Pirouette

9: Can't Touch It

Monday morning, Fiona was in a rush to get to school. She had overslept again and had to hurry through her whole morning routine. Breakfast was out of the question.

"Oh, honey! Don't forget your lunch," Her mom called from the kitchen as Fiona rushed towards the door. She reluctantly halted and turned around.

"Oh, right..."

Her mom came up to her with her lunch bag. She smiled at her, and Fiona tightly returned it. "I feel like I hardly see you these days. You're always so busy running about."

"It's the audition, mom," Fiona reminded her and grabbed her lunch. "I'm rehearsing."

"I know you are, but it better not be affecting your school. I want to see your report card this week," She told and gave her a sharp look. "Anything below C's and I'm putting a curfew on you."

Fiona felt a hit to her stomach, like a cramp of angst catapulted from her throat to her abdomen. If she got a curfew, she couldn't dance... "Mom!"

"No discussions," She warned, then snapped her finger. "Off to school now, don't miss the bus."

Sighing and clenching her fists in frustration, Fiona left and rushed down the street.

With all the extra work she and Adam had been doing, she hadn't had much time to study. She wasn't a bad student, but she could maybe have done more for her grades lately. It all just didn't seem that important when the auditions were two weeks away.

Again, Fiona felt a sudden suck in her stomach. The pressure was building and it was making her want to vomit. If she failed both school and botched her audition... then it all would've been for nothing, and she would have nothing to fall back on.

Taking a shaky breath, she decided to get some homework done today during their breaks. Even if just a few minutes here and there, she would do her best to get it crammed in.

She wasn't sure she could survive disappointing both of her parents. 

~~~

After school, Fiona arrived at the DanceDec to find a booming blast of music coming from one studio alone. Usually there were twelve different kinds of music playing from all the studios, but today it all seemed to be coming from just one. Fiona frowned and looked up to see everyone piling into the largest studio.

"There you are! Just in time!"

Fiona turned and found Adam rushing up to her with a grin on his face. He grabbed her arm and wordlessly started dragging her along with him.

"What's going on?" She asked when they rushed up the stairs, Adam and everyone else clearly worked up about something.

"It's dance circle time," He told and grinned as the people around him met him with hollers and quick clasps on his shoulder. It was like he knew everyone there.

"What's dance circle?" Fiona enquired.

Adam turned and broadened his lips into a full grin. "Remember when we first met? The shopping cart, the whole dance-thing?"

Fiona nodded. How could she forget? She thought that was him and his crew, but now after getting to know him, she realized they were just his friends here from the Dec.

"We do a dance circle every Monday," He told, now wedging them through the hoard of people who were also trying to get into the studio. The music was so loud, he almost had to shout to mask it. "We all gather around in a circle to dance our asses off! If you're invited into the circle, you gotta bust!"