This punishment was driving Ash completely up a wall. The "tutoring" session wasn't add bad, reason being his friend was who watched over him, and made it a study hall. However, those dance lessons that he had once had a thought that it would be easy to get out of it, but hell, he's stuck. Now, she was threatening to report him and trying to get him to change his pants.
He was walking away from the dance studio, feet going over the mud. He really hoped Gary didn't say anything when he got back to their room that would make him see the hell gates. His fist was all he needed and if anything, could release some tension.
The dance lesson had been hellish. It was boring and easy, and it didn't sit right with him about her saying all these things he needed to work on. What more could was there? He kept the rhythm and he was even doing a pretty decent job leading. He hadn't fallen either despite what she had said about his damn pants which, as far as he was concerned, were fine. He wasn't going to buy shoes, pants, nothing. There was no need to spend money on something he wouldn't be continuing.
He gripped the handles on his backpack as he continued the walk back towards his dorm. The dance lessons weren't fun, but they were better than sitting in a quiet library with an old lady on his ass every five seconds for not starving himself to death. He didn't enjoy either, but if he had to choose, he'd say dancing was better since he actually got to move.
Serena was nice to look at as well or so he had thought when she had walked across the floor to turn on the music. She had a fine, curvy body with her ass tight in her dance pants. He would've been an idiot to not stare at least a little bit when she moved away from him. Still, didn't change that it certainly wasn't going to change how much he tried during the lessons.
She had threatened him enough during this lesson though for him to know she was serious about reporting him if he didn't at least pretend to try. He had done an okay job of getting passed that obstacle, it seemed.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't ol' twinkle toes!" Gary said when Ash swung the door open. "What's up, Ashy-boy?"
"Don't start the bullshit already, man," he said, dropping his bag by the door and kicked off his shoes. He moved to his bed and flopped down on it. He had been hoping Gary would be off at dinner, but it was just his luck to see the spikey, brown haired sitting at his desk to study.
"Oh, c'mon," he whined, attempting to push it. "How was it?"
"What do you think? I'm just about over it." He groaned into his pillow. "She threatened to report me if I didn't listen to her. I don't know what was up with her today."
Gary glanced away for a minute, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know it's hell, but just deal it for now." He sighed, twisting in his chair to look at his long-time friend. "We want you to come to practice again! The guys miss you on the court."
"Yeah, yeah."
Ash missed practice just as much. Dancing was supposed to be some calming thing, but all it had done was made him more annoyed. Not getting to play basketball wasn't fun. It was something that got him to show out. He was the point guard for the team, the coach on the court. He felt more free in doing what he loved than any other sport.
He'd discovered basketball early on in elementary school when he grabbed the ball in his hand and started dribbling. Working hard to teach the top, no other sport made him feel the same.
"It's not like I chose to do this."
"We get that," Gary says, understanding how he feels. "Just saying you're missed. It's damn quiet without you. We need our guy back."
Ash found that hard to believe. Gary wasn't a quiet person and neither was Brock. The whole team had their chaotic moments. Sure, he was usually the loudest of them, but he also wasn't the only loud one.
"I'll be back soon. I know I'm one of the best players." He smirked, folding his arms behind his head, and went on with his jokes. "Do you think you guys can survive another few weeks without me?"
"Fuck off!" Gary snorted. "Damn right we can! Just cause we miss you doesn't mean we can't hold our own."
"I'm sure you're all dying without me."
"Actually, a few people are happy you haven't embarrassed them with playing king of the court," Gary admitted with a shrug.
"Is that so?" Ash turned his head to look at him, cracking his knuckles. "Who? I'll be sure to make a list of who to take on during our one on ones when I get back."
"Like hell I'm going to tell you," Gary said, shaking his head. "Look, just hurry up and come back. Don't mess around during these lessons."
"I won't! Why does everyone keep saying that?" Rolling his eyes, he turned towards the wall again. "I'm tired of hearing it."
"Look at it this way," Gary says. "You finished one week, so you only got a few more left. This week didn't go by too slow, right?"
One week down, a few more to go? He wasn't even halfway there. Actually, thinking about it in this way just made him feel some type of way. Ash groaned, huffing out breath. Maybe he could go for a run to try and get rid of this pent up energy. He would have to do something so he didn't catch an attitude with the two people he had to be with next week.
He had to keep telling himself he could do this. Last thing he would do is give up. It would all be over soon and he could move on, then being able to forget he ever had to do any of it.
The weekend went by far faster than Ash had hoped. If he could've prolonged Saturday and Sunday just to avoid his shitty punishment, he certainly would have, yet here he stood, standing outside of the dance building yet again on Monday.
It was his own damn fault when he spent most of the weekend sleeping or working out at the gym which only led to him sleeping more from overworking his body. However, exercise seemed to be the only damn thing to keep his mind off the first week of his punishment.
Thankfully, Clemont had their second "tutoring" session as a quiet study hall once again. It was a good time to get ahead on most of his work and though it was annoying to do it, he struggled through it nonetheless with help from his friend.
Ash had a feeling Serena would be on him again with the way he manages his time. On the other hand, the amount of classes left didn't seem like a lot in theory, but he wanted to rip his feet off every time he even went near the dance studio. He wasn't prepared to spend his evening like this again.
"Time for this," he mumbled to himself as he opened the door to the studio. Only a few more times would he have to open that door again.
Laughter came from the dance hall. It was recognizable. Serena's voice was cheerful and her giggles echoed down the hall, causing Ash to freeze in place. She had a nice laugh, adorable even. His cheeks heated. For some reason, thinking about how her face looked with a genuine smile. He doesn't recall her doing much of that around him. Understandably so, he be out of it if he had to teach himself how to dance with no experience.
He shook his head quickly. Why did he care at all about what she thought about him or did around him? No, he shouldn't. He didn't. He inched closer to the studio, peering inside.
"No, May! I swear!" She laughed louder. Her mouth was wide and her eyes closed, creased at the corners while she giggled. She held hands with a brown-haired girl in front of her.
"Okay! I believe you, Serena," the girl said.
Backing up, Serena raised herself onto her tiptoes in her ballet shoes. Ash's eyes immediately widened. Wouldn't she break her feet doing things like that? He was about to call out to her, but he stopped, watching her every moment carefully. She raised her arms up first and brushed her leg out, twirling around herself as she balanced on her toes. The bottoms of the shoes looked flat, so he assumed there was some sort of trick to it, but still, he couldn't stop staring at how graceful she looked.
Bending her leg, she wrapped around herself, her body twisting with the momentum until she pressed both feet to the floor. Bending her knees, she dropped out of the move and immediately leapt into the air, spinning across the floor.
"There's more to it than that," she breathed, stopping at the barre.
The brown-haired girl still clapped. "You look so graceful, Serena," she said. "I never could handle ballet as well as you."
Serena blushed, folding her hands together behind her back, and smiled. "Thank you, May. I'm honestly really jealous of all your partner dancing. You and Drew always look so perfect. Have you finished your choreography for the upcoming modern competition?"
"Drew always wants it to be absolutely perfect, so he claims we're not finished. I think we're pretty close." She winked and both girls giggled. "Have you really not found a partner?"
A partner? Did Serena not have a dance partner? Ash listened closely and figured he was technically her partner. No, not really. He wasn't interested in dance.
"You know the answer. I don't need one," Serena said simply, but somehow sadness crossed through her eyes at the thought. "Even if I did, it's not like I would have a chance against the dance department's golden duo."
Ash narrowed his eyes at that. Sure, he hadn't seen this Drew or this May girl dance at all, but there was no way they were better than Serena.
"Oh, please," May said, cupping her hands against her cheeks. "We're not that great! Actually, I wouldn't mind if you would come watch us practice! Drew is meeting me here any minute now."
"I would love to, but I have to teach tonight. Does tomorrow sound good?" She asked, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Right, we can do tomorrow." She nodded. "He wants to practice everyday. I keep forgetting you're teaching that basketball star. How is he? Don't tell me he's really some delinquent boy."
"I wouldn't call him a delinquent-" Serena began, but Ash immediately interrupted her by clearing his throat, loud enough for it to bounce off the walls. He leaned against the door for a moment as he glared at the two. In truth, the door had been open and he'd been listening to their conversation, but he didn't care to let them know that.
He made his way, just about to storm towards that ignorant girl when he suddenly stopped. Serena had already scolded him for not taking off his shoes and he wasn't going to listen to that again. He kicked them off and placed them against the wall.
"Delinquent boy?" He repeated, pure amusement on his face. "Which guy are we talking about, huh?"
"Oh, for gods sake!" Serena gasped as she stepped in front of May immediately. "Ash, that's enough. We know you're not a delinquent!"
"'Course I'm not," he said, like it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world and he looked at May. "And who are you?"
The brown-haired girl didn't look impressed and folded her arms over her chest. "I'm May, and technically, by definition of your actions, you are a delinquent."
"And you just seem like a judgmental piece of work," he scoffed, moving his hand out for emphasis. "You're interrupting not only mine, but our time."
Serena rolled her eyes. "Oh? Since when have you actually cared about that?"
Ash looked speechless for a second, but turned away from her. "Fine, I'll just leave and tell Professor Oak you failed to complete the lesson today."
Huffing, she whacked him on the back of his head. Boys could be so childish. "It doesn't work like that!" She turned to her friend with a soft smile. "May, if you'll excuse us."
"I have to meet Drew anyway. I'll see you later, Serena," she said, glaring at Ash who stuck his tongue out at her as she headed out. Once again, childish.
Serena bit her lip and looked at Ash once her friend had left the room. "Why did you do that?" She hissed, blue eyes looking like they're made to cut something.
"What do you mean? Do what?" He asked, incredulously, and his whole demeanor changed like a switch was flipped off for his previous attitude.
"That!" She raised her voice. "You didn't have to be so rude. May is really nice. Look, I've been nothing but nice to you-"
He got closer to her. "Actually, you keep threatening to talk to Professor Oak-"
"Because you barely listen," she yelled back directly in his face.
He froze, the action throwing him off-guard. Admittedly, she wasn't wrong. No, Ash hadn't really listened at all. In the beginning it seemed like he'd cooperate. He didn't want to be here, so why should he have to listen? Still, being called out so bluntly, felt anything but good. He stared at anything else besides her.
"Fine. I get it. You're the teacher."
She sighed, looking exhausted. "You don't have much dance lessons left, Ash. If you show up and just listen, everything will go smoothly."
"Alright, alright," he said again and bent over, rolling up the bottoms of his joggers. He stood in front of her. "I fixed my pants, took my shoes off, and I'm all ears."
"Oh, wow, thank you," she said sarcastically, moving to the piano to place her phone on the small docket which rests there. "Give me a minute. I'll set up the music and change my shoes."
He watched her take a seat on the piano bench and begin to unlace the strange looking ballet shoes. "Hey, teach," he called to her. "What's up with those?"
She blinked, obviously surprised Ash was taking any interest in anything else she did. "These?" She asked softly, holding up the shoes.
"Yeah." He nodded. "You looked like you were going to break your feet standing on those."
Her cheeks flushed. "You were watching?"
"No- yes, maybe I was! Don't get the wrong idea." He tapped his foot against the ground. "You were talking to that judgmental girl, showing off and whatnot."
She frowned again, immediately looking annoyed. Somehow her facial expression always returned to that. "First of all, May isn't judgmental. Both of you just misunderstood each other. Second of all, I wasn't showing off. I was showing her my final project choreography. These are my pointe shoes." She explained, slipping her black ballet shoes on. "They're designed to allow me to dance that way. If I did it wrong, sure, I could get hurt, but I've been practicing for a long time."
"Why aren't you teaching me that?" He asked, frowning. "I'm perfectly capable of learning the harder stuff than simply walking around the room."
She began to laugh, the same sound which had echoed through the hallway. It was genuine and the smile that pulled across her cheeks made him blush ever so slightly. Serena stepped towards him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Ash, I am teaching you. Something calming and relaxing. Pointe is very stressful and has advanced techniques. It took me years to be able to do it and I'm not even that good as it is."
He looked annoyed at her final statement, denying it without hesitation. "Don't sell yourself so short. You were doing it just fine before I came in."
"Well, either way," she said, sucking in a deep breath. The compliment had obviously thrown her off. She blinked, biting down on her lip, and Ash couldn't stop staring at the way her teeth buried gently into her plump pink lips. "It takes a lot of training. Also men don't usually dance en pointe. There are plenty that do, but traditionally, it's reserved for women."
"That's dumb," he snorted, wrapping his arm around her waist. "I could do it, no doubt!"
"I'm sure you could with plenty of training." She laughed some more and Ash was slowly growing addicted to the sound. "But for now," she said, adjusting where his hand sat on her lower back and placed her hand in his. "We'll be continuing the waltz."
"It isn't even that challenging," he told her, his brown eyes glancing away from her.
Serena grinned and teases him. "Oh really? Then lets see what you remember. You do have your pants rolled up, so maybe you won't trip this time."
Ash squeezed her hand more gently and began to push her forward, vaguely remembering the steps she had taught him. There was zero grace behind what he was doing as he moved her around, stepping barely in time with the count in his head. His feet stomped against the dance floor.
He wasn't doing too bad though, he thought. She didn't say a word, but she did start to laugh after about a minute of him fumbling around the room.
"Well," she began, running her hand through her hair. "You didn't trip and you sort of remembered the count. Although, you were a little off."
He bit the inside of his cheek, clenching his hand, forgetting he was holding hers. "How was I off?"
"My hand," she warned and he said his apology as she tugged hers away from his. "Okay, calm down. You didn't totally mess up, Ash."
"'Course not." He grinned, eyes glittering at his achievement. "Tell me something new, that I don't know."
"You just... need to be more graceful," Serena's voice was careful. "However, for you, I'm sure that's probably going to be the most difficult part of this whole thing. You're... very tense."
"Graceful?" Ash said the words like they burned on his tongue.
"If anything, you sound as tense as you look. Take a deep breath," she said and stepped back from him. Raising her arms up gently, she pulled in a long breath of air. "And relax. You're hitting your feet so hard against the ground. Everything is very weighted. If you keep things lighter, you can move about the room with more ease."
She wrapped her hand around his again and lightly placed her fingers on his shoulder. "Here. Watch my feet," she tells him as she led him across the floor.
He did as she requested, staring down at her feet. He watched as she barely touched against the ground, her toes brushing at the dance floor. It was very different from the way his own feet had moved just moments ago.
"See. It's light and calming. This is why I'm trying to teach you this dance. But, don't get me wrong. It was pretty good for your first time after a weekend away."
"I wasn't gonna forget after a few days."
"You never know," she teased in her sing-song voice, a smile on her face.
He didn't realize the smile coming on his face. "Put the music on, teach. I'll show you."
Laughing at his confidence, she pulled away from him. "Okay, I'll put on the music." She trotted over to her phone and pressed play, the violins echoing into the large dance studio.
"Remember," she said, returning to him. "It's faster than you realize."
He nodded, taking her hand as he tried to focus more on his feet this time. Following the count, he attempted to glide like she had, sweeping his bare feet over the floor. His steps were still far too weighted, but there was less stomping, and though he had fallen behind on the count, he wasn't scrambling and tripping to keep up like last time.
She let them dance together for awhile, laughing here and there when he would trip, or swing her around too hard. She was constantly adjusting his posture, pressing her hand against his shoulder as she tried to pull him up straighter. Every time she did, eventually he would slouch down and she would adjust, and re-adjust.
"You... really are getting better," she said softly.
"Thanks," he said over the music.
"I'm impressed. For someone who wasn't taking things all that seriously, you're actually not terrible at what you're doing. When you actually listen, that is." She pulled away from him and made her way to the music, turning the song down.
"You should be impressed." He folded his arms. "Besides, I don't have much of a choice but to listen." As hellish as it was, if she was going to report back to Professor Oak, Ash couldn't afford to mess with her.
"Right, yeah. I know," she mumbled, sadness reaching her eyes. She bit her lip. "I'll be talking to Professor Oak after our next lesson, so be sure to do your best then. For now, you're free to go."
Turning to look at her, he spoke once more. "Hey, Serena." He caught her attention with her name. "Next time, I can try something even more challenging, y'know?"
Raising her eyebrow, she smirked, and played with her words. "Oh, really? You want to step up your dancing game?"
"I can handle it. Stop treating me like some amateur!"
"But you are an amateur!"
He reached over to his shoes, rolling his joggers down, letting the next words slip out. "Even if I am an amateur, you don't have to treat me like a child."
She sighed, quirking her lip up. "I really wasn't, but if you want something more challenging, we can do other stuff our next lesson."
"Yeah, enough of the boring stuff," he said, pumping his fist, then tying his shoes as he grabbed his jacket. "I'm heading out and the next time I see you, you better be ready to be more impressed than today."
Nodding at her on his way out, he walked away, now leaving her standing alone in the middle of the floor. Ash never saw the point of the dance lessons. They wouldn't help him in any way, he thought, but if she was going to force him to pay attention, he sure as hell wasn't going to half-ass it. By the end of it, he was going to be the best dancer she'd ever taught.