The Girl With White Teeth

Kyle felt strange. A funny feeling in his gut. Or stomach. He was never good with anatomy. It felt like butterflies were hatching down there. A strange nervous feeling that could only be described as indescribable. He hadn’t eaten caterpillars, so butterflies hatching really didn’t make any sense. He was nervous, he realized, and yet, he did not know why. He had rehearsed this many times. He walked. Calmly, even though he was scared past his wits. He past a friend, her black hair tied back into a ponytail. She smiled at him, makeup accenting her white teeth. “Almost too white”. He really didn’t care though. Casually, he smiled back, braces gleaming slightly. He waved his hand lightly at her, as he continued through to the stage. Crates lined the hall. It was a mess back there. Many others were at the stage already. It was almost time. He reached the stage and took a deep breath. The feeling left him, only to be replaced by a worse feeling. “The butterflies must be flying around now,” he thought, chuckling to himself. He brushed his hair behind his ears, a habit he had picked up since he had grown his hair out. The lights turned on, and the curtains began to open. He took another deep breath, and the butterflies settled down. He quickly got into position, knowing that he was late. His partner was whispering something to him, but he couldn’t hear. He didn’t want to. The butterflies started up again, but he didn’t care. He was finally happy. The curtains opened, the music started, and he struck a pose.
Of course, it wasn’t always so perfect. Kyle used to be something of a loner. He entered elementary school at the regular age of 5, and was an average student. Years past, and he grew older, wiser, and began to stand out from his peers. He learned what true friends are, and he stuck with them. More time past, and the hunger stepped into his life. I need to learn. As if all else made no difference. Learning was his life from ages ten through to twelve. Oh, yes, he played several sports; soccer, a bit of basketball, and even a little bit of street hockey, but mostly he was involved in learning. That completely changed after he hit thirteen. As an adolescent and a pubescent teenager, humans (specifically the female variety) and computers became a larger chunk of his lifestyle. He was still a studious boy, but other things often distracting him. His grades fell, but he didn’t mind. He was still far above the average student.

He smiled. He had to when he was performing. The music soothed him and he began to move. It was natural to him, regardless of how many times he had rehearsed. His partner smiled at him as she too began the movements. He felt blind, void of all sensations except for the happiness. His movements complimented hers, like a flurry cherry blossoms, they continued. The audience clapped, but he didn’t hear it. The music was fading out, and his movements became slower. Finally, the song, his movements, the movements of his partner, and the feeling of happiness dispersed in an instant, like a fearful flock of birds escaping a child. However, Kyle was still hopeful. He stripped of his costume to replace it with a new one, and prepared to return to the stage once again.
The time had come for Kyle to graduate. He passed elementary school, obviously, and he had fallen in love on the way. At least he believed it to be love. The problem was, he knew the signs of infatuation, and they were incredibly blatant within his relationship with his “love”. She had black hair, and incredibly white teeth. Her black hair and dark skin accented the teeth perfectly. She usually wore no make-up, however, when she did, it was on special occasions, and Kyle would often pause to admire her. Which is one of the main reasons he is afraid that his “love” is infatuation. Secondly, she wasn’t single. Her boyfriend was one of Kyle’s friends, and any advances Kyle made would undoubtedly harm their friendship. So Kyle was trapped. Fearful of losing a friend, and fearful of losing his love. Even with an IQ of 183, it was an impossible decision. He had many friends now, the Kyle that was a loner was now gone. He had changed in the past year. He smiled more, and people could talk to him easily. He didn’t mind people complaining to him, nor did he mind complaining to others. He became very popular. Known as a smart person, people naturally came to him to receive his advice and opinion in problems. If only he could solve his own.
The curtains opened, and Kyle began his movements again. He knew that this time around, he main strain his body. The nervous feeling was gone, and the happiness appeared to be permanent. He was in utter bliss. A movement called for a turn, and as he did he saw the girl who had smiled at him earlier. He tried to smile at her, however, he was already smiling, turning his friendly gesture into a malicious-looking grin. He sighed with relief when she didn’t make any obvious response. He continued the movements after dropping the strange expression off of his face. The song was coming to an end, but the happiness stayed. His partner had already stopped moving. Kyle listened to the music. “Just another count of eight, just another count of eight, just another count of eight, just another count of eight”. He counted to eight, and stopped, precisely when the music stopped. He smiled as he walked off the stage, preparing for the next show.

Kyle’s family was an interesting group, to say the least. It consisted of 6 people, two parents, three boys, and a girl, Kyle, at age 14, was the youngest of the bunch. His family loved him very much, and they noticed his inactivity, and thus signed him up for a number of things; piano, soccer, basketball, tennis, swimming. Kyle had tried nearly everything, but he had not found his hobby. On the computer, he would play role-playing games, so as to escape reality. He didn’t dislike his life. In fact, judging by the size of his house, he had a very good life. He didn’t dislike his parents either, he loved them both very much, and yet, something was missing. Nobody could find it. Kyle looked everywhere to find this piece that could not be found. Until eventually, he did find it. He needed a hobby. Figures. Of course his parents are right. They’re always right. It’s just that, nothing really suited him, and he really hated trying new things.
The show had come to an end. The last show had just finished, and the happiness had died down to a faint glimmer. He was looking for the girl with white teeth to find out if she had noticed him. Unfortunately he did not find her. No doubt she had left directly after the show. He walked outside the school into the parking lot and waved to his parents. He walked towards the car smiling.
. If he just waited until after graduation, there was no way her boyfriend could see her. But if he joined that is, until he discovered dance. He had asked the girl with white teeth to work with him on a science project. Naturally, due to his growing popularity, she accepted. The pair of them were intelligent, but horrible procrastinators. At the last minute, there was no time left. The girl with white teeth had a dance rehearsal to go to, and there was no way Kyle could finish on his own. So he volunteered to join her at her rehearsal. The entire time, he was in awe. The movements corresponding to the music amazed him, not to mention time to spend with the girl with white teeth. He had found his answer; he could see her all the time. It was a malicious plan, but he was too smitten to care.
“Did you have fun?” Kyle’s father asked, turning backwards to face Kyle and the back of the car.
“Of course I did. I love to dance. And don’t turn around while you’re driving. It’s dangerous.” Kyle responded. He scowled at his father, although the smile on his lips never faded. It looked kind of strange to his father.
His father chuckled. “Were you supposed to scowl like that in the middle of the show?”
Kyle sighed, and let both scowl and smile slide from his face. “Was it obvious?” he asked.
His father started to turn around again, but thought better of it. “Not at all” he answered. “Your mother didn’t believe me when I told her.”
Kyle smiled again. It seemed nobody had seen his little slip up. He could rest easily now. And rest he did, once the family arrived home. Dancing was absolutely exhausting.

Graduation day arrived, and Kyle was excited. He had found an old suite in his attic. Earlier that week, the graduating students were given a permission sheet to get signed allowing them to leave school early (at lunch). Kyle, being a bookworm, and assuming that at least one other person would stay with him, decided that the full day of school would be worth his time. He was wrong (for once) about both assumptions. Firstly, the full day of school would not be worth it. His teacher had (also) assumed that no sane student would stay for the whole day, and planned a hair appointment for 1:00. Secondly, no other student figured that the whole day would be worth it. So Kyle sat, eating lunch alone in his classroom. Fitting, for one who had such lonely early years. It was lonely, and terribly boring, and yet he enjoyed the time to sit and ponder (mostly about the girl with white teeth). Eventually, the principal realized that Kyle was not under supervision, and sent him home.
It was summer, so there really wasn’t any reason to get up just because of that annoying buzzing sound. Kyle slept a little longer. Eventually, the buzzing got so troublesome that he had to get up and turn it off. He quickly checked the time. Realizing that he wasn’t late for anything (what could he possibly be late for?) He slowly rose from the bed. He groomed and primped for a few minutes, grabbed his rollerblades from the garage and set out for the girl with white teeth’s house. He put on his permanent smile, which rarely came off these days, and knocked on her door. She soon answered and invited him into her house.
Blushing, he said, “I don’t suppose you saw me during that dance, did you?”
She smiled at him, knowingly. “Of course. There was no way that I could have missed that.” She replied.
Kyle sighed. His smile still on, he politely asked her if she would eat lunch with him. She accepted, and said, “What was that look for anyways? I thought I wasn’t smiling while dancing, and you were trying to get me to smile. Apparently, when you try to smile while smiling, you end up with a strange look on your face.” She laughed. “Don’t look like your sorry. You must have that expression on a lot, considering you’re always smiling!”
She’s right, he realized, but he can’t let his smile drop.
At the graduation dance, Kyle danced with several people, including the girl with white teeth. He was not shy to express his love for her, and the art of dancing. He moved easily with the girl with white teeth, keeping pace with the music. They quickly became the center of attention, swiftly, and gracefully moving about the floor, in a flurry of motion. Kyle became lost in the feeling, focusing solely on his partner. He could hear the song ending, but yearned for it to continue. He felt his grip tighten on her arms. Finally, when the music stopped, he let go. The feeling of happiness once again torn from him. He walked slowly off the dance floor, with the tantalizing taste of defeat in his mouth as he watched the girl with white teeth dance with her boyfriend.

The two of them decided that oriental food would make the best lunch for now. The restaurant was about half a kilometer away, and neither minded the walk. Kyle was still smiling when the pair arrived. “Teberu tameni nii” Kyle told the hostess. She led the pair to a table, where they sat, and ordered (the pair often came to this restaurant, and thus knew exactly what to order. For any who are interested, Kyle ordered Soba with tripe, a type of Japanese noodle served cold, and the girl with white teeth had mun, vermicelli, a type of rice noodle).
The pair ate in silence for about a half hour. Soon, feeling uncomfortable, the girl with white teeth said, “You even smile while you eat! Why do you smile all the time?”
Kyle momentarily stopped smiling. He glanced around the restaurant suspiciously, and dropped the smile completely. “Isn’t it better than walking around frowning? Or looking upset?” he asked, “People come to me for support. Who do I go to if I need support? Will people lose faith in me if I do not appear perfect? If I cannot solve my own problems, how am I to solve other people’s? It is a matter of perception, old friend. If I do not carry the weight of others, then the weight will fall. And I’m afraid there is no spotter.”
They ate silently again. The girl with white teeth now utterly speechless. Or so Kyle thought. Unfortunately for him, she was far superior to him academically, socially, and physically. The only way Kyle outranked her would be in the size of their vocabularies.
She put on an expression the scared Kyle. An omniscient look that Kyle often used when explaining something to someone he felt superior to. He felt small, insignificant, compared the girl with white teeth. Her grin showed her white teeth as she spoke, “ ‘How long will you hold onto vain truths and seek after lies?’ ‘When we look at the wise, they die’ psalm forty-nine, part ten, page 604 in my bible. That’s definitely you, Kyle. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be alright, you always are.”
“How do you know I’m always alright?”
“Well, for one you’re always smil-….Oh. Yeah. Right.”
“Exactly”
She looked at him hard. The omniscient look wearing off of her face, she had to have the last word. “It will be alright”. She put her hand on his, and gripped it tightly.
“How do you know?” He pulled his hand away from hers, and finished his meal. The pair ate in silence. Kyle stood to pay for the two of them, but the girl with white teeth stopped him, and ordered two drinks for the pair (no, not alcohol, just a dessert drink).
“Sit” She said. He sat. He could sense the tension in her voice. The atmosphere around the pair changed suddenly, from peaceful, to calm, to awkward, to hostile. She looked into his eyes. Her gaze was too much for Kyle, and he averted his eyes.
“Getting angry never solved anything, you know.” Kyle said. “Let’s just pay ad be on our way!”
“No.” She said. The tension lightened enough for Kyle to regain eye contact. Her shoulders were tense, but suddenly relaxed. Kyle could see the folds in her shirt again, as her shoulders sighed back into their natural position. The two drank in silence. After both had finished their drinks, her face softened, and she grabbed his hand again. “The world is not on you’re shoulders. I’m hear for you. I can share the burden if you let me in.” She said.
She stood, and paid for both their meals. Kyle sat, bewildered by the effect of her words on him. She left the restaurant, leaving him alone. “Alone” he thought. “Why am I always alone?”. He sat and thought about that one question that burned at his mind for so many years. He sat and thought. Seconds past that felt like hours, until finally, he stood and ran after the girl with white teeth. “Dania!” He shouted her name. “I have the answer!”

Ending A) Although disappointed, he didn’t mind watching Dania. It wasn’t love. The pain of thinking it stung, but the feeling quickly passed. He smiled, and leaned back against a nearby chair (to the dismay of its current inhabitant). The night went on, and the white slowly faded to black.

Ending B) Although disappointed, he didn't mind watching Dania. His heart beat a little faster, and he knew he was in love. The song ended, and Dania walked over to Kyle.

"Get up and dance with me" She said.

And he did. The song played, and he heard each individual note. He moved, swiftly and gracefully, in her arms. And in his mind, the song never really ended.

We continue the waltz of love and life.