"Point your toes Genevieve. Point them." I felt a sharp sting on the back of my leg causing me to stand on my toes. My ballet teacher was screaming at us to fix all kinds of things. Things I knew most of us were doing perfectly. But I bit my tongue and took the hits she would give with the wooden ruler. Today was Thursday and we were officially out of the 'meet your teacher' phase. Ms. Alastair emphasized how hard and physical this class would be but I don't think any of us expected to be hit. I could feel my heart racing and my face heating up.
The back of my legs were probably red and they were definitely stinging. "Je veux un Arabesque maintenant. Maintenez-le pendant 20 secondes." When she said that, I knew everyone's heart dropped. I sucked it up and did an Arabesque, on the very tips of my toes and held the position for twenty seconds just as she asked. She walked a straight line back and forth waiting for someone to mess up. However no one did, and I'm sure no one did out of fear. "You're all free to go." She said walking to her desk.
I immediately dropped down to the floor, sitting with my legs crossed underneath me. Checking the time I noticed she was letting us out early, which made me discouraged for the next class. I sighed and stood up grabbing my backpack to leave. "Ms. D' aureville, my desk please." I turned around and walked to her desk, holding the straps of my backpack. "Yes Ms. Alastair?" She looked up at me and pulled off her glasses. "If you want to stay in the class I'll need you to drop 15 pounds." She smiled.
I hesitated before answering. "I can't because my doctor says I'm underweight and I'm in the process of gaining weight." She intertwined her hands and placed them on her desk. "Think about what I said, if anything we have lots of other sports here at Avignon Summit." Her smile only got wider. "You are dismissed." She picked up her glasses and placed them back on her face.
I sighed and walked out of the classroom. By the time I left, the halls were empty. I walked with my head down as I thought about Ms. Alastair's words. "Hey." I was startled by the sound of someone's voice behind me and when I turned around I didn't recognize the face. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." I pushed my hair out of my face and continued walking. "No, I'm just in my head." I told him. "Your Genevieve." He told me, as if it were a huge shock. "And you are a boy following me to the basketball court." He shook his head and chuckled. "I'm in your British Literature class. I'm Sebastian Kinndy."
The boy was about my height, with nerdy glasses. "We never formally met and I was on my way back to class and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to say hi. So hi Gen. Can I call you Gen?" He was nervous as he stumbled over his words. It was cute and I giggled at his expressions. "Everyone calls me that so I don't see why not. Hi Sebastian." We stopped in front of the gym and he smiled, pushing his hands into his pockets, just staring at me awkwardly. "Well I'll see you around, Sebastian." I said pushing through the double doors. "Actually you'll see me in 6th period but I guess you'll also see me around campus. So see you around too." He shouted before the doors swung shut. I turned around and waved at him before noticing Michael running around the shiny basketball court.
When he noticed me, he stopped the whole game and came running with open arms. "Are you okay?" He asked bending down for a hug. "I'm good, just had extra time so I came to see you play." He took my words and smiled before running back.
As I walked up the bleachers I noticed Luna sitting there, wrapped in a thick blanket. I sat down next to her and she flashed me a smile before looking back on the court to find Michael. "What got you out of class?" She asked as I put my backpack down. "No idea she just let us go. You?" I asked back. "Finished an assignment early and complained my head was hurting." I looked out and found Michael as well.
"You and Michael seem close." I leaned back against the bleacher behind me. "We're only a few hours apart. His mom and my aunt live only 15 minutes away from us back home. We were like twins to each other. He's all I ever had really." She sighed. "I wish I had a cousin or sibling like that. It's always just been me."
We watched him in silence until a question came to mind. "So what's your story, Luna?" She turned to me confused. "I grew up with Michael and Aveeana. Cain told me his dad is too busy for him. What about you?" We looked at each other before she gave me a cheap smile. She opened the blanket and pulled me inside of it. "I like you Gen, and I think you like me too. So let's not ruin that." I hugged her as the bell rang dismissing this period.
Michael dropped his ball and ran over to us. We stepped off the bleachers and I hugged them both before they walked out the other side of the court to head to their own classes.
I walked out the other side as I thought about what Luna told me. Besides her resting bitch face and slight attitude I could tell she was a sweet girl. However I walked back to my dorm to change out of my ballet outfit and put on my uniform again. I walked back out to the halls and changed out some of my books in my locker.
I felt a hand snake to my face and cover my eyes as I shut my locker door. "Guess who it is sweetheart." I brought my hand up to his and smiled. "Hmm please be Batman." He uncovered my eyes when I turned around. Cain was looking down with me. He held a cookie out to me with a smile. "It's Batman with a snickerdoodle cookie for you." I took the cookie and took a bite as he walked with me. "This is good, where'd you get this from?" He shrugged and laughed. "The teacher's lounge or something." I rolled my eyes but that didn't stop me from eating the cookie.
He put his arm around my shoulder as I looked up at him. He was looking straight ahead and I just looked at him. Something inside me clicked as I looked at him. After being sheltered so long, looking at him felt like a breath of fresh air.
After a while of just walking he looked down and the confusion on his face snapped me back to reality. "I'm walking you to class without knowing what class you have next." I looked around and noticed I passed my class four doors ago. "God we're going to be late." I gave him a side hug and quickly walked back down. "I'll see you in swim class, Cain." As I walked into my pre calculus class and took a seat I finished eating the cookie. My mind wasn't on anything at the moment.
After class I decided to skip out on lunch and go back to my room. I slipped out of my shoes and grabbed my Bible and some highlighters. I sat down at the desk and read my normal five to ten pages before putting it away and pulled out my jewelry box. I looked through my necklaces and thought about how I'd make another rosary. As I put aside two necklaces I heard my phone ring.
"Hello?" I asked, answering without looking at the caller id. "Hey sis." I heard my little sister's voice on the other end. "Hey sis how are you?" I asked with my elbows on the desk. "I've been better." Her voice cracked as she spoke. "What's wrong?" Genesis may have been my younger sister but she was still stronger than me. She never broke down and to hear her voice crack was so shocking to hear.
"Ever since Michael and you left, the kids here have been so rude. Mom and dad are too busy to listen." She paused before continuing. "I tried calling Michael yesterday but I caught him while he was at practice and he never got that chance to call back."
"I know I'm not there right now and so sorry for that and I'm sure Michael is too. But no matter what those kids say it's not true. You're the prettiest and kindest girl I know. Don't let them bring you down." I heard her take a deep breath and sniffle before talking. "I don't know why I called, I knew that already." She said in a cocky tone. "I love you okay. I'll make sure to have Michael give you a call."
After hanging up with her Luna came into the room and laid down on her bed immediately. "Hey, have you seen Michael? My sister said hi." I asked. "I don't know he's probably still breathing down some girls neck." Before I could ask anything the bell rang. "Are you skipping?' No answer so I left without one.
Michael was pretty naïve but would never do anything to intentionally hurt someone. A girl was probably flirting with him and he didn't realize.
After the sixth period I had swim class and when I walked In Michael ran to me with a smile. "Have you seen Luna, she ditched lunch." I nodded as I made my way to my locker. "She's probably still in bed mad at you for, and I quote 'breathing down some girl's throat." He stood there confused for a while as I grabbed my bathing suit. "Let her calm down, Mickey." I left and went into the bathroom to change.
When I got out Aveeana was there waiting for me. "God I haven't seen you since breakfast, are you avoiding me?" She asked as she walked back to my locker with me. "No Ana, it's school so I'm busy. You know, doing school work." She rolled her eyes as I put my clothes away. "Whatever you say. Anyways, tomorrow's Friday and there's no school. I thought just me and you, we could go into town and have some fun. You know, catch up."
"I'd love that, and I wouldn't mind." She continued to list the things we could do as I walked further into the class looking around. "Have you seen Cain?" She looked annoyed by my interruption. "I think he's in the back talking to Yara and Yasmine, why?" She crossed her arms. "Nothing. They look cute together." She scoffed pointing behind her. "Cain and Yara? Trust me when I tell you that was a roller coaster you should be glad you weren't there to see last year?"
"They dated?" She nodded before gesturing to a throw up scene. "He broke up with her but no one knows why they still talk." Before I could get out another question our heads were turned immediately when we saw Yara run out in tears with Yasmine following in a towel. Cain himself came around the corner, sucking on a lollipop and looked unbothered.
When his eyes landed on me his blank face turned happy. My face may not have shown it but my heart was beating quickly in his presence. "Aveeana, Genevieve." He said standing in front of us. "Isn't it so awkward when you're talking about someone and it just so happens that someone decides to walk up to you." Aveeana said pointing at Cain. "I love when I'm the topic of girl conversation. What'd I do today?" He asked, looking at her with a grin.
"Huddle in class, we have laps to do today." Mr. Rich called out before blowing his whistle. Aveeana waved at him with closed eyes before she walked away. I went to follow her when I felt Cain's warm hand grab my forearm. "Can you meet me on the fourth floor later?" I was about to agree until he said what floor. "That's the teacher's level. Are you going to sneak more snickerdoodles?" He rolled his eyes at my question. "No, I want to show you something." He paused pulling the lollipop out of his mouth and pointed it at me. "Do you want more snickerdoodles?" He arched his eyebrow, showing how serious the question was.
I chuckled and started walking backwards away from him. "I'll see you on the fourth floor."
Once the whole class surrounded the indo pools, Mr. Rich started talking. He was interrupted by the back doors opening and closing. We all waited in silence to see who it was. "I know I'm late, I'm sorry Mr. Rich."
Luna came in wearing her hair in a messy bun and a brown two piece bathing suit. Along with a matching see through cover up. "It's okay Ms. Davis, just don't let it happen again." He went back to explaining what was going to happen today as she walked over and stood directly next to Michael. But she ignored all the signs he gave to her and stood there with a pretty face.