Dancing to the Beat

I tried not to run too fast, but it was hard when at any moment a psycho maniac could come around the corner and try to take my hat off. Oh, the nightmares. I didn't think I would be able to sleep.

Turning left, then taking a right, I couldn't seem to remember what room Kendall said I was in. Openning a random door, I found…Sam-I mean Smarty?

She kept her head down, but in a voice that was coated with sadness; the effects only crying can have.

"I told you Mattie I don't want to talk." I stepped in and closed the door because I noticed that all my stuff was by her.

Crap, I was her roommate, Kendall couldn't had planned this better if she could have looked into the future; that would explain a lot though. She always knew just the place to send me, when to send me, how to send me, which adventure to send me on. She was an alien…nah! Aliens couldn't be that ugly, cruel, and demanding.

"I don't want to talk!" She pulled her head up to look at who she thought was her brother, but ended up being disappointed for there I stood-well, at least I thought that she was disappoint-she might have been more surprised then disappointed.

"Hi." Waving my right hand in a rainbow motion, I moved slowly across the room. The song lyric for 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' came into my brain-oh, how I would have liked to take residence on that rainbow at that moment.

Smarty wiped her face and tried to look dignified. "What do you want?" she snipped at me.

"What did I do to you?" I seriously wanted to know because no one was giving me a straight answer or a fair chance.

Fantasy: Smarty jumped up from her bed and came to where I stood and slapped me right across the face. Ow, that hurt. I didn't fall to the floor, or start crying. What gave?

"That's for calling me Sam!" Oh, not a fantasy, sorry.

"Why is this such a big thing to you?"

Smarty wiped around and stared at me, "You don't know me, you have no right, no right, what so ever to call me Sam!"

"It's a name, get over it." Hypocrite! I was such a hypocrite! I hated my real name, but I liked the name Sam for her. It dawned on me that me and Sam-I mean Smarty and I had more in common then I originally thought. It wasn't my decision to be named-urg! I didn't even want to go into that so maybe she felt the same. And it wasn't my decision what to call her, if she wanted to be called Sarah, I would call her Sarah.

Sinking down on the bed and I said, "Sorry, I guess I can't really talk." Sam- I mean Sarah looked at me and then moved toward me.

"Everyone deserves their own opinion. But I don't like it when people call me Sam, who, you know, don't know me."

Looking at her I smile, "No I can't talk I hate it when people call me by my real name. I took me years to finally get everyone to stop calling it." Smarty looked at the ground and then asked what everyone always asked when I relieve that I had a mystery real name no one called me by.

"Oh, what was it?"

I shook my head, "Just call me Blue, ok."

"Fine, but only if you promise to call me…"

"Sarah?"

"No I hate that name too, I like Sam, but it's only for special people. Like my mom." Looking at her, I nod head. I could understand that I mean I partically have twenty different names because I hate my real one and allow everyone to call me whatever they please.

"Well, you just tell me what you want me to call you and I will."

Smarty nodded her head and then laid back down.

"Wait this isn't done yet."

Smarty looked at me confused, I shouldn't bring it back up she didn't every remember it, but I had to. This had to be said if I even wanted to think about becoming her friend, let alone her roommate.

"About being nice to you. I wasn't thinking and I said something that hurt you and made me sound like a…bad person." Smarty rolled her eyes again and I finally understood why. "You're ok with people cursing, aren't you?"

"It makes me feel like a baby that doesn't know how the world works when people clean up their language for me. I know all those words and I would be ok if you didn't make sure a play of not saying the word you want to say. I feel like I'm causing you to act differently."

"Well, if we're going to be friends then we're going to have to be damn honest with each other." Smarty jumped up and came to me and hugged my stomach since that was how tall she was compared to me. I couldn't believe that work, but I did mean most of those words.

"You probably don't want Mattie to hear you talking to me like that. Ever since the fire he's been very protective of me and the whole cursing and outside world influncing his sister and stuff."

I tired not to ask I even remember repeating to myself over and over; don't ask, don't ask, restrain it's none of your bees wax. But it didn't work.

"What fire?" Smarty looked up, I looked away so I wouldn't seem like I was pressuring her to answer, so I didn't offend her. "I don't know, but that's what Mattie says whenever I ask about my mom. I've never been able to get more out of him them that." Hum…Mattie got a secret that should be interesting.

"Ok, well, now since we're friends and we have no secrets, do you want to see why I wear this hat?"

Smarty looked up and smiled shyly, "I can't keep a secret from Mattie either. You know that, right?"

I looked at my bed and then rummage through my bags and found my iPod.

"Why not?" I grabbed the iPod and scrolled through the songs, some that I picked and others that Kendall had picked. She liked using my stuff as much as she liked screwimg with my life.

Can't Buy Me Love, mine. Woman, mine. Our Time Now, mine. Bitter, mine. Barbie Girl, KENDALL!!!!!! Really? Was she kidding me, crap I hated her. See this was what I had to deal with.

"Because Mattie made me promise to tell him everything of anything. What's that?" I look at her in disbelief. She just kept her eyes on my iPod.

"You've never seen an iPod?" Had she been living under a rock? Because she just made a statement that could have made a grandparent fall over laughing.

"Technology, oh, Mattie doesn't like me to be to in tune with that kind of stuff. He says it rots your brain." Mattie, I should have known, I wanted to kill that guy right here right now.

"Well, ok, but that doesn't mean that you can't have a favorite band. Who do you like?"

Smarty walked over and looked down at my iPod to see the names. "Some kids at my old school played this one song, it was pretty funny. 'Weird Al'? Does that name ring a bell?"

I couldn't believe that she thought I wouldn't know who Al was. If there's anyone out there that didn't, then I didn't want to know they existed.

"Of course. Do you remember what the song was called?"

"No, but it was about something called EBay. The kids seem to think that it was pretty funny. I don't really understand it, but the rhymes this man made up were ingenious and very well thought out." I tried not to look at her weirdly, but I jist couldn't believe that she never had the regular teenage rock'n roll experiance. What has Mattie done to you child? Was my only thought as I started looking for the song.

"You know you can't sound smart if you're not in touch with technology, seeing how everyone relies on it to do whatever they want. If you want to be smart you have to be in touch with this stuff too." I start to scrawl down the list of songs on my iPod, trying to find the EBay song I know was on there.

Scrolling, scrolling, and then finally I found it. I walk across that was too small for two people, bent down, and started looking through my stuff that was crammed into my luggage bags.

I found the iPod stand, put it on the desk that was on the left side of my room and let the song play.

As song started I shout over the music so she could hear, "This it?"

Smarty covers her ears and smiled.

"Why is it so loud?" I reached out my hand and turned the volume louder, "Because we have years of ear damage to catch you up on."

I started dancing and then have a stroke of genius and grab her hands too. Then I start to sing the song at the top of my lungs to be heard. I tried to help her with the words, but it was hard for me to know if she was singing it right, her voice blended in with the song and got lost in the noise.

It was really nice. I wish life was like that; a big dance number in the middle of the streets of…Antarctica, maybe if it was in New York it would look more spectacular. Songs would play during the boring parts of life and it wouldn't be so boring anymore, like in the movies.

We kept dancing, but then added a little hopping and started jumping up and down like maniacs. We jumped on the beds, we turn around in the air and bobbing our heads in a rock star way.

The song ended and we both bow to each other when we hear clapping. What the fuck?

Real slowly clapping.

Clap, clap, clap.

We turn and there's Mattie with a smug look on his face.

Great.