Step City

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Flashback, circa X082

Bonnie had started following this group of dancers around a few months ago. In the skate park, they blasted tunes through their fancy little wireless speakers. They dance battled each other, betting on the expensive things their parents had bought for them.

Bonnie’s parents claimed they couldn’t afford dance lessons for her. So, she’d been practicing in her skates every day, rolling around the skate park, the roller rink, the street. She even skated at home, blasting her dad’s old records as she scratched up the apartment’s hardwood floors. At the roller rink, she watched the way the older kids boogied around the track. She tried to copy their moves.

In her opinion, she was becoming a pretty good roller-dancer. Now she just needed an opportunity to prove herself.

Watching these cool kids now, she felt the resolve to learn from them… and challenge them. Mustering up her courage, she skated up to them one afternoon, when she was supposed to be in school. She pointed at the stylish, pompadoured kid who seemed to be their leader.

“Let’s battle,” Bonnie declared, fixing him with an expression that dared him to challenge her.

The boy raised his eyebrow at her, then looked around at all his friends, sneering.



“How old are you? I don’t dance battle babies.”

“Scared you’ll lose?” Bonnie retorted.

“Oooooh,” the kids around them chorused. The boy narrowed his eyes, inclining his chin to glare down at her. Bonnie met his stare.

Then he snorted. “Fine. What do I get if I win?”

Bonnie’s clothes were all thrifted and hand-me downs. She didn’t have any expensive phones or speakers or headphones. Nothing to offer that these rich kids would want. All she had were…

“My skates.” They were lime green, with pink laces – she’d saved up months of allowance to buy them. “If I win, I get your wireless speaker.”
The kid rolled his eyes, turning away. “Fine. Whatever.” Bonnie followed him to the wooden dance board laid out on the ground. He stared down at her skate-clad feet. “You’re going to dance in those?”

“Yeah.”

“Ohhhh-kay then.” He snapped at another boy who held the prized speaker in his lap. “Hit it.”

[Song: Let's Dance by David Bowie]

With the push of a button, music started blasting from the little speaker. Since Bonnie was the challenger, the first move was hers.

Ahhhh~…. Ahhhhh~…. Ahhhhh!

At that first drum kick, she sashayed her hips, slowly skating backward. She moved her legs in a figure 8, spinning around pompadour kid. She swayed her arms to the quick, jazzy tempo.

Let’s dance!

Pompadour kid retaliated; he tapped his feet quickly to the rhythm of the song, swinging his arms around.

Bonnie’s turn; she did her best to emulate pompadour kid’s confident footwork. With small, quick, steps she built up speed, twirling.

Pompadour started his retaliation a beat before the end of her turn; he cut her off, tapping quickly and stepping directly into the path of her skating. He pirouetted across the dance board.

Their audience oohed – one of them called out “Go, Tristan!”

Tristan grinned, step-ball-changing his way around her. He stood on his toes, suspended in the air for a moment before continuing his barrage of steps.

Finally, Bonnie’s turn again; as she skated another figure 8, she could tell that the audience’s interest was waning from her. Time to pull off that move she’d been practicing. She took in a deep breath, skating a faster circle, building up momentum, and jumped…

She landed perfectly. She spun around, expecting to have the audience’s rapt attention.

But Tristan was still going, tapping around and around, pirouetting quickly… and finishing with a flourish, striking a pose just as the song ended. He grinned, his brow sparkling with sweat.

The group of kids applauded wildly. Tristan bowed deeply.

“Tristan wins!” someone shouted out.

Bonnie could feel the burn of shame heating her cheeks. Her throat felt thick with anger. They weren’t even watching her. She balled her fists, waiting for the posh kid to start gloating.

But to her surprise, he stuck his hand out, smiling at her. “Good game. You have some swell moves. What’s your name, anyway?”

“Um… it’s Bonnie.” She returned the handshake. “And… thanks.”

“Well, better luck next time, Bonnie. Now…” He pointed down at her feet. “My skates, please.”

Ah, right. She sat on the ground, undoing the laces as her cheeks continued to burn. She was only just realizing that she would have to walk home in her sock feet.

Tristan didn’t even put the skates on. He just slung them over his shoulder, turning away from her. With his back to her, he waved and called out:
“See you tomorrow, Bonnie.”

Bonnie blinked in surprise.

--
The next day, she showed up wearing her old skates. They pinched her toes, as she’d outgrown them. But she would endure it until she could save up for a new pair. Or maybe, just maybe, she could win her green-and-pink ones back.

Tristan and his gang were in the same old spot. As she approached them, Tristan was dancing against a girl around his own age. Tristan tapped away at his usual, speedy-fast pace, his arms twirling around. The girl, a pop n’ locker, was very good; but Tristan’s rhythm was just too smooth.

When the song ended, the crowd around them cheered out his name.

Tristan shook the girl’s hand, and she hesitantly handed over her phone. Tristan slipped it into his pocket, not even looking at the thing.

“GG no RE. Who’s next?” said Tristan, looking around at all of them. He caught Bonnie’s eye, raising an inquisitive brow.

Bonnie looked away. She needed to watch and learn more before their rematch.

“Well? Anyone?” called out Tristan, staring around.

It had been quite a few weeks of watching the group of kids in the skate park on Steven’s end- the twelve year old never really had the socialization that most kids his age got by going to school and having friends their age. The most interaction he got from kids were from those BBQ and work parties they held at Step Tower his father dragged him to, or with the littler kid from next door who was too young to be even considered a peer, but those other kids were too old or too young and…. weird…

It wasn’t like he’d hadn’t tried as well… But everyone had made their connections already and he was just that short, precocious kid who didn’t go to their school and turned up sporadically enough to not really make an impact… But today was going to be different!

He'd been in a few dance battles over the past few years and hadn’t won one yet, but he was just as good as that Hendry kid who’d been kicking everyone’s butt. Steven had to squeeze himself though the crowd when Tristan called out for his next challenger.

“Me-! Steven said as he raised his hand as he reached the front of the crowd, eyes already darting to the ground as the attention was turned on him. He could talk and dance in front of adults and teachers, but there was just something about kids his age that made him-

Steven stepped out in front of the taller boy, arms crossed and shoulders slightly hunched before he looked up at Tristan.

“I can… I want to- um, battle. 20 creds, yeah?”

A little huff escaped Tristan’s nose as he looked around, this little scared kid was going to be a cakewalk.

“Don’t go crying home to your mom when you lose.”

----

Steven had lost again.

He had loosened up quite a bit when the song had started and surprised Tristan by mimicking his tap routine. Tristan would do a move and Steven would copy to it devolved into a back and forth of who could keep up with who. It was almost fun to the younger kid till he couldn’t keep up anymore, leaving him to trip over his own feet as Tristan danced around and over him.

Heat flooded Steven’s cheeks as he quickly rose to his feet, dusted off his hands, walked over to Tristan before he could even gloat and shoved the creds into his hands, eyes glued to the floor. He gave a little nod, then walked stiffly away, wincing slightly when he realized his hand he landed on was a little scuffed and bleeding.

He felt his eyes water as he held his hand in the other, looking for a water fountain to wash the dirt out of it, hoping he didn’t cry in the process.

Huh… Bonnie had never seen this new kid dressed all in black before. Did he go to her school? Was he new to the island?

But wow, he was a good dancer! As he kept up with Tristan’s moves, Bonnie was sure that he could actually beat the tap-dancing twerp. She keenly watched as the two of them spun around, silently rooting for the new kid. But then…

Bonnie winced at the new kid’s loss as he handed over his creds. As the crowd cheered for Tristan’s victory, she saw the glint of shame in the other boy’s face as he briskly walked away. Nudging her way out of the crowd, she skated towards him. He was heading to the water fountain at the other end of the park. Once they were a good distance away from the others, she called out:

“Hey, you ok?”

If he wanted to be alone, she would leave him be. She knew how annoying the empty platitudes of others could be.

But she also felt a need to… protect this kid?

“You were really good.” She pointedly glared over her shoulder at where Tristan was looking for a new opponent. “That guy is just too... cocky. Of course he’s going to win when the whole crowd is cheering for him.”

She noticed the way he cupped his hand against his body. No stranger to cuts and scrapes herself, she rummaged into her waist bag and pulled out a packaged disinfecting wipe, as well as a kitty cat band-aid. She offered them to him with a solemn nod.

Steven almost froze when he heard the girl call out to him, not really expecting anyone to reach out to him after his loss. Noone ever did before, or he was able to leave quick enough that no one ever could… He flexed his fingers of his injured hand as he turned to the girl as she spoke to him.

“Tap isn’t even my fave so…” he said nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders as he turned his attention down at his hand, grimacing a little. His teachers told him he was good, but hearing it from someone his age was a little embarrassing for some reason so he muttered a little ‘thanks’ afterwards, face a little heated.

“He wins alot…” He said quietly, and about to say he saw her battle yesterday, to say that she was good too but the offer of wipes and bandaids had him trailing off. He looked between the offered supplies and the girl for a moment and the girl once more before tentatively taking them from her.

“Um… thanks.” he offered a nod in return before he thought for a moment the best course of action for this. He wasn’t at home, so he couldn’t wash his hands first… He tore open the wet wipe with his teeth, face scrunching up as he tasted the chemicals before he wiped at the wound, face scrunched even future to stop any tears from leaking out. Once it was clear of dirt, next came the kitty-plaster…

It was then he realised he was right handed and was trying to put on plaster with his left hand.

He looked at the girl to see if she was still paying attention to him- he could do this himself (probably) but having her watch him added a whole new layer of ‘I need to do this right’-

“Cool … bag. ” he blurted out, in some vain attempt to distract her from his sorry attempt to peel the backing of the plaster one handedly.

"Thanks," she said to the comment about her bag. "My mom makes me carry it around, full of stuff she thinks I need. Even snacks. I have gummy worms, if you want 'em..." Bonnie trailed off as the boy continued to fumble around. She had been trying not to stare at him and make him more flustered. But eventually, his struggle went on for an embarrassing amount of time.

"Here," she said, taking the boy's hand into her own. She wrapped the plaster across his wound as she inspected it. It was a bit bloody, but she suspected it would heal quickly. "Oh... doesn't look too bad."

She let go of his hand as quickly as she had grabbed it. She skated 'round him and stuck out her elbow, where her shirt was torn.

"The other week I fell down some stairs, trying to do a trick," she said, gesturing to the pinkish spot of skin where the wound had been, her voice full of pride. "I was like, bleeding everywhere."

Bonnie realized she was talking a lot, more than she usually did around strangers. But with his stuttering and fumbling, this boy bore a striking resemblance to her sister. Hence her urge to stick by him, rather than leave him to lick his wounds.

"I'm Bonnie, by the way. I'm in Mx. ____'s grade 5 class." She paused, realizing she had just admitted to cutting class. But then, he probably was too, since he was here with her. "What about you?"

Steven peeked another glance over at her bag as Bonnie spoke, wondering if he should get one instead of carrying everything in his pockets…. It would be nice not to be have everything jingling about when he danced- He froze up when Bonnie took his hand in his, not used to people just stepping into his bubble like that and stood still a moment longer when she stepped away.

He slowly looked down at his hand, plaster now in place with the little kitty right in the centre, then back at Bonnie, eyes wide.

*When was the last time someone dressed a wound for him?*

“Thanks.” he said as he brought his hand to his chest as he watched her skate around him. He eyed her elbow as she offered it to him, lips pressed into a thin line at the injury.

“Did you fix your elbow up too?” Maybe that was why she was good at doing this.

“I'm… Steven.” he says softly, before he tilted his head. He didn’t know that teacher because she wasn’t one of his teachers who came to his house to teach him…

“I’m studying year 6 and some of year 7’s classes?” He shrugged as he fidgeted with the cuff of his jumper. “I don't go to school here, I live near the tower where my dad works.” He motioned towards Step Tower direction, its tall structure visible from the hill it was on.

“But I finished my classes today so I came here to er…” Watch skating? He didn't even have any to ride… He was exploring and watching…

“Hang out?... You live around here?”

"Steven,” she confirmed his name with a little nod. “Cool.” Well, no wonder Bonnie’d never seen him before. She hardly hung out around that area; she was a bit unnerved by the looming shadow Step Tower cast over the rest of the Research District. Why was this Scientist’s kid all the way over here in the Purple District? He was in a skate park, but she didn't see any skates or skateboard on him. She'd have to skate slowly so he could keep up.

At the question of where she was from, she pointed her head in the direction of the working-class neighbourhood of the Purple District, and told him the street she lived on. “…But my school is around here.”

“But yeah, we can hang out. I just hafta be home by dark.” Her eyes glimmered mischievously. “Wanna see me do a trick?” She crouched slightly, preparing to take off on her skates.

Steven’s lips quirked up in a ghost of a smile when Bonnie said his name, his fingers ghosting around the outside of the little cat bandaid, almost not realizing he was meant to follow her as she skated slowly away. He took a few quick steps to catch up with the younger girl, head nodding as he listened to her talk. A school near here… that made sense … He was pretty far from home, even if he only took one tram to get here- Oh?

She… wanted to hang out?

Steven was glad people couldn’t see the flush that creeped up and warmed his cheeks, but he didn’t bother hiding the bright smile that bloomed across his face and he nodded his head quickly.

“Okay!” He said enthusiastically as he bent down to watch her take off her skates. “Is… skating hard?” he asked before looking over to where Tristan’s little troupe was hanging out. He won Bonnie’s skates yesterday… He saw it happen.

Maybe one day, they could get them back somehow…

Seeing Steven’s expression, Bonnie couldn’t help but smile along with him, her frowny poker face finally breaking.

“Nah, skating’s not hard,” she replied. “You just have to practice a lot.” She didn’t mention the hundreds of times she’d fallen in the past, but he didn’t need to know that.

What followed was Bonnie showing off her catalogue of tricks. Skating FAST, skating BACKWARDS, JUMPS, SPINS…

...but in between tricks, she bombarded him with questions: how long had he been dancing? What was his favourite kind of dance? Could he teach her sometime? Did he like school? What was being homeschooled like? What kind of music did he listen to? Would he show her Step Tower sometime?

She was only interrupted by the nearby streetlamps suddenly lighting up. She looked up at the sky; it was dusk already. All the other kids in the park had already dispersed.

“Crap, I need to go,” she hopped to her feet, wincing as she thought about the lecture she was going to get from her mom if she missed dinner. “Will you be here tomorrow? Actually—”

She pulled a crumpled piece of paper and pencil out of her bottomless bag and scribbled down an email address; then, as an afterthought, her home phone number. She handed it to Steven, pressing the paper into his non-bandaged hand.

Steven watched Bonnie intensely, completely impressed with her trick and stunts, never really watching skating up close before. The concept was cool and fun to watch, but the idea of landing wrong and injuring yourself and getting in trouble with his dance teachers seemed to leave him happier just watching for now.

He answered the questions as best as he could and left quite a bit unsaid:

Since I could walk. He left out his mum taught him how to before she left.
He couldn’t pick… but maybe he liked tap a little less than ballet and breaking. But that is why he wanted to get better at it
He was still learning, but he could show her a few moves. He didn’t think he was good enough but he would do his best.
He didn’t go to school, he was homeschooled and… It was alright. He got a lot of spare time since he finished up with his homework. School did look less lonely though and more fun.
He listened to whatever as loud as he wanted back home, but kinda been dipping more into alt rock recently. But that's only because no one is there to tell him off.
He would have to ask his dad if they could go to the Tower sometime. He doesn’t know when he’ll see him next though.

He does his best to ask her the same questions in kind, as well as a few others. What’s her favoruite class at school? What was her fave food? How long had she been skating for? Did they not teach dance at her school?

The time just wizzes by and before long, it's dark and all the kids are making their way home.

“Oh.” Steven said a little dejectedly when Bonnie said she needed to go. It makes sense. He’d see curfews talked a lot about in some of the shows he watched. He didn’t want to get her in trouble…

He was about to reply to her- He wasn’t going to come tomorrow, but he would if she wanted him to- but he paused as he watched her write something down then offer it to him. He gently opened the paper, reading over the email and number, a little confused at first.
.
“You want me to.. Oh.” A swift heat catches his face by surprise- he’d never gotten someone's contact details before like this. He’d had his Father’s, teachers and some of his neighbours in case of emergencies but this was the first time he’d gotten one from a … possible friend.

“Ok. Thank you.” He spoke quickly, hurrying to open his wallet to carefully slide the paper inside and tuck it away for safety.

“I’ll …” He didn’t know if he should call her or email her- “Message you when I get back home…”

Bonnie was similarly cagey with her answers – she wanted Steven to think she was cool. She told him her favourite food was cheese pizza, when really it was her mom’s chicken soup – what a lame answer. Her favourite subject was P.E., because she was the best at it – but really, she wished she was better at math and literature. She’d been skating for about 3 years now, but had only gotten good in the last few months. She told him she was good at dancing in school, but didn’t mention how jealous she was of her classmates who were the best at it. She loved dancing on roller skates because she was the only person in her class who could do it – that, at least, was true.

Now, Bonnie turned to leave – she was REALLY late – but hesitated at the sight of Steven’s face falling. He just looked so... lonely. She really wanted to see him again.

“You better message me. Or I’ll… kick your butt.”

She grinned, to show that she was joking. And with that, she darted off.

Steven smiled warmly as he watched Bonnie skate off, deeper into the purple district until he couldn't see her anymore before he turned the opposite way, and made his way back to the closest tram stop.

He’d arrived back home a while later, warm bag in hand, courtesy of the Vendy wonderful range of ready-to-go hot meals. He took off his shoes and placed them neatly away before he quietly made his way through the dark house, not switching on the lights till he got to the kitchen.

“Hi CT, lights on please.” Steven's voice called out to the darkness, the lights turned on a moment later with a greeting of a woman’s voice back as he rushed about to wash his hands and transfer his food to a plate to make it feel more… homemade. When he finally has everything ready, he goes to the dining table and sets out his spot before sitting down, the little folded note placed next to his drink.

“CT, screen please.” Steven asked the house’s AI and a little holographic display opened up on the table as he began to eat, one hand typing away at the keyboard display that appeared to the side of his plate. He knew he wasn’t meant to eat and use the computer at the same time, but this was important! And it wasn’t like he was going to get in trouble.

---

After a few attempts, Steven finally had sent a reply to Bonnie, hoping it was alright.
----

From: DuckX070@stepcity.org

Hi. It’s Steven. I got home. Just eating dinner right now!
attached photo of a half eaten meal
It's really good! How are you?
Steven

The scene at Bonnie’s house was the exact opposite of Steven’s. When she got home her mom immediately launched into a “where the hell were you?” lecture about curfews, the dangers of being a girl out alone late at night, and “mutual respect” between parents and their children. Bonnie responded by telling her mom to relax, she made it home just fine, didn’t she? And so on it went, sending them both into a foul mood.

Her dad had made dinner tonight – spaghetti carbonara, salad, garlic bread. As he served it up, he wiggled his skinny hips along to the song blaring from their digital record player – c’mon baby light my fire~ – in an attempt to make her mom laugh. Her mom acted annoyed, but Bonnie saw the way she turned her face away and smiled.

They all ate together at the kitchen table, messily and happily until their bellies were full. Over the loud music they all talked about their day – her parents about the restaurant and its quirky customers, her twin sister Rachel about her “Gifted Kid” classes. Bonnie carefully omitted the parts about her skipping school and the dance battles, but mentioned that she made a new friend at "school".

Later, when she had finished washing the dishes, Bonnie raced to the family terminal, beating her sister to it. Rachel whined, trying to push Bonnie out of the chair.

“I want to play StepPetz! Moooom, it’s not fair! She missed her curfew, she shouldn’t be allowed!”

“You were probably already on it all day. Don’t be a narc.”

Bonnie shoved Rachel… a bit too roughly, probably, but her sister finally relented. She retreated off to their shared bedroom, pouting.

Finally. Bonnie logged onto the terminal. She quickly fed her StepPetz, then opened her inbox. She read Steven’s message.

--

From: kewlrollergurl15@stepcity.org
To: DuckX070@stepcity.org

hey steven
my mom totally freaked out about me being late whatever! lollll
looks good, what iz that? i had spaghetti xD
btw do u have a step petz account? we should add each other
link to StepPetz.com - the hugely popular virtual pet world

Steven had finished eating, washed up his cup, plate and cutlery and was sitting in the bedroom, already in his home clothes and100% not checking if he’d gotten a reply every few minutes as he made a start on some coursework. As soon as the message did pop up though, work was immediately minimized to read the email from Bonnie.

He made sure to read over it a few times, just making sure he got everything, clicked on the link and skimmed through the StepPetz page.

From: DuckX070@stepcity.org
To: kewlrollergurl15@stepcity.org

Hi Bonnie,
I hope you didn't get in too much trouble. What time do you usually have to be back by?
The Vendy said it was called Jambalaya. I’m going to try make it next time because it was very good.
I just signed up to StepPetz just now! Here’s my friends code -> [link]
What do you do on here? Is it a game?

Steven

----

Steven was probably told not to click on random links or sign up to weird websites before, but this one was sent to him by a friend. It should be fine!

From: kewlrollergurl15@stepcity.org
To: DuckX070@stepcity.org

meh, it’s ok i usually have to get back before it’s dark out.
my mom is going to pick me up from school every day for the next week T_T so I can’t go to the park for a while. sorry OTL
I’ve never had jambalaya b4, looks spicy? i like spicy food > do you cook? my mom is teaching me how. its ok. kinda fun. meh xD
but yeah STEP PETZ!!!!! IT’S RLY FUN
basically you have to look after a lil pet and feed it and dress it up. and you can paint it different colours.
and since we’re friends we can send each other money and play games together and stuff….

--

And so on went Bonnie and Steven’s correspondence over the next few weeks. Playing StepPetz online and sending each other messages about what their day was like. Bonnie’s mom did indeed escort her to and from school for the next week, so she acted on her best behavior until all was forgiven.

Fast forward to a few weeks later, when the two kids were finally able to hang out in person together. When Bonnie saw Steven waiting for her at the park steps, she raced up to him, a wooden dance board tucked under her arm.

“Steven! Hey!” She wasn’t sure how he felt about physical touch. In her house, you hugged people when you were happy to see him. But she had a feeling that might freak Steven out. Instead, she held out her fist for a fist bump.

“Did you bring your tap shoes?”

The last couple of weeks had been fun! They may of not been able to meet in person, but having someone to talk to when he got home was … really nice and Bonnie got him into a fun game!

He’d hadn’t gotten into any trouble, so he did miss meeting Bonnie in person, but that is why when they met up next in person, he’d arrived early with a bag prepared this time. When he heard her approach, he smiled brightly as he bumped a fist against hers in greetings.

“Hi! Um, yeah I did.” He unzipped his bag and pulled on the drawstrings of a softer fabric bag inside to reveal a pair of smallish tap shoes. He also pulled out a digital alarm clock and placed it next to him.

“I- I brought this…I don’t want to get you in trouble again.” He gave a small smile as he pressed at some of the buttons, setting up the alarm. ”What time d’ya got to be home by?”

Bonnie felt her face get a bit hot when Steven pulled out the alarm clock. It was such a thoughtful gesture, but she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. “Haha… that’s a good idea. I should probably head home ‘round 5 or so.”

She carried on, clapping her hands together. “We’re going to practice our routines today, dude. For our rematch with… what’s-his-name.” She’d also brought her tap shoes from school – it definitely wasn’t her favourite dance style, but she wanted Steven to teach her. She placed the dance board out neatly on the ground.

Steven easily punched in the alarm, setting it to go 10 minutes before so they had enough time to pack up and place it next to his things. Hopefully if Bonnie didn’t get in any more trouble, they could meet up again more often!

“Er Hendry… Yeah.” He secured his shoes, rose to his feet, toe tapped his shoes against the floor before stepping to the wooden board. He didn’t know what level Bonnie was at but what he knew was they needed to warm up first. So he led her through a small set to warm up their bodies so no one was getting any leg cramps.

When they were done, Steven shook out his body and asked:

“How are your fundamentals?”

After the nice warmup, Bonnie rocked her head back and forth, stretching her neck.

“Ok, I think.” She did a couple moves to demonstrate: shuffle ball, ball change, step-heel, heel-step… as she danced, she kept her hands squarely on her hips. Anyone could tell that she was a bit stiff.

Steven watched Bonnie with an intensity he’d hadn’t really shown around Bonnie before. His brows slightly furrowed and he chewed on his bottom lip as he watched her.

He wasn’t an expert by any means, but he asked her to repeat motions, showed her how to stand, shift her weight, where to put her hand and showed the motions himself, trying to be as clear as possible.

He made her practice one move again and again till it felt more natural then moved onto the next. He went on like that for a while before calling for a little water break. He had brought two little bottles of water, one berry flavoured and the other citrus flavoured and held them up to Bonnie.

“Which one do you want?”