Dedicating Every Day to You

Chapter Forty-Seven

It's the first day of school, and I'm already nervous, but I've got a few things on my side that I didn't have last year. First of all, I already have my leotard and tights on under my jeans and shirt, so that all I have to do is slip on my dance shorts and I can take extra time to warm up. Because I'm in Level A ballet now (someone thought that was a good idea), I need every second of spare time I can get.

My cell phone buzzes, and I reach to check it. Of course, I trip on a pair of shorts that I left on the floor in my mad wardrobe scramble this morning, and go skidding along the floor, but I still manage to get to my phone.

i_am_a_poet: Hey Kat :)

ballyay: Hey Phil

i_am_a_poet: You excited for the first day of school?

ballyay: I am, I guess.

i_am_a_poet: Did you hear about the scavenger hunt?

ballyay: No!

i_am_a_poet: This weekend, there's an all-school scavenger hunt. You have to make a team of five players with an adult chaperone, and all day Saturday you have to follow clues all over town and stuff. There's a prize of a dinner gift card for each of the winners or something.

ballyay: Um, yes please. We should create a team and sign up!

i_am_a_poet: Sure! Find three other people.

i_am_a_poet: Btw, can I ask about your username?

ballyay: lol yeah. It's supposed to be a pun on the word 'ballet'.

i_am_a_poet: That makes sense. Gtg- see you at school!

I tuck my phone into my backpack and then run down the stairs. I just know that my dads would love to be a chaperone for the scavenger hunt!

********

The bright pink Scavenger Hunt Team sign-up sheet is staring me in the face when I walk out of ballet. I'm sweaty and exhausted from all of that dancing, and the idea of making a team prickles at the back of my mind. I grab the attached pen, but stop myself before I can write myself down. You kind of need an actual team for that.

Senor Rosario nods when I make my way into his class. "Sentarse, por favor." My brain has to work for a moment before I remember that sentarse means sit. I slide into a desk and finish pulling my hair into a ponytail. I still smell like sweat and wood finish and shoes, but at least I have jeans and a shirt on again. Leotards and tights are only nice when you're dancing.

I pull out the notebook John and Alex bought me for Spanish and flip it open to the first page. But instead of writing down the bonus words of the day (tonteria and recuerdo) like my classmates, I'm making a list of who would be good on my scavenger hunt team.

Harriet, of course. She's one of my best friends, and is really good at thinking rationally. And Theo- my other best friend, the best at spotting tiny things. Philip and I already agreed to be a team, and if there's anyone good with maps and planning where to go, it's him. It's a five person requirement, so I brainstorm who we can get to join us.

Before I know it, I've daydreamed the whole hour of class away, and when I scoot into lunch, there's only one free seat. Next to George London. I sigh and set my lunch box down. "Is this seat taken, whoops, it is now."

George laughs. "Hi, Kathryn." As usual, he is perfectly groomed, his hair gelled in an awkward wave. He's wearing a Sherlock shirt under an open red and blue flannel, with jeans and his Doctor Who sneakers. Essentially, he looks like BBC trash.