“What do you mean you can’t do it? We don’t have time for practical jokes, Perry! Now, c’mon. I’ll start the music,” Allison snapped, her irritation showing. Her medium height to Perry’s long and gangly body did not stop her from ganging up on him when you occasion demanded.

“Allie, I’m really sorry, but my parents think that I’ve taken up enough extra-curricular activities and that I can’t handle this and my solo with my weak knees!” Perry explained. He glanced down at his shoes, aware that her light green eyes were boring into his dark curly hair. “Please don’t be mad.”

“Mad? Mad?!” she snorted. “I am beyond mad. I am…furious! We’re only three weeks away from competition and you’re just disregarding the fact that I’ll be left without a partner!” She glared at him from beneath her long curls. They had popped out of her bun about the time that Perry had broken the news.

“Well, I don’t know what else to say but that I need to go. I hope your dance turns out. You can always find another partner. My parents are expecting me home for violin practice.” Perry replied lamely. He slowly turned on his heel and stalked out without turning back. Allie’s facial expression was not one that he wanted to haunt him for the rest of the day.

“Okay, fine! Just leave! See if I care! I can always just find a better partner!” she yelled after him. The door behind him slammed shut and once again she was alone in the rehearsal room. “Erg!”

Allison walked over to the side of the room and pressed play on the sound system. At once some hip-hop music blasted and she took a deep breath. “I can do this,” she sighed.

She sauntered back to the middle of the cold, wood floor and spread her legs out. She took deep breaths as she stretched out and worked her tired muscles. It was only Tuesday and she’d already rehearsed 11 hours that week; starting the day before. Allison wasn’t one to sit and watch or stop to take a break. She was all about the passion and drive that came with dance.

As she warmed up, her mind wandered over the competition in a few weeks. Many companies would be there scouting for new dancers and this was a great opportunity to be seen. Not to mention show up Kaci. She shouldn’t be bitter after the last in-school competition. Allison had won after weeks of nonstop sabotage on both accounts. Kaci considered herself the best and Allie was there to show her up. This competition would be similar, but now it was against the top students in other high schools too.

Allie doesn’t go to a normal high school. She goes to a performing arts high school where they offer dance and music classes as well as the fundamental reading and writing and arithmetic. Now, not only was she in the competition to represent her school, now she was alone and without a partner.

This dance she’s choreographed had taken many weeks of late night dancing and studying. She’d watched other performances to get inspiration and had taken notes on different techniques of dancing.

…to be continued…
Written in honor of a friend

She started walking down the hallway towards the door. Once Jen realized that she was alone, she turned around and scowled at Rick. “Are you coming or not?” she announced. Rick didn’t know what to say. He had just met this boisterous, outgoing gal a few minutes ago and already he was intimidated. For him it was awkward being 40 pounds overweight as a sophomore in Lincoln High. He had moved there only days ago and already he had wound up with no friends and many teases from his peers- except for Jen.

Jen was petite but not very short. She stood out in a crowd by her hair and her clothes. Both were loud and fit her well. Her hair was only about two inches long and the tips were electric blue. She kept it spiked. Her clothes varied- one day boho and the next preppy. No matter what she wore it stood out making it easy to find her, not that anyone needed to or wanted to. She was a regular outcast shunned by the jocks and cheerleaders. That didn’t even faze her. She had her own friends to hang out with.

Jen stared impatiently at him. “Are you done daydreaming? Let’s get to lunch before all the seats at our table are gone!” Her eyes flashed and she chuckled. They both knew that they sat at a “loser” table and there were only five of them “competing” for twelve seats. He smiled.

“I’m coming, but can we make a detour to my locker? I don’t want to carry my history and math books with me. Unless you , of course, would like to carry them for me. How ‘bout it?” he smirked, knowing what her answer would be.

“I doubt it fat boy!” she replied. “Next stop, Ricky’s locker! All aboard?” He pretended to take offense when she called him fat boy but he didn’t mind because he knew she was joking and that it was true. She smiled. “I knew that it would get to you! Let’s go!” She started to walk leaving him for a moment until he followed her to his locker.

He neatly slid his books into his locker on the top shelf. Rick’s locker (and everything else of his) was spotless with everything organized and having a place for it. He had always been bright and neat. She rolled her eyes and grasped his wrist. He was dragged all the way to the cafeteria. She ditched him at the door so he could get into the lunch line. Jen never ate school lunch and never would. It was way too disgusting for her to even imagining eating.

As soon as he grabbed the lunch tray and piled it neatly with food, Jen flagged him down to go sit at their table. She acted as though they hadn’t talked all day. He sat down next to Michelle and started attacking his burrito with his fork. First he cut it all up into tiny pieces and then he ate them slowly without taking his eyes off of them. He looked up. Michelle and Jen were staring at him.

“Mghunh?” he asked, his cheeks bulging with burrito. He wasn’t clear so they looked at him puzzled. He waited until he swallowed the last of it. “What?!” he asked again, his eyebrow arched as he asked the question.

“Oh my gosh! Like, why do you, like, eat like that? Haven’t you ever, like, just eaten like a normal, like, human being?” Michelle asked. She looked at him over her large, white Gucci sunglasses. Jen glared at her as she slurped up a rather messy spoonful of noodles. Michelle made a face at her, causing Jen to almost spit out her noodles trying not to laugh.

Lunch went by fast and so did their afternoon classes. They hardly noticed when the bell rang to signal the end of school.

Her bottom lip trembled. She could hardly look at him after all the havoc he’d caused. She crossed her arms and hugged them close to her chest. He just stood there, with his eyes on the ground and his hands balled up into fists in the pockets of his jeans.

“So what do we do now?” he asked, after a long period of silence. His voice cracked, like he was about to cry.

“There’s nothing to do. You can’t take it back.” she replied, her tones harsh. They felt good on her tongue, she didn’t usually talk rudely to anyone. Not even Jared.

“Ann, I’m sorry. I-” She cut him off.

“You what? You didn’t mean to sleep with her? You didn’t mean to cheat on me? What, what were you going to say?” she curtly proclaimed. He just kept eying the ground.

Her eyes were red and puffy after hours of tears. She felt exhausted, like she’d climbed Mt. Everest in less than an hour. But all that had happened was tears.

She stopped for a moment, looking over at her friend. They were at the café down the street from Ann’s house. Ann was telling Nita what had happened.

“And then he couldn’t contain himself. His tears just flooded down his face and I couldn’t help but for a moment understand.” she explained, gazing sadly into her friend’s eyes.

Nita just nodded, taking a sip of coffee from the light brown cup. She closed her eyes and then nodded again. “So, what happened then?” she asked.

Jared sat down. His face was buried down in his arm and she could hear strange noises. She walked closer to him, slowly.

“Jared? I’m so sorry, I never wanted this to-” She couldn’t finish.

He looked up at her with cold, hard eyes. They were red from the tears he‘d just spilled. “What? Never wanted us to end? We were a nothing, you even said it yourself! We never happened. It was just a fling, nothing more. Don’t even bother yourself with it.”

She couldn’t help it anymore. “I love you!” she cried out. “I always have and I always will!” She plopped herself onto the ground and just bawled her eyes out.

Nita looks at her with wide eyes. “And you’d just realized this?” she asks.

“Yea,” Ann replies, “I’d always thought that it was about something more. Something complex and random. Not something so obvious and easy.”

“Yea, I guess.” Nita just takes another sip of coffee.

After what seemed like an endless period of time, she heard a laugh. “What you think this is funny?” she was about to say, as she looked up.

Jared was laughing and smiling. “No, I’m happy, because I realized that I love you too.” he says quietly, as though he’s afraid that once he’s said them, something bad would happen.

He stands up and saunters over to her. “There’s not a day where you don’t come first.” he announces, kissing her wet cheek. “I love you.” She just looked at him with her newly downtrodden eyes. She attempted to smile and put her arms around him.

“I’ll always love you,” was all she could say.