Didn't Know I was Inturrupting Something
Chapter 6: I Didn't Know I Was Interrupting
Driving alone to dance was one of the best blessings Crystal could ever ask for. She could play the music as loud as she wanted to, she could make as many poor decisions as she wanted to, and she didn't have to speak to anybody. It was like a sensory gym but slightly dangerous.
The sensory gym becomes even more dangerous when Crank That Soulja Boy starts playing. Oh Crank That Soulja Boy. The song that has somehow got Crystal held by the shirt collar.
“SOULJA BOY UP IN IT… OHHH!” Crystal screams, “Man FUCK YOU KORINNE KING I CAN CRANK THAT SOULJA BOY ALL I WANT!”
Driving Kori to dance was one of the best blessings Lydia could ever ask for. She didn’t need to blast music in the car because Kori speaking takes enough noise room within itself, and now she has a reason to not make poor decisions and get into road rage incidents.
“Lydia, your car smells good,” Kori said, right. The other blessing is the random shit Kori would say every five minutes. It’s like a try not to laugh challenge with Kori in the car
“Well, maybe it’s because you suffocate yourself in perfume before dance every day” Lydia observed,
“Ummm excuse me, that's not perfume, that's Bath And Body Works spray” Kori declared, Lydia just scoffed. Bath and Body Works spray, perfume, same thing… Same damn thing.
As Lydia drives at the speed limit of a fine and dandy 45 mph, she suddenly hears something Kori finds oh so familiar
“Uh ohhh” Kori muttered, “It’s…”
Crystals car speeds by at about 60 miles per hour, Crank That Soulja Boy can be heard loud and clear.
“Soulja Boy!” Kori panicked.
“Good god she's insane” Lydia muttered under her breath
—
When Crystal walked into the studio it had been very clear that she was going well over the speed limit. The girl was winded, and to say winded would be an understatement.
She looked as if she were flown into a tree by a giant demon.
“My god Crystal you look like if Bigfoot went bald” Jewels said, all seriousness in her tone “blonde,”
“Y-yeah! Blonde” Suzie snorted, Arrietty just rolled her eyes,
“Girl go brush your hair” Arrietty spat, Acacia froze when she heard this, Crystal just smirked
“Speak to me when you can at least get your permit… Arrianna” she articulated, the usage of Arrietty’s real name put Arrietty to silence. Common silencing tactic.
The door opened slowly, the last two teammates, Kori and Lydia finally walked into the studio. Everyone turns to face them
“Well look whos finally here” Crystal jested, “My god I thought you’d never get here”
“My god I thought you’d be on the news with a DUI stare with how fast you were going” Lydia snapped back,
“That's my Lydia!” Kori cheered, “You get that evil witch! So Brat core Spring Breakers!”
“OH MY GOD GUYS CHECK YOUR INSTA!” Jewels screamed abruptly. Without question, everyone opened their phones to see that Lana Ja’rae was starting her acting career
“OH MY GOD GUYS LANA JA’RAE IS IN HER ACTING ERA!” Acacia screamed for the first time ever.
“Oh my god you guys, but what about the album?!” Arrietty questioned,
“She’ll drop it, trust,” Kori assured her friend, “Protesting works”
“Wait what is she acting in?” Lydia asked,
“It says here that she is playing Liv in The Project That Goes Right” Jewels read from her phone, Suzie's face lit up
“Oh my god that’s a dig on the Play That Goes Wrong!” Suzie exclaimed, “Guys we have to see it when it comes out!”
“Good god I hate theater kids” Arrietty mumbled, Jewels looking sharply at Arrietty.
“Excuse me! Suzie is an angel from the spirits above!” Jewels barked, “as my friend you will NOT say that about my-”
‘Please say girlfriend please say girlfriend’
“My Suzie!”
She didn’t, all Lydia could do was laugh…
The front door of the studio opens slowly, Ms Lexi walks into the studio and waves to the girls, they all turn around and look at Ms Lexi
“Good Morning Ms Lexi!” Kori sang,
“It’s 2 in the afternoon Kori, have some compassion” Ms Lexi groaned, “Yesterday you guys learned your dance, we’re spending the rest of the week cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. Places please”
The girls all go to their places and they run their new dance. Expectantly, it was messy, and not in a good way. When they finish the dance in their sloppy ending pose, Ms Lexi pauses for a couple of seconds before giving a slow clap.
“Wow… That was very…” She started, “Abstract. My goodness not even Crystal was on time!”
“Wait I wasn't?!” Crystal panicked, Ms Lexi just nodded, Kori couldn't help but muffle a laugh which earned her a slap on the wrist from Lydia.
“The most noticeable thing right now is the chorus parts. The parts where you are all SUPPOSED to be dancing together, but youre not” Ms Lexi started to explain, “Red Velvet is very known for their harmonizations, so when you're doing the parts together it’s when they are harmonizing and singing the song together. Because of that, you need to be very in tune with each other, and very very on top of the consonants. You need to not be with the music, but with the lyrics because that's where all the rhythm is. Understood?”.
The girls all nod their heads, Ms Lexi smiles and gives them a thumbs up,
“Great great, now just verbally explaining that most likely won't help, so we’re gonna spend time today really going over your timing, and where you do everything” Ms Lexi told the girls, “Start from the beginning where Jewels is on the floor”.
—
The second studio was in its Bjork era right now. To say that Arrietty's brain was in an annoyance from going over the timing for 'I Just’ so intricately is an understatement. Right now Arrietty feels as if she is going through the creative process of producing Volta by Bjork.
To go from a Red Velvet group dance, to a Bjork solo wasn't much of an adjustment for Arrietty because she does Bjork solo’s all the time. That’s her trademark, Bjork is just an artist she feels in-sync with. So of course when she ran Bachelorette again, it was better than the first time.
“Good job, good job, why don’t you take a five minute break” Ms Sam told her, Arrietty nodded gladly. When Arrietty heard knocking on the door, she turned to it, “Come in!” She heard Ms Sam shout.
Great, seriously?! This was her time! Not anyone else's time! Sure she’s having a 5 minute break, but it’s a SOLO Rehearsal!
Jewels walks into the room quickly holding a paper, she hands it to her aunt.
“Jewels! What the fuck are you doing here?!” Arrietty shouted, “It’s my rehearsal time!”
“Yeah, I know! I waited outside that door for ten minutes until you were given your break so that I don’t interrupt” Jewels tried to explain, but Arrietty wasn’t having it
“Even if! You're still interrupting!” Arrietty whined, literally whined,
“Arrietty it’s fine,” Ms Sam tried to calm the situation,
“It’s not fine! This is my Solo time! You shouldnt be letting Jewels in during this time!” Arrietty complained, “And Jewels! You should find your own time to give your aunt an envelope!”
“It’s an important notice Arri, I had to give it to her Asap! It’s about my gran-” Jewels tried to clarify, but
“What is it?! Some fucking pageant results?!” Arrietty cut her off, “You didn’t win Jewels! Lifes not about you!”
“Where did that come from?!” Jewels snapped, “You know what, I’m gonna go, you're clearly nervous about your solo”
“I’m not nervous!” Arrietty countered, “You're cutting into my rehearsal time!”
Jewels didn't argue, she just tossed her hair and stormed out of the studio, slamming the door causing Ms Sam to flinch. She looks at Arrietty with disappointment in her eyes.
“Arrianna, that was uncalled for”
Sam opened the envelope, her eyes widening when she read it.
—
While this was going on, the other girls were sitting in the break room at the long table eating their food.
“I can’t believe Ms Lexi got us takeout!” Kori exclaimed,
“My mom pitched in,” Suzie clarified, “She was really busy at work”
Ms Onya, Suzie’s mom. Every day before dance Ms Onya would make dinner for the whole team so that they had something to eat, Suzie would bring in whatever her mom made them in a heat protectant container, so by the time they each had a break, they came to the break room to have a nice warm dinner. Kindness from a dance mom was something Lydia was not familiar with, and she doesn’t know if it's Ms Onya's naturally kind nature, or if it’s just where she is now. At her old studio, even though there’d be teams and stuff, everyone within that team was competing against each other, and the moms pulled whatever stunts they wanted to get their kids ahead.
Whereas here, Ms Lexi doesn't even allow two girls to compete a solo simultaneously, even if they're in a different age category.
“So guysss” Kori started, “Damn this chinese food is good… Suzies moms cooking is better though”
“I’ll tell her you said that” Suzie said, “She’ll be happy”
“I heard Ms Lexi has a GAGGY plan for next week” Crystal mentioned, “She was talking about it with Ms Sam”
“Wait! Oh my god tell us” Lydia gasped, “Cmon dont leave me hanging!”
“We’re not competing in a group dance next week” Crystal told her teammates, everyone froze, they all looked back at Crystal, Kori’s jaw falling to the floor. Everyone looked at Kori, who picked her jaw back up and reattached it,
“Sorry-” She muttered, “but WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!”
“We’re competing in duos, and one trio” Crystal explains, “The trio is for me Lydia and Kori, and the duo is for you four, the youngsters”
“Wait, that actually sounds so sick!” Suzie said, “Do you know the songs?”
“No, I don’t even know who's being paired with who,” Crystal told her.
The door swings open abruptly, completely altering the tone of the room. There Jewels stood, mascara smudged from tears, she was quiet but very clearly distraught.
“Jewels, what's wrong?” Crystal questioned, but the girl said nothing. She clenched her fists tightly,
“I made Arrietty mad!” Jewels bawled, “I made Arrietty mad, and I didnt mean to, and now she hates me! I don’t know what to do!”
“Wait, wait what'd you do?” Lydia softly asked,
“You know- t- t-t he envelope… A- a- a- about my grandma that Ms Sam needed to get asap?” Jewels continued in between sobs, Suzie immediately runs up to Jewels, embracing her tightly
“Shhh, Shhh, breathe, breathe,” Suzie soothes, “It’s fine, I bet it’s not bad at all”
Jewels breathes for a bit before taking one more deep breath and collecting herself.
“I waited outside the door, I really did,” Jewels started again, “I waited until I heard Auntie Sammy tell Arrietty that she could take a five minute break, I knocked on the door, Auntie Sammy said I could come in, I did, I wanted to be in and out to not be a distraction. I gave her the envelope and Arrietty started yelling at me”
Jewels started to cry again, Crystal sighs deeply,
“Good grief” She whispered, Kori and Lydia look at her, Crystal just points to Jewels.
“Jewels, It’s okay-” Lydia tried to comfort her, “I don’t think she’s mad, I think she’s just anxious about her solo”
“Oh no,” Jewels hiccuped, “She's livid! I swear I could see her eyes turning red as she looked at me!”
“We need to see what happens,” Crystal mutters.
Speak of the devil, there was Arrietty, she slammed the door open and walked over to the takeout boxes
“If youre gonna cry me a fucking river, close the damn door while doing so” Arrietty muttered, when she grabbed the rest of the dumplings, she tossed the box aggressively in the trash can.
“Arri, I’m sorry-” Jewels whimpered, “I- I didn’t m-mean to make you m- mad. I d- didn’t w- want to mess with your d- dance, I d- didn’t mean to mess with your dance”
“Boo fucking hoo” Arrietty started to rant, “Cry me a fucking river. The fact that you interrupted someone's dance is crazy, but the fact that you did it to your FRIEND is what baffles me even more. Cause I wouldn't do that shit to you! Now here you are crying about it and playing the victim, fucking pathetic”
If just hearing the story wasn’t enough to set Suzie off, this was even more than enough to set Suzie off. It’s not in Suzie’s nature to fight, the closest thing to fighting for Suzies case would be her mimicking the “Why I Oughta” meme a little bit too accurately. But right now… Suzie grabbed Jewels’ arm and stormed out of the break room.
“Yeah! Go cry to your whimsical housewife!” Arrietty shouted, “Bitch”. Kori watched this all happen in pure astonishment, she grabs Lydia's wrist and exits the situation, leaving Acacia and Crystal in the room with Arrietty, Ms Lexi suddenly walks into the room, a pissed look on her face.
“Why the hell is Jewels crying?!” She asked, Arrietty rolled her eyes,
“Because she's a backstabbing bitch” Arrietty spat
“Woah woah woah!” Crystal started to scold, “Don’t throw those words at Jewels, I know for a damn fact that Jewels was not trying to be a “Backstabbing bitch”! Toughen up”
“What the hell happened?” Ms Lexi asked again, “Acacia GET OUT”
Acacia walks out of the room, sighing in relief. Ms Lexi turns back to Arrietty and Crystal,
“Jewels decided it would be a good idea to interrupt my solo rehearsal to give Sam some ‘Important message’, she's just upset she’s being held accountable for it” Arrietty explained,
“That is not what I heard from Jewels. What I heard from Jewels is that a letter came in for Sam that she needed to see ASAP, so Jewels waited outside the door for Sam to tell Arrietty to take a break, and THEN she went in to give Sam the envelope.” Crystal then elaborated, causing Arrietty to roll her eyes, “Don’t you fucking roll your eyes at me, from what I heard the exchange should’ve lasted five SECONDS, but you exaggerated it.”.
“Arrietty, go home,” Ms Lexi instructed. Arrietty didn’t protest, she walked out of the room, slamming the door shut again, “Crystal, I will ask Sam what happened after you and Lydia's rehearsal, during your class do NOT bring up what happened, it’s out of your hands”
“But it kinda is, I should've been the one dealing with that” Crystal protested, “I should've handed the envelope,”
“Go to class Crystal,” Ms Lexi sighs
—
Walking into the studio a couple of minutes late was awkward enough, but seeing Kori sitting in the corner watching whatever her cocomelon equivalent was, and seeing Lydia silently running the duet on her own with Ms Sam watching her intensely was pin drop hearing awkward. Crystal was determined to fix it though.
“Sorry I’m late,” Crystal apologized hushly, “Lydia, you ready?”
“Yeah, I’m ready” Lydia nodded her head, Ms Sam played the songs and the girls got to work.
The frustration from the conflict very clearly made its way into the dance in a good way. The moves were sharp, the timing was correct, the girls mixed so well together it was as if they were performing on stage. So of course when the dance ended, Ms Sam couldn't help but clap, Kori looked up from her phone and clapped as well. Lydia turned back to Kori and started smiling
“God! Girls that is impressive” Ms Sam praised, “If I didn't know, I would have thought you two have been dancing together since you were babies!”.
Kori winked at Lydia which caused her to feel a cold shiver.
“It was amazing,” Kori added, “I got chills watching.”
“Thank you, Kori” Lydia nodded her head, Crystal just stared daggers into Koris soul
“Kori! Stop distracting Lydia!” She barked,
“Alright, run it one more time and you can be done” Sam tells the girls, so they did.
After the duet rehearsal, Ms Lexi quietly tiptoed into the studio. Her sly movements caught Sam off guard
“Lexi! I didn’t see you come in!” Sam squeaked, Ms Lexi wasn't the least bit amused.
“Sam, I need you to tell me what happened during Arrietty's five minute break.” Ms Lexi demanded, Sam froze, knowing exactly what Ms Lexi was talking about. Something happened, and someone was spiraling.
“Well, Arrietty was doing a good job during her rehearsal” Sam said,
“Not what I asked” Ms Lexi interrupted, Sam just glared at Lexi for a split second
“Well, Arrietty was taking a break, and Jewels walked into the studio to give me a letter from my mothers nursing home in which she waited at the door for a while to do. But Arrietty was pissed off, overanalyzed it as Jewels trying to sabotage her, and now here we are…” Sam explained, Ms Lexi just nodded her head,
“Exactly what I thought.” Ms Lexi murmured, “They’ll forget about it tomorrow, I know they will.”
“I mean, it’d make sense, I mean Acacia and Arrietty used to HATE each other and look at them now” Sam humored, Lexi chuckled along,
“Well, Arrietty was annoyed at Acacia’s quietness, and thought that she was an NPC” Lexi recalled, “Like, genuinely, thought she was an NPC. Arrianna is gullible like that.”
“Oh Arrianna, what’ll we do with her”
—
The car ride was loud, filled with Soulja Boy Tell Em… That would be the case if Crystal were driving Kori home, but she’s not. Lydia is, and the car ride is silent, filled with the faint background noise of Summerboy by Lady Gaga. Kori appreciated this, for Kori, Silence is more distracting than sound.
“So today was something” Kori spoke, trying to fill in the silence.
“Yeah, still trying to figure out if it’s real.” Lydia sighed, clearly tired, “Will they get over it?”
“Arrietty and Jewel are very close, I don’t doubt it” Kori assured her, “They’ll forget about it first thing tomorrow.”
The reassurance caused Lydia to smile to herself, her second week being on a team and people are already beefing is no world she’d want to live in. Plus Captain Diva Crystal's conflict resolution skills seem up to par with today's level of Pettiness. The pettiness of New Jersey moms sleeping with judges to try and get their kids a higher score than Lydia, this was no different.
“I feel bad for Jewels, she was spiraling out of control” Lydia had pointed out, “She looked like she was about to faint”
“She’ll probably chill with Suzie and Miss Onya, and she’ll be fine” Kori shrugged, Lydia smirked, her chance awoken,
“I’d want to chill with you and your mom if I were going through it” Lydia smirked, Kori raised her eyebrows
“Really?” She questioned, Lydia just nodded,
“Yeah, but preferably just you” Lydia added, “But not in the dance studio, you're so distracting to me”
“Lydia you just ran a red light” Kori stated,
“Oops”
—
Lexi’s house was filled with her thoughts and doubts ever since Grandma Gate (we’ll call it that). She walked around her kitchen muttering curses to herself on how she should've given Sam the letter, or how the letter might've been a waiter.
“Screw you Lexi, putting Jewels under the bus like that” She groaned, she heard her phone ring suddenly, Onya… Onya called her, probably to put her in her place for putting her daughter's little lover under the bus like that. Either Way, Lexi still picked up the phone, and put it on speaker before returning to pacing around her kitchen.
“Lexi, are you alright?” Onya asked through the phone, “Suzie told me everything”
“What? About how I threw her little… I don’t know, girlfriend under the Arrietty bus?!” Lexi speculated sarcastically, “I don’t know why I let Jewels give the letter to Sam”
“Maybe because the letter regarded her grandma, who is Sam’s mother, and Sam is Jewels’ aunt which made the letter a family matter, plus the letter was from the nursing home!” Onya defended Lexi, “It’s not your fault.”
“God poor Jewels, I should've had her wait until later” Lexi sighed,
“The letter said “Urgent Notice” Lex, honey you're overthinking it” Onya still tried to comfort her, “They’ll probably forget about it tomorrow anyway.”
“Onya, why are you always so right?” Lexi asked,