Chapter 2: Contemporary

"No."

Hiromi sighed and carried on dragging her friend along the corridor. "Oh, don't get cold feet on me now, Haru! You agreed to yesterday."

"Hardly."

"Come on. You'll always wonder what would've happened if you turn away now!"

"No I won't, because I know exactly what's going to happen. I'm going to go in there and make a right fool out of myself when I fall flat on my butt."

Hiromi rolled her eyes. "Always the optimist," she muttered sarcastically under her breath and continued to haul Haru in the direction of the dance studio. "You'll thank me for this later."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"Can you at least pretend to be looking forward to this?"

"How can I look forward to forty five minutes of humiliation as I find every possible way to fail the moves?"

"Haru!"

"Okay, okay. I'll keep quiet. But it's the truth," she added rebelliously.

"You know, you're making it very hard for me to be supportive."

"Sorry."

"You could at least sound like you mean it."

"Sorry."

The lighter brunette sighed and rolled her eyes again. "Right, we're here. Okay, you will go inside, you will have an amazing time and you won't end up nearly killing yourself. Or anyone else," she added after a few seconds of thought. "Got that?" Before Haru could complain, Hiromi had already shoved her through the doors.

Haru tripped into the room but righted herself just in time. Spotting the teacher standing in the corner, she gave a swift, acutely embarrassed, bow, making a mental note to get Hiromi back for that later.

"Are you Miss Lewis?"

The teacher – or rather teaching assistant, she supposed be more accurate – was a slim, young woman with short blonde hair and twinkling blue eyes. "That would be me, yes. And you are?"

"Um, I'm Haru Yoshioka and my friend, Hiromi" – at this she peered back through the door, wondering why Hiromi hadn't entered yet – "should be coming any moment now."

"Oh, there's two of you? Good, good," murmured the lady. "I was worried no one was going to turn up."

Hiromi entered a moment later. "Sorry, Haru, Tsuge came along."

"What happened to best friends before boyfriends?" Haru asked.

"You were fine," dismissed Hiromi, but with a grin. She turned to the woman. "Anyway, I assume you're Miss Lewis?"

"Yes, and you would be Hiromi?"

The other girl nodded. "Are we early?"

"Not really. It should be starting in five minutes, so we might need to wait a little longer until anyone else turns up. Have either of you got any previous dancing experience?"

Hiromi laughed. "Well, I've never danced before in my life, but Haru's done ballet for the last two years."

Miss Lewis's gaze became interested. "Really? What grade are you at?"

"I didn't do grades, miss," mumbled Haru, her embarrassment increasing. "I wasn't very good at it."

"At least you have some background knowledge. I'm sure that will come in very useful."

Haru glowered over at Hiromi all the same for bringing her 'experience' up, if it could even count as experience. Did falling over on your butt multiple times count as dancing experience? It almost certainly counted as an experience in itself.

Five minutes later and only three other girls had turned up – two as a couple of friends who were joining for the fun of it, and another girl who Haru recognised used to be in her ballet group – until she had moved up into the next group whereas Haru hadn't. She must be in the advanced group now – and watching her practise moves, Haru could well believe that.

Hiromi moved over to her friend and pointed over at the graceful dancer. "Hey," she whispered, "isn't that Machida's girlfriend?"

"Lauren? Yes," muttered Haru. She tried to act like it didn't bother her.

Hiromi watched the other girl stretch herself then do a few practise moves as a warm up. "She's good. Really good."

"I know."

"Right, girls," called Miss Lewis, clapping her hands a couple of times. "Let's start up. Since this is our first time, we should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Miss Lewis, in case any of you were unaware, and I shall be leading these sessions. Now, for those of you who have danced before, I'm sure you've danced with specific beats and to a set rhythm."

There were a few chuckles from some of the girls.

"But I'm not bothered about that. What I want is you dancing at whatever rhythm feels good for you and most of all – enjoying it! I'm not too fussed about your position or precise footwork – just if you need to travel, travel however feels fit, and if you can't follow my exact movements, do something similar. After all, we shan't be performing this in front of anyone, except ourselves. So we might as well have fun and not worry about such small details."

Haru grinned. This was something she could manage. Well, it was a lot more manageable than ballet, anyway. Hiromi must have been thinking along the same lines, because she grinned over at her at the same time.

"Brilliant," she mouthed.

"Okay, let's warm up," called Miss Lewis, standing up. "Don't worry about how you look, just get those muscles loose. Oh, and one more thing – contemporary is all about pushing your body to the limits – I remember my teacher telling me that if you fall over it's good because it means you are pushing your body to those limits."

Hiromi moved over to Haru. "Hey, this is exactly the right dancing style for you. It must be the only style that encourages you to fall over."

"Ha ha, thanks Hiromi."

They moved several arm widths away from one another – Hiromi stepped a little further away than was probably necessary, but then, she knew Haru's clumsiness. Haru picked up on that little detail and had to smile. They were getting a few weird looks from the speed that Hiromi moved away from her. Oh well, they would learn.

Machida's girlfriend – Lauren – walked over to fill the space formed by Hiromi's 'better-safe-than-sorry' approach, and smiled over at her. "Hi, were you in my old ballet class? Chiharu?"

"Haru," she corrected. "You're... Lauren, right?"

The girl smiled. "That's right. Are you still doing ballet?"

Haru shifted uncomfortably. "No, I recently gave it up."

"Oh, shame. Still, at least you have some experience." Lauren grinned. "I'm just glad I know someone. I was afraid I was going to be on my own here."

Despite herself, Haru found herself grinning back. It was impossible not to like Lauren. "Are you still doing ballet?"

"Oh, yes. I'm part of the Scarlett Ballet Company now." Lauren did a quick twirl. "I'm going to be playing Aurora in Sleeping Beauty for their next production."

"Are you thinking of taking a job with the company after sixth form then?" Haru asked. The question of what everyone was going to be doing after the exams and when they had to start moving into the real world was on everyone's tongue. Haru was still unsure herself what she was going to be doing, but had applied to a couple of universities that looked suitable for her.

"Well, yes, I've been offered a permanent job and also a place at a ballet college, so I have a choice."

At the front Miss Lewis began to show them several warm up moves to get them started and so their conversation was cut short. Some music that Haru wasn't familiar with was turned on, setting a moderately fast-paced beat. Before the long wall-length mirror Miss Lewis showed them the warm up moves that they'd probably be using each week, which included some common and some... less orthodox moves. Haru was by no means graceful in her first attempt, but at least she hadn't fallen over yet.

After a successful – in Haru's eyes anyway – warm up they moved on to the actual dance. Miss Lewis showed them the routine at a few moves at a time, allowing them time to memorise and get the hang of each movement. It was a lot looser style in comparison to ballet, but that was fine with Haru. Even Hiromi seemed to be enjoying herself. Sort of. True, she was a little stiff at the start and hesitant with the unfamiliar movements but she started picking them up as the lesson progressed. She even smiled over at Haru when she was confident enough to look up from her feet. Haru wanted to mouth back, 'See? It isn't so bad,' at her friend, but decided against it, partly because she was pretty sure Hiromi was thinking the same thing for her, and partly because if she took her concentration off her feet she was afraid she'd completely lose her balance. And the last thing she needed to do was lose her balance.

They were shown the next instalment of the dance; a spin that involved using their arms to drive the main momentum and then using the leftover energy to fuel a run across the room that ended in a rise, sink and jump.

Haru's heart sank. It looked complicated. If – by some small miracle – she didn't fall after the spin, her managing to complete the travel across the room without making a mistake was near impossible. When it came for them to follow Miss Lewis with the music on, she immediately knew she wasn't going to finish the move correctly. Her feet fell over one another when she was meant to spin, meaning that she stumbled several steps to the right and had to grab the barre to stop herself from hitting the ground. Frustrated by her failure she stepped back into the dance, but had to rush in order to catch up with everyone else, her heart still pounding from her close fall and recovery.

"Haru, are you having trouble with that move?"

Haru reddened from embarrassment as the teacher addressed her as they finished the dance.

"I'm sorry, miss, I'm just not perfect with my balance."

Instead of sighing, Miss Lewis laughed and shook her head. "You're getting into it, that's all. Just be careful you don't hit your head against the barre if you do fall or pull a muscle. I'd hate to have to get the nurse here on the first session. It wouldn't bode well really. Anyway, do you want to go over the moves again?"

Haru nodded. "Slower, please?" she suggested.

"Okay."

Miss Lewis repeated her move, but at a pace that meant Haru could take in where she was meant to put her feet and where she was meant to land and where she was meant to place her arms. Which was a lot to take in and try to apply to her own attempt. She followed, and was surprised when she landed – albeit awkwardly – in the correct position. She grinned. "I did it!"

Miss Lewis smiled. "Shall we try again with the music at the normal pace then?" She flicked on the music and began the dance from the start. Haru's heart thumped a nervous beat away from the rhythm of the music as they approached the spin. If she could just do something right for once...

"Hey, Lauren!"

As Haru began the spin she heard the shout and from instinct looked up to see who it was, her heart recognising the voice. In the doorway of the dance studio stood Machida, watching his girlfriend. Unfortunately because she'd changed her movement to see who was there, her momentum was swung in a different direction and her balance fell apart.

As her head hit the barre and her mind was spun into darkness, she spared a thought for the utter embarrassment she was going to have to live through when she woke up.