Dancing with the Devil ✔️

6

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D A N C I N G
WITH THE
D E V I L
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Our early morning rehearsal didn't turn out quite as I had expected.

When I arrived at the prearranged time, I was very surprised to see Sara and the rest of the group already there and by the look of their sweat drenched faces, it appeared that they'd been practicing for quite some time already.

"Where have you been?" Alex asked. "Did you miss the bus or something?"

Looking confused, I checked the time on my watch. "I thought we'd arranged to start at eight am," I replied. "And that's still five minutes away."

"Hey guys!" called Millie as she approached from behind me. "Have you already started?"

I looked from Millie to Alex to Sara and then to the rest of the group, shaking my head in confusion. I could see that Blake had a weird look on his face but then Sara's voice broke the silence.

"Oh, Julia!" she exclaimed. "I called Blake last night and we decided to get an early start. I thought that someone would have contacted you girls to let you know."

Blake frowned and looked in Sara's direction, obviously confused about what she was saying. But without missing a beat, she continued, "Well, never mind! You're here now, so why don't you just join in? We've made a few changes to the routine. I hope you like it. Everyone else thinks it's really cool!"

Glancing towards Millie who was shrugging her shoulders as if to indicate that she had no idea what was going on, we stood back and watched as everyone demonstrated what they'd been working on.

"The guys are keen for me to be in the lead at the front," Sara explained, while trying to catch her breath after they'd finished what I had to admit was a very impressive routine.

I looked around at the group and they all seemed to be looking in any direction except towards me. So I replied in a quiet voice, "Well, if that's what everyone wants, then I guess that's how we'll do the dance."

Trying to muster some enthusiasm, I joined Millie in the second row to rehearse the new moves a few more times. All the while, my head was spinning. "I know I'm not in charge," I thought frantically to myself, "And everyone should certainly have a say in what we do. But I'm really not sure what's going on here!"

"Ok!" called Sara brightly, about ten minutes later as she suddenly called the rehearsal to a close. "That was great guys. This new routine is really coming together. Let's meet up again early tomorrow morning. Sara and Millie, do you think you can make it by then? If we all arrive by seven-thirty, we'll have plenty of time for a good rehearsal!"

And without even waiting for an answer, she strode off towards the locker room, to have a quick shower before heading to class.

"What just happened?" Millie whispered, a frown of misunderstanding still very evident on her face.

"I have no idea!" I replied and then followed her into the locker room so we could also get showered and changed before the bell went.

"Walking slowly back to class, I watched Sara striding alongside Blake, just ahead of Millie and I, chatting away in her usual animated manner. Then when we sat down at our desks, she smiled towards me as if nothing unusual whatsoever had happened. I looked at Mrs. Jackson who had begun explaining a new Math concept but found it very difficult to concentrate. Visions of the morning's rehearsal were floating around in my head and I could not get Sara's confident voice out of my mind.

"Julia!" Mrs. Jackson repeated in an annoyed tone. "Are you listening or not? I have just said your name three times and you still aren't answering my question. Would you rather do this work during break time?"
"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson!" I replied in a worried tone, "Is the answer twenty-two?"

"Oh my goodness, Julia!" she explained. "You haven't been listening to a word I've said. I think you'd better stay behind and complete this activity during morning tea break. Maybe then you'll decide to concentrate!"

Glancing towards Millie, I felt grateful for her genuine look of sympathy but the grin that remained on Sara's face was not something I had expected to see and a worried knot started to form in the pit of my stomach.