Running Out of Time

Chapter Two

I awoke to the bright sunlight streaming in through the opened curtains. For a moment, I imagined I was back at home, snuggled up in my familiar mattress, and that clanking sound was my brother shuffling around in the bathroom, home for the summer from college. I convinced myself that any moment, my alarm would begin to blare, and I would reach out lazily and feel around my nightstand with my eyes closed until I found my phone and shut it off. And then, after a few more minutes of blissful sleep, my mother would come storming into my room to wake me up in the usual fanfare of our mornings. Finally, when I did wake up, I would have a whole empty day ahead of me, aside from the usual stretching and exercise regimen my parents kept me to religiously, and I would have no commitments, no requirements, no expectations, and I could pretend for a whole summer that my parents weren't dreaming of a dream for me that wasn't mine.

But then Aubrey gave me a good natured shove out of bed, and told me to get up before I was late to ballet, and I was jerked back to reality.

I blearily sat up and simply squinted at the wall for a moment, regaining my bearings. I slowly pushed the covers off of my body and slid out of bed into my slippers. I yawned before changing quickly into my tights and leotard.

"Morning." I mumbled, rubbing sleep out of my eyes.

"Bad night of sleep?" Aubrey asked sympathetically. I nodded.

"It took me a long time to fall asleep." I said in a sort of vague explanation. She chuckled quietly.

"I heard." She replied. "Your tossing and turning made it difficult for me to fall asleep too. And you sighed at least fifteen times."

Heat crawled up my cheeks. "Sorry." I mumbled. She laughed and hung up the washcloth she was done with.

"It's fine. All is forgiven." She smiled and was out the door. I fashioned my hair into a high bun, and swore when I accidentally stabbed myself with a bobby pin, before slipping on a light sweater over my leotard and a pair of shorts over my tights.

I glanced at the clock hanging above the door, and then at the schedule taped up on my wall. I had about forty-five minutes to grab something to eat, locate the studio in this labyrinth of a school, and stretch. I snatched up the paper map I had been clinging to like the Bible yesterday, my dance gear, and tugged on a pair of sneakers before heading downstairs.

I bumped into a couple of people on the way down, and I gave them all friendly greetings as I went. Most of them seemed to be in just as much of a hurry as I was, and I shoveled down a bowl of oatmeal before starting the search throughout the school.

I straightened out the map in my hands and I spent a couple of moments locating myself on the map. Then, I steered myself to the right wing of the school, and after ten minutes of frantic searching, I was able to locate the studio. By that time, a lot of people were already sitting on the floor and stretching. There were only girls in this class; I supposed that the boys had a different ballet class. The teacher wasn't there yet, and I greeted a couple of people on my way in.

Slowly, I took off my sneakers and put on my ballet flats. The ballet class I had signed up for was intermediate-level ballet, with no pointe work, as I had never really pursued ballet seriously. It was always a just a required class at the studio I went to, so I wasn't really worried. Around me, no one else seemed to be wearing pointe shoes, so I relaxed a little.

After running through a quick stretching routine, the teacher came in. After a brief introduction, everyone lined up at the barre, and after rapidly running through the combination, the music began. I sucked in a breath, and tried my best to follow along.

When class ended, I wiped the sweat off of my forehead and swallowed down half of my water bottle before lumbering upstairs on tired legs. Luckily, I didn't have any more classes until afternoon, so I had the rest of the morning for rest. I curled up on my mattress with some of my summer homework and didn't look up until Aubrey entered, looking tired.

"Hi." I greeted her. "Are you taking advanced ballet? I didn't see you in my class."

"Yeah." She puffed. "I'm tired."

I chuckled. "I can't blame you. I'm tired after even my itty-bitty intermediate class. Do you want me to get you some food or something?"

She shook her head and instead trudged into the bathroom. I heard some taps run, and then the shower came on. I turned my attention back to homework I was doing and focused on the impact of the Civil War on American lives on the home front. I muffled a yawn and continued scribbling bullshit that I would need to verify later but would probably appease my history teacher.

After a while, I wandered back downstairs to get some lunch. The cafeteria was already moderately filled and buzzing with chatter. I glanced around nervously. There was one empty table, and I eagerly snatched it up, sitting by myself.

Lunch was a quiet and quick affair, and when I went back upstairs, I bumped into Lia.

"Hey." I smiled, concentrating on fighting a blush and the urge to flicker my gaze away.

"Hi." She smiled back, and I felt a tug on my stomach, and I had to look away or give away myself. "Coming back from lunch?"

"Yeah." I responded.

"Anything good?" She asked.

I shrugged, scuffing at the ground with my sneakers. "Better than what I have at my school."

"Where do you go?"

"I got to Castlebay Academy. It's a boarding school in Boston. But I live in Vermont. Which is kind of annoying because the friends I made until 6th grade are still back there, and I only get to see them during the summer, and now that's been taken away from me too." I rambled, feeling acutely aware that what I had just said was way too much information than necessary. I attested my word vomit to the nervousness stirring in my belly, but at the depths of my mind, I also knew that it was because I wanted, for some strange reason, for Lia to know everything about me, and I'd hoped that giving her a taste would make her want more. But she merely smiled.

"That sounds tough." She replied simply. No more questions about me. I felt my heart sink a little at the disinterest, but I didn't let it show on my face. I smiled again.

"Sorry for rambling." I apologized. "I'm just going to... head upstairs now."

She smiled, but in the glint of her eyes, I knew that she could sense that something was a little off, and I had to get out of her presence before I did something stupid, like touch her or hug her or—god forbid—kiss her. The prickling heat of awareness pressed at my back as I passed her, and I felt the weight of her gaze on me as I climbed the stairs, confused, and almost a little disappointed.

But surely, I had imagined the disappointment.