Practice Makes Perfect (Completed)

Chapter 8

The morning after the ballet contest, Allison was back in the gym, practicing tricks on the balance beam.

"Watch your form. You're going a little too quick, and you aren't paying attention to your alignment." her coach critiqued. "Run it again."

Ans so Allison did. It was somewhat comforting to be back on the beam, where she knew what she was doing. A bit repetitive perhaps, and not as spontaneous as the dancing, but she was back in her comfort zone, and that was what mattered.

"It's called the balance beam for a reason Allison. Work on that balance." her coach snapped.

Allison's coach was a sharp eyes woman with a passion for the sport and not a lot of patience. Allison knew from experience that it was better to listen to her than to face her wrath. SHe refocused her efforts on staying balanced.

About halfway through her routine, one of the other teachers walked up to Mrs. Harding, Allison's instructor. Monitoring their conversation as difficult as she continued her routine, but from what Allison could understand, it was not a happy conversation.

"Allison, finish the routine. Ted'll watch the rest of it in case you fall. When you finish, do some free work. I'll be back in a  minute."

"I should really--" Ted protested.

"Stay here. I'll handle them."

Mrs. Harding walked away, and Allison was moving too quickly to really tell where she she went. That left her with only a few moves left in her routine, and some quality time to spend with Ted.

The last few moves seemed to fly by, and she was dismounting before it really entered her mind to prepare. Combining her lack of readiness with her general distaste for that part of the routine caused her to slip as she landed, and left her lying on her butt on the mat.

"I thought you were good." Ted mentioned as he helped her to her feet. Allison didn't think he was funny, but she smiled anyways.

Seeing as her most recent dismount was a disaster, Allison decided to work on dismounts during her free practice time. She started simple, with a couple of beginners dismounts to help her get her feet under her, and moved on to some of the more complex ones. SHe had just stuck the landing on a dismount twice as complex as the one in her routine when she was interrupted.

"Very impressive, Miss Allison."

She turned to see a man and a woman, both in suits, and both carrying briefcases. In her leotard, Allison felt not only under-dressed, but also overexposed.

"Thanks." she said anyways.

"Would you mind if my partner and I spoke to you for a couple of minutes?" the woman said, gesturing to the stoic man beside her.

Allison glanced at Mrs. Harding, she had trailed the pair into the gym. SHe didn't look happy, but she shrugged.

Even so, Allison didn't think they had anything to talk about. "I really have to work on my gymnastics. Maybe some other time?"

"It will only take a moment, I guarantee." the woman said.

"A minute I spend with you is one I don't spend on the beam, so I'll still have to decline."

"Its about that little girl you're always with. Tabitha, or something like that."

Allison's heart dropped. Tabithas health had never been perfect, but she had always figured she had a couple of months left until she got some bad news. It seemed far too unexpected and far too soon to have such from faced people to tell her something had gone wrong. Allison took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst.

"Okay,"she finally agreed to speak with them. "Just let me put something on over my leotard."

"We'll be waiting in the lobby." The woman said.

Allison went over to her stuff, reminding herself that Tabitha had lived a good life, even if it was short. She was determined not to cry on front of the strangers, which she had done for the last five times she had gotten this news. Sometimes she wondered if volunteering for the foundation was really the best option for her.

She threw on some sweats and a sweatshirt over her leotard. She looked like a mess, but at least it wasn't as revealing as the leotard. She resolved herself to the idea of bad news, and went to meet the people in suits.

They were standing stiffly by the entrance to the gym, in a waiting room full of mothers and toddlers waiting for the beginner class to start. Allison gestured for them to follow her into the ballet office.

It was a small administrative room not really meant to hold three, but just big enough for all of them when Allison moved to sit cross legged on the desk. If she hadn't been coming to the gym for so many years, it might have been awkward to sit on their furniture, but Allison had sat on the old desk more times than she could count.

It was where she always got her bad news.

"So tell me about Tabitha."

"My partner and I," the woman gestured to the man traveling with her, "represent a ballet training gym, and we wanted to discuss your performance yesterday."

Allison blinked. Without thinking, she pulled the hairtie out of her ponytail and started to braid her hair.

"So she's not..."She trailed off, uncertain how to finish that sentence. "She's alright? You're not from the foundation?"

"Well we are well associated with the United Ballet Association."

Allison shook her head in disbelief. These people weren't here to tell her about Tabitha. They were here to recruit Tabitha.

"Well I guess I can get you in contact with Tabitha if you want. You probably should just have gone through the foundation though."

The woman waved a hand dismissively. "Sure, I guess the toddler can tag along. But we are really here to talk about you. "

Allison retied her hairtie. "Me?"

"Absolutely. We saw you on stage and we really think that with a little practice, you could be on track to win the state meet in six months."

Allison resisted the urge to laugh. "You've gotta have the wrong person. I was a disaster on stage."

"You won most outstanding performance, didn't you? "

"Well, I..."Allison didn't want to admit that the award was given out of pity for Tabitha. What if she ever heard that Allison had said that?

"We want to give you free lessons, and free entrance into the state competition. We think you have a good chance of winning, and that could really put your life on a track to excellence. Maybe even prima ballerina, someday."

"I'm not a dancer. I'm a gymnast."

"You have the balance for point work, the strength for lifts, the body control for intricacies and the confidence for leaps." The woman praised her. "You may not be a dancer yet, but in a week you could be a damn good one."

Allison shook her head. "All the same, I think I'll stick to gymnastics. Dancing is Tabithas dream, not mine."

"But-"

"No, I'm really sure about this. I've always been a gymnast, and that's the way it's going to stay."

"At least take our card." The woman pressed a business card into Allison's hand, leaving her little choice in the matter. "Please, call us if you change your mind. You have potential, and it would be a shame to waste it."

Allison stuffed the card into her pocket. "I find that unlikely."

Allison returned to the balance beam and she had no intention of ever leaving it.