Ballet Shoes: Next Gen

VII

We're in the last third of the book now. The main series is almost over. Please note the following characters who are mentioned/make their first appearance's pronouns: Duri (he/him) , Shelby (star/starself) , Xavier (pup/pupself)

Also this chapter picks up after a timeskip to the end of Kenny's time at university.

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Third Person's P.O.V.

Kenny began to do the final sequence of pirouettes of Diane's variation from La Esmeralda when he heard a commotion in another room of the flat. The sudden noise threw him off and caused him to come out of the final pirouette a little heavy on his working leg. That knocked his balance off and Kenny nearly fell over when he struck the final pose.

"What are they doing out there?" Kenny thought, as he sat down to take off his pointe shoes.

His question was quickly answered as Duri, one of his flatmates and fellow mechanical engineering major with Henri, burst into the room. Vince, Shelby and Marnie came in close behind him.

"Results are out!" Duri yelled, fumbling with his phone to unlock it before showing him his confirmation of graduating with all credits necessary for his degree.

"Wait, what?" Kenny asked, looking up at his friends from his position on the floor.

"You need to check your email, now!" Shelby said.

"Star is right," Vince said, backing her girlfriend up, "We need to know how well you did."

"I bet you got top of our year in dance performance," Marnie said, pushing up gems glasses that had slipped down her nose during the rush over here.

"O-okay," Kenny stammered as he stood up to grab his phone from the on top of the speaker he left it on.

"The anticipation is killing me," Duri said as everyone sat down in a circle on the floor.

"Wait!" Shelby exclaimed, "Do the others know that results are out? Where are they?"

"Last I checked, Ming-Yue is out with her girlfriend, Emery was going to get their nails done and Henri accompanied Xavier to pick up pups new wheelchair," Vince answered, not missing a beat.

Shelby blinked twice before saying, "I did not expect such a detailed response from you, Vince."

"Excuse me?!?!" they replied, mocking that he was offended.

"You two can playfully insult each other later," Marnie said, "What did you get Kenny?"

"I..." Kenny trailed off as he stared down at his phone screen, a pressure building up behind his green eyes.

"You...?" Duri asked, prompting the brunette to continue.

A big, bright smile made itself at home on Kenny's face as a few tears fell. Marnie, Vince, Shelby and Duri made noises of celebration at that. Duri much louder than the others.

"I need to call my dad."

-page break-

Kenny bounced his leg up and down as he waited for his dad to pick up the phone. Each ring from the device practically mocked him. This was the tenth time he's tried to call Ben. In hindsight, Kenny really should've tried to his mom first given how busy his dad can be. He was too far into it now though. Kenny wanted Ben to be the first family member he shared the news with. It was only fair after all since he kept his father in the dark for so long.

"Hey buddy," Ben said as the video call finally connected.

"Hi dad," Kenny replied with a smile.

"Someone looks happy," Ben observed, "Does that mean what I hope it means?"