My Lucky Charm

Chapter Three:Astrid-London

"And one, two, three and one, two, three and one, two, three..." our Latin teacher counted endlessly for almost three hours. I was tired, especially because I didn't fall asleep until late last night. I was studying for my exam, the history of ballet and I hated ballet. I wasn't exactly born to be a prima ballerina as I was too short so I hated everything about the dancing style. I was more of a Latin/Tango/anything-but-ballet dancer.

"And one, two, three and one, two, three..." my Latin teacher continued. Usually Latin was my favorite class, but today I wasn't in the mood to rumba. I was grumpy and I blamed it on my exams.

 "Come, John, lift her up. She is not your sister. Touch her hip and lift her up!" Mrs. Jones instructed my partner, John. I giggled. John was always so gentle with me, as if he threw me or pushed me hard enough I would break. He was my best friend and my dance partner for every class. He was two years older than me, like nearly every other student in my class. We practised together and had seen each other reach our physical and emotional limits with all the pressure of the academy. John lifted me up, and as he put me back down, his finger brushed the swell of my breast before he put his hand back to my lower back as the choreography instructed. He looked into my eyes and blushed.

 "What is it, John? Didn't you like what you touched?" I teased him as he blushed even more. I giggled.

 "Astrid, concentrate." Mrs. Jones said firmly.

 "Yes ma'am." I answered and I concentrated, following the choreography.

We had been practicing for almost a month and we weren't even close into finishing the routine. Ten students, including myself, had been chosen to participate in a dance show, which meant a great honor for the academy and for our future, but also meant no more free Saturdays for two whole months. I can't even remember what John said to me to convince me to accept the proposal.

 The practice continued exactly as it had started with our teacher counting, and ended with our teacher speaking to us.

"Thank you, guys. We're going very well. We're very close to the end and I'm sure your performance will be great. For those of you who practice in the O.P today, I want to wish you good luck. You can go now."

 We left the studio.

 "Are you nervous?" John asked.

 "For what?" I replied.

 "You know, for the Open Practice today. It's your first routine."

 "I'm more excited than nervous, actually." I said. Every year our school organizes a Gala to show our sponsors our talents. Fourteen other dance students and I were the dancing crew that was going to perform in the gala and perform five different songs that we choreographed. Every month we performed in front of our professors, in order for them to decide which routine would be at the gala, which was the Open Practice or O.P. Today for the first time it was my responsibility to prepare a routine for our crew and I was seriously starting to doubt my song choice. ‘Isn't she lovely’ wasn't exactly a dance song but I really believed that it would make a difference to the professors, and I secretly wanted to become a choreographer one day.

 After the Latin session we went to the cafeteria where I tried to drink a soda. I was so nervous about my history test that nothing went down, while John ate most of the cafeteria. I had known him since I got accepted here (we met at the auditions) and I have never seen him not being stuffed with food, he was always hungry. I smiled when he pushed me to eat a slice of pizza, sometimes he was like the older brother that I never had.

After lunch we went to write the history test, which I think I did okay on. Maybe a B or a B+, which is good enough for me.

 As the time for the O.P. came closer, I was becoming increasingly nervous. When my routine was performed, we danced our best and then the professors left the theatre to decide on the chosen routines. I tried to think about the things that had gone wrong in my routine during our performance, but I couldn't think of any, everything had worked out fine. I really hoped they chose my routine to be performed at the gala.

 When the professors came back we discussed the flaws and the best parts of the other routines but nobody mentioned my routine. When the professors turned to leave I couldn't help myself.

 "What about my routine? Was it that bad that it wasn't worth discussing?"

 "No, Astrid, the opposite. Your routine is the first of the five routines to be presented at the gala. That's why we didn't discuss it. Congratulations. Nice song choice." the principal said.

 It took me a moment to realize what had happened. My routine was chosen for the gala. Happiness. Joy. I smiled so hard that I thought my face was going to split into two pieces. Everyone congratulated me and John lifted me up and twisted me around. When he put me down he kissed me on the cheek, which made me blush, and whispered in my ear.

 "Congrats, Star." Star was John's pet name for me. "You deserve it."

 Edited By @Debbi_theChocEditor