Imaginary Dancers

Oh holy Jesus cakes! He’s looking right at me. I could have sworn Jasmine said that the Advanced Class doesn’t even acknowledge the lower classes. Ever.

“Hey,” J.R. said, grabbing my wandering mind. “You should tell your friend not to be so loud. This area is meant to be peaceful, not chaotic.”

I simply continued to stare at his regal face, comparing random parts of him to my long forgotten Juni. It was remarkable how similar they are. Same facial features, similar hair color. It’s crazy. Well, no matter what, he is not Juni. I have to keep that in mind.

J.R. looked at me funny for a moment before starting to walk around me. I at least have to ask.

“Um, wait,” I spoke up, causing him to look at me. “Do you… have we… uh, met somewhere before? In the past?”

I wanted to slap myself for even asking; it was totally stupid and I probably looked like a bumbling idiot. I watched him, waiting for a big fat ‘no’ to slap me in the face. Or watch him mark me as a creeper and stay away from me for good. Well, maybe him avoiding me is a good thing. My psychiatrist always insisted I stay away from any triggers of those past memories.

“Nope,” he said, smiling. His whole demeanor seemed to change then, from annoyed and superior to calm and normal. I watched, surprised, as J.R. turned and continued walking away. I’m not sure if I should be happy or upset that he doesn’t recognize me. Even more baffling is that he was happy I asked. Anyways, I’m sure Jasmine would have a cow if she found out an Advanced Class member actually spo-

“Oh shit, Minne!”

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I slammed my ballet book shut when I heard a wild knocking on my dorm room door. After spending that last hour of my lunch searching for Minne, unsuccessfully, I had returned to the Novice Class. Jasmine was there, but as soon as I tried to talk to her, Ms. Caw-Caw screeched at us to put a sock in it. The next three hours were spent receiving our “Intro to Ballet” textbooks, our daily schedules and our proper stretching techniques. Basically, from 9 A.M. to 12 noon, we have morning practice, then from noon to 2 P.M. is a lunch break and finally from 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. is afternoon rehearsal. The rest of the time is free for whatever we want to do then.

“Rose, open up!” Minne yelled excitedly.

I got up off the desk chair and unlocked the door for her. Minne bounced into the room in a pair of deep blue pajamas, two mugs and a thermos in her hands. Jangie, now curious, got up from his kitty bed to investigate this new person.

“Oh my gosh, kitty!” Jasmine squealed before chucking her items at me and picking up my mischievous cat. I hardly managed not to break the flying mugs.

“Yeah, that’s Jangie. Careful, she tends to be naughty,” I warned, putting the projectiles on my desk. “So… why are you here again?”

“We’re having our first day of friendship sleepover silly!” she said, holding Jangie like a baby.

“We are?” Well. This is news to me.

“Yep! We’re gonna gossip about our lives and the school, all while sipping hot cocoa!”

I watched as she placed Jangie down and planted herself on my bed, motioning for me to sit with her. I did as I was told and sat down next to her, anticipating some sort of attack. Jasmine grabbed my hair quickly and started to braid it.

“So,” she started,” what were you trying to tell me earlier before Ms. Urvine told us to put a sock in the speak hole?”

I shook off the wrongness of that sentence and thought about how to tell her I talked to J.R. today. She did warn me to not to bother with them.

“Well, after you’re little mouse freak out –“

“That mouse was huge! Jangie should have been there to save me!”

“- one of the Advanced Class members started to talk to me –

“Oh geeze, who!?”

“Stop interrupting me,” I sighed, frustrated.

“Sorry, continue!”

“It was J.R. He asked me to tell you not to be loud in a peaceful place,” I reminisced. His voice was yummy deep too, which I didn’t expect from his blond head.

“Oh please. A muzzle couldn’t keep me quiet for long!” Minne said, acting proud about that negative quality. “I can’t believe he actually said something! It’s him and Christina who are the most snobby and have the largest superiority complexes!”

I stopped to think about that while she finished braiding my hair. He did seem to have an aura of superiority at first, but he didn’t seem snobby. And the superiority went away too. I don’t know anything about Christina though, so I won’t know about her.

“I heard he and Christina are dating anyways. Let them snobs stick together!”

I don’t know why. But that crushed me… bad.

“They’re dating?” I asked, suddenly praying I had heard wrong.

“Well, that’s what I heard. The Advanced Class is a major gossip topic so we hear a lot about their personal lives. Want some cocoa?!”

I shouldn’t be upset. It seems natural; they were dance partners in their presentation earlier. And they looked great together. I just have to stay away from him and the Advanced Class. All I need to do is survive the few years here and get on with my life.

“Yes please.”