Authors note – Well, I'm still writing!! Thanx to everyone who reviewed
especially melbo18 coz you've actually read it from when I first started
putting up chapters! Also Mrs Clay Aiken, your so nice! O and jayjay015,
you all make me happy and when I'm happy I write angst! Ok, ok on with the
fic, I'm considering making Christa's life slightly happier, hmmm...nope ok
got over that, back to the angst! Oh and I'm sorry about the names of music
and dances, I'll try to get them right but it was all just a bit before my
time!! (And when I say a bit I mean nearly 30 years!)Yell if I make a
mistake!
Disclaimer – I'm just playing with characters I don't own them I'm just having fun, if you care sue me! Ok, ok please don't I'm poor!!
Chapter 5
As the she placed a record in the player and the Merengue music flooded the room. She turned to face the expectant faces of her rather large group of guests. **It's over 2 years since I've done this, let's hope I remember how to** she thought cynically. She was never good at dancing, Johnny had taught her and she knew how to do all the moves but the simple fact was she wasn't talented. She surveyed her pupils for the next hour, they all looked nice enough, **maybe this isn't going to be that bad** she thought.
'Hello, my names Christa and I'm going to be teaching you all the Merengue today, so if you would all like to find a partner we'll begin.' She plastered a happy smile on her face and turned around to restart the record. The waves of sheer terror that had been wracking her body since she had arrived at the pavilion were beginning to subside. She counted to ten in her head and with another deep breath turned around. Everyone had found themselves a partner and had separated off into a space in the rather cavernous area of the pavilion dance floor, everyone that is with the exception of a group of boys, a few years older than Christa.
'Excuse me, could you boys please find yourselves a partner and get into a space on the floor' she asked in her most authoritative tone, trying to look older than her meagre seventeen years. They had that look in their eyes, the one she knew meant trouble and she fought against the panic threatening to engulf her, she turned to face them directly and said 'if you are going to learn the Merengue, you have to find a partner and a space.' Again she smiled at them, helpless because they were guests and if it came down to an argument they would automatically win no matter who had right on their side. The boys stood up and sauntered into the middle of the hall, just as Christa was about to repeat her request for a third time an equal number of girls ran into the pavilion, giggling.
They were rich kids, spoilt rich kids just thinking about them brought out the bitter side of Christa's nature. If she didn't have to be nice to them, if there wasn't the threat of dismissal for both her and Johnny looming on the horizon she would have walked out. They didn't care about the dancing; they were only there to escape parents or guardian or whatever adults held responsibility for them and their exploits. She knew there was no point feeling bitter, the people here couldn't help the fact that those only months ago so similar to them in appearance had destroyed her soul. She pushed her resentment to the back of her mind; she pushed all her feelings to the back of her mind and repeated again her solitary request.
'I need you all to find a partner and go to a space on the floor as quickly as possible' she said with careful emphasis. 'Please' she added as an afterthought so they at least could not accuse her of being disrespectful. Slowly, carefully, as though they had not delayed the entire class for 10 minutes the boys moved from the door and approached the giggling crowd of girls. Then circling them as vultures circle carcasses one by one they selected a partner and still excruciatingly slowly walked with their chosen girl to the last few spaces on the floor.
Relief filled Christa's mind as she reset the record for a third time and started to teach. She was describing the first few steps of the dance when the trouble started. To call it trouble was exaggerate, the tallest and as Christa presumed oldest of the boys was whispering things in the ear of the pretty blond he had chosen to dance with. She was laughing a little too loudly but she ignored the interruption. She told the dancers to try out the first few moves while she called out the time. There were several elderly couples who were having difficulties keeping in time and as Christa walked towards them to help them out she realised that most of the younger people were not even trying to dance they were talking, laughing, jeering at those who were dancing, and one couple had given up all pretence of dancing together and were walking towards their friends.
Christa had no idea what to do, she hadn't been trained to teach, she hadn't even been trained to dance properly and she knew that they wouldn't listen to her even if she could think of something to say. They were older than her, in their early twenties and it was obvious they resented her attempt at telling them what to do.
She walked towards the group of people that was gradually forming in the centre of the floor and tried to reason with them. 'Now I know this isn't how you do the Merengue' she said trying to create some kind of relationship with them. 'Do you need me to show you how to do the steps again?' It was immediately obvious this was the wrong thing to say, the blonde girl who had been dancing with the ringleader of the group of guys stalked up to her.
'You?? Teach me how to dance?? You have to be joking; I think I know more about dancing than a cheap, common tart like you! I'm county champion, and I know how to dance whereas you, one of your 'friends obviously told you that you could dance in an attempt to get somewhere with you and you actually believed him, it's quite sweet really!' She laughed in Christa's face and Christa could smell the coffee on her breath from breakfast. Christa automatically took a step back in shock, she knew that teaching rich people to dance wasn't fun, Johnny had told her enough times but she had never expected outright hostility. **Count to 10 and walk away, Count to 10 and walk away** she told herself. She turned her back on the blonde girl and made her way slowly through the group of people which had formed behind her toward those in her class who were still vainly trying to dance in time with the music and in a typically British way ignore the heated argument going on around them. **1...except an argument requires to people ...2...3** thought Christa. She never got past four, in her close concentration on controlling her temper she didn't notice the foot stuck out in front of her, didn't realise what was happening until she was lying face down on the floor, humiliated.
She struggled to blink back tears of embarrassment, and began to pick herself up of the floor, ignoring the near hysterical shrieks of laughter coming from the group behind her.
'I thought this was a dance lesson, I was obviously mistaken' a sarcastic voice cut through the crowd. Christa looked up to see the short, fat figure of Neil Kellerman, a smug smile on his face, making his features look even smaller and more pig-like. 'These good people have paid money to be taught a lesson and that's what they expect, so you can stop fooling around on the floor and teach them. If you're going to work at Kellerman's you had better improve your attitude' after he had finished this verbal tirade, he started to apologise to the guests and assure them that 'She is just starting work here' and that 'She is so sorry'. He smarmed his way out of the pavilion never stopping to let Christa even breathe.
The rest of the lesson was uneventful; Christa went through the dance moves woodenly, not bothering to correct people when they made mistakes, constantly watching the clock. It was not until the entire hour had passed and all of her students had left that Christa gave in to the tears. She ran as fast as she could towards Johnny's cabin the as the small drops of water coursed down her cheeks. Johnny was sitting in one of the two chairs in his room, humming along to some music when she burst through the door. He didn't have to speak; he simply held out his arms and wrapped Christa in them, letting her cry out all the humiliations of the last hour. Slowly, and with much sobbing and hiccupping she told him the whole story, Johnny knew though that there was more to her distress than simple humiliation. He knew his sister and he knew that she wouldn't be depressed merely by what was not an entirely disastrous lesson, even if it was quite unsuccessful.
'What is it Chris? What happened last year?' he asked as soon as the sobbing had subsided and she was leaning quietly against him. Christa wriggled out of his arms and walked over to the window.
'No Johnny, I can't tell you, I just can't, you gotta understand me, I just can't'
Disclaimer – I'm just playing with characters I don't own them I'm just having fun, if you care sue me! Ok, ok please don't I'm poor!!
Chapter 5
As the she placed a record in the player and the Merengue music flooded the room. She turned to face the expectant faces of her rather large group of guests. **It's over 2 years since I've done this, let's hope I remember how to** she thought cynically. She was never good at dancing, Johnny had taught her and she knew how to do all the moves but the simple fact was she wasn't talented. She surveyed her pupils for the next hour, they all looked nice enough, **maybe this isn't going to be that bad** she thought.
'Hello, my names Christa and I'm going to be teaching you all the Merengue today, so if you would all like to find a partner we'll begin.' She plastered a happy smile on her face and turned around to restart the record. The waves of sheer terror that had been wracking her body since she had arrived at the pavilion were beginning to subside. She counted to ten in her head and with another deep breath turned around. Everyone had found themselves a partner and had separated off into a space in the rather cavernous area of the pavilion dance floor, everyone that is with the exception of a group of boys, a few years older than Christa.
'Excuse me, could you boys please find yourselves a partner and get into a space on the floor' she asked in her most authoritative tone, trying to look older than her meagre seventeen years. They had that look in their eyes, the one she knew meant trouble and she fought against the panic threatening to engulf her, she turned to face them directly and said 'if you are going to learn the Merengue, you have to find a partner and a space.' Again she smiled at them, helpless because they were guests and if it came down to an argument they would automatically win no matter who had right on their side. The boys stood up and sauntered into the middle of the hall, just as Christa was about to repeat her request for a third time an equal number of girls ran into the pavilion, giggling.
They were rich kids, spoilt rich kids just thinking about them brought out the bitter side of Christa's nature. If she didn't have to be nice to them, if there wasn't the threat of dismissal for both her and Johnny looming on the horizon she would have walked out. They didn't care about the dancing; they were only there to escape parents or guardian or whatever adults held responsibility for them and their exploits. She knew there was no point feeling bitter, the people here couldn't help the fact that those only months ago so similar to them in appearance had destroyed her soul. She pushed her resentment to the back of her mind; she pushed all her feelings to the back of her mind and repeated again her solitary request.
'I need you all to find a partner and go to a space on the floor as quickly as possible' she said with careful emphasis. 'Please' she added as an afterthought so they at least could not accuse her of being disrespectful. Slowly, carefully, as though they had not delayed the entire class for 10 minutes the boys moved from the door and approached the giggling crowd of girls. Then circling them as vultures circle carcasses one by one they selected a partner and still excruciatingly slowly walked with their chosen girl to the last few spaces on the floor.
Relief filled Christa's mind as she reset the record for a third time and started to teach. She was describing the first few steps of the dance when the trouble started. To call it trouble was exaggerate, the tallest and as Christa presumed oldest of the boys was whispering things in the ear of the pretty blond he had chosen to dance with. She was laughing a little too loudly but she ignored the interruption. She told the dancers to try out the first few moves while she called out the time. There were several elderly couples who were having difficulties keeping in time and as Christa walked towards them to help them out she realised that most of the younger people were not even trying to dance they were talking, laughing, jeering at those who were dancing, and one couple had given up all pretence of dancing together and were walking towards their friends.
Christa had no idea what to do, she hadn't been trained to teach, she hadn't even been trained to dance properly and she knew that they wouldn't listen to her even if she could think of something to say. They were older than her, in their early twenties and it was obvious they resented her attempt at telling them what to do.
She walked towards the group of people that was gradually forming in the centre of the floor and tried to reason with them. 'Now I know this isn't how you do the Merengue' she said trying to create some kind of relationship with them. 'Do you need me to show you how to do the steps again?' It was immediately obvious this was the wrong thing to say, the blonde girl who had been dancing with the ringleader of the group of guys stalked up to her.
'You?? Teach me how to dance?? You have to be joking; I think I know more about dancing than a cheap, common tart like you! I'm county champion, and I know how to dance whereas you, one of your 'friends obviously told you that you could dance in an attempt to get somewhere with you and you actually believed him, it's quite sweet really!' She laughed in Christa's face and Christa could smell the coffee on her breath from breakfast. Christa automatically took a step back in shock, she knew that teaching rich people to dance wasn't fun, Johnny had told her enough times but she had never expected outright hostility. **Count to 10 and walk away, Count to 10 and walk away** she told herself. She turned her back on the blonde girl and made her way slowly through the group of people which had formed behind her toward those in her class who were still vainly trying to dance in time with the music and in a typically British way ignore the heated argument going on around them. **1...except an argument requires to people ...2...3** thought Christa. She never got past four, in her close concentration on controlling her temper she didn't notice the foot stuck out in front of her, didn't realise what was happening until she was lying face down on the floor, humiliated.
She struggled to blink back tears of embarrassment, and began to pick herself up of the floor, ignoring the near hysterical shrieks of laughter coming from the group behind her.
'I thought this was a dance lesson, I was obviously mistaken' a sarcastic voice cut through the crowd. Christa looked up to see the short, fat figure of Neil Kellerman, a smug smile on his face, making his features look even smaller and more pig-like. 'These good people have paid money to be taught a lesson and that's what they expect, so you can stop fooling around on the floor and teach them. If you're going to work at Kellerman's you had better improve your attitude' after he had finished this verbal tirade, he started to apologise to the guests and assure them that 'She is just starting work here' and that 'She is so sorry'. He smarmed his way out of the pavilion never stopping to let Christa even breathe.
The rest of the lesson was uneventful; Christa went through the dance moves woodenly, not bothering to correct people when they made mistakes, constantly watching the clock. It was not until the entire hour had passed and all of her students had left that Christa gave in to the tears. She ran as fast as she could towards Johnny's cabin the as the small drops of water coursed down her cheeks. Johnny was sitting in one of the two chairs in his room, humming along to some music when she burst through the door. He didn't have to speak; he simply held out his arms and wrapped Christa in them, letting her cry out all the humiliations of the last hour. Slowly, and with much sobbing and hiccupping she told him the whole story, Johnny knew though that there was more to her distress than simple humiliation. He knew his sister and he knew that she wouldn't be depressed merely by what was not an entirely disastrous lesson, even if it was quite unsuccessful.
'What is it Chris? What happened last year?' he asked as soon as the sobbing had subsided and she was leaning quietly against him. Christa wriggled out of his arms and walked over to the window.
'No Johnny, I can't tell you, I just can't, you gotta understand me, I just can't'