A Step to Love

“Dammit, Lilly! Do it right for once,” Mrs. Greenwill or as I like to call her (in my mind, of course), Mrs. Grinchwill, yelled as she glared at my clumsiness in the balance beam.

The gymnastics class was never easy with her complaining about something or another every five minutes. I tried to do a back flip and when I say “I tried”, didn’t exactly mean I succeeded. Everything was blurry. That is until I felt my butt hit the floor.

That must’ve have been awful to see and of course, let’s not forget the wave of laughter from the viewers that came after.

Mrs. Grinchwill stood there with her arms crossed. Wow, she couldn’t even extend her arm so I could have some support getting up.

“Again!” she yelled.

This was going to be hell.

I put my hand on the upright of the balance beam for support and surprisingly, it didn't fall like I thought it would.

With a sigh, I got on the balance beam to try it once more.

~*~*~*~*~

“Awesome job, Lilly!” some random girl congratulated me. Hm, I thought I did well. Nah, kidding. I was on my way to my next class in the dance academy: Dance or Die—don’t freaking ask. I was scared as hell when I got here. My mom had received the suggestion from one of her friends at Church. Ironic, right?

The good news: ballet helped me relax from the physical—sleeping in a couch sucks—and the emotional pain. The bad news: Grinchwill was teaching it and poor me was hoping the hour of class wasn’t too much of a drag.

I stopped when I spotted Brody from a distance. We didn’t have jazz class for another hour. What was he doing here so early?

His cute baby face smiled at me and I tried not to smile back, but that just seemed impossible. He walked to me and kept grinning like a fool. “Hey,” he said once he reached me.

I looked at the clock that was placed on top of the secretary’s desk. “Hi, uh, look, I’m gonna' be late for class, so if you could just—”

“It’s ok. This won’t take long.”

I shot a confused glance. “’Kay.”

“See…I, um.” He hesitated for a bit and started to look at the ceiling that looked like he was sending a silent prayer.

“Brody...”

He snapped out of it. “Oh! Uh…you know there’s this ‘party’ for next Saturday, right?”

Ugh, great. I totally forgot about that. But, I mean, how couldn’t with all of the shit going on?

Then again, I looked at my surroundings and everything was filled with posters and stickers of the party that was coming. Who would’ve thought? I nodded to him and then his grin got wider.

“Well.” He paused; weird habit of his. “I was kind of wondering—since almost everyone has a date—I was wondering if you’d go with me?”

I blinked in surprised. The whole “since everyone has a date” made feel poo-ish. Did that mean that he was stuck with me? Or worse. That I was the one stuck with him?

Well, he did come to ask politely. Whatever.

No way was I going with him. He has always been such a jerk and hitting on too many girls at the same time. He was a player. At least that's what I heard from the constant rumors running around.

No way! “Yes,” I blurted.

He sighed deeply. I didn’t notice he was holding his breath while I babbled mentally.

“Awesome!” He stretched his arms and hugged me. I, on the other hand, didn’t move. “Thanks,” he whispered in my ear and I felt his short and spiky blonde hair tickle my right cheek.

He took a step back to study my face that had a fake smile splattered across it.

“Well, I have to go and”—he paused to look at the clock. I followed his eyes. Man, was I late—“I think you do, too.” He waved good-bye and I stood there trying to absorb the fact that I was going to a party and my date was no other than Brody.

Well, at least it was better than going with The Thing.

~*~*~*~*~

I got to Pat’s house, exhausted from my normal Saturday.

How many classes did I take? Well, on Tuesdays I took ballet with Vannesa at 6:00pm and gymnastics with Grinchwill, two hours later. I get home around 9:15pm; the dance academy is a little far.

Now, on Thursdays, I take jazz with Jay at 5:00pm. The class is for two hours. After that, I take modeling classes with Benny—our fabulous gay instructor at 7:00pm, but since he’s on several reunions with the fashion industry in Belgium, Vannesa has been filling up for him for the past two months.

Saturdays, every class lasted an hour. I had gymnastics at 12:00pm with Grinchwill. Then, ballet—with her again—and finally, I finished with jazz.

My arrival was more or less at 3:20pm.

I was about to come crashing down on my pillow that was placed on the sofa I was sleeping in, because—surprisingly—there was no room for me in this pink mansion, when I noticed my possessions weren’t where I had left them this morning. They were nowhere to be seen, actually.

I looked at The Thing that was behind me.

“What?” he asked.

“Where is my stuff?” I asked looking at Pat now that was just closing the door.

“Huh?” She didn’t seem to understand and stared at the now empty sofa. Something came to her. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Yeah, we need to talk.”

Alex—I mean, The Thing—headed for the stairs, when Pat stopped him with, “All of us need to talk.”

He whispered a curse that Pat didn’t hear. Otherwise she would’ve let us know. She hates cussing, though she does some of her own when she thinks nobody is near.

“Well, Lilly, I kind of thought that sleeping on a couch must give you a terrible pain.”

I nodded. I had a couple of bruises to prove it.

Alex—dammit, The Thing—scoffed and Pat raised an eyebrow at him, but continued on. “So, I was thinking you should sleep with someone until a room is available. Remember that Jake is living now with us, so it makes it a bit difficult.”

I shook my head. Even though it left marks, I wasn’t here to bother anybody. I opened my mouth to protest, when Brit cut me off.

“You can come with me!”

Pat sighed. “That’s not what I meant. You know I’m not comfortable with people of the same gender sleeping together, though I know you girls would never do anything.” Ok, ew.

“So…” Brit closed her eyes.

Pat looked straight at Alex.

“I don’t like where this is going,” he said.