Love Songs

Chapter Eight

Jessica - Wednesday, 8:00am.

"Well, I saw that other teacher outside," Allie narrated as we walked down the hall towards the ballet studio. "Shay wasn't kidding."

"I don't get it," I said once again out loud. "What happened to our teacher?"

"She's gone," a low yet feminine voice said sharply behind me. "Get over it."

Before I could turn to face whoever was addressing me, she was swiftly walking in front of me to get ahead. It was her - Shay's crush, and apparently my new teacher. She shot me a look before swinging a pair of point shoes over her shoulder and advancing down the hallway as if it were a catwalk.

"Well, she seems like a delight," I said flatly once she was out of sight, admittedly still somewhat afraid that she was behind me listenening.

"She seemed to like you, Jess," Allie kidded as we approached the studio. 

"What the hell did I do to her?" I questioned, both to myself and to Allie, though of course neither of us knew.

"Maybe she's just one of those people," Allie suggested, opening the door. "Don't take it personally."

But it was hard not to. When we walked in, she was smiling and chatting with some of the other girls in the class - including but not limited to Bella McKinley. She stood there flashing incredibly white teeth as if she was hanging out with her best friends. Her bad attitude seemed to have begun and ended with me.

"Well, she and Bella are certainly hitting it off," Allie noted as she and I took adjacent spots on the same barre to stretch.

"They're probably discussing the finer points of being narcissistic bitches," I muttered, taking great care not to let her hear me.

"Okay," Bella's new best friend finally said after some time. "Listen up."

We all turned to face her, eager for details on how she's murdered our former teacher and taken her position. But of course, that didn't happen.

"My name is Rihannon," she introduced - so Shay hadn't been lying about the name. "I'm your new ballet teacher. I want to know all of your names before we start, so..." she said, scanning the room. "Let's start with you."

By you, she meant me. I didn't know why she'd picked me, but I had a feeling it wasn't because I was the favorite. Not wanting to argue or question, I said, "I'm Jessica."

"Tell me about yourself," she said, not invitingly, but more like a challenge than an honest question.

"Okay," I said, cautiously. "Well, I started dancing when I was four--"

She laughed dryly. "You think you're special?"

Bella joined her in laughing, but mostly everyone else stood around awkwardly.

"Excuse me?" 

"Well, you can't be more than thirteen," she belittled me, making an effort to sound bored and unbothered.

"I'm sixteen."

"Aw, big girl," she sneered, condescendingly. "Next."

Allie - Wednesday, 12:15pm.

"God, what the hell is wrong with her?" Jessica was still steaming as we walked through the dining hall after ballet had ended.

I shrugged, because honestly I didn't know. I knew that she and Shay had talked more than once the previous day, both when we'd seen them at lunch, and sometime after, and Shay had nothing but good things to say. In class, she was nice to me. In fact, she was nice to everyone. Everyone, that was, except Jessica.