Chapter Three
Disclaimer: The newsies belong to Disney, the original characters belong to their creators, and the plot belongs to me.
Teenage boys do not generally enjoy getting up early in the morning. At least that's what one could conclude from the reactions of room A's residents when, at 6:30 a.m., their door was thrust open and a voice was heard singing, "Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day! I've got a beautiful feeling! Everything's going my way!"
"Is that Daniel?" Spot murmured sleepily from his bed. Below him, David nodded without opening his eyes.
"Of course it's me!" Daniel exclaimed cheerfully, strolling into room A and shaking David's shoulder affectionately. "C'mon boys. Up and at 'em. Seize the day!"
"Remind me to lock our door tonight," Spot mumbled, turning over in his bunk so that he was facing away from the exuberant director.
"Oh, come on, Spot, that's pathetic," Daniel said joyfully, clapping a hand on Spot's shoulder. "Besides, if you sleep any longer, you're going to miss breakfast."
Suddenly, Spot seemed a little more awake. "Breakfast?" he asked with a hint of excitement.
"Yep," Daniel affirmed. "Breakfast. Served in the cafeteria at 7:00. Classes start at 8:00."
"Classes?" David wondered groggily, sitting up and almost hitting his head on the bunk above him. "What classes?"
"Dance classes, of course," Daniel said. "Adrenaline is coming over today! Jack, are you still asleep?" Daniel moved to the opposite side of the room. Les was climbing out of his bunk already, but Jack was still just a motionless lump, covered by sheets, his pillow clamped firmly over his head.
"Ja-ack," Daniel said in a singsong voice. "The dance team is coming over today. The girls on the dance team are coming over today."
Jack's eyelids flickered open. "Girls?"
"Girls," Daniel repeated, moving toward the door. "See you all in the cafeteria in half an hour."
* * *
About forty-five minutes later, teenagers started to arrive at the movie studios. One building had been modified into a Newsies training facility, complete with pianos for singing practice and mirrors and mobile barres for dancing.
The first teenagers to show up weren't the newsies, though. They were the members of Adrenaline, being directed by Nikki into the lobby of the building. They were dressed in a wide variety of dance attire: leotards, tights, jazz pants, sweat shirts, tank tops, leg warmers, headbands, and whatever else they had managed to find in their closets that morning. The only thing that identified them as members of the same dance team---or even dancers---was the black duffel bag that each person held. The bags were medium sized with "ADRENALINE" printed on one end and the owner's name on the other.
Like the newsies, the members of Adrenaline weren't particularly enthused about having to get up early.
"What do normal teenagers do on the first day of summer vacation?" a girl with short, spiky black hair and dark brown eyes wondered, speaking to no one in particular.
"They sleep in," another girl, this one with auburn hair and exotic, brandy-wine colored lips, answered. She dumped her duffel bag on the carpeted floor of the meeting room and sank into a padded folding chair next to it. 'RAVEN' was printed in bold white letters on one end of the bag.
"Right. And what are we doing on the first day of summer vacation?" the first girl asked.
"Dancing!" a third girl, one of the few who didn't look exhausted, exclaimed.
"God, Ali, how can you be so…perky?" Raven wondered.
"I dunno," Ali replied. "I spent an hour at the skating rink already this morning. I guess I just don't need much sleep."
"No kidding," the first girl said, rubbing her eyes and sinking into a chair next to Raven. "Wish I could do that."
"What?" the only male member of Adrenaline teased. "Is Alex tired? Didn't Alex get her coffee this morning?"
"Shut up, Twist," Alex said without much enthusiasm.
"Good morning, everyone!" Nikki said happily, perching on the edge of a chair and taking a quick head count. "Now, let's see…we have Cat, Ireland, Ali, Alaska, Fighter, Lute, Moocher, Janet, Sapphy, Raven, Shakes, Trish, Zodiac, Alex, and, of course, Twist."
"Can't forget me, can you Nikki?" Twist asked with a grin.
"Naw, you're too loud to be forgotten," Raven commented. Twist stuck his tongue out at her and Nikki laughed.
"Real mature, Twist," she said. "Come on, everyone, I'll show you to one of the dance studios. We're going to warm up and then start reviewing the choreography that I taught you already."
Obediently, the dancers stood, grabbed their bags, and followed Nikki into a modified rehearsal space. Mirrors and barres had been added, along with taped lines on the floor to show the dancers where to stand. Once inside, the dancers pulled various pairs of Dansneakers, gore boots, jazz shoes, and ballet slippers out of their duffel bags and put them on. Then they spread out and started to warm up.
Nikki always enjoyed watching her dancers stretch. When she had started working with them, she had led the warm ups, but now she just let each person do their own thing. Ireland, Twist, Raven, and some of the other classically trained ballet dancers automatically headed for the barre and started doing plies, while others spread out on the floor. Just as Trish slid into a full split, Daniel, followed by a trail of newsies, walked in. Shakes started to giggle as pained expressions began to appear on the boys' faces. They watched with a mixture of horror and awe as Trish held the split for a full twenty seconds before sitting up, switching her legs, and sliding back to the ground.
"We don't have to do that, right, Daniel?" a boy with pretty blue eyes (according to Shakes) and curly brown hair asked warily.
"It doesn't hurt that much," Shakes said, jumping up and bouncing over to stand in front of the boy. "It's just a little easier for Trish, 'cause she's double-jointed. Don't worry, though---you'll get used to it. My name's Shakes; what's yours?"
"Uh…" David stepped back a little, obviously surprised at the speed of this introduction.
"His name's David," Jack said easily, amused at Shakes's perkiness. "And I'm Jack."
"Hi, Jack," Shakes said. "That's a nice name. So's David. Have you ever danced before, David?"
David shook his head 'no', thinking that that might be easier than trying to formulate a sentence.
Shakes abruptly skipped away, landing in front of Nikki. "Can I be David's teacher?" she asked. "He's never danced before, and you said the beginning dancers would have individual teachers, and---"
"Sure, Shakes," Nikki said. By now, she was used to the excitability of the unmedicated ADHD sufferer. Well, sufferer might not be the right word. The ADHD sure didn't seem to bother Shakes much. "But try not to scare him," Nikki added as Shakes bounced back over to David.
"I get to be your teacher!" she exclaimed happily. "Isn't that cool?"
David couldn't think of any response but to nod.
"Hey, Nikki, who's my teacher going to be?" Jack wondered, eagerly eyeing Raven, who was doing developpes at the barre.
"Just a second," Nikki called, picking up her clipboard and jogging over to Jack. "Now, what's your name again?"
"Chris---I mean Jack. Jack Kelly."
"Let's see…Jack…" Nikki flipped through multiple sheets of paper before finding the one she was looking for. "You're a beginner, and you're with Twist."
"Twist?" Jack asked, pointing to Raven hopefully. "Is that Twist?"
"Nope," Nikki replied, chuckling at the crestfallen expression on Jack's face. "Hey, Twist, get your butt over here!"
A tan, blonde teenager ambled to Nikki's side. A tan, blonde, male teenager, that is.
"Jack, this is Michael Gold, who we all call Twist," Nikki introduced. "Twist, this is Jack Kelly, who you'll be teaching." This announcement didn't seem to make either boy especially happy.
"Have you ever danced before?" Twist asked condescendingly.
"Nope," Jack replied without a hint of emotion.
"Do you have any idea what the S.A.B. is?"
"Nope."
"How about Julliard?"
"Nope."
"S.A.B. is the School of American Ballet and Julliard is another dance school. A famous, well-known, prestigious dance school. And in a few years, that's where I'll be. While you're still hanging around Disney studios making movies for spoiled five year olds."
"Twist!" Nikki admonished. "Play nicely!"
"Can I get everyone to form a circle on the floor here?" Daniel called, interrupting Jack and Twist's argument. Shakes, who had been skipping among the boys, getting to know each of them, ran back to David, grabbed his hand, and found a spot in the circle right next to Daniel. The other dancers and newsies followed, with Jack and Twist finding seats on opposite edges of the ring. "Thanks," Daniel said when everyone was seated. "What I want to do today is get everyone split into groups by their dance ability. You'll all get to know your teachers a little, and then they'll start warming you up and teaching you some basic dance steps. Or, in the experienced dancers' case, reviewing dance steps."
"Okay, the experienced dancers are the only newsies who aren't going to have private teachers, since you obviously don't need them," Nikki said. "And they are Specs, Bumlets, Dutchy, Jake, Snitch, Pie Eater, and Swifty. The teachers for this group are Alaska---" a short, brown-haired girl waved shyly---"Moocher---"
"You can call me Mooch," a girl with extremely long pigtails proclaimed.
"---And Janet." When no one responded to Nikki's statement, the newsies looked around, searching for their third teacher.
"Janet, wake up!" Moocher hissed, elbowing the thin, dark-haired girl next to her. Slowly, Janet, wearing a dazed, unfocused expression, raised her arm. "That's me," she said quietly.
Specs and Dutchy glanced at each other. Their teachers seemed…interesting, to say the least.
"Why don't all of you go to dance studio C," Nikki suggested. "Just go out the door, down the hallway, and it'll be the first room on your right. You can get a head start warming up there." Moocher led the troop of experienced dancers out of the studio, and Nikki glanced back down at her clipboard. "Now, for the intermediate dancers. You'll work together as a group some, but you'll also work with private teachers on small solos or steps that are especially difficult for you. First off, Mush. You're with Ireland." Mush peered around the circle until his eyes settled on a tall girl with long, dark blond hair and one elegant arm raised in the air. "Itey, you're with Lute." A stocky, short-ish girl waved. "Kid Blink is with Trish." Blink stared at his new teacher with a little fear---this was the girl who had slid into the splits so effortlessly when the newsies were arriving. He hoped she wouldn't make him do that. "Snoddy is with Zodiac, and Skittery is with Alex," Nikki finished and the last two pairs found each other quickly. "You'll be in studio B. It's across the hallway from this room." Obediently, the intermediate dancers and their instructors trooped out of the room and across the hallway to their studio.
"Okay, now we're down to the beginners," Nikki announced. "Some of you have already met your teachers, but I'll finish the rest of the introductions. Boots, you're with Cat, our team leader. Racetrack is with Sapphy, Snipeshooter's with Ali, and Spot is with Fighter." Spot perked up a little at his dance teacher's nickname---she certainly didn't sound like the sort of dancer who wore tutus and danced to selections from Swan Lake. "Les is with Sparks." Les looked at his new teacher worriedly---he still wasn't sure whether girls had cooties or not---but smiled a little when he saw that she wasn't wearing a crop top or 'eye gunk'. "Crutchy's with Raven." Jack watched in envy as Raven---the girl he liked---raised her hand. Why did Crutchy get her? Crutchy couldn't have been more than fourteen---much too young for her. (Although in actuality Raven was only two years older than Crutchy.) "And, finally, Jack is with Twist and David---you lucky boy, you---is with Shakes. That's everybody, right?" The newsies nodded wordlessly, suddenly feeling a little---or maybe a lot---apprehensive. With the introductions over they would actually have to start learning that dance stuff. (Shudder.)
"Okay, everyone," Cat, the curly-haired captain of Adrenaline, called. "Spread out. Let's start stretching." Looking as if they were being led to the guillotine, the newsies spread out and prepared for one of the more painful experiences of their young lives.
AN: Sorry this update took so long…I hope you all had very happy holidays! Uh…plies are knee bends, and developpes (I hope I spelled that right) involve extending one leg in front of you and holding it there---they're both ballet steps. Dansneakers are a special type of dance shoe, and gore boots are just like regular jazz shoes except they're shaped kind of like an ankle boot and they don't have laces. Happy New Year, everybody!
Shout-outs:
Written Sparks – Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked it!
Ireland – Maybe I will have Pie smack Snipeshooter sometime…that's not a bad idea! Thanks for the review!
The Lone Reed – *coughthere'saverygoodchanceyouwillgettokicktheirbutts,thencough*
Janet – Thanks for the review and the complements! They make me feel great! Here's your update!
Shakeseegirl – Thanks for the complement, Shakes!
Frogger No Baka – I completely agree. Snipeshooter is VERY evil!
Clips – You are in the beginner group, and I'll try to have you and Spot become friends. Thanks for the review!
T-R-Us – Thanks for sending in your review! Sorry the update took so long!
Raven – You're in the same group as Jack, and he's obviously developing quite the crush on you…thanks for the review!
Matchin' Laces – Thanks for the review! Here's your update!
Sapphy – I love reading your reviews---they're hilarious! I'm kind of thinking about having a chapter where the guys go to a movie theater to watch an old musical.
Lute – Thanks for the review!
