Imaginary Dancers

Juni…

I stared as the Advanced Class lined up before our pitiful novice selves. Particularly at the blond boy standing in the middle. He had beautiful colored eyes and his blond hair that reached above his shoulders was pulled into a secure ponytail. His jaw line and cheekbones were amazing. It stung to look at him though. He looks so similar to the boy of my past; my imaginary friend.

Imaginary. This boy before me cannot be Juni.

“Advanced Class! State your names for the plebeians!” yelled Sean Matthews.

“Linda!”

“Carrie!”

“Jordan.”

“Jayne.”

“Philippe.”

“J.R.”

“Christina.”

“Rachel.”

“Danielle.”

“Sasha.”

“Mahi.”

“Jeremie.”

So, Mr. Juni-clone’s name is J.R. It sure took a lot of names to get to the one I wanted to hear. All of the Advanced Class looked unique and high quality. They made me feel like a tub of lard and I’m fairly skinny!

“So,” Mr. Matthews spoke, getting our attention,” Do you know what ballet that was from, runt?”

That girl Julia looked stunned mad before I knew it, she ran out of the room crying. None of us moved; unsure about what to do in the weird situation.

“Oh, Sean Matthews! Thank you for weeding my garden of pupils. One less weed in my garden of blooming flowers!” Ms.Caw-Caw chirped, clinging to Mr. Matthew’s arm. “Now, you must return to your class; I saw some sloppy arms in there! I myself need to teach these kids how to not have sloppy brains!”

Mr. Matthews must be used to Ms. Caw-Caw’s eccentricity for he had already started to mark his students out before she finished word vomiting about us.

I watched sadly as J.R. walked out of the room, distracted in his own little world. It was bittersweet to look at him. I got to see some of Juni in him, but Juni’s never coming back. He never existed in the first place.

“Caaaw-lass!” Ms. Caw-Caw screeched. Pulled out of my thoughts, I stared at her as she began to show us the basic positions. As much fun as it is to tease her, she did look graceful doing simple poses with her feet. Everything she did was pure fluid; in her putrid green leotard.

Minne nudged me gently to get my attention.

“I saw you checking out one of the boys of the Advanced Class.” I blushed. ”Just don’t get caught up in it. They don’t know we exist unless we are near their level in ballet,” Minne said solemnly.

I chose not to respond to that and instead stared at Ms. Caw-Caw as she was showing us how to use our barres, the handrails new coming ballet dancers use to get balance.

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Minne and I were walking around the campus during lunch break, which apparently two hours long since we have class practically the whole day. I was back in my sundress, leotard still underneath because I didn’t want to wrestle with it again today. Minne was giving me the grand spankin’ tour of this huge school. Apparently there were four separate dorm territories for each level of class. Novice dorm was the largest, due to the mass amount of “foolish dreamers”, obviously the Moderate was next in size, then Proficient. However, the Advanced Class dorm was big and luxurious.

“The Advanced get special privileges. I only went in their once because I volunteered to deliver mail last year. It’s super-rare for anyone other than an Advanced Class member to go in there! Anyways, they have actual chefs in there and game stations. There are private ballet practice rooms too! I haven’t seen the rooms, but rumor says they are like your own big apartment!” Jasmine squealed out.

I gawked at it. Jasmine looked like she was dying to be a part of that one day. I hope she does; she’s so dedicated to this program. Unlike me. I want to get expelled or just scrape by quietly.

“The Advanced Class is probably spoiled because of this,” I mumbled.

“They aren’t spoiled. But most feel highly of themselves and keep overly poised. They tend to keep to themselves.”

Minne and I kept walking and headed toward the main fountain at the center of the school. She was telling me it was where a lot of birds and squirrels played so it is fun to feed or watch them. I like animals, if you couldn’t already tell by the demon that resides in my room.

“Oh my God! Mouse!” Minne screamed suddenly. I looked at the tiny mouse that was sniffing Jasmine’s shoe lace. It was probably hungry, poor little thing. Her face was turning furiously red and she spontaneously took off running.

“Minne!” I yelled helplessly, embarrassed by my new friend. The mouse looked at me and I waved at it to go on. It scurried off quickly into the bushes, leaving me alone.

“Erm.”

I heard someone clear their throat behind me and I jumped into the air in fright. I turned statically and practically died right there.

J.R. was staring directly at me, annoyance radiating off of him.

Oh boy…