Something Like Romeo and Juliet

Chapter 28

"Step...step...step, step, step!"

Miss Pullen tapped her foot to the music, clapping her hands along with each barked command.

Daisy and I bent over to catch our breath as the music ended.

Daisy collapsed to the wood floor. "Forget pull ups. They should make the soldiers take dance lessons as training."

I collapsed next to her. "I now know to never get roped into dancing in Latin America."

Miss Pullen was suddenly hovering over us with a stern expression. "Up, girls! Off the floor!" She kicked my ankle when I didn't move at first. "Up, up, up! Mr. Balanchine never gave pity and neither do I!"

"I thought you said she was really nice," whispered Daisy as she shakily stood up with me.

"She gets like this on days when she's just watched Dance Moms re runs," I whispered back.

I felt a little bad that I had roped Daisy into subbing for Robbie at my dance lesson. Robbie apparently had some kind of flu, but Miss Pullen was insistent that I needed all the lessons I could get if I wanted to perfect the Mambo by the Verona Ball.

"Miss Pullen?" I prompted timidly. "Isn't this a Cuban dance?"

"Yes it is, why?" Miss Pullen responded absentmindedly.

"Well, um, Verona...it's in Italy."

"I'm perfectly aware of that," Miss Pullen replied in a brisk voice. "But one must be able to perform a wide variety of dances from all different cultures in order to fully grasp the art."

"Oh...I see," I said slowly.

"Mikhail Baryshnikov once said 'Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals,'" Miss Pullen quoted. "Do you understand?"

Daisy gave me a confused look, but I just nodded. "Yes, that makes sense."

"Good."

Miss Pullen glanced at her exotic looking clock she had hanging on the wall and gasped. "Why, would you look at Tita? It's already noon!"

"Tita?" Daisy asked.

"Her clock," I murmured.

Daisy looked back and forth between me and Miss Pullen with wide eyes.

"Well, I suppose you girls need to get back to school," Miss Pullen said, picking up our coats off the floor for us. "Keep practicing!"

We took the coats and quickly said goodbye, making our way out the door.

"So," I began once we were a few feet away from the dance studio. "What did you think of your first and probably last experience with Miss Porpentina Pullen?"

Daisy's just stared at me, her eyes still wide.

"Daisy?"

She broke into a grin. "That was the best thing I've ever done!"

I laughed too and threw my arm over her shoulders as we walked back to school.

***

"For tat whish tou hasht heard--" I opened my mouth and dropped the pencil back into my hand. "I'm sorry, exactly what is the purpose of this?"

Jonathan was watching me with amusement evident in his features. "I told you. It helps with enunciation."

"No, it just makes me sound like that pirate guy from the Princess Bride," I retorted, tossing the pencil at him.

He caught it and smirked at me. "Fine, we'll move on to the next exercise. Balancing a book on your head. You have a book with you, right?"

I found myself staring incredulously back at him, unsure of if I should glare. "You're joking, right?"