A/N – Alright. Just like with BBM, there are references in this story to the other OCs in my other Step Up stories. Jenna, from BBM, is a little more important in this story than Tara was in BBM. I would suggest reading that one first.

Disclaimer – As much as I wish I did, I do not own any of the Step Up movies.


Why do you dance?


Because it's like breathing. It's like walking to me.


I'm not pretending. When I dance, I don't pretend.


I'm more myself when I dance than any other moment in the day.


I dance to become someone else.


There are so many things in this world that want to push down on you. But when you dance, you are free.


When did you start dancing?


We started dancing at the age of seven, in our house, in the living room. Just dancing, dancing, copying Michael Jackson.


And I'm listening to the music in the grocery store, just, like, dancing through the aisles and stuff like that. She's like, "Contain yourself. Calm down!" And I'm like, "I can't stop. I have to do it, I have to do it!"


After everybody went to sleep, I would open the garage and just practice.


That's pretty much when I knew, like, I loved it because I had never dedicated so much time and effort into something like that.


It's not us just jumping around. Dance has vocabulary.


Where are you from?


Inglewood.


I'm from Argentina.


I am from Northern Uganda.


Miami, Florida.


Koreatown, Los Angeles.


Why did you leave?


There's a lot of gangs and violence.


I couldn't be stuck there all my life.


My village was attacked.


My parents didn't even want me around anymore.


She actually kicked me out of the house.


I had to go.


Dance saved me.


Dance definitely saved me.


If it wasn't for dance, I don't know what we would be doing now.


I didn't have anything, didn't have money. I was living with 15 dollars a week in New York City.


Dance brought us together, too. All around the world, we're here.


Truth is, everybody's a dancer inside.


We all have a heartbeat.


We all have a rhythm inside.


What's that one thing you say?

Yeah, what do you call us?

Born from a boom box?

Yes, that's it!

Born from a boom box.


It may sound stupid, but I do feel like that. And if we listen hard enough, we may realize that maybe we're all plugged into the same song.

Born from a boom box.


I smiled as I walked next to Moose, Camille, and my adoptive parents. We were on a collage tour of New York University. Moose, Camille and I were all freshmen.

"Mom, Dad, you can really go" Moose told them as they continued to walk with us on the tour, though they were the only ones.

"No! We're going to take you, Camille, and Adriana out for dinner" Mom insisted. "We promised her parents we'd beat her" she told us again.

"We're already paying for a meal plan, we're all good" Moose said. Camille and I grinned at each other, trying desperately not to laugh.

"Yeah, we really are Mrs. A" Camille reassured her. Mom looked at me.

I shrugged. "Since when do I eat when I'm supposed to?" I said, my Spanish accent was still there, though not as prominent as it had been when I had first come to America to live with them.

"We should go" Dad said, putting his hand on Mom's back to lead her away.

"One last picture" Mom insisted. "Scoot together, you're like best friends" she said, pushing me and Moose closer to Camille, who was in the middle.

"Ready? Say 'Mom is pretty'" she instructed as she raised the camera, Moose's arm around Camille's shoulders and mine around her waist as she wrapped her arms around both of us.

"Mom is pretty" we repeated obediently.

"Thank you!" she said before finally taking the picture. By now, we had lost the rest of the tour group.

"If my father could see me now, saying good-bye to my son the future engineer" Moose, Camille, and I exchanged glanced. I knew Moose felt pressured into doing this, and his heart wouldn't be completely into it.

"I'm just happy you're done with that dance business, I can't tell you" he said. It hurt to hear him say that, since I was still dancing, though I never told him that.

"No, but you have" Moose muttered. I knew he missed it.

"Alright, you two make me proud" Mom said.

"This is it" Moose told her, hugging her. "Take care of Jenna for me, would ya?"

"I don't understand why she isn't going to NYU as well" Mom hadn't dropped the subject since she learned Moose's girlfriend wasn't going to college.

"Mom, she has a steady, good-paying job. She's not gonna leave that for a college education she doesn't need yet" Moose reminded her.

"Besides, what's the Baltimore Big Mouth if she's not in Baltimore?" I teased. "Bye Mom" I said, taking my turn.

She smiled at me. "You may not have been born into this family, Adrianna, but you are just as much my daughter as Robert is my son" she told me. I nodded.

"We'll make you proud if we can just go to orientation" we said the last part at the same time.

"No, you're my babies" she cried teasingly.

"We'll call you when we get to the dorms" with those words, we went our separate ways.

I looked at Moose. "Mom's weird" I said as if discussing the weather.

He chuckled. "You're just figuring that out now?" I laughed and looped arms with Camille in front of him.

"Wow, they really…" Camille trailed off.

"Are embarrassing" Moose finish for her.

"I was gonna say love you two, but" Just then some dude just a few years older than us knocked into Moose. He mumbled a quick apology but didn't turn around as he walked.

"Yo, yo, yo, yo, Cam, Ana, check those out" he said, pointing to the dude's shoes. "Limited addition gunmetal Nike dunks" he said, and I realized just what he was saying.

"No way" I gasped.

"Uh oh, I know those looks" Camille said, realizing what we were thinking. "Okay, Moose, seriously, next on the tour, Union Square" she didn't bother with me. Camille had given up trying to discourage me a long time ago.

"I just want to get a closer look, we'll be right back, cover us" and with that we were off, though I threw her a quick "Sorry" as we chased after the dude with the shoes.

We were walking through a crowd and Moose didn't even realize it. That is, until we reached the center, where we saw something we were familiar with.

It was a dude dressed in almost all black dancing. More than one, actually. But people were placing bets. I shook my head, I hated that part of street dancing. It make is… dirty.

Someone pushed Moose and me into the center, and the dudes looked at us. Moose tried to get out of it as they insisted we dance. I looked at him and grinned.

The kid in black started dancing, making fun of Moose. I shook my head. He was breaking fine, but he wasn't really in it. "?l no tiene corazón" (He has no heart) I muttered to Moose. I had tutored him in Spanish, so he knew what I meant.

I looked at Moose and shrugged. He nodded and gestured for me to begin. The people in the crowd looked at me.

I walked to the center and started to move.

"Wow!" I heard as soon as I started moving. Then Moose joined me. We walked over to a small picnic table. We stood on it as we danced, sometimes doing moves off of each other. The kid jumped up and pushed us off, trying to get back the crowd favor.

After he did a no-handed cartwheel off the table, it was our turn again.

It was obvious we had the crowds favor as the cheered us on. I couldn't help but start laughing as Moose started popping the bubbles.