Dirty Dancing

Strike

strike: noun

a term used in bowling to indicate that all of the pins have been knocked down with the first ball of the frame.

5 pm

As I was watching re-runs of Gossip Girl waiting for Tiana to come over, I received a phone call from her.

'Hey, Mary, Thomas and I are going bowling with the rest of the class and the newbies, so I can't make it today.'

'Can I join you?', I asked.

'What?', Tiana was shocked.

It's not that shocking that I want to go out.

'You want to come bowling with us?', she asked in disbelief.

'Yeah I should probably get out more...', I said, sounding unsure.

'Wow, okay, meet us outside in ten.'

I don't usually party or go out much. My friends call me an overachiever because I overwork myself, but all I want is a contract to dance professionally with the company.

I guess something just pushed me to go out this time.

I changed my clothes and grabbed my bag before heading out. I spotted Jonathan, smiling at him before hugging all my friends.

Wait, Nicholas is here too?

Not knowing what to say or do, I ignored him as we walked to the arena.

'Okay, let's split into two teams- Rose, Mary, Jay and Jonathan on one team; Bree, Thomas, Nicholas and I on the other.', Tiana instructed, smiling brightly, 'Each player from the losing team has to perform a dare given by the winning team.'

Everyone was playing well while I was slightly behind, this being my first time bowling. I ended up getting a few gutter balls before Jonathan came over to help my pathetic state.

He held the ball from around my body and teaching me the technique.

As he was talking, I felt someone watching us closely...

Weird.

While the others were bowling, I went to the bathroom. On my way back, I heard someone behind me.

'So you're ignoring me now?'

I turned to look at the brown-haired boy behind me. He was gradually coming closer to me, but I didn't move away, smelling his comforting scent again, hypnotized by his beautiful brown eyes.

Why am I not moving away?

Before I could give Nicholas an answer, Jay called me to play.

'Duty calls.', I smirked and walked away.

It was my turn to bowl. I was the last person to play, the scores were almost equal, we just needed a few more points to win.

I could physically feel everyone's eyes on me as the pressure built.

Don't screw up. Don't screw up.

I looked to my left and saw Nicholas laughing with Bree. Bree was from our class too, but she wasn't too close to us. I always got the feeling she never liked me. And some reason, my adrenaline spiked and I rolled the ball.

I closed my eyes anticipating to hear the other team's cheers, but instead, I heard numerous pins hit each other.

'STRIKE!', Jay screamed and hugged me.

We celebrated and soon sat down to eat.

'Okay so since we've won we get to give each of you dares. First up, Bree, I want you to go and dance for...' Jonathan scoured the arena before pointing at a group of men, 'Them.'

Clutching our stomachs in laughter we watched the forty-year-old men react to Bree doing splits around them, in her shiny halter top and shorts.

The game went on until Jay dared Nicholas to use a cheesy pickup line on any one of us.

My heart raced as he stood up and stared at me,

'Is your name strike? Because you are a perfect ten.'

8 pm

On our way back to the dorms I waved everyone goodbye. Nicholas pulled me back before I left and hugged me.

'This isn't over.', he whispered in my ear before letting me go.

I watched him as he walked away, completely befuddled.

That night, I went to sleep quite late, as I stayed up thinking about a brown haired boy...