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Step 6: Crew
Anika and Hugo must have been dancing for 3 hours straight to the techno beats but their bodies simply didn’t seem to get tired… From times to times, one of them would take a break to fill up the bottle of water in a nearby fountain to keep them from dehydrating. Hugo took the last sip from the plasic bottle of water thay shared and then made her a sign that he was going to get more water.
Anika nodded and kept on dancing as she watched her friend making his way through the crowd. Within seconds, Hugo was out of sight. Anika was alone once again. Then again, the idea of being alone in a crowd sounded rather bizarre for the young girl. She didn’t mind the feeling of solitude however, she welcomed it like an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long time. She felt joy like she hadn’t felt in years with Hugo, but then again, she was used to being lonely.
She didn’t know Hugo well at all, but she knew deep in her heart that he was a good person. Questions wandered through her mind as her body kept on answering to the urges of following the beats that her ears could pick up.
Was it possible to truly now someone else? Was it possible to truly know oneself for that matter ? And just what was the point of interacting with others? Why do the majority of people have the natural urge to group up to feel at ease? Survival instincts ?
Too many questions that threatened to depress her as they usually did. And depressiveness was the last thing she was about to welcome here, not in front of all these people, not in front of Hugo when he gets back. Showing such a side to her would show weakness, and she had come to learn that people can easily take advantage of other people’s weaknesses. And she would never let such a thing happen to her, this much she swore.
Clearing away the thoughts, Anika kept on dancing.
Feeling something tapping on her shoulder, the young blonde turned back to see Hugo smiling at her. She smiled back warmly as the boy went nearer to her.
« I want to introduce you to my crew! » he shouted over the music.
« I want to introduce you to my crew! » he screamed over the music.
Anika looked at him and nodded.
He took her hand again as they made their way through the crowd. After a little while, they finally got out of the dancing crowd and started to walk a little faster as Hugo led her away from the site. Leaving the music and dancing behind, Anika already missed the ecstasy of the music and the dance. But then again, music will always exist, and she could dance to it anytime. There would be other opportunities. For the moment, she was curious to meet the people Hugo wanted to introduce her.
« Who are these people you want to introduce me to? » she asked curiously.
« My crew, my friends…My family if you will. » replied the young boy with warmth in his voice « They’re all great people, believe me! »
As they kept on walking, Anika realised the sun was setting above their heads. A few dozen feet away from her, she perceived a metal trash can with fire inside it along with 5 people standing around it. They were all kids around her age except for one person, who was an adult and who was talking loudly, yet joyfully and laughing as all the kids listened and laughed along with him.
« Is this your crew? » asked Anika .
« Part of it, yes, but these five are the only ones in the crew I feel close to! Come on, I’ll introduce you to all of them.»
As they approached the group, everybody looked at Hugo and then at Anika and waved, greeting the both of them warmly.
« Guys, I’d like you all to meet Anika! »
The first person to approach Anika and shake her hand was a tall boy, around 14 or 15 years old. He had about 7 piercings in his left ear, a warm smile and deep forest green eyes. His hair was of a fiery red that clashed with his cool smile. He was dressed in a crummy blue suit that was clearly too large for him with a very large striped tie that was very loose around his neck.
His shake was firm, yet friendly.
« Hi Anika! My name is Fairchild…David Fairchild! » said the redhead obviously faking a classy accent « But you can call me Dave of course. »
« It’s nice to meet Dave! » replied Anika, not being able to contain a snicker because of Dave’s bad bourgeois' accent. For some reason, Anika already pictured him as the comedian of the group.
As soon as she let go of the redhead’s hand, another boy approached her and shook her hand, this one was wearing a leather jacket, torn up jeans and a piercing in his lower lip. He wore small round glasses and short messy brown hair. He was probably 13 or 14, but Anika could not be sure. His dark brown eyes were obviously analyzing Anika.
« Vic Vega! » he said with a smile that obviously classified him as the braggart hotshot of the crew.
« Anika Jansen! » she replied with as much confidence as she could manage.
As Vic stepped aside, a short boy, probably not any older than Hugo, sporting a torn up army green trench coat , some black jeans, running shoes a shirt and a tie, as well as a hat, bowed down, took of his hat and took her hand. He kissed it lightly and looked up at her.
« It’s very nice to meet you Anika, my name is Timothy Kane.»
Anika giggled as she pulled backe her hand. The gentleman of the group… His schtick was a little too exagerated to make it anywhere near classy, but it was charming nevertheless…
« Nice to meet you too Tim. » she finally replied.
« It was about time another girl decided to hang around you losers! » said a young girl laughing as she approached Anika. She looked as young as Anika. Her hair was dyed blue matching with her blue eyes. »
« My name is Jenna, Jenna Clay! It’s nice to meetcha! »
The honesty in Jenna’s friendly tone simply couldn’t be missed. She could actually become close friends with this girl.
And finally, the older man approached her. He was tall, large and had an amusing way of walking. His hands were large and she knew that his laugh was deep already. He was in his thirties but didn’t act like it at all like it. He reminded her of the faerie tale of the boy who didn’t want to grow up.
« That leaves only me! » he said with his joyful deep voice « My name is Merrit… I’m the one keeping these crazy kids out of trouble all the time. One way or the other, It’s nice to meet you Ani…You don’t mind me calling you that now do you? «
Now this was what she called a happy man. Anika shook his hand and smiled.
« Not at all mister, Ani sounds good to me… »
« Mister? » he said laughing out loud « Do you want me to feel older than I already am? »
« Not at all! » she replied.
« Then by al means, call me Merritt. »
« Why don’t you join us around the campfire Anika? »asked Hugo « We’ll go back to the party later on! »
Looking at this friendly bunch, Anika closed her eyes, smiled and nodded again.
« It sounds good to me! » she said softly.
It didn’t take long for Anika to feel a little more at ease with his friends, thought Hugo, and that was a good thing. He had only met her a few hours before and he was already attached to her. Was it her soft and kind voice? Or was it her deep purple eyes? He couldn’t be sure, but he was certainly glad he had met her. In this crummy world where the system and the Ministry screwed you over every single chance it got, one had to take any chance of happiness that presented itself. And somehow, he could picture himself with this girl, as a friend or otherwise. More as a friend, he thought, friendship lasts forever, while love always dies quickly. And his feelings told him ten tmes over that the friendship of this girl would help him grow up as a man, and that he could learn alot from such a soft and gentle soul.
Bah, too many thoughts!
Enjoying the present moment sounded like the best alternative at them moment… It was always the best alternative. No future, the past being irrelevant, the present being all that mattered.
Looking at Anika as she was laughing with Jenna, Hugo noticed that she was shivering. The night falling on them and the chilly winds had obviouslyy started to chill her up a litle bit, and all the sweat from dancing probably didn’t help much. Hugo took off his jacket and put it over Anika’s shoulder.
« Take this. » he said « it’ll keep you warm for a little while. »
Anika locked gazes with him for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity and smiled at him.
« Thank you, are you sure you won’t b be cold? » she asked softly.
Hugo shook his head.
« It’s alright Anika… »
« You’re obviously taking my example H ! » said Tim laughing
Hugo stuck his tongue out at his friend.
Thinking of the few seconds that he and Anika had locked gazes, Hugo wished it would have dragged on forever…
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