I.B.F.Fs: Let's Dance

One day in March, Zura, Fang, Luna and I were at a cafe with our family. We were enjoying some chocolate cake after we had a delicious and healthy helping of green salad. I liked these sorts of meals. Following a healthy green meal with a sweet brown slice of cake could put someone’s appetite to great measures. However, on this day, Fang was about to confess something that’ll change the way he feels about doing what he hates forever…

“I aced all my exams yesterday,” said Zura, “You won’t believe how excited I was when Mr Bonehead said I came top!” “That’s wonderful, my sweet Nile jewel,” said Palm. “Well I’d like to confess that I accidentally wore my pyjamas back to front when I went to bed last night,” said Luna. We all laughed at this, and Luna blushed. “Kind of sounds funny when you think about it. Wearing your pyjamas on back to front. Sounds funny, it really is.” “Well..er..” Fang had nothing to say. “Come on, Fang, speak up,” I said. “Don’t force him,” whispered my mum. “Sorry, mum,” I said. I let Fang take a while to think about what he was trying to say. Then he finally let it out: “I haven’t cleaned our room in a week.” “WHAT?!” we all shouted in chorus, causing everyone in the cafe to stare at us. There was a long silence. Then the customers got back to doing what they were doing before.

“Fang, don’t tell me. You haven’t cleaned our room.” I sarked. “Usually we do it together, but not this time, I was told to do it on my own, but I can’t do it alone.” “We could always do it together. That’s what siblings are for,” said Zura. “Yes, but this is different. My mum wants me to clean my room so I can be independent enough to do it on my own.” Joan blushed, and everyone had to laugh again. Joan knelt down to me and whispered in my ear: “Look, Sophie, I’m giving you three chances.” “To be good?” I asked. “No, to put Fang into a dance sort of mode. You must do that to him until he gives in and cleans his room.” “Okay, Joan,” I said. “That’s a promise.”

Later, we reached the zebra crossing, and waited until the cars stopped to let us cross. When the red signal turned to green, we crossed, and I slapped Fang on the back. At once, he started to dance like a pro, sliding across the zebra crossing like he was Michael Jackson. Everyone in the cars cheered, whooped and praised his unlimited dance moves, and when we got to the other side, Luna and Zura were already applauding him. “Good moves, Fang!” cried Luna. “That’ll serve him right, won’t it?” asked Joan. “Yeah, serves you right, Fang!”

When we got to the post office to collect a parcel, Fang couldn’t stop dancing in and out of aisles selling sweets and baby products and papers. “Fang, stop that dancing right this minute, you’ll embarrass us!” cried Frank. “Relax, Frank,” said Joan, “It’s Sophie’s way of giving him his just desserts.” Fang was dancing so much that a huge crowd came to see what was going on. They filmed him with their cell phones and chanted “Fang can dance! Fang can dance!” Soon, Luna, Zura and I were joining in with the chanting too, but it was not until we were dragged out of there my our harassed parents, and the crowd had to leave, moaning in annoyance.

Fang was still dancing as we crossed the town square, but soon, he began to freeze a few times and then slow down and bend over like a clockwork mouse. “Phew, like a dream.” said a relieved Frank. “Sophie, will you gladly pick him up and take him back to the car?” asked Zura, trying to hold in her giggles. “Yes,” I said. A group of children watched us and laughed as I picked up Fang and carried him back to the car. “Hey, looks like your brother can’t look after himself!” cried one of the kids, but I just stuck my tongue out and struggled to carry Fang back to the car. Once we did, I had to throw him in and put on his seatbelt before I had to do mine.

We were laughing all the way back home, but then I had the surrogate task of dragging Fang into the house and up the stairs, and all the way into our room. It was a mess! There were toys and games and books everywhere. “Go on, Sophie, wind him up,” said Luna. I pretended to wind Fang up, and he sprang to life once again. “Alright,” he said with a few short puffs of breath, “I promise! I promise I can clean my room.” “Only if we do it together,” I said.

So we got to work cleaning the games, toys and books off the floor and back where they belonged. Sure, there was the odd mistake here and there, but eventually, we managed to make the room shiny and clean. We high-fived each other, and Fang hugged me lovingly. “Thanks, I wasn’t able to clean my room without you guys.” he sighed. “We’ll always be there for you. When you have a problem, we’ll be able to sort it out right then and there.”

“Hey, kids!” called Darone from downstairs. We ran downstairs to see Darone looking at something on GooTube. “You’ll never guess what they uploaded on there today!” We looked. There was a video of Fang dancing in front of a ginormous crowd, and the crowd chanting “Fang can dance! Fang can dance!” We couldn’t help chanting along too, and Fang blushed proudly, for whenever he felt like dancing, those words rang in his head:

“Fang can dance! Fang can dance!”

THE END.