Not A Small Town Girl (dance moms and magcon)

Chapter 5

My first period class is gym. When I was younger, I used to love gym. It was my favorite class. But after this entire week of playing kickball and ultimate frisbee, I'm done. Hastily, I rush to adjust my grey running shorts and untuck my grey tshirt. As I walk out of the balmy locker room, I feel a tug on my arm.

"Groufit, much?" Kalani stands behind me.

"It was the only tshirt I could find," I say moving out of the locker room.

Kalani shakes her head slightly and we both walk into the gym. PE was the one class you could have with every grade. First period gym was mostly split into freshmen and sophomores though with just a few juniors and seniors. Kalani had said we were lucky to get first period gym because then we wouldn't look disgusting in front of upperclassmen boys. But I was just thinking that we would look sweaty and smell for the rest of the day. Turns out, gym isn't one of those classes you actually try in, and if you do, people just call you a tryhard.

"Oh my god. What is she wearing?" Kalani makes her notorious irritated face.

"A tank top and yoga pants?" I answer, looking over at our gym teacher, Ms. Petrolla.

"She's a fucking gym teacher! She should be in baggy sweats with a whistle around her head. Not a hot pink thong and see through yoga pants that say hey can I blow your whistle, I seem to be missing mine?" Kalani shouts but keeps her voice low enough so no one hears.

"Maybe that's all she could find in her closet?" I suggest, trying to cut Ms. Petrolla some slack.

"Oh, please," Kalani says rolling her eyes, "A groufit's one thing, what she's wearing, mnmm, that is no mistake."

I shrug. The bell rings signaling the start of the period. I slowly drift away from Kalani, looking for my designated spot.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asks from behind me.

"Going to my spot," I explain while still walking.

"No, no, no, no. Get back over here," she demands.

I hesitate.

"Come on. Nobody actually sits in their assigned spot on the floor, this isn't kindergarten," Kalani says, waving me over one last time. I follow her orders as always and walk back. I hope Ms. Petrolla doesn't notice.

"Okay, guys! Today we start the dancing unit!" Ms. Petrolla announces and there are a few hoots and hollers but most people just look like they wanna shoot themselves.

"Oh don't worry, Skate, it's not that bad!" Ms. Petrolla addresses a boy who is definitely either a junior or a senior. He's tall and looks kind of scary.

"See, why does she have to do that," Kalani whispers in my ear. I just shrug again.

"So, for the dancing unit, everyone will be in partners. That means two people and only two, not three, not four, not five, okay?" she goes on.

"Hey! Ms. Petrolla, will you be my partner?" the lone shout comes from a group of boys huddled in the back right of the gym.

Ms. Petrolla smiles, kindly rejects the offer, and continues, "Pick one person to work with and then get that dance started. They will be performed next Friday, so get to it!"

Immediately I look over at Kalani just to see that she's already giving me the 'we got this' look. Obviously we were going to be partners. Together, we would easily dominate this unit without even trying.

"Oh! I forgot!" Ms. Petrolla grabs our attention again, "Your partner must be of the opposite sex."

"Of course," Kalani scoffs.