Love Letters

Chapter 16 - 3. 2. 1.

At 4 am, Chloe and I dragged two sleeping boys to the corner of a dance studio. We then changed into a leotard and sweatpants, put our hair into ponytails and tied up our pointe shoes.

"Do you really think they'll be able to sleep through the entire session?" Chloe asked.

"Dunno. I guess we'll just have to wake them up." A devilish smirk appeared on my face and I ran to the kitchen to get two air horns. This was my favourite way to wake Hunter up when we were younger. I passed one to Chloe and she grinned. We crouched down next to the boys; me beside Hunter and Chloe beside Will, and I silently counted down from 3.

3. 2. 1.

Bang. Chloe and I fell down laughing as the two boys scrambled out of their sleeping bags and ran around the room. They stopped facing the mirror and looked around them, trying to figure out where they were and what they were doing. They seemed to calm down, because, while Chloe and I were still laughing our butts off, they nodded to each other and we were lifted off the ground. I was thrown over Hunter's shoulder and he dumped me onto the sleeping bags next to Chloe. Now it was their turn to laugh.

After all that commotion, Will and Hunter helped us stretch; holding up our legs and Chloe and I started our solos. After the solos, we decided to try doing a duet together. I asked Hunter to help demonstrate, he should've still remembered how. "When we were younger," I explained to Chloe and Will, who were confused as to why I thought Hunter could help. "Hunter helped me practice for my competitions. Well, his little sister forced him to." I laughed at the memory.

When we were younger, he and his family used to come to watch my competitions and recitals. Ronnie wanted me to teach her ballet, so we'd go to my studio/basement and I taught Ronnie what it would be like in a real ballet opera; a man supporting the lady's weight and lifting her in the air. We'd do it together, I'd send her flying in the air and spin her around.

"Can you do it with bubba?" She asked. I had no idea what she was talking about; Hunter was with the others in the kitchen wasn't he? I was going to tell her he wasn't here, but when I turned around, Ronnie was running to Hunter, smirking as if he saw the entire thing. That's embarrassing.

"Come on Saff," He said and I could literally hear his grin. "You don't want to disappoint an innocent 5 year old, now do you?" I was going to refuse, but the look on Ronnie's face was killing me.

"Fine." I said reluctantly.

Hunter and I made our way to the floor and we demonstrated with a few turns and arabesques. "So." I spoke to Will for this part. "If Chloe is in an arabesque," I showed an arabesque. "Or a penche," I moved to a penche. "Keep one arm on her waist and another on her leg." Hunter showed where to put his arms. "But if she's doing a few turns, it depends on what arm position she's in. If her arms are meant to be in 4th, twirl her around with the arm that is in 5th." Hunter turned me around. "But if her arms are in first, put both hands on her waist. Same goes for lifts." Hunter and I demonstrated the movements and then Will and Chloe joined us. We then tried to do The Nutcracker's Sugar Plum Pas de Deux. It worked, but was kinda wobbly. We were going to do it again, but we had to get ready for school.

...

Hunter, Will, Chloe and I were walking to the auditorium after school for the first dance session where the football team was joining us. Chloe and I had huge smirks on our faces because today we were going to do conditioning. The boys had absolutely no idea what conditioning was, so we decided to let them find out themselves.

When we got there, we tried to get Hunter and Will to stretch and they did, but not very well. Then, all the others came in and Hunter and Will decided to practice the pas de deux. I knew there was a chance we wouldn't be doing ballet for the Winter Showcase, but I figured we'd start off simple.

"Okay children!" Ms Valencia announced. "Today, we will be doing conditioning! For those of you who do not know what conditioning is, it's basically what dancers do to get into shape. Dancers, put on your demi-pointes and football players, put on your socks. Let's get started!" The chairs had been moved to the side, so there was a huge empty space below the stage, and we set up there. We put our gym bags to the side and started our conditioning.

"We'll start easy. 10 minute plank. If you fall or stop, you're going to redo it! GO!" Coach Gleeson started the timer and Ms Valencia put on some music.

After the 10 minutes finished the boys fell to the floor groaning. The girls however, continued with one foot up in passé. "Well?" Ms Valencia yelled at the boys. "What are the girls doing? GO GO GO!!" Will, who was next to me got down and started his plank pulling up a foot above his knee.

"Is she always like this? She's usually calmer in class." He whispered to me.

"Yeah, she's passionate about dance and wants us to succeed." I replied.

An hour later, the entire football team was on the floor, not wanting to do any more. Luckily for them, we were about to start the duets and they didn't have to wear pointe shoes.

We lined up in our pairs, captains first. Hunter and I were told to demonstrate a pas de deux and we did the same things we did in the morning. Next, Chloe went with Will and you could see how they connected.

Finally, the lesson ended and we were told what duets we were going to do. After most everyone's duets were named, Ms Valencia and Coach told Hunter and I to meet them in their office. "Good luck." Chloe whispered to me.

We walked to the office in silence, the only sound was our footsteps echoing through the hall. I opened the door to their office and we stepped inside.

"Ok you two. You remember when we first announced that you two would be partners?" We both nodded. "Well, I think it was the perfect idea! You two have so much chemistry, and with your past together, and your skill, I have the perfect duet for you two. It isn't the easiest; it's contemporary, but you should be able to pull it off." She turned her laptop to face us and showed us a video of our duet. It was quite tricky, with the lifts and partnerwork, but I agreed with Ms Valencia, I think we could probably pull it off with a lot of practice. "Meet me tomorrow here in the auditorium, 7am. We're going to practice this."

A lot of words. What do you want me to put more of?

Will and Chloe?

Hunter and Saffron?

Flashbacks?

School?

Tell me and I'll try.

Cherylxx