(formerly all my love) Sean and Kaycee are best friends. They're incredible dancers. As they try begin to navigate the water of teen love, an unspeakable event occurs that leaves the two shellshocked and fighting to hold onto each other as they also...
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He swiped his ID to enter the building, but didn't get far until he was stopped. "SEAN LEW!" A screeching voice called out, interrupting him from his pursuit. "Oh, uh, hey Ms. McMurray," he said, sidestepping the school's beloved director of every musical and every play to ever hit the BV stage, ever. She was approaching her late 70's but acted like she was still in her 20s, not the roaring 20s, and she was sharper than the knives Sean's mom kept in the kitchen and never used. "Now, Sean, I was thinking, I had some ideas for the fall musicale and now is a perfect time to go over them-" he cut her off as he exploded into a faked coughing fit. "My god, Sean! Are you alright?"
"I'm great," he said, now even better that his way out had worked. "Just have a headache. Think it's something in this air. You know what? I had, uh, left my allergy meds in my bag in the dance studio," he said, thinking on his feet. "I'm just gonna run back and get it. Bye, Ms. McMurray!"
"Well, oh, bye Mr. Lew!" She trilled as she turned and swept her arms as she did so, fluttering her Bohemian garments across the halls. Sean exhaled loudly, running his hands through his hair as he heaved a sigh of relief. He turned around and quickly ran up the stairs to Studio A, the old Home Ec Center that had been restored when the Arts took control of the building into a full on dance center, with bars, mats, ribbons, speakers, and a box of well-worn (but still helpful) shoes that was nestled next to a freezer with icepacks, a fridge with water and some power bars, and a small shelf with Tylenol, muscle rollers, and a sheet for signing up for classes. Sean knew the school's studio like the back of his heart. There were other smaller rooms open during some free periods where the kids would go on their breaks to take some classes on different levels offered by some of McMurray's coworkers, but Studio A was the only one open from 7:30-2 for recreational student use. Only one catch: you had to have an Arts code on your ID, but that was no problem for him and it shouldn't have been for her.
Faint tones of a song he recognized drifted through the door and he swung it open. And there she was.
In all her glory, Kaycee Rice was completing rapid pirouettes as the music heightened and the second he stepped past the doorframe, she launched into an Arabian jump, arching her back, throwing her head back, and splitting her legs, looking like a gazelle caught midjump, frozen forever in a picture frame. His eyes widened as time seemed to stop, and as quickly as the moment began, she spun in midair, and landed on the ground, on her quads that were splayed apart, her arms thrown behind her, her head up, eyes closed, and hair that was now curly, plastered against her face in sweat.
After Bio, I'd snuck away to the Studio A Sean had always raved about, and it had been something I had wanted to see for myself as soon as I got to BVHS, but PreCalc (darn the advances that being homeschooled gave you...if you ever wanted to dance first, you could!!) had gotten in the way. As soon as I stepped in, I realized Sean was right, and in that moment (it sounds cheesy, I know!!) but I felt I had stepped into his world and out of mine. A tiny step, really, but it was one in the right direction. Of course I was close to Sean. He's been my dance partner for over 8 years now, and he's also my best friend, so of course we share this unbreakable bond of trust and so many memories, and he knows me better than my brother and sister do, probably, and I him, but this...this was just different. It was like finally jumping over a wall I've always wanted to get over. I finally knew how Sean spent his days when he wasn't with me. And I didn't want to get in his way, but I wanted to adapt his way.
