thousand, I almost hyperventilated. By a hundred thousand, I almost collapsed. We had never prepared for figures like this. We were all completely astounded to what was happening around us. The college website crashed with that many people trying to access it at a time, the Facebook like page went up by five thousand; everything just felt surreal. Joel looked on in complete wonder whereas Elijah was just quietly working away, getting people to share the link over and over.
By the end of the day, we had reached two hundred and fifty thousand views. By this time it had just gone beyond surreal, it was like a dream. I hoped it would be big, but the realistic part of me was telling me to hang fire and not get ahead of myself. But staring at the figure in front of me I could only dream what this could mean for all of us involved.
Elijah and Sam eventually headed home, it looked like Elijah would be glued to the phone all the night. He wanted way more hits, and he wasn’t settling for anything less. I could imagine him continuing all through the night, barely drawing breath. I didn’t know where he got the energy from I was completely beat. Mike had rang and congratulated me telling me had watched it earlier with Kara and loved it, and I patiently waited for my dad to ring with his verdict. He had almost got teary which wasn’t a complete shock, he was always so free with his emotions. He told me how proud he was and how he got it trending in Australia too, which I had to laugh. He wasn’t into the whole social media side, though he had set up a profile page that currently had thirty friends so I wasn’t really hoping for anything much, b
ut thanked him for any input he could have.
The whole day had been one long dream, the emotions and feelings I had experienced today had been something I had never felt to this extreme before. I guess this was my first working job, we weren’t being paid, just participating was enough. But I was happy to have it on my work CV, to have the video out there showcasing my abilities. All the nerves, the agony beforehand had been more than worth it for those unbelievable twenty minutes that had changed everything. For the first time in a while I felt excited about what lay ahead, what was in store, and that possibly something good might be in the pipeline. I needed that hope to feel that good things were indeed ahead. I had felt so beaten down these last few months. Rejection was indeed a tough pill to swallow, but as my dad always said when one door closes, another one opens. It was something he had always lived by, it was his mantra and one that I had often dismissed, especially in my darkest hour when doubt crept in like a cruel reminder that I just wasn’t good enough. But today had been a good day, today had been the best day and as the clock finally struck twelve, I sighed and made a silent wish that tomorrow would bring something more amazing. Tomorrow would be the moment of truth and I for one couldn’t wait for the new day to start.
Chapter Thirteen
The moment my eyes sprang open, I sat bolt upright causing Joel to stir.
“Fuck, Iz, you nearly give me a heart attack,” he groaned.
I grabbed my laptop and quickly refreshed the YouTube page. We were now at one million views, I just stared at the screen, too shocked to even process a thought.
“Looks like Elijah’s magic has certainly worked,” Joel commented over my shoulder.
It certainly had, I wondered if he had even slept.
I clicked on the Facebook page and the amount of likes had risen by a few more thousand, the video had now been shared over three hundred thousand times, it was just absolutely crazy.
I dialed Elijah’s number, and he answered with a sleepy hello. It was pretty evident that he was only just getting to bed now.