(NOVEMBER 2010)

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RICH MUTATIO

Once recess ended, Mr Cranston took our class to the gym. He wore a fedora, a pair of dark shades, and a scribbled goatee.

The gym was covered in cheap Halloween decorations straight from the dollar store. They even hung up a mock disco ball.

The seventh and eighth-grade classes were here too and teachers walked around the gym floor making sure no one was fooling around.

All the guys gathered near the emergency exit.

"Who's it?" Howard asked.

"Not it," Sam spat out.

Everyone followed with a quick "Not it."

"Wait," Howard begged. "I didn't hear you over the music."

"Too bad. Everyone, move around. Howard, you stay here. The game starts once you hear a balloon pop."

We dispersed through the room, listening to the music before a loud balloon popped in the middle of the gym. Girls and a few teachers near the area shrieked.

Playing tag in this condition was difficult but surprisingly fun. Every time I was it, I kept getting confused and tagging people from the other grades. It also didn't help that some people wore similar costumes.

Once the teachers caught a sniff of what we were doing, they cut the game short. Sam tried to start another round but everyone backed out saying it was too risky.

A bunch of songs played. But as each song changed, more and more people sat down. One piece caught my ear. It was the secret dance party music from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Save for a dozen people, everyone else was sitting down.

"Isn't this the dance scene from that headband episode?" Mallory asked, her face lifting.

I nodded. "I'm pretty sure it is."

"Let's do it then. It's like we practiced it for a reason."

"I would. But there is no one on the dance floor."

"There are people on the dance floor."

"There are, but not enough. I don't wanna be the center of attention for something this embarrassing."

Mallory sighed. "Which person in the class would you say has trouble keeping secrets to themselves?"

"Easy. That'd be Jessie."

Mallory searched through the bouncing strokes of neon light. "Hey, Jessie, do you wanna see a photo?!"

"Shh. What are you doing?"

"It's a pretty good photo too!"

"Okay, fine, fine. I'll do the stupid dance."

I followed her to the center of the gym. We circled each other, extending our arms and touching wrists.

"How'd you even convince me to practice this with you?"

We spun a few times, switching the positions of our wrists and jabbing at the air beside our heads after. We began to do the fight moves, letting our bodies move so our mock fight still represented a dance of some kind. But Mallory began putting full power behind her mock strikes.

Howard cupped his hands around his mouth. "Ayo, Aang, Zuko's dancing with your girl!"

I stopped moving. "That's right. Why is Zuko the one dancing with Katara?" I pointed at Charlie. "This is supposed to be you."

"I don't know the dance," Charlie reasoned.

I grabbed his arm and shoved him to the center of the gym. "Just copy what she's doing."

Charlie picked up the dance fairly easily, but his body began to stutter once people began cheering him on.

"Everyone's eyes are on us," Charlie noticed.

"Ignore them," Mallory said. "It's just you and me."

"You guys accidentally said each other's lines," I pointed out.

"Shut up, Coward! At least Charlie isn't backing out!"

To save Charlie from the weird looks the older grades were giving, most of our class went back onto the dance floor.

Since it was tiring dodging Mallory's attacks, I drank a few cups of the fruit punch that was on the service table and sat beside Zoey.

"I didn't know you could do the dance," she said.

"After the episode aired, Mallory forced me to practice it with her. It was painful."

"I always wanted to do that dance with someone."

"Maybe if you ask Mallory she could teach you one time."

"Yeah, I'll ask..."

In an instant, the song switched the mood from chaotic and fun to slow and romantic. I may have underestimated how powerful music was.

"Boo! What is this? It's supposed to be Halloween!" Howard cried.

Carrie snatched a dumbfounded Charlie and began dancing with him.

Bond approached Illiana, offering her a hand. Stacy and Emilia encouraged her to go with him and she did.

A nervous Sam was shoved into Mallory by a grinning Brianna.

This would have looked good during any other time of the year, but it was a bit bizarre watching people slow-dancing in costumes.

"Who do you think would make a good couple?" I asked.

Zoey was flustered. "A good couple?"

"Yeah. Who do you think is perfect for who?"

"What a random question."

"I just don't want any awkward silence between us while we sit here."

"Don't you wanna dance?"

I shook my head. "Slow dancing isn't my thing, and unless a girl asks me to, I ain't doing it."

Zoey clenched her fists and remained silent for a few seconds. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Yeah, but, uh... I don't know how to slow dance."

"Doesn't this dance happen every year, though?"

"Yeah, but we didn't take the slow dancing thing seriously. I'm surprised that these guys are committing. And they aren't doing half-bad."

"It's not fair for you to call their dancing half-bad."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't know how to dance and they do," Zoey argued.

"Movie critics critique movies but don't make them."

"That's not a fair comparison! Not everyone knows how to make a movie. But everybody can dance."

"What about you? Don't you wanna go and dance?"

"I do. But it's a romantic song."

"So what if it's a romantic song?"

She looked away. "Romantic songs are meant to be danced with a partner. Dancing alone makes you feel lonelier than not dancing at all."

"That's a good argument."

The current song ended. Another romantic song trailed it.

Out of nowhere, the urgent need to take a leak hit me.

"Rich," Zoey started, "since you don't know how to dance and I—"

I stood up. "Hold that thought."

"What's wrong?"

"Drinking a lot of fruit punch is backfiring on me. I need to use the commode. Hold that question until I get back?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Some guy started following me once I got up from my seat. Normally, I would have known who he was. But his costume hid his identity. The most I could get was that this guy wasn't from my class. He was dressed as Neo from The Matrix, but no one in my class was Neo.

I headed to the washroom and relieved myself in the farthest urinal.

Neo came in and leaned against the wall beside the sink. He took out a piece of paper and studied me.

His face was unfamiliar.

"Okay, dude, can you not look at me while I'm peeing?" I asked.

"My bad. I'm just trying to get a good look at your face. Nice Zuko costume, though."

"Thanks." I shook my head. "Take a look at my face after!"

"Oh, right."

He faced the wall, letting me finish my business.

"Why are you trying to look at my face?" I asked as I washed my hands.

"Because I'm pretty sure this is you." He handed me the paper. It was a photocopy of the picture Mallory had in her possession.

"Wait! Where'd you find this?"

"It's posted around the school. It's not a lot, but it's not a few either."

"Are you new here? I haven't seen your face before."

"Yeah, I am."

"Are you Filipino too?"

Neo nodded. "How can you tell?"

"Your accent. It sounds familiar."

"Yeah, I know. I need to work on it. Can I have that back?"

"Excuse me, why the hell do you want this photo?"

He took off his shades and pointed at the picture of Zoey. "Because she's my little sister.".

With his face uncovered, he was no doubt Zoey's big bro. He had the same tanned skin and narrow face.

"At least you're her brother." I handed the picture back. "Just don't show that to anyone else. What's your name again? She talks about you sometimes. It's Kyle, right?"

"Close. It's Ryle. And you, what's yours?"

"It's Rich."

"Well, nice meeting you, Rich," Ryle said as he made his way out, putting his shades back on. "And you should splash cold water on your face. Your cheeks are red."

I followed his advice before sprinting back to the gym, ripping off a copy of the picture taped to the music room door.

Zoey noticed me heading towards her. "So, Rich, since you don't know how to dance and I want to, I was thinking that we should kill two birds with one stone and dance."

"I'd love to dance with you. But we can't."

"Did I do something—"

"No, no, no, this isn't you." I handed her a copy of the picture. "Mallory found a loophole."

Her eyes widened. "Who did she show this to?"

"I ran into your brother in the washroom and he told me that the pictures are posted around the school. Since he was your brother, he asked for a copy. I let him have the one he had."

"You let Kuya keep one?! He's already annoying as he is!" Zoey ripped the photo. "Shouldn't we take these down?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

There were 29 photocopies in total; photocopies that were ripped apart and thrown in separate recycling bins.

When we got back to the gym, we found that our class and the older grades had been replaced by the fourth and fifth graders.

"Sorry, Zoey, I'm afraid you have to put a rain cheque on our dance."

We were the last ones to make it back to class. I searched around the room and found Mallory at the computers.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked.

"What?"

"Why did you post the pictures all around the school?"

"Oh, you mean that. You said don't show the photo. The pictures I used are technically copies, not the original. Choose your words wisely next time."

"Choose your words wisely," I mocked. "Good thing we took them all down."

"I see that you were playing checkers." Mallory reached into her desk and scattered a dozen more copies of the picture throughout the room. "I was playing chess."

This is so embarrassing.

"This is so embarrassing."

Annie inspected one and giggled. "You guys look adorable."

Carrie waved one around. "Look at the way they sleep. They look so comfortable with each other."

Mallory pointed at us. "Look, they're both blushing."

"Shut up!" I said. "Anyone in our situation would."

"So you're admitting that you're blushing?"

"We lost," I told Zoey. "There's no point in arguing."

Everyone who grabbed a copy kept it in their pockets and bags. That picture in the possession of strangers instead of the class was preferred, but there was nothing that could be done now.