The Solitary Coffin

School Begins 5

"Point your toes Genevieve. Point them." I felt a sharp sting on the back of my leg causing me to stand on my toes. My ballet teacher was screaming at us to fix all kinds of things. Things I knew most of us were doing perfectly. But I bit my tongue and took the hits she would give with the wooden ruler. Today was Thursday and we were officially out of the 'meet your teacher' phase. Ms. Alastair emphasized how hard and physical this class would be but I don't think any of us expected to be hit. I could feel my heart racing and my face heating up.

The back of my legs were probably red and they were definitely stinging. "Je veux un Arabesque maintenant. Maintenez-le pendant 20 secondes." When she said that, I knew everyone's heart dropped. I sucked it up and did an Arabesque, on the very tips of my toes and held the position for twenty seconds just as she asked. She walked a straight line back and forth waiting for someone to mess up. However no one did, and I'm sure no one did out of fear. "You're all free to go." She said walking to her desk.

I immediately dropped down to the floor, sitting with my legs crossed underneath me. Checking the time I noticed she was letting us out early, which made me discouraged for the next class. I sighed and stood up grabbing my backpack to leave. "Ms. D' aureville, my desk please." I turned around and walked to her desk, holding the straps of my backpack. "Yes Ms. Alastair?" She looked up at me and pulled off her glasses. "If you want to stay in the class I'll need you to drop 15 pounds." She smiled.

I hesitated before answering. "I can't because my doctor says I'm underweight and I'm in the process of gaining weight." She intertwined her hands and placed them on her desk. "Think about what I said, if anything we have lots of other sports here at Avignon Summit." Her smile only got wider. "You are dismissed." She picked up her glasses and placed them back on her face.

I sighed and walked out of the classroom. By the time I left, the halls were empty. I walked with my head down as I thought about Ms. Alastair's words. "Hey." I was startled by the sound of someone's voice behind me and when I turned around I didn't recognize the face. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." I pushed my hair out of my face and continued walking. "No, I'm just in my head." I told him. "Your Genevieve." He told me, as if it were a huge shock. "And you are a boy following me to the basketball court." He shook his head and chuckled. "I'm in your British Literature class. I'm Sebastian Kinndy." 

The boy was about my height, with nerdy glasses. "We never formally met and I was on my way back to class and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to say hi. So hi Gen. Can I call you Gen?" He was nervous as he stumbled over his words. It was cute and I giggled at his expressions. "Everyone calls me that so I don't see why not. Hi Sebastian." We stopped in front of the gym and he smiled, pushing his hands into his pockets, just staring at me awkwardly. "Well I'll see you around, Sebastian." I said pushing through the double doors. "Actually you'll see me in 6th period but I guess you'll also see me around campus. So see you around too." He shouted before the doors swung shut. I turned around and waved at him before noticing Michael running around the shiny basketball court.