"Hey Kate," one of the older girls said to me as I walked up the stone steps of the ballet studio that morning.
"Hey Keri," I said.
Keri was tall and thin with long dancer legs and long dancer arms. She was bleach blonde, with short hair and light blue eyes. Her skin was light and she hardly ever showed up to ballet class. She was smoking a white cigarette as usual and had gauze wrapped around her wrists at the end of her arms which came from a bright blue sleeveless leotard.
"Hey Kate," Alison said to me.
"Hey Alison."
"You goin to class?"
"Uh maybe. You?"
"Yeah."
Pause
"My feet hurt though."
"Jeez."
"Yeah but whatever."
Another pause. Alison didn't seem to have many friends but she hung out with Keri a lot. Maybe that's because they both had self destructive habits I don't know.
"You wanna do something later?"
"After class."
"Yeah."
"Um sure."
"Or maybe at lunch since I got school."
"Yeah me too."
Keri leaned her head up to the sky and took another puff.
"I dropped out of school years ago man," she said
"Why?" I asked
"No point in goin anymore."
"Oh."
I sighed.
"I'm there as much as I can be."
"Why?" Alison asked, peering up at me.
"It's an escape."
"Oh. From?"
"Home. My family, if you can call it that."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Pause
"See you at lunch then."
"Ok. Bye Kate."
"Bye Alison."
I pulled open the door and headed up the stairs.