Unpredictable (A Dance Story)

Chapter 1

*A week earlier*

"For the love of-"

"Shhhhh!" I turned around to quiet my friend. Abbie instantly clamped her mouth shut, her eyes seeming to say 'sorry' for her.

We were sitting on a bench at the park, Abbie trying to stuff her feet into her old, dead Pointe shoes. Abbie and I had had this great idea: a dance photo shoot at the park! But the only thing we had accomplished so far was getting passerby to look at us weird.

"This is pointless. How the heck did I get my feet into these before?" Abbie demanded, lowering her voice a bit.

I chuckled quietly to myself. "Pointe-less."

Abbie rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha. You're punny."

I snatched the Pointe shoe from Abbie's hand. "Yup. And you're doing it wrong."

I paused for a second and plucked a wad of lamb's wool out of the box of Abbie's shoe, along with the standard gel toe pad.

"Doubling up, I see."

Abbie opened her mouth in mock surprise. "Not like you taught me that trick or anything!"

I flashed her my signature smile. "What can I say, I'm a genius. And a cheater. Genius-cheater!"

Abbie laughed.

I sighed, rolling my ankles and admiring my own pair of broken shoes. The pink satin had lost its shine long ago and been replaced with dirt and smudges from the floor of our dance studio. The boxes were frayed at the corners. When I pointed and flexed my toes, the Pointe shoes moved with my feet like a pair of socks. I could stand on them for about .2 seconds.

"Got it!" Abbie called. She jumped to her feet and sprang up on her boxes. She looked beautiful with the beat up shoes and simple dress she was wearing. I stood up slowly. I was in a black and white polka-dot dress, but I didn't feel quite as pretty as Abbie looked. Abbie's golden curls flowed down her back and her warm brown eyes smiled as much as her lips. I followed my friend's example and hopped up from the bench, clutching my father's HD camera.

"Where are we posing first?" I asked.

Abbie pursed her lips. "That tree, maybe?"

"In a tree?" I demanded. No way I could balance in a tree, and people would be able to see under my dress!

"Yeah. Why not? We're wearing shorts, it's fine."

I sighed but led the way through the grass to the tree Abbie had indicated. It was low to the ground and had lots of branches, so it probably wouldn't be as bad as I had originally thought.

"I'll go first!" I volunteered, shoving the camera at Abbie.

I carefully stepped up onto a pretty low branch and faced the trunk. The branch was decently wide, so I considered my choice of poses. There was a notch in the bark just big enough for my box, so I went on relève and put my other leg in attitude behind me. I heard the click of the camera as Abbie snapped the shot. A risky idea came to me, and after a moment of hesitation, I leaned forward and braced myself against the tree trunk. A second later, I was in a perfect penchée. On Pointe, nonetheless. Abbie let out a breath as she snapped the picture.

"How was that?" I asked.

Abbie gulped before replying, "Perfect, but the picture has too much of a glare from the sun. Do it again, I'll get a different angle."

I glared at her and she shrugged, giving a cheesy smile. "Sorry!"

I glanced at the path. No one was coming, so I leaned into another penchée.

"Ella!"

I pushed off of the tree and looked around, my heart beating in my chest. That sounded like....No, it couldn't be....

"Hi, Logan!" Abbie called, waving to the boy jogging down the path. The boy I'd had a hopeless crush on since, like, the seventh grade!

"Hey, Abbie," he greeted, walking toward the tree. "Ella, that was amazing."

I tucked my brown hair behind my ear and mumbled, "Thanks." I was really thinking: Crap. Crap. Crap.

"I mean, I knew you were a dancer, but I didn't know you were so flexible."

I gave a little smile, still kind of surprised that he was talking to me. He hardly ever talked to me.

Abbie gave a dramatic sigh. "She's so modest. Because all of us can do a perfect penchée without stretching."

Logan tried out the French ballet term. "Pon-shay....So that's what that thing is called."

Ella nodded. "Technically a 'penchée arabesque' but we kind of shortened it."

Logan wrinkled his nose. "That's really cool. Seriously." He stepped a little closer to me and I lost my breath for a second. Why are you so perfect? I wondered.

"Don't tell anybody this, but...Well, I really like watching people dance. I know, it's weird. But you know that show, Dance Moms?"

I nodded.

"My sister watches it and she got me hooked. I watch it every week. It's embarrassing."

Abbie and I laughed.

"Dance isn't something to be ashamed of," I said, "You'd be surprised. I mean, I know tons of boys who enjoy dancing and watching others dance."

Logan smiled. "Well, maybe I should talk to you more. I could meet some of your friends who like watching you dance. Then I won't be such a weirdo."

I blinked in astonishment. Was this really happening?

We finished up our conversation, me floating on a cloud the entire time. Abbie shot me a knowing look as Logan was walking away.

"Don't you start," I warned.

Abbie's smile just got bigger.

***

A little look into Ella's life. The last part was like a prologue, but there will be a little bit more until we find out what really happened to Ella.

:)

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~HalleBallet