Ever lifted her leg on the bar and bent as low as she could without it snapping off. Usually, this would have hurt a lot, but with her ballet suit on, she felt like she could flex herself into a pretzel if she wanted.
Olivia, Isabelle, and Lynette did the same in front of her. Olivia was the best at it; she always managed to sit on the floor with her foot still clinging to the bar.
"Okay, I'll bite," Isabelle whispered so that or dance instructor didn't hear over the soft music playing. "What school are you going to that is so important you'll ditch us?"
Ever rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Isabelle. We will still see each other on holidays."
Lynette looked at me with her big ember eyes. "The plan was to stick together, Ever. That's why we all applied to the school your family chose for you. You know how long it took me to convince my Mum to let me go?"
This is what annoyed me about Lynette. Out of the four of us, she was the nicest – but that's what made her so mean. She knows just what to say to make you feel like the worst person in the world.
"It's not that I want to go," Ever said, bending almost as low as Olivia. "I have to go. There's a difference."
"Like the difference between how you had to have your own cell phone?" Olivia said. "That you would die without it?"
"My parents still won't let me have a cell phone," Isabelle said.
Isabelle was a spoiled girl, and when her parents said no – she would mope and groan about it until she got what she wanted. So the fact that she still never got a cell phone after two months still shocked her friends.
"No, this is different," Ever said. "I have to this time. But my parents can't know."
"Why not?" Isabelle said. "Why are you keeping secrets from us. It's not like we're going to tell."
Ever looked at her skeptically. Ever loved her friends, she really did, but they had the biggest mouths in their grade school. The word 'secret' wasn't in their vocabulary.
"Fine," Isabelle sniffed. "If you won't tell us – I'll have to tell your Mum and Dad that you don't plan on going to Smeltings."
Ever's jaw dropped. "What? You can't do that. We had a deal!"
"Ssssh!" said their dance instruction, gliding by them in her tutu. "No talking!" she practically sang.
"You haven't given us our money yet," Olivia said, taking her foot off the bar and trying to stand on her tip-toes – which was very painful. "So, technically, our deal isn't set in stone yet."
Ever set her jaw. "You would really do that to me? I'm supposed to be your best friend."
"Friends don't keep secrets from each other, Ever," Lynette said. "For all we know, you can be doing something dangerous. We're worried about you."
Ever doubted this, but Lynette's voice sound so sincere she felt guilty against her will. Ever sighed and leaned forward so no one could hear. The girls leaned forward also.
"I'll tell you during break, okay?" Ever said.
The girls looked pleased as they smirked at eachother.
"I hope you know that I won't be giving you the fifty dollars," Ever continued.
Their smirks fell from their faces.
"What? No." Olivia said, crossing her arms and landing flat on her feet. "You have to give us the money, or we'll tell."
"What will you gain from telling?" Ever asked, raising one eyebrow. "You won't have money or information. Choose which you want more."
The girls glanced at each other, communicated with their eyes, and said, "Fine. You tell us everything."
When their dance instructor finally let them get a break, the girls crowded around Ever so that she wouldn't be able to make a run for it.
"Well?" Olivia said, looking excited. "What's this secret school you're sneaking off to?"
Ever frowned. She wasn't sure if she should tell her friends, but no one really said that she couldn't. She remembered how secretive Harry was after the year, not telling them anything very important about his school or his wand; this made her not want to tell, but she needed to tell someone.
"It's a long story," Ever said. "And you guys might not believe me."
"Try us," Lynette said.
So Ever told them. She told them about Harry and his dead parents and how he was a wizard. She told them how her parent's didn't want anyone to know about it. Then she told them about the letter she received – and to prove it, she took the letter out of her ballet shoes (she wanted to keep it close to her) and let all three of them read it.
The girls had stood silent the whole story, nodding at certain parts and looking surprised at others; but this seemed too much. They burst out laughing.
"Did you actually think we believed you?" Isabelle laughed.
Ever felt her face grow hot. "Well, no-"
"And she created a fake letter, too," Isabelle smirked, glancing at Olivia and Lynette, who were both giggling fiercely. "How cute."
"This isn't a joke," Ever objected. "I'm not joking, Isabelle!"
Isabelle's eyes widened, then she whipped around to the girls, her eyes full with mirth. "She's serious! She thinks she's a witch. What a… what a freak!"
Ever stomped her foot. "I'm not a freak, Isabelle. Let me see my letter."
"No, I think I'll keep it for a while," Isabelle said. "We can show it to the whole neighborhood."
"No, Isabelle, give me my letter!" Ever was in Isabelle's face now, at least three inches shorter but she still looked dangerous. "Now!"
Ever had never fought one of her friends before, but she had never been any more humiliated, so she would make an acceptation.
"Girls!" the dance instructor marched over to them, her thin face pinched in disapproval. "What is all this shouting for?"
"She won't give me back my letter," Ever said, trying to remain calm but she felt anger boiling in her. Her hands were clenching and unclenching. She wished she had a pillow, but the room was completely empty except for the bars attached to the mirror walls.
The dance instructor plucked the letter out of Isabelle's hands and she skimmed through it, her lips getting more and more pursed.
"Why this is… this is silly," The dance instructor said, waving the letter around. "I am going to report to your parents, Ever, for spreading such lies."
"I wasn't spreading," Ever said angrily. "It's my letter and I wasn't showing anyone but my friends."
"Friends," Isabelle scoffed, crossing her arms. Olivia and Lynette crossed their arms too, both of them standing beside her. "What friends?"
Ever tried to not get hurt by this comment, but she felt as though a shard of glass had pierced her chest. She felt her eyes sting and she looked at the dance instructor so her 'friends' wouldn't see.
"You can't tell my parents, Ma'am," Ever pleaded, her voice close to breaking.
This was the wrong thing to say. She glared down at me with her hawk-like eyes. "I can do whatever I like, Ms. Dursley. Now go back to stretching."
She made to bustle away but Ever grabbed for the letter, trying to yank it out of her dance instructors firm grip.
"Give it back!" Ever screamed, yanking as hard as she could. "Give it back! Give it back!"
This would have worked for Ever's parents, but the dance instructor seemed to get more furious by her demands. Her nostrils flared and her face hardened. She looked as though she had swallowed a lemon.
"I will not tolerate this!" the dance instructor said. "Now stop behaving so foolishly, little girl!"
"Give it back!" Ever screamed again.
Flashes entered her mind. Scenes of what could happen to her if her parent's found out. Stuffed in a cupboard, neglected, and unfed. She could be put up for adoption or thrown into the streets, probably stuffed in a crazy hospital. Her parents can turn their nose up at her and not buy her presents; her brother could push her and get away with it. Harry could be better treated.
Ever's grey eyes flashed dangerously. She won't let that happen to her, she would not. "Give – it – back!"
There was a sound of shattering glass, then screams.
Olivia was screaming the loudest of them all, and tears were streaming down her face as the glass walls were caving in the room, skidding across the polished floor and landing in the girls' hair's.
In shock, the dance instructor let go of the letter and Ever stuffed in in her ballet shoe as she ran for the exits.
"Single file, please!" the dance instructor was screaming, though she herself looked like she wanted to push by every kid and run outside into the fresh air.
The glass was still breaking, falling from the walls and shattering to the floor. Lynette, who had been closest to the glass, got knocked in the head with a large shard and she was wobbling around like an old lady, holding her head and crying when her hands came away bloody.
"Move, move!" Isabelle was pushing everyone away from the exits, desperate to leave the house. "Out of the way!"
Olivia was screaming, Lynette was sobbing, and Isabelle was causing an even bigger panic. Ever was already outside, running down the green lawn to the street where ten other girls were standing, staring at the building in horror.
From the outside, the building didn't look as though it had just turned into a danger zone, because there were no windows to look inside, but the swarm of children running over each other to be let out was enough to make the people who sat on their porches in the nearby houses to look up from their own little worlds and stare.
"Head count, head count!" The dance instructor was saying. "Olivia Ali?"
"Here!" Olivia said faintly. She was sitting on the grass, her hand to her heart but looked otherwise unharmed.
"Katherine Beauregard?"
"Here!" Katherine was one of the shy students, and she looked very shaky and had was holding her foot as though she had stepped on some shards of glass as she left.
The list went on and on, and it seemed that everyone was outside. Most weren't injured, but some got a few scrapes and were panicking about it.
Ever felt sick in her stomach because she knew it had been her who did this, but she still felt pleased that she had gotten her letter back. That is, until she seen her 'friends' walking up to her, looking both scared but determined.
"We know you did it," Olivia said when they reached her.
Ever stared at them. "Don't tell. Please."
"Oh, we won't," Lynette said. "No need to worry about that. What you should be worrying about is all those people you hurt, Ever. What is wrong with you? You don't even look the least bit guilty."
Ever was relieved. They weren't going to tell. She wouldn't get in trouble.
"Besides," Isabelle said. "No one would believe us. And we don't want to be put in a rubber room."
"Why would you destroy our dance room, Ever?" Olivia said. "That's so mean. That's my life in there."
"Because she's a freak, that's why," Isabelle stuck her nose in the air. "I always knew she was weird. Right from the start."
"Stop being mean, Isabelle," Ever said. "We're friends, remember?"
"I'm not friends with weirdoes," Isabelle said, then flipped her hair. "Hope you have fun at your weirdo school. You know, I'm actually glad you won't be going to Smeltings – it's too good of a school for you."
Ever watched as her 'friends' walked away.
Everyone was still in a panic, and parents were pulling up in the driveway. When Ever seen Petunia and Vernon running over to her, looking scared, Ever felt a sense of relief again.
They wouldn't know about the letter. The dance instructor would forget all about it. She was safe… for now.