(This is another chapter taking place in France, so once again: all dialogue is in French)
As you can probably guess: I don't really have a lot of friends outside of the team and family.
I mean, I've tried to make friends...but it never really ends well. Unfortunately for me, there aren't really a whole lot of schools in my area: so I've known all the kids in my school all my life ie. when I still didn't have a handle on my over sensory, when I lost my mother...so ya, that mixed with my inability to talk to strangers like a normal person (and always end up talking like a gurgling baby) and the weird excuses I would use when I was too tired from training or fighting crime to go to school on time; I've never really had any friends. For most of my life, I just had my brothers.
That's why I like summer vacation, and other school holidays: it's an escape from the constant loneliness that came with school and having to be constantly surrounded by annoying teenagers and their stupid cliques (not to mention the nine-hour school days can get tiresome).
This particular summer was awesome. My days that weren't spent hanging out with the team consisted of baking, dancing, and reading: which was pretty much heaven.
Today is one of these great days. I started the day with making a couple batching of brownies and cleaning out the spice cabinet, and reading books on the history of the Justice League (one of my favourite reading materials). Once the brownies were done, I grabbed my dance equipment, put on my flip-flops and sunglasses, and started out for the studio.
The day was really warm, and if I didn't live in a city: I'd think about going to a beach. Megan and Rob mentioned that they wanted to have a beach day, which sounding like a lot of fun: but no other mentions of the idea had been mentioned.
When I got to the dance studio; I welcomed the cool air and smiled as I heard jazzy music playing in the distance, probably from the summer camp that practises here over the summer.
"Hello, welcome to Marie-Violet Community dance studio. How can I-don't I know you?" The boy at the front desk interrupted the usual opening phrase with a question that caught me off guard. I looked harder at the boy that was looking at me with a questioning look and a bell rung in my mind.
"Nope! I-I mean, I come here a lot...or, I mean..." I raised my fingers to my bangs and pulled at them, trying to block the boy's eyes away from my face.
"No, this is my first time at the front desk...what school do you go to, I swear I know you." He said.
TaGueule, Quinton!
"I seriously doubt that...if I could just..."
"I got it!" I froze. " Evangélina Dubois, that quiet bookworm girl with that weird focusing problem!"
Zut
I let out a sigh in defeat.
"Ya..." I muttered.
Quinton Martin was one of those stupid teenagers I mentioned. Possibly the most popular boy in my grade, and half of the 'power couple' between him and the captain of the girl's soccer team. Long blonde hair, olive skin, dimples; your ideal teenage heartthrob.
"You dance?" He asks, and I nod while blushing. "I can see it, actually. You totally have the right body."
That statement set my face on fire and I wanted to melt into the floor.
"Ah, sorry!" He said, putting his hands in front of him in a surrendering motion. "That came out totally wrong. I meant that I can see you being a really good dancer...not that I've been watching you or anything like that..."
"Right..." I muttered, nervously wringing the strap on my dance bag.
"Zut...this is such a terrible meeting..." Quinton said, brushing his hand through his hair.
"It's fine...if I could just...log into the private small studio...
"Oh my god! Totally, I'm so sorry: you probably wanted to start ASAP...Um, here: I'll sign you in, you...Go ahead."
"Are...You sure?" I asked. "I have a membership..."
"No, don't worry...I got it." He said.
"Thanks..." I said, surprised. I was shocked that Quinton actually appeared to be a nice guy.
"No prob, just...come back and let me know when you're done, okay Evangélina?" He said, and I blushed and nodded.
"Okay...: I muttered and started walking towards the studio. "And Quinton?"
"Ya?" He asked, looking back at me.
"It's just Lina." He smiled and me and nodded, smiling.
(See video above for the dance in this scene)
Dance is one of those things that you get better at the more you practise it, like most arts. For example: when I was still taking lessons from mother as a youth: my ability was limited. For example, when I was thirteen: I had to stretch for hours before I could do splits in the middle of a routine, and I could barely kick above 90 degrees.
Nowadays, with my increased ability obtained through practice and training, I could perform a body kick over 270 degrees, and could do splits midair without even blinking.
The routine I was practising was definitely one of my harder ones, but it wasn't terrible. The loud bass and quick bass made it easier to follow the music, which was one less thing to worry about. The only thing left was getting the proper footing during the aerial work, and making sure to land properly during my low landings. Still, no matter how mediocre I found the dance: I still managed to lose track of all my thoughts and links to the outside world. Right now, my world was trapped inside the dance studio, and how I was moving.
That is until the music suddenly stopped.
I faltered in my final floor-body fold and ended up rolling my ankle and falling on my butt.
I shook my head before looking up to see Quinton with his foot tangled in the cord that connected the studio's stereo to the outlet. His face was screwed in a look that could only be explained as 'oops'.
"I am so, so sorry." He said, looking at me.
"What are you doing in here?" I asked, feeling embarrassed at having someone I wasn't close with watching my dancing; which I was totally uncomfortable.
"I swear, I didn't mean too...I just walked by and saw you through the window and..." He paused, tripping over the cord. "I'm sorry."
"It's...okay," I said, but I didn't completely mean it.
"It's just...wow, you are really good at that, and that dance...you seemed like a totally different person.
"...I've been dancing ever since I could stand..." I said, getting up and dusting off my unitard, which was making me even more uncomfortable seeing as how it was all I was wearing in front of a boy I barely knew. "You could say it runs in my blood."
"Still...that looked really hard, and you looked super confident and comfortable which -and I say this with total respect- you don't seem to have a lot of." He said, and I blushed even more which at this point, I didn't even know was possible.
"You have my thanks for the compliment..." I said, and I nearly smacked myself. However, Quinton only chuckled and looked back at me, having his foot finally untangled.
"How do you do it, if you don't mind me asking? I mean, I've seen some great dancers but...your the best by far." He said and I blushed.
"It's really not that hard," I muttered, fiddling with my ponytail. "Dancing has always come easily to me, so I guess I just found it easy to progress."
"Wow." He said, almost in awe and I felt like my face was about to explode. "I hope you don't think I'm some sort of weird person for saying this: but you're awesome."
This took me completely by surprise. In all my life, I've never gotten that kind of praise; especially from someone that I had just met.
"Thank you," I said, bowing my head in respect. "I should, um, probably get going."
And I started to walk towards the change rooms but was stopped by Quinton calling my name.
"Yes?" I asked, looking back at the blonde boy.
"Would you possibly, if you want, wanna hang out sometime during school or something?" He asked, and I was taken completely by surprise.
"What? Like study together or something?" I asked. This seemed to surprise him, and he cleared his throat.
"Sure, ya...if you want to." He said, avoiding my eyes.
"Okay...I'll see you around then," I said, nodding as I continued walking towards the change rooms.
"See you around Lina." I heard him say before I opened the change room doors and walked in.