Alina's heart thudded and thumped along in time with the music.

Slide, pump, left, right, pirouette en dehors, start again!

Suddenly, she stopped. She noiselessly walked over to the stereo with her perfectly poised Ballerina form.

Heel, toe. Heel, toe.

"Werewolf" by CocoRosie immediately cut out. Skye Hillcrest, Alina's best friend-who hadn't even noticed Alina stop dancing- tripped over herself, so shocked that the music stopped she wasn't able to properly finish out her assemblé.

"Lina…" Skye started, composing herself from her near fall. Alina sharply held out her hand, silently urging Skye to stop talking while her free hand held her cell phone. Alina's hazel eyes were rapidly moving across the screen of her Droid X, her plump, glossed lips silently mouthing words before trailing off only to pick up again here and there. After a few minutes of avid text reading, squinting, and eyebrow scrunching, she pressed a button on her phone and shouted.

"MOOOMMMMM!" Charlisse Johanneson walked into the room, immediately rolling her eyes at Skye. Skye giggled- they both knew how much of a drama queen Alina could be at times.

"Pourriez-vous s'il vous plaît lecteur Skye et moi pour le centre en ce moment?" Alina asked her voice oozing splenda. Skye rolled her eyes, knowing Alina only spoke to her mother in French when she was either really angry, or really wanted her mother to agree with something. Charlisse had taken French class from an early age, immediately falling in love with the language. She loved the language so much that when she had her first and only baby girl, she gave her a French name and taught her French before English. Long story short- Charlisse had a serious soft spot for French.

Surprised by the sudden request, Charlisse glanced at the clock on the wall. "Drive you to the mall? Right now? Well, I have to go pick up Jonny from the airport at 12:30, and it's…11:45 now..oh, 11:46…I suppose if I hurry…" she thought out loud. Alina took that as a yes.

"Thank you!" She grabbed her bag, not caring that she was still in her dance clothes and sweating. "You comin' Skye?" Alina asked, glancing over her shoulder, crossing the threshold to her room.

"Do I have much of a choice?" Skye wondered/grumbled out loud, grabbing her bag as well as a brush.

"Nope!" Alina called, all the way from the kitchen. Charlisse sighed, a small smile playing on her lips, slowly shaking her head as Skye bolted out the door after Alina.