Miss Laurie
At dance the kids seem especially annoying.
Brooklyn is telling everyone she is going to have me teach her new steps and that she will be at a higher level than anyone else.
That little brat.
"Miss Laurie, I'm at the same level as Brooklyn. Why am I not getting new steps?" Reagan says.
She's probably one of my favorites, if I had any of course.
"No one is getting new steps!" I yell and that seems to quiet them down. "Now," I continue trying to sound calm "Brooklyn, why doesn't your mom like your steps?"
Brooklyn looks at me with such fear, it hurts.
I try to be nice. "Brooklyn, your a beautiful dancer, especially with those steps. Whatever your mom says is wrong." That should do it.
"Thanks Miss Laurie. You always know how to make things better."
Yup. Done.
"Reagan," I ask, "Where's your brother?" "Oh he got really bad food poisoning. He didn't go to school today."
Then I make them do leaps. I split up the Open kids from the Prelim kids and have them teach each other.
When the kids are getting water I say "Kids, my son Jackson is turing two on Saturday and I want all of you come."
"I'll go." Joe pipes up. He never talks.
"Just have your moms text me if you can come or not."
I have the kids line up, give them one of my famous pep talks. Those always seem to cheer them up.
Then we do some rally warmups and the kids are looking better than ever so I let them out early.
"Don't forget!" I say. "Saturday September 1. Ask your moms!"
Once again Reagan stays behind.
She asks me if I need any help carrying things to the car.
"Sure." I say.
While we're walking, she asks me "Did you have a lot of friends outside of dance wen you were my age?"
I'm kind of taken back when she says this, so abrupt and out of the blue.
"Well," I tell her "I tried but irish dance wasn't considered a cool thing in school. None of my dance friends went to my school, so it was hard to relate to anybody, but I'm sure if you try to find things in common with people you'll make the best of friends."
Wow. That was deep. For me.
Reagan looks pleased so I say good night.
"Thanks Miss Laurie." she says. "Bye."
YOU ARE READING
Where Dance Fits In
Short StoryThirteen year old Reagan Smith is an Open championship dancer at the O'Brien school of Irish dance. Her teacher, Ms. Laurie always encourages her students to do well. This story tells of how their two lives compare and how they deal with drama of t...
