The Girl With The Purple Giraffe

Worms, Tacos and Dancing

"Go away." Jade snarled at me and then turning her attention back to her coffee.

Beck slapped me on the back, "Rob's fine here Jade, stop being so anti-social"

I tried hard not to flinch.

"Are you eating a taco?" Cat asked curiously, poking my shoulder.

"Yeah, can't beat tacos" I replied nervously, I never knew what to say around people that weren't my family.

"Uh huh" Cat nodded, "My brother has a friend called Paco!" she told us all, smiling.

Andre just nodded, "That's nice Lil' Red"

Cat shook her head, "Not really, Paco doesn't like tacos. He should because his name rhymes with them!"

Beck's eyes brows shot up quizzically, "So if someone's name rhymes with something, they should like it?"

Cat nodded back seriously, "It would be rude not to"

I looked round the table everyone else looked confused as well, apart from Jade who was staring menacingly at me.

"W-what?"

She grinned and threw a handful of dirt at me; it missed and landed on Cat.

"Aah!" Cat squealed, leaping up and brushing dirt off her pants, then she went pale, "Jade there are worms in this dirt!"

"I know" Jade looked pleased, "Treat them well now."

"Jade!" Beck yelled, "You just chucked worms on your best friend!" he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Oh no…" Cat groaned, she stopped jigging up and down.

"What?" Andre asked, looking anxious.

Cat's like his little sister to him.

"There's a worm in my bra!" she shrieked, causing everyone in the lunch area to stare at us.

Beck, Andre and I all looked at Jade.

"What now?" she snapped.

"Help her get the worm out her bra!" Beck nudged her.

Jade smirked, "I think Robbie would love to help Cat with that."

I felt myself go bright red at the thought of putting my hand in Cat's bra…no.

Whaaaat? Is she being serious?

"No I wouldn't!" I protested.

Jade inspected her nails, "Are you sure? Because last time I checked, Robert also rhymes with pervert and that seems to fit you perfectly."

"I'm going to the bathroom!" Cat yelped, running into the school, clutching her top.

"That was kind of mean" Andre folded his arms.

Jade glared at him and Andre looked scared.

"This is something I'm totally fine with." He immediately said.

I got up, "I'll go find her" I sighed.

. . .

"Hi…" Cat greeted me in a distracted tone, picking pieces of mud off her top.

"Hey…how are the worms doing?" I joked.

She scowled at me, "I put them outside, they made my clothes all dirty" she sounded sad.

"Haven't you got any other clothes to change into?"" I asked in incredulous tone.

I forget that I'm probably the only one who brings a change of clothes into school.

Well I did at my old school, just in case I was shoved in a bin.

Cat smiled, "I've got stuff for dance! I got a leotard!"

She pulled a black leotard out of her locker and held it up triumphantly.

"Are you sure that's just for dance?" Rex asked in a sneery tone.

He was basically implying that she was some sort of slut or something.

Cat looked upset, "Yes! Just dance!" she snapped.

I was surprised that she actually knew what Rex meant, being so innocent.

Cat obviously read my mind because she snapped at me again, "I'm not stupid! I know what he meant"

She smiled again, "Did you sign up for dance Robbie?"

"Andre's signing up to meet girls so I'll probably go too" I replied eagerly.

Maybe just a little too eager.

"That's so desperate" Cat stated, giggling, clearly oblivious that it kind of hurt my feelings.

She touched my arm, "I was only joking!" she squeaked, "No offense. Hey Robbie?"

"Huh?

"Do guys wear leotards too?"

I hadn't thought of that.

That would be extremely embarrassing.

I would look so pathetic next to Andre in a leotard.

"I'm not wearing one" I decided out loud.

Cat just laughed.

. . .

"Rob, you excelled yourself, you made friends with a red head ditz, congratulations" Rex applauded, voice laced with sarcasm as we both watched Cat try to teach Andre how to perform a lift.

Yep, I'm in dance.

Cat's the only girl who came for some reason, lots of the girls like street dance.

For some reason ballet isn't popular.

It's probably to do the with the teacher.

Man is she crazy.

"Cat, I have no idea what you're talking about" Andre sighed.

"You have to lift your partner in the dance to get a good grade!" she protested, sighing.

Cat was going round helping all the groups perfect their dances.

She was the most experience in the room and the teacher had gone off her rocker. She was currently yelling at a wall.

"Kay Robbie!" Cat bounced back over to me, "Let's work on our routine!"

We were given steps to follow but you had to adapt it to make the dance your own.

"Leap Robbie!" Cat flicked one hand in the air to animate her sentence.

I leapt.

Twisted my ankle and fell.

Ow.

"Oh my." Cat groaned, helping me up, "Are you ok?"

I gasped as soon as I put pressure on my foot, "I think I'm going to die" I answered dramatically.

"Can you die after we've been graded? Please Robbie? This is really important to me!" Cat begged, kneeling to inspect my ankle, "Oh…it's purple…" she bit her lip and delicately poked my foot, "How did you do that?"

I winced as she prodded it again, "Ow Cat…"

"Sorry!" she apologised immediately, her face suddenly lit up, "I know!"

"Know what?" I snapped and then stopped.

I looked down at Cat who kissed my ankle, "What are you doing?" I asked, I couldn't help but smile as she looked up innocently.

"Kissing your ankle better, now get off your butt and dance boy!"