Jasper's voice was like waiting for rain during a drought. You got excited when the clouds went grey, hoping the sky would open and quench your thirst. Even a cool breeze felt like a tease. Every time Jasper opened his mouth it was the same one sing...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Being a dancer means a lot of self-evaluation that mainly consists of mirrors and image. We dance in front of mirrors every day, making sure our turns are sharp, our toes pointed, and most importantly, that our stomachs look flat. That we are as weightless as we look. You want so badly to be beautiful, because that's what people came to see. Grace. Elegance. Beauty.
That wasn't something I worried about too often. I always felt secure in my image. But Nani Westbrook measured herself that way.
She was the friend with the strict diet. The one so hungry for perfection that she starved herself. But would you expect anything different from a group of girl like us?
The three girls who defied what beauty seemed to be.
We were the "It" girls.
Bee was the brains. She made intelligence look effortless and beautiful. She was blunt, unapologetic, the kind of girl whose confidence sparked envy in anyone who didn't have it. She was pretty enough to say the ugliest things and no one would think twice, because her bluntness was a part of her charm.
Nani was the beauty. She dazzled wherever she went. Growing up, she was a pageant girl who won too many titles to count. When she needed a new talent, she turned to ballet, and it soon became more than a pastime. It was another passion. She was the kindest of all of us. She spent weekends giving makeovers to homeless people for job interviews and was always the one to give us encouraging words before competitions. Nani was a competitor, but her competition was always with herself, always with her image.
And me? I accepted that I wasn't perfect. That my personality wasn't always the best. That I wasn't going to be the smartest. But dance, that was something I could be perfect at. Not because anybody told me I had to, but because I wanted to be.
Nani's mom had won Miss Universe twice. Growing up meant she carried the weight of those expectations, always compared to her mother. She started dancing later than the rest of us ten, while most had been in studios since six. But her mother plugged her straight into advanced lessons, believing that because she had the physique of a ballerina, she could fit in.
She stumbled a lot at first. Her blonde hair flew into her face every time she missed a landing. Honestly, that was probably why she missed. I always helped her back up. I became her friend on accident after one of her turns spun her straight into me. Dance wasn't natural at first, but after work, it became part of her. She still had the same morals, the same smile, the same diet.
"You should eat, Nani," I said.
She looked down at the box of donuts and shook her head. Bee rolled her eyes and grabbed another for herself.
Class hadn't started yet, and most people were still in the cafeteria. We sat on the bleachers stuffing our faces with donuts Bee had bought that morning. The boys ran drills across the field, and since Nani was dating the school's running back, our job as her friends was to sit with her so she didn't look lonely while he practiced.
"Come on, Nani, just a nibble." Bee waved the donut under her nose, teasing.
"Get that diabetes-infested food away from me."
"If you don't take at least one bite, Nani, I will shove it down your throat." Bee's tone wasn't playful. It was sharp, serious. And Nani knew it.
I felt like Bee was wasting her time. Even if Nani ate it, she'd just throw it up later. Nani rolled her eyes but finally took the tiniest bite. I'd seen ants take bigger bites.
"You're going to kill yourself if you keep this up, Nani," Bee said flatly.
Nani didn't reply. She plastered on a smile just as Zane and his idiot friend walked up. Zane kissed her quickly, while Lucas approached with his usual boyish grin.
"Well, if it isn't two of my favorite girls in the world," Lucas said, winking at Bee and hugging Nani lightly before turning to me. His grin widened. "And their hideous guard dog." He ruffled my hair. "Who's a good boy, huh? Who's a good boy?"
"Touch me again, Lucas, and I swear you'll regret it."
He only shrugged and stole a donut from the box.
I glared. My eyes burned into him with everything I had. He took a slow bite of the donut, then leaned closer, pointing his finger in a daring little poke.
Poke.
His finger jabbed my forehead.
I slapped the donut clean out of his hand.
That was Lucas and me. Our entire relationship was made of insults and jabs.
"Hey!" he barked.
"Jackass," I snapped.
Lucas smirked, trying to recover. "You're so angry, KP. You want my opinion?"
"No."
"Well, I'll tell you anyway. I think you need to get laid." He said it casually, grabbing another donut out of the box and taking a bite like it was nothing. "Seriously. Maybe then you'll loosen up. I mean, I'd offer myself, but you're not my type. The only person I can think of who'd give you a go is Finn."
The laughter hit instantly, echoing across the bleachers.
The sex idea landed like a slap.
It wasn't something I could joke about. And dragging Finn into it didn't make it better.
I shoved my books into my bag, no longer willing to sit there and be the butt of their jokes just because I wasn't chasing sex like the rest of them.
"I should get to class early," I said.
"You sure?" Nani asked softly. "We still have fifteen minutes."
Her smile stayed perfect, pageant-bright, like nothing had been said.
That was the difference between us.
Nani could fake her emotions until everyone believed her. I couldn't. My face betrayed me every time.
Lucas's grin faltered. His eyes softened for a second. "KP, don't be like that. You know I was just kidding. I didn't mean—"
"Yeah, I know." I cut him off. "You're a joke, Lucas. It's fine."
But it wasn't fine.
I grabbed my things and left without looking back.
