Unpredictable (A Dance Story)

Chapter 3

"Again!"

Abbie and I sighed, both shaking from the effort of the dance. Miss Sarah had 'modified' it to 'fit the dancers,' which really meant that she had made it faster and harder to show us off. Of course, she couldn't have her National Champions do an easy piece. Ever.

"Can we walk the tricks?" I asked tentatively.

Miss Sarah sighed and narrowed her eyes, so Abbie and I put on our best puppy-dog faces.

"Fine. But every bit of the actual dancing has to be full-out."

Abbie let out a squeak and glanced at me. Miss Sarah had finally cracked!

The music started and I stood by myself in the middle. Immediately, Abbie walked out and grabbed my waist, twisting and dropping me. She caught me before I hit the ground, of course, and we marked some partner work. Before we knew it, we were thrown into the really dance-y part. Six fouetté turns later, we were dancing full-out together, walking some of the tricks and doing others anyway.

Miss Sarah's watchful eyes missed nothing, and as soon as the music stopped, she had a barrage of complaints.

"Abbie. Honey. How many times do I have to tell you to point that back foot on your helicopter jump? And Ella! The floor will not help you, so QUIT LOOKING AT IT!"

"Sorry," we mumbled.

A face peeked through the curtain blocking the viewing window and Miss Sarah sighed.

"At least you didn't drop each other when you did the partner work. How about we open the door and let everyone watch? One last time, I promise. Then we'll start the group rehearsal."

I nodded and took my place in the middle of the room as Miss Sarah went to get everyone in the waiting room.

Abbie took the chance to bump my hip and whisper, "Smile. If Logan was here, I'm sure he'd want you to."

My cheeks burned red, but I grinned. "Abbie, you don't even know how happy I am when I think of him. He asked me to a movie!!!"

"So you've told me," Abbie replied with a wink.

She walked over to her spot as people started filing into the room to watch the duet. To get them in the spirit, Miss Sarah began to explain to the audience the concept of the dance. Abbie I played best friends (who would've thought?) who depended on each other, and the dance reflected that concept with extremely difficult partner work that would fail if they didn't trust each other. Miss Sarah always gave the hardest partner work to Abbie, Holden and I.

We danced like we were performing for talent scouts, using facial expressions and getting into it. At the end of the dance, we were breathing as heavily as if we'd just run a marathon, but the applause from the makeshift audience was worth it.

I headed into the changing room to put on my Pointe shoes, Abbie following suit. We didn't talk, just breathed for a couple of minutes. I hated the awkward feeling I got when I was breathing too heavily to even drink water; When I tried to gulp it, I couldn't breathe at all, so I just had to suffer for a few seconds or spit it out. We hastily tied our Pointe shoes, put on skirts, and hurried in to the dance room, where everyone was stretching at the barre.

"Hey, Ford," Holden greeted when I came over, "The duet was amazing!"

"Thanks," I replied with a smile, "We try."

Abbie just breathed heavily, as if to prove how hard she had worked. She lifted her leg onto the barre and stretched over.

"I'm stretched already. Want to practice the pas de deux?" He asked. We were partners in ballet class. I nodded.