Nathan's Diary

Chapter 4: Reunited

The next day, when Nathan awoke, the song was still fresh in his mind, making him forget where he was for a second. But he soon remembered the move back to Ohio. Slowly, he got out of bed, Joanna's song making his limbs wobbly and making him fall back in.

"Of course." He murmured to himself. This time, he sat up and stayed that way for a minute before slowly shifting to a stand. After a few minutes of standing in front of his bed, doing nothing, he slowly started getting dressed for the day.

It was the middle of summer, meaning there was no school. This would be Nathan's first year in High School, and he was thankful that school didn't start up for another couple weeks.

Later that day, as Nathan was being driven to dance class by his mom, he kept having butterflies in his stomach because of how nervous he was. Would anybody remember him? Would he be a Novice still? Would he be behind his classmates or ahead? These questions, he kept asking himself all the way there.

"I hope we're in the same class." Xander said as they walked inside, trailed by their mom. "Yeah." Nathan agreed before going silent. "Hi!" Said a slightly familiar voice. The woman walked in front of their mom and introduced herself as Miss Scarlett, the head teacher at Irish Dance Academy.

"Hi, my name is Karli and these are my two sons Nathan and Xander." Their mom replied. "I remember you two from before you moved." Ms. Scarlett commented. "They are both Novice Dancers now." Mrs. Hughes explained. "Would you mind keeping them at that level?" "Of course not!" Ms. Scarlett responded enthusiastically. "Class is just about to start." Nathan glanced at his younger brother, before slowly walking inside with Xander trailing behind.

"So, as you can see, we have some returning students." Ms. Scarlett explained once the class had calmed down. "Yes, Natalie?" "I don't recognize them." The girl said, putting her hand down.

The girl (presumably Natalie) had shoulder length black hair, dark brown eyes, and a darker skin tone.

Nathan and Xander walked to the end of the line and hung out in the back until the water break. Then, once they split up into their classes after they all did their Reel (twice), Nathan noticed a girl who looked unusually familiar to him.

She had long black hair, emerald green eyes just like him, and a lighter skin tone.

"Today, we're going to work on a Two-Hand because why not, so find a partner." The girl up front said.

She had long rose red hair, dark brown eyes that looked almost black, and had a tanner skin tone.

The other girl came up to him and asked if he wanted to be partners. Shyly, Nathan nodded and inwardly wondered who she was and why she looked so familiar to him.

"So you start with your hands caught down." Instructed the girl, who was probably a student teacher. Xander raised his hand. "Yes, uhh.." The girl started, awkwardly. "Xander." Xander said. "Xander." The girl finished. "What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?" Xander asked. "I'm Rosa, Ms. Scarlett's daughter." The girl explained. "I'm the teacher of the novice class."

"Then, on three, raise your hands into Ceili position." Rosa explained. "Then, skip five, six, seven, eight, and face your partner on one."

"Catch your partners right hand on two," Rosa said after they were all in position. "And then skip three, four, five, six, seven, face your partner on eight. Let's try just that part." They did what they learned of the dance and had soon moved on to the next part.

"Now, catch your partner's left hand on one." Rosa explained. "Lift your arms into an arch on two, and gents will spin their partner to the right on three."

"Okay, so we need to get into Hard Shoe, so we will learn more next week. Go change your shoes." Rosa said after they tried the whole thing twice.

As Nathan changed into his Hard Shoes, he heard a familiar voice. He glanced around, but he couldn't find the source of the voice. "Are you okay?" Xander asked, softly. "I'm fine." Nathan responded. "I just thought I heard something, that's all." "Okay." Xander replied after a moment.

"Okay, Hornpipe." Rosa said, after everyone was back inside the classroom. "Nathan, Xander, just do the ones you know for now, alright?" Nathan nodded while Xander decided to hide behind him instead.

I'm a slow in Hornpipe. Nathan remembered.

"First two." Rosa called. Two girls, who Nathan heard Rosa call Mila and Danielle, walked up.

Mila had dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and had a tanner skin tone.

Danielle had dark brown hair, bright green eyes, and had a slightly tanner skin tone.

Once they were done, the girl and Natalie walked up. Two shorter girls walked up when they were done. The taller one of the two had shoulder length red hair, royal blue eyes (which Nathan didn't even realize was possible), and light skin. The other girl had long black hair, gray eyes, and a tanner skin color.

Finally, Nathan and Xander went up. Rosa counted them in, since they were used to a different type of Hornpipe music.
Once they were all done dancing, they started on Treble Jigs. Nathan was a slow in Treble Jig as well, and so was Xander.

The Traditional dancers went first. That girl and Mila went first. Then Natalie and Danielle. Finally, the other two girls went. Then, Rosa changed the music and counted Nathan and Xander in again.

When class was over, the girl walked up to him. "Hey, you're Nathan Hughes, right?" She asked. "Yeah." Nathan replied, not looking up from his shoes, as he was tying them. "Why?" "I'm Joanna Lavender."

-

Finally have this chapter done! I've put up like four or five different stories today, but I guess my creative juices are flowing strong right now.