Love Songs

Chapter Five

Allie - Monday, 8:00am.

"Rond de jambe, pirouette, pas de bouree, grand jette,"  Some old lady was calling at us already. I'd been out of dance for a month, and the intense conditioning regimen that our new teacher had implemented was a harsh reminder. My toes cramped inside my pointe shoes, and I was already exhausted from the practice we'd been doing. And it was only eight in the morning.

There were only six of us in the class. Jessica and me, that girl Bella who had come to the beach with us, and three randoms that apparently lived on our floor, though I'd never met any of them. We were the only dancers who fell in our age group, apparently. By the size of the class, I began to understand just how selective this program really was. It made me wonder about the talent of everyone else, especially Bella, who was eighteen, 5'10", and about ninety pounds.

The three girls I didn't know hung all over Bella like she was a celebrity. Whenever there was a free moment, the four of them circled up, gossiping. I didn't know what there was to gossip about, as none of us had known each other for much upwards of 36 hours. I wasn't really interested until I heard a very interesting name being dropped.

"He'll come around, Bella," one of them was saying. "He has to."

"You're so much prettier than her, anyway," another one denounced. "If Darius picks her over you, he's crazy."

It had been pretty obvious that Bella had a thing for Darius. I don't think her hand left his shoulder once the previous day. But what girl were they talking about? That meant Darius liked someone. He liked someone that wasn't Bella. But then who? That meant that to get to Darius, there was not one girl in my way, but two.

Unless, of course, Bella was talking about me. I could dream.

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Allie - Monday, 12:30pm.

"I mean, he can't like her. She's not even smart, or funny, or nice. There's definitely someone else, but who can it be?"

I was officially possessed, talking Matthew's ear off in the dining hall though I'm sure he didn't care. 

"Maybe it's you," he suggested though I could tell he didn't believe it.

"No," I said, dismissing the thought that I hoped so much to be true. "No, it can't be me."

"You never know," he said. "Anyone could like you, and you just don't notice."

"Who likes who?" Jessica interrupted, sitting down next to Matthew, across from me. 

"Allie likes Darius," Matt announced.

"Matthew!" I admonished.

"Oh please, Al, you act like it's a secret," Jess said.

"It's not?"

They both laughed at me, signifying their answer.

As if on cue, Darius and Shay walked by at that exact moment and sat down.

"What's so funny?" Shay asked.

"Your face," Jessica said, making a middle school joke.

"Wow, that was funny, Jess," Shay said. "I think you need a new writer."

Ever keeping the peace, Darius struck up a conversation. "How were your lessons?" he asked everyone.

Everyone managed to chorus a "good" in unison, except for Shay who remarked, "terrible."

"Okay, Shay, it's not that bad," Darius said.

"What's not that bad?" I asked.

He turned to look at me and I felt electrified. "She has to teach music to ten year olds," he explained.