Virtually in Love Read Online Free

eight-year-old with an oversize attitude named Carlos. Today he was dragging a pale red-haired kid by the arm as he hurried in.
    â€œHey, C-man,” I greeted him. “What’s up?”
    â€œThe sky, duh!” Carlos retorted, wearing his usual saucy grin. Then he hooked a thumb in the other kid’s direction. “This is Aidan. He’s new.”
    â€œHi, Aidan. I’m Chloe. Nice to meet you.” I stuck out my hand. Aidan looked surprised; he peered at me suspiciously before tentatively shaking my hand.
    Nearby, Kaz was tugging on one of the many braids of an adorable six-year-old regular named Shani. “Yo, who’s up for some dancing?” he asked her, shuffling his feet in a weird little boogie move.
    Shani and most of the other kids laughed, but Aidan just stared. Most people have that reaction the first time they see Kaz dance. I’m pretty sure Kaz dances to the beat of his own drummer, or whatever that expression is.
    â€œSo, Aidan, do you like dancing?” I asked brightly.
    He just shrugged, staring at his own feet. I’d seen his type before—most of the kids who ended up with the group had gone through some pretty terrible stuff, and while some bounced back quickly, like Carlos, others were kind of shell-shocked for a while. It always made me sad, and being sad always makes me want to make things better.
    But before I could figure out how to help Aidan, Maya jumped up onstage and clapped for attention. “Time to dance, kids!” she called out in her peppiest cheerleader voice. “Who’s ready to have some fun?”
    Some of the kids cheered. Others just stared at her. Carlos hooted loudly and did some cool break dancing moves.
    Kaz laughed. “Hey, maybe Carlos should be today’s demo dancer,” he called out, high-fiving the kid and then doing a little breaking of his own. At least that was my best guess as to what he was doing as his long limbs flew randomly in every direction. I sneaked a peek at Aidan to see if he was laughing like everyone else, but he was still just staring solemnly at the floor. Yikes, this one was going to be tough.
    Maya peered out at Kaz, clearly holding back a smile. “No break dancing today,” she said sternly. “Since we’re all psyched for the dance marathon, we’re going to practice partner dancing today.”
    â€œPartner dancing?” an older kid I didn’t recognize called out. “What’s that?”
    â€œI want to do line dancing again!” a cute little blond girl exclaimed.
    A few other kids cheered, and I traded a smile with Kaz. Last month the cheerleaders had taught the kids some of their routines, and most of them had loved it.
    But a few of the boys booed, including Carlos. “Let’s just freestyle, man!” he called out.
    â€œSorry, dude,” Kaz told him. “You all want to be ready to raise tons of money for your new piano, right?”
    Almost everyone cheered at that. I’d been to the Song & Dance headquarters once, and their ancient upright was on its last keys. The money from our fund-raiser was supposed to help buy them a new one, along with some other instruments and snacks and who knows what else for the kids.
    â€œKaz is right,” Maya said when the cheers died down. “Part of how we’re raising money is by charging people money to dance with us at the marathon. You all want to help, right?”
    More cheers. Carlos started bragging loudly about how much money he was going to raise, and some of the other kids joined in. I smiled at Kaz, and he winked at me.
    Finally Maya had to get Ms. Sokolofsky to whistle for attention.
    â€œOkay,” Maya said when most of the kids were sort-of listening. “Partner dancing it is, then.”
    â€œAw, I was hoping we could do some clogging today,” I called out with a grin, hoping to make Aidan smile. No dice.
    â€œJust for that, you can be our demo dancer,