Dancing with the Devil ✔️

12

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D A N C I N G
WITH     THE
D   E   V   I   L 
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"Oh, Julia!" Sara wailed, as she headed in my direction. "I just heard about your accident. Will you be able to dance tonight?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," I abruptly assured her.

"Are you sure?" she asked, exhibiting what looked like a semblance of sympathy. "I wondered if you might be out of action! That would be such a shame after all your hard work!"

"Nothing will keep me off that stage tonight, Sara!" I declared in a determined voice.

"I thought it would have to be something terrible for you not to perform," Sara responded. "After all, you're pretty much the star of the show, of the dance segments anyway."

"Sara, you have the lead role in our dance now, but regardless, it's a team effort and I think everyone will be stars tonight," I stated firmly.

I really wasn't in the mood for her games and hidden meanings. I just wanted to focus on getting organized and right then, I had a splitting headache and a really stiff and sore knee.

"By the way," Sara added. "Miss Fitz wants to see you. It's about the headbands for the girls' hair that you were meant to bring with you today."

"The headbands?" I asked, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of my stomach.

"Yeah," Sara replied. "Remember I gave you the message from Miss Fitz yesterday afternoon? She arranged for your neighbor to do some last minute sewing and you were meant to bring them with you to school today."

"Sara, I don't remember you telling me that," I said, looking at her in complete puzzlement.

"You'd better go and see Miss Fitz," she replied. "She's freaking out in there because a lot of people haven't followed through with various commitments that they're responsible for. Miss Fitz and Miss Sheldon are complaining that some of the committee members should have been more organized."

Approaching her office apprehensively, I could see as I entered that Miss Fitz appeared quite stressed. "Miss Fitz," I stammered hesitatingly. "Sara said that you wanted to see me."

"Julia, please tell me that you brought those head pieces to school with you today?" We need them to keep the girls' hair pinned back. That dance that you choreographed for them has their hair flopping around everywhere and this is the last finishing touch."

"I know they need them, Miss Fitz but I wasn't aware that I was responsible for collecting them."

Just as she was about to take a deep breath and probably let fly with an angry retort, I asked if I could use the phone to call my mom. "She should be able to call in and pick them up," I explained hopefully.

"OK, and please be quick, there's still lots to do!"

Sighing with relief, I put the phone down a few minutes later. Mom had agreed to get the head pieces. I just prayed that our neighbor was at home. I knew that she usually headed off to visit her sister on Friday afternoons and often stayed there for dinner. But hopefully she might have left them out for someone to collect.

I crossed my fingers and sneaked out of the office, deciding that I should stay out of the way of my drama teacher. But I understood how stressful the whole situation was. Organizing something that was the magnitude of our school musical was a mammoth task and any number of things could go wrong.

Thinking again of Sara's words, I tried to recall her mentioning the message the day before but had no memory of it whatsoever. "Am I really becoming that forgetful?" I wondered. "Or is there just too much on my mind right now?"

As I thought about it some more, desperately searching through my memory banks, I could not bring myself to recollect Sara giving me the message from Miss Fitz.

Looking in Sara's direction, I could see her in a corner of the hall, laughing with Blake and some of the other boys. They were obviously enjoying her company and she was definitely thriving on the attention they were giving her.

She must have felt my eyes on her because she abruptly glanced my way and then with a little smirk, turned her back on me to refocus on the group of boys once more.

A feeling of doubt started to weave its way through my mind and tingles of apprehension began to build. Trying to force the worried thoughts away, I headed towards Millie and a group of other girls who were busy with the list of jobs that still had to be done.

Still absorbed in my thoughts, I failed to notice a wooden box that had been left lying in the middle of the floor. It was only small and the tawny brown color blended in with the floorboards beneath it. I didn't realize it was there until it was too late and I felt myself suddenly being propelled into mid-air. Desperately trying to regain my balance, I let out a loud yelp. This is something I have a bad habit of doing and rather than avoiding attention, it always alerts everyone around me. Of course, this occasion, was no different from any other and my squeal of fright drew all eyes towards me.

Landing heavily on top of the box, I could not stop the tears that began to flow down my cheeks. The humiliation and embarrassment of everyone staring at me and rushing to see if I was ok, was just too much to bear; that and the sharp pain that was added to my already throbbing leg. But the worst part of all was Sara's voice over all the others, "Oh my gosh, Julia! What is wrong with you today? I hope you don't fall over in our dance tonight! Are you sure you're going to be alright to perform?"

Throwing a black look in her direction, I didn't trust myself to reply for fear of bursting into a crying fit and embarrassing myself even more.

As Millie helped me to my feet and then to a nearby chair, the feeling of overwhelm that had engulfed me was like a bottomless pit I was frantically trying to climb out of.

The day I had been looking forward to for so long, had gone from bad to worse and I desperately hoped that no more terrible things would happen!