This Is Bonkers

It wasnt long before I drifted off to sleep, and when I woke up, I felt like I'd slept for hours. Today I did my normal routine, not bothering with setting up clothes to change into, since I'd have plenty of time to change today.
The school day was obviously a little shorter, since I got out about 75 minutes early. Despite having plenty of time, I took the regular route home.
When I got home, Rick and Mary were still at work, so I was free to be as loud as I wanted. So I blasted some music, mostly dubstep, some Chris Brown and other crap mixed in there.
Today I opted for a slightly different outfit, having still been fairly hot yesterday. I wore a yellow tank-top, with grey sweatpants. Underneath my sweats I decided to wear those spandex shorts they usually use for volleyball, incase I got really hot or something. I tied my hair up again, making the pony a little neater today. My colouful Nike's completed the look.
I also grabbed my cute tote bag and stashed an outfit for later, incase I needed it. I packed my loose, pink, off-shoulder shirt that says Love and a pair of dark denim skinny jeans. I also made sure to pack a hoodie, since I'd definitely be cold later.
It was about 3:20 now, so I grabbed my wallet and my phone and headed out to buy some chocolate. It took me about 15 minutes to walk to the chocolate shop, and about 10 to pick out a few boxes of chocolate. The shop was a little farther from DanceWork Studios than my house was, so it would take me about 20 minutes to walk there, but I'd be early. So I slowed my pace down and made it there just 5 minutes early.
When I turned the corner, Mitchell was waiting for me. It was a bit surprising, but no big deal, so I made my way down to him.
"Hello." I greeted with a smile, reaching for the door. "I'm a bit early, is it alright if I go in now?" I asked, hand on the door handle.
"Hey. Yeah, let's go." He said, following me inside when I opened the door. He stepped ahead of me to open the door into the studio, and I thanked him. Funny how one night with Sam and Mitchell could change his personality towards me so much.
"Hello, Hannah!" Sam said, the first to notice me.
"Hello, Sam!" I said, imitating him. I put my bag down against the wall out of the way and grabbed one of the boxes of chocolates. "Look what I brought you."
"Aw, sick!" He said excitedly, grabbing the box. "I was just kidding about you buying me chocolate. Thanks." he said, giving me a quick and unexpected hug. I didnt mind though.
"You're welcome. I've got one for Perri too." I said, looking around Sam to try and find Perri. "Perri!" I said when I spotted him. He looked over at me and I beckoned him with my hand.
"Whats up?" He said with that ever-present sparkle in his eyes.
"I bought you chocolate." I said, handing him the box.
"Woah, thanks!" He said, before clueing in. "Why?"
"'Cuz I put salt in Sam's drink last night and he almost choked on it so I apologized and said I'd buy him chocolate. Thought I'd buy you some too."
"You put salt in Sam's drink?" I nodded. "Legend." He said, fist-bumping me. "Up for some tumbling?"
"Sure!" I said, kicking off my shoes. I ran up to the mat and jumped on to it Superman-style, landing on my stomache and face. I could hear Perri laughing, but so was I. "I'm okay." I mumbled into the mat.
"Wanna see Mitchell do some tumbling?" Perri asked as I rolled over.
"Yeah!"
"Mitch, come do some tumbling." I heard a mumbled okay in reply and didnt bother to look, as Perri was still talking to me. "I wanna show you something quickly though. Make some room."
I stood up, and headed towards the end of the mat backwards, not realizing how stupid an idea that was until I slipped. I gave a small scream as I fell backwards off the mat, expecting to hit my head on the floor any second, when I stopped. I opened my eyes to see Mitchell staring down at me, and realized he'd caught me about 2 feet from the ground.
"Are you alright?" He said, standing me back up.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." I said, a little quietly. I was expecting to be on the floor in pain at the moment, but I really was perfectly fine. That is, until I noticed Mitchell was shirtless. I was sure I was probably blushing and very obviously checking out Mitchell's abs. But he took no notice.
"Maybe you should stay down there for a second." Perri laughed, bouncing on the mat. "Now I'll show you what I was trying to." He smiled. Perri showed me a small combo routine, which made me envious of his skills. I really wanted to learn to tumble better, and maybe these guys could teach me. All of them could tumble, some were just better than others.
"Now, I'll do the same routine, but better." Mitchell said, hopping up onto the mat. I had to admit, when Mitchell did the combo, it looked a little tighter and sharper, but I'm not entirely sure if that made it look better.
"I was totally better." Perri said after.
"Ha, yeah right." Mitchell said, giving Perri a soft punch in the shoulder.
"Who was better, Hannah?" Perri asked, looking at me expectantly. Mitchell looked too, a sparkle in his eyes I hadnt seen before.
"Dont make me choose." I mumbled. Who was better? They were both perfect. "I was clearly the best." I said, deciding to approach this with humour. They laughed quietly, and let it go.
"You think you can do that?" Mitchell asked, helping me onto the mat.
"You kidding?" I asked, bouncing on the mat a little. "Perri just taught me a front tuck yesterday. And I didnt even land it."
"Try a back tuck, they're easier to land." Mitchell said, trying to convince me.
"No way. I'd kill myself!" I said seriously, stopping bouncing.
"Dont push her Mitch, think of how long it took you to learn back tucks. She's actually only done one front tuck, so we'll focus on those." Perri said, smiling at me.
"Can I have another demonstration?" I asked, making room on the mat but being careful not to fall off.
"I'll do it." Mitchell said, making his way to the middle of the mat. "Standing or running?"
"Running, standing's too hard to start out with." Perri said.
"Mm." Mitchell acknowledged. He took a few steps back to make room for running. He did the tuck the same way Perri had, taking a few quick steps for momentum, jumping, tucking and landing solidly on his feet.
"The most important part, is the tuck and the way you position your feet. We've gone over tucking, but you're feet's position will decide whether you land it or not." Perri said, demonstrating the position my foot should go into before landing. "You were close to landing yesterday, so you should be able to before long."
"Show me a tuck." Mitchell said.
I was nervous. I'd almost done it yesterday, but now I had two pairs of eyes watching me. And Mitchell was a little more intimidating than Perri. But I went for it anyway, because I knew I wouldn't be getting out of it. I repeated the same process as yesterday, including the landing. My feet hit the mat, and I slipped onto my back.
"Ow." I said sarcastically, laughing. "I dont know about you guys, but I think I was pretty flawless." I joked, standing up again. "Tumbling is clearly not my strong spot."
"It just takes practice, like anything else." Perri smiled.
"But I can do something you guys cant." I smirked.
"Oh really?" Mitchell challenged.
"Yep." I said, stepping off the mat. Carefully, I slid into the forward splits.
"Why're you so flexible?" Perri asked, observing. They both looked fairly impressed.
"I do alot of stretching. But I'm not really flexible other than this. I cant do straddle very well or anything." I said, standing up slowly. "I've never done gymnastics or anything, I just decided one day I wanted to be able to do the splits, so."
"Maybe you should decide you want to be able to do a front tuck." Mitchell joked.
"I've decided, trust me. I'd love to be able to tumble as well as you guys, but it's gunna take some work." The boys gazes shifted from me to behind me, so I turned around to see what it was they were looking at. It was Sam.
"I'm stealing her. You guys've got work to do anyway, practicing your combos." Sam said.
"She cant practice with us?" Perri asked.
"Not what you guys're supposed to be practicing. I'm gunna run her through some of the routines we taught her, starting with floorwork."
"Do I have any say in this?" I asked in a joking tone.
"Nope." Sam winked. "C'mon, we gotta start stretching." He grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to the mirrors, out of the way of the tumbling mat.
"Are you sure I'm not interrupting your training or anything, coming here everyday? You guys do workshops, so why do I get a private one?" I mimicked his lunge, but slid into it a little further, making sure I could feel the stretch.
"'Cuz we like you." Sam said, switching legs. "And we havent got any really important training going on anyway, we're pretty laidback right now, if you havent noticed."
They liked me. I smiled to myself, a small blush creeping onto my cheeks. I continued to stretch my legs, arms and back. I felt a little awkward when I leaned over to touch my toes, well technically the floor as my palms were flat on it.
"Which routine are we working on?" I asked, excited to do some floorwork.
"The first one Pel taught you the other day."
I nodded slowly, remembering which one that was.
"Swivel your hips, down to one knee, drag, switch..." I mumbled, going through it in my head.
"Seems you know it, show me what you've got." Sam said. I almost felt like I was in gym class, the way the boys seemed to be assessing and grading me.
"5, 6, 7, 8." I said quietly. I started the dance, trying to stay on beat to the count in my head. I finished with a tumble and stood up quickly, striking a pose.
"Alright!" Sam said, laughing and clapping. "That was pretty good, so I wont make you do it again, any requests on what we practice next?"
"Tutting!" I said excitedly. I loved tutting, it was fun to watch and fun to do. I'd already done a little tutting before meeting Diversity. I watched their videos over and over until I learned a few of their finger tutting routines, and some basic regular tutting routines. Since I was already a little knowledgable in this subject, Sam had started me with a little more difficult of a routine. These boys sure liked to challenge me.
"Show me you're 90." Sam said. I put my arm into the basic tutting position, getting it as close to 90 degrees as I could. "Good, good."
"Maybe I should just go to the regular workshops, I'm not sure I like the focus being on me." I said, running through a tutting move quickly.
"Pshh. You dont like the attention? It's a lot easier to teach someone one on one. In a group, you have to teach something hard enough for the better people, but easy enough for the not as talented dancers. You're only as good as your weakest member in a group. On your own, you've got no one to be better than but yourself."
"No one to be better than but myself." I mumbled. "I like that." I smiled. "Now let's go through the routine, hmm? Do it with me?" I asked sweetly, hoping to take the focus off me just a little.
"Tuh. Alright, let's go." Sam got into the starting position. "5, 6, 7, 8." He counted us in, and we ran through the routine. It was mostly arms, so the routine wasnt incredibly exciting, but it was still kinda cool to watch us in the mirror.
"I think she's better than you, Sam." Ashley said, walking over as we finished the routine.
"What?" I laughed. "No way."
"It's true."
"No it's not." Sam coughed, joking around. I smiled at Sam, he was better than me, and we both knew it.
"I dont get to see you alot, Ashley." I said, looking way up at him, cursing myself for being short.
"I'm a bit busy these days." He sighed. "In fact, I should probably head back upstairs." He said, turning back around towards the stairs.
"So why is Ashley so busy if you guys arent?" I said, slighty accusationally.
"Ashley's always busy, doesnt matter what's going on or what time of year it is."
"Hmm, must be kinda annoying. But kinda nice at the same time. I'm never busy. Coming here everyday is the only thing I've done after school in a long time."
"You dont hang out with friends or anything?" Sam asked, sitting on the floor in boredom.
"I havent really got any," I said, sitting with him. "Partially because I'm afraid to make friends and then leave them behind at the end of the year, and partially because no one likes me." I laughed. I was okay with having no friends, I talked to my friends from Canada almost everyday.
"We like you." Sam reminded me. "What about in Canada? Got friends there?"
"Yeah, I do. Not alot, but I'd rather have one close friend than thirty fake friends." I said truthfully.
"I thought you said you were practicing? Stop being lazy!" Mitchell yelled from the tumbling mat.
"He's right. We better get back to practicing. I've got to burn off all the chocolate I've already eaten." Sam chuckled sheepishly. I blinked.
"Have you eaten the entire box already? Just in the time I spent with Mitchell and Perri tumbling?"
"Not the entire box." He said, standing up.
"We really should practice then, cant have you getting fat." I smiled as he offered me a hand. I accepted it and he pulled me effortlessly to my feet. "I can stand up on my own you know." I said despite loving when he helped me up.
"Mm, I'm not so sure about that. You seem to be a bit clumsy, like when you fell off the tumbling mat earlier." He smirked. I blushed slightly, not realizing he had seen that.
"You saw that?" He nodded. "Soo, were you watching me or?" I jokingly accused him.
"Nahh, I heard Pel call Mitch over so." He said. He went into the starting pose of another tutting routine I knew, gesturing for me to follow.
"Mmm. Good excuse." I mimmicked his pose and counted us in. "5, 6, 7, 8." Sam kept count as we went through the routine, keeping us on beat. I think tutting is my strongest spot in streetdance. Tumbling was probably my weakest, but I was determined to change that.
"Sam you can tumble right?" I said as we finished the routine. I knew Sam could tumble, but he was less advanced as Mitchell and Perri, and therefore he might be a bit easier to learn from.
"Yeah, not as much as those two," He said, pointing a thumb towards Mitchell and Perri behind us. "why?"
"Because, as you know, they're trying to teach me and they're a bit intimidating." I said, glancing at the boys doing complicated combos.
"You wanna do some one on one tumbling practice?" He asked. He sounded like he couldnt fathom why I'd want him as a teacher. "With me?" I nodded. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the tumbling mat. "Alright you two, go do something else."
"Why? What's up?" Perri asked as Mitchell landed a layout.
"Tumbling practice. You guys've got other stuff to do."
"Alright, alright. I'm getting kinda bored anyway. C'mon Mitch." Perri said, jumping off the mat. Mitchell followed and they walked off to practice some choreo with Jordan.
I kicked off my shoes and left them next to where Sam had put his, just beside the mat.
"Need some help onto the mat?" Sam asked, already on it. He would never let me live being a little clumsy down, would he?
I sighed. "It'd be nice." I said, grabbing his hand and carefully making my way onto the mat.
"Alright so, I understand what youre saying about Mitchell being intimidating, but Pel's not so bad. The only problem with Pel is he's very good at tumbling, and doesnt really remember what it was like to learn it. Show me what you've been taught."
I made a nervous face before making my way into the middle of the mat. It seemed every time I tried a front tuck, it was exactly the same. Same steps, same launch, same landing. "I cant land it." I said, standing back up.
"Alright, what I want you to do, is try to overshoot it. Stay tucked a little longer. You might land on your knees, but it will be a bit of an improvement. I dont think you're getting quite all the way over. Let me show you." He took a few steps and jumped, tucking and landing as flawlessy as Mitchell or Perri. "Actually," he paused. "try a running handspring instead." He gave an example, stretching out his hands instead of tucking.
"That looks harder to land." I said, biting my nail a little bit.
"It is." Sam said bluntly.
"What?"
"If you can land a handspring, you can land a tuck. So go for it."
"I take back what I said about the other two being more intimidating." I said, causing a small laugh from Sam. But I decided to do the handspring anyway, hoping it'd improve my tuck like he said. I took a few quick steps, jumped and put my hands out. I made it all the way over, but my feet touched the ground and I slipped to my knees.
"Looks like you've got momentum down a bit better now. Try a tuck."
I sighed and took a few backwards steps to make room. The process of a front tuck had been drilled into my head by now, and I did it mostly without thinking. I did change two things though, I tried to stay tucked longer and keep it a little more solid. And, I landed on my feet. I was silent for a few seconds while Sam clapped.
"Oh my god!" I yelled, probably louder than I meant to. "I did it! I did a front tuck!" I started to bounce really quickly on the mat in excitement.
"Good, good." Sam congratulated. "Do another one."
I blinked. I guess doing another one wouldnt be too bad, it was quite fun when you could actually land it. So I repeated the process, once again landing solidly.
"Congratulations! You've mastered a front tuck. On a mat atleast." Sam said. Excitedly, I closed the small distance between us and hugged him.
"Thankyou so much." I said, standing on my tippy-toes to hug him properly.
"No problem." He said, a wide smile that mimmicked my own on his face. "Let's show Pel and Mitch. Show 'em I'm a better teacher." He said, hopping off the mat.
It seemed I didnt have a choice in the matter when he grabbed Perri and Mitchell out of the group of boys and brought them to the mat.
"Alright, Hannah! Show 'em I'm a better teacher."
It was a little more nerve-wracking with all three of them watching, but I went back to the front of the mat and repeated the front tuck, sticking the landing for the third time in a row.
"Clearly, I'm a better teacher. I taught her that in," he paused, glancing at his watch. "about fifteen minutes."
"She would've learned it earlier," Perri said. "But you stole her to practice more dancing!"
"Ah, ah, ah!" Sam interrupted. "You had time to teach her, but you two spent the time showing off." He pointed out, specifically glancing at Mitchell.
"Shhh boys." I said. "Perri, what you taught me definitely helped. Now teach me something else!"
"Do you think it'd be too hard to teach her a back tuck from standing?" Perri asked, looking at the two other boys. "Should we teach her handsprings and cartwheels first so she has more momentum?"
"I can do a cartwheel." I pointed out, demonstrating when they all looked at me expectantly.
"Wanna just see if she can do it and go from there?" Sam asked.
"I dont think she's gunna land it first try." Mitchell said.
Sighing, I sat down on the edge of the mat.
"Standing back tuck it is!" Sam decided. "Now go away, she's my student." Mitchell and Perri sighed, knowing they couldnt defeat Sam. They headed back to continue the choreo Sam had interrupted.
"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Sam asked, hopping back onto the mat.
"Pfft. No." I said standing up. "I already told you I have no social life. Why?"
"Just wondering. Now, a standing back tuck." Sam said, quickly changing the subject. "I learned these a few years ago. Theyre not that hard as long as you've got enough momentum."
He stepped into the middle of the mat in preparation. Swinging his arms to get enough momentum, he jumped and tucked, landing flatly on his feet.
It was exciting to watch, but at the same time, it made me feel nervous knowing I'd be trying it soon. Sam glanced at my nervous face.
"I know you were excited, but maybe we should stop tumbling for now." He said, walking over to me on the side of the mat.
"Yeah." I mumbled. "One more tuck though." I smiled, running to the middle of the mat. Sam rolled his eyes a little, but watched as I performed another perfect tuck.
The day was pretty much over and Sam and Mitchell were driving me home. I was pretty silent in the car, feeling a bit physically wrecked. We had stayed a little longer today, skipping dinner until later. We had eaten a lot of chocolate to keep our blood sugar up, and now we were starting to sugar crash.
The car stopped outside my house and I went to open the car door, before realizing Sam hadn't unlocked it yet. I moved into the middle of the back seat so I could see Sam's face properly.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Since you're not doing anything tomorrow," he smiled that cheeky smile I'd come to recognize instantly. "Wanna hang out with us?"
I blinked. We'd hung out at the studio for the past 3 days straight, and they weren't annoyed with me yet, and were even inviting me to hang out with them on the weekend. "Well, like, when and where?" I asked.
"Well, Perri, Jordan and Mitch are teaching workshops a little earlier in the day so.." He trailed off a little, thinking. "Wanna just meet at the studio tomorrow around 1 and go from there?"
"Yeah, I'll be there. Now let me out of the car before I call the police and tell them you kidnapped me." I joked. The doors unlocked with a click and I pulled the little handle. Pushing the door open, I stopped to say thank you.
"Thank you for the ride home, and everything else." I said, realizing they'd done a lot for me. "And teaching me a front tuck especially." I grinned. "See you tomorrow." They nodded in acknowledgement and I closed the door, making sure to grab my bag first. I walked up the path to my house with a smile on my face, despite the slight pain in my limbs.
I opened the door and stepped in, kicking off my shoes and dropping my bag. "I'm home!" I called, not too loudly since Rick and Mary were only in the living room.
"How was your day honey?" Mary asked as I stepped into the kitchen. She was on her laptop, but I had no idea what exactly she was doing. Rick sat in the easy chair beside her, not really paying attention to anything but the sports on the TV.
"It was good, I'm a little sore, but I had a lot of fun." I said, grabbing a can of cola and a bag of crisps. "Sam taught me a running front tuck." I smiled. "Well, Perri tried to teach me yesterday but I couldnt land it and then he and Mitchell tried to teach me today but I still couldnt land it. And then I had one on one tumbling practice with Sam, and he taught me to land it." I sat at our small dinner table and opened the can of cola and bag of crisps, hungry and thirsty.
"That sounds a little dangerous, but I'm glad you're having fun honey. Got any plans this weekend?" She asked, probably expecting the usual no.
"Studio with Sam and Mitchell tomorrow around 1, and who knows where we'll go from there." I smiled.
"Oh, well okay. We'll already be out at work by then, so you'll have to walk. And dont forget to eat before going."
"I know Mary. I'm going upstairs now, love you both." I said, grabbing my food and drink. Walking past my bag, I made sure to grab it before jumping up the stairs.
I sunk into my bed happily, deciding not to change since what I was wearing was so comfortable. I'd probably change before bed though, since I'd probably get really hot in my joggers. Checking the time, I decided to text Sam out of boredom.
"Why dont you text me? :)" I texted. The reply was fairly quick, and I figured they were probably home by now, lounging in their beds the way I was.
"Because I gave you my number remember? I dont have yours lol" Oh right, wow I was stupid sometimes. Oh well.
"Then how do you know who this is? ;P" I texted back, noticing how much I liked to use emoticons.
"Because, Hannah, you're the only person I've given my number in months." For some reason, it made me feel special and exclusive to know Sam hadn't given anyone but me his number in awhile.
"Well, you've got my number now! So you better add it to your contacts, and give it to Mitchell too." I said, taking a small risk and hoping I didnt sound pushy.
"Alright, alright. You're in my contacts, and Mitchell's :)" He texted back.
"Oh, and for tomorrow. Since I dont really know what we'll be doing, what should I wear? Stuff I can dance in, or stuff to wear around town?" I'd probably just do what I did today and take a regular outfit with me anyway, but it was nice to know.
"Mm, probably something to dance and tumble in. We'll teach you some new routines, show you some exclusive previews ;)" Now I really felt exclusive.
":O Exciting!"
"Yeah well, I'm feeling pretty wrecked, so I'm probably going to try to sleep now, if you dont mind."
"Of course, Night Sam :)"
"Night Hannah"
I put my phone down beside me on my bed, where I usually kept it. If I were being honest, I felt pretty wrecked too. It probably wouldnt be long before I tried to sleep as well, although my mind would be wandering for hours before sleep actually hit me.