Do you want to dance with me? Part 3 (Ending)

A brief intro to this story:
- this is my first attempt writing short story
- this story was proudly presented the first prize in a competition

Enjoy

***

THE BIG NO

 “I don’t think this is going to work. You guys are great in the beginning, but now it’s a bit too much. What’s with the holding hands and the movements of your body? This is an open event, where new Form 6 students are welcomed into the school. We do not want them thinking that all these…” Mr.Yeoh opened his arms to motion all of us. “…is agreed by the school. Wei, you have to change this or else the whole dance will be banned.” As he stood up and walked away from the rehearsal, bit by bit our hopes and dreams went along with it.

Wei, obviously still trying to convince Mr.Yeoh, ran towards him and tried to talk things out with him. We followed her lead, but I was not as keen as the others. I heard Wei trying to explain to Mr.Yeoh how this was THE tango, one of the oldest ballroom dance there is and how it showed only poise and grace as some of the dancers nodded earnestly in support.

“You are not making my job any easier. I say alter the dance steps a little bit and take away the ones with body contacts. It’s not that dancing the tango or anything is not good; it’s just that we don’t want anything to happen. So I have to say No.”

By the looks of Wei’s face, she was preparing for strike two. But before she could open her mouth, I did something that I thought was a good idea…at that time.

“Yes sir!” All heads turned to me, in shock, in panic? I gathered as much courage I could and I continued. “I think Mr.Yeoh is right, we should just change the dance steps. As the tango part’s the only thing that caused us so much trouble, we should cancel it, to save trouble.” At the finish of that sentence, Chris threw me a dirty look and Wei’s face grew three times darker.

“Yes, finally some sense into you guys, you should listen to your head prefect. Come up with something simpler and I’ll approve it if it fits. I have to go now.” Mr.Yeoh took the chance to escape as Wei and some of our friends followed him close behind, still trying to convince him.

“Gosh Wendy, must you do that? Well, I know that you can’t dance the tango, but must you stop us too? Don’t you think it’s a bit too much?” May, Sheng’s tango partner, scorned at me.

“Yea Wendy, I thought you would at least be a team player. Now you betrayed us!” Chris joined in.

I could only look down on my feet, feeling the angry eyes of my friends judge me. I was pulled away from the scene by Jason who knocked my head once, followed by Sheng who knocked my head twice.

“Ouch! What’s that for? Don’t they see that I am trying to help them?”

“Well, not like this.” Jason looked at me with an emotionless face.

“Congratulations you idiot, now you made yourself the enemy of our group. You know how much effort they put into this…”

“Shut up Sheng, what do you know? Their efforts are already wasted; at least they should do the sensible thing and give in. It’s not that hard.”

The voice in Sheng changed into a calm tone. “Listen to me. I know what you are trying to do; you are trying to help them so they could see how wrong they were. But sometimes, when a group of people are trying to pursuit their dreams, do not stand in between them. Let them take rejection from the teacher; there’s nothing you can do about it. Learn to not take everything into your own hands will ya?”

I looked down in silence as I realized that he made perfect sense.

***

CONVINCE

Which bring me back to my comfortable sofa with the TV in front of me. I was enjoying my peaceful night of ‘the day I betrayed my dance group’ when Sheng rang me up.

“So? Do you want to dance with me?”

“What are you saying?”

“DO YOU WANT TO DANCE WITH ME?” Sheng’s tone was stressed as he repeated the question.

“Why? What about what Mr.Yeoh said? What about May? I thought she’s your dance partner? What would she become? Even if I did, there’s only 1 week left, the time’s not enough for us to practice at all! What about the others? I thought our friends hated me…”

“Do not worry about others. Think for yourself. Put everything aside and just answer the question, do you or do you not want to dance with me?”

“I don’t know…” I felt as if my heart itself was breaking down, having a furious war with my brain. To follow dreams or to follow what was right… Images of prefects, school teachers, friends and dance members flew through my head and I was getting dizzier by the second. “I’m just, I’m not sure about anything now. I’m very confused.”

The other line went silent for a while. I thought that this is it. He’s going to hang up on me. It’s what I have wanted right? To not make a fool of myself?

“Which would you choose: to regret the things you've done, or to regret those you did not do?”

His statement stunned me. I have not thought of it from this point of view. To put dancing the tango in this light made me think. Would I regret doing something that I have done or will I regret not doing something that I want. I think that made my choice much easier…

***

THE FINAL WEEK
I stood face to face with Sheng. He was looking at me so intensely that I was feeling butterflies in my stomach. He was 20cm taller than me, still wearing that baggy school uniform with his messy hair spilling down from his head. I had to look up to meet his gaze. His eyes were somehow different from others, tired eyes enveloped in long eye lashes that are hard to read, eyes that had seen too much. They were matured eyes perhaps. I was wondering the amount of stories stored behind these eyes…

“Oh my… I was up all night playing online games! My eyes are so tired now. They are even swollen! Anyway, why are you starring at me?” He yawned and asked me cheekily.

Damn my easily flushed face, now I am turning red.

“I was not staring at you! Just, tell me how to dance. We don’t have all day you know?”  It was true. I was late for practice by half an hour just to convince Mr.Yeoh. It was not easy. I had to pull every string to pull this through. But in the end, he gave us a much desired chance. Everyone was over the moon when I told them the good news.

“Hmm, I think you have to hold my hand now.” Sheng cut off my thought and he held up his hand. He looked as if he was as nervous as I am, but he tried to maintain his cool by attempting indifference. Everyone was looking at us now. Great, more pressure.

I placed my hand into his grasp. He held me tight and slowly turned me around. I stopped in front of him and once again, stared into his eyes.

“You are going to do a back bend with my arms supporting you. Can you trust me?” His eyes stared softly at me, as if asking for permission.

“I guess so.” Is the only thing I could manage. I closed my eyes and held my breath as I bent backwards slowly. My muscles tensed as I turned to my flexibility for support. The free falling felt like a thousand hours. I kept my eyes shut as I waited for my body to topple. Just as I was about to touch the ground, I felt a slender arm holding up my back. I gasped and opened my eyes.

“You are heavier than I expected…” Came a strained voice inches above me. He laughed but I noticed the appearance of green veins under the skin. Other dancers giggled as I scrambled upwards and scowled at him.

“I thought you’re strong! Damn you.” I tried to look crossed but a small grin crept to the side of my mouth.

“Alright, alright, let’s try this again…”

***

FINALE
He was, undeniably, very handsome in his grey dinner shirt with white collar and cuffs, black and polished leather shoes and his wild hair was tamed by wax into a modern looking hairstyle. He was standing proudly at the other end; his hands were held up in some sort of a Spanish bullfighter pose. He turned his head and stole a smile at me as a bead of sweat flowed down his face.

This is it.

Ignoring the crazy disco party my heartbeat was doing, I put one foot in front of the other and I walked in cat-like steps towards him. I remembered the dance steps by heart…

Starting with the boleo as the legs whip in a circular motion, a twist of the hips, lapis as the leg is extended with toe pointing to the floor, back bent and pulled up in a furious manner, turn in a circular motion as he holds my hand, then we walk and do the amague fake by changing direction at the last second, then we pause in a pose, move in to a close embrace and we both do a giro turn, we doubled frente with his hand holding mine in a reverse embrace and he held me tight as I bend my back once again and lift my leg up 180 degrees with the toe facing the sky…

 “…nobody, nobody but you!” The world seemed to have paused when Wonder Girls sang the last of the lyrics. He placed his warm arms around the small of my back as I wrapped my arms around his nape. I felt his warm breath on my face as he looked at me with his brown, magnificent eyes. Emotions flowed as we stood there transfixed into each other’s glace. I felt my heart beating fast once more, my blood pulsing, my face flushing… Is this where the kiss happens?

Obviously not...

ROARING thunder of applauses appeared out of nowhere, and we were brought back to reality. The crowd was cheering loudly and clapping their hands red. I looked around at my dance members as they flashed their teeth at me smiling. I was overjoyed and within minutes, we were hugging each other on stage. The moment was purely magical. We lined up in a single file and we bowed.

***

2 YEARS LATER

“…so mom, that’s how I met Sheng.”

“That’s a sweet memory my dear. These memories are treasures… Smile on the ones you create.” I looked at my mom as she smiled at me.

“So, how about dinner? Are you joining us?”

“Yes, but can I invite Sheng too?”

“Sure dear.”

END

***

---Part 1 (Intro) here Do you want to dance with me Part 1 ---

---Part 2 (body) here Do you want to dance with me Part 2 --- 

*characters/scenes from the story are altered to suit the criteria of the competition, if I've said anything to offend anyone, I sincerely apologize for the discomfort caused*

Thanks guys for all the support given.

I would like to extend a special thanks to NYS, without his kind guidance and suggestions, I would not have completed my story. My heartfelt gratitude to Jason, Hannah, Bangrou and some of my friends for proof reading my story. Thanks to my blogger friends, especially Rach and Ruii Lynn for reading this piece of crap. And of course to my mom, for being there for me. 

I love you guys. :)

JCG