Thanks to my wonderful reviewers! You all seriously make me smile- I love reading what you have to say! But now, it's chapter 4 time! Get excited, its a long one.
The next day in class, Mrs. Raine made Tara practice her technical work and her footwork at the bar. It wasn't the most exciting thing she could have been doing, but if she did this, and did it right, she was one step close to joining the rest of the class in their normal, everyday combinations and dances.
While Tara was working on her pliés and the class was working on a series of leaps, Patrick walked in.
"Mrs. Raine, can I speak with you for a moment?" he asked.
"Certainly. Class, work on what I just taught you. Don't get distracted, this will only take a moment." She said and walked out of the room.
Once she was out, Abigail immediately started going over the counts in front of the mirror, as did many other students. Kat, on the other hand, strolled over to where Tara was practicing.
"So what do you think that's all about" she asked, gesturing outside to where Mrs. Raine and Patrick were talking.
"No clue." Tara replied and got back to perfecting her plié.
"Tara come on, loosen up a bit!" Kat said, seeing that she was so focused on her practice, "you don't want to become another Abigail, now do you?" she asked, teasing.
That caught Tara's attention though, just like Kat expected it to. "I would try to avoid that at all costs..." Tara shuddered.
Kat chuckled, "good, now that we've got that established, let's talk about plans for this evening." Kat said, looking excited while thinking about getting out of class.
Tara was about to reply when the two teachers walked back into the room.
"Class, listen up. We have an announcement. The other half of first year, the boys, will be joining us later on today. From now on we will be doing things in pairs, and your partner will be permanent- you two will be dancing with each other for the rest of the year." Mrs. Raine announced. There were some girls whose faces lit up, turned to their friends, and started whispering. On the other hand, there were the girls like Abigail, who just stood there, looking like her training was being compromised.
"They will be in here after lunch- at the moment they are working on other things than you all in here are. Prepare to combine classes in this room after lunch for your first partnered exercise of first year," Patrick said with a grin.
After saying that, he left the room. Mrs. Raine looked at us, "well don't just stand there you lot, we're still in class! Get into groups of four; we are going to practice this and get it right." She waited impatiently for the class to get into their groups. "Well that took long enough. All right, from the top. 5, 6, 7, 8!" The first group of four started on their leaps.
Tara looked at them, a bit envious. But when she thought about what they were going to do later on in the day, with the boys, she felt better—Mrs. Raine couldn't keep her from doing partner dances and exercises. An added plus was that she knew two of the boys—Christian and Sammy. She thought Sammy would be a nice partner. Christian, on the other hand, well she didn't want to think about that since it would basically be a bunch of teasing and no work would get done.
But Tara's thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Raine's loud voice, "Tara are you listening to me?" She looked angry.
"Yes Mrs. Raine, sorry." Tara tried to sound apologetic, but it turned out sounding like a mixture of that and confusion since she had no clue what Mrs. Raine was talking about. She heard some girls in the class laugh.
"I said, come join us over here. We are about to have a class talk." Mrs. Raine ushered Tara over. She quickly made her way to where the rest of the class had taken a seat on the floor and sat down next to Kat.
"You looked like you were in your own world over there. What were you thinking about?" Kat asked, curious.
Tara was about to answer, but she was silenced when Mrs. Raine started to talk. She mouthed 'I'll tell you later' to Kat, who nodded.
"I know that most of you are very excited about this new partner exercise we are going to be doing from now on. I just need to remind you all that this cannot affect your performance. Do I make myself clear? I do not want any slacking, cutting corners or shenanigans of any sort. Remember that you are at this academy for a reason, and that reason is not to get distracted by boys. Understood?" She asked, finishing her speech.
"Understood, Mrs. Raine." The class answered, all in unison.
"Very well. You may all leave then. Class dismissed." Everyone rushed to gather their things and walked out the door.
Tara walked out the door and waited for Kat to come outside. When she did, Kat immediately started talking. "So, Tara, guess who's in the boys class that's going to be joining us after lunch…" she seemed excited for some odd reason.
"Uh, I'm not sure Kat. I know Sammy and Christian are…" She understood what Kat was trying to say. "Ok, Kat, listen, I don't like Christian! Sure, I think he's cute, but that's all."
"Ok, T, if that's what you say,"
Once they were outside, Kat looked in in the direction of the food stand, "look they have Italian food today! Let's grab some before it's all gone." They rushed over to the food stand and stood in line.
After they got their food, they walked over to an empty table, and set their food down. Tara got some angel hair pasta with pesto, while Kat tried the four-cheese lasagna.
"Let's eat!" They said at the same time, laughed a bit, and then dug in.
"Mm!" Tara was in heaven, the food was delicious, "this is almost as good as-" she was cut off by someone behind her.
"Me? I know I'm incredibly good looking and all, but really Tara, control yourself." Without turning around, she knew it was Christian.
"No. I was going to say mum's cooking back home. And how do you always just pop out of nowhere? I swear I didn't hear a sound." Tara said, not missing a beat. She really was confused though. How did Christian always know where she was? Could he be a…
"Well if you must know Tara, I'm a stalker…" He said, reading her mind yet managing to look completely serious.
Tara almost chocked on her pesto. "W-what?" She managed to get out.
"Yeah Tara, I'm a stalker. One hundred percent." Christian still looked completely serious, but Tara knew he was joking now.
"Totally. I'm sure your telling the truth, Christian." She turned her head and looked at Kat, "anyways, back to what I was originally saying-" Tara was once again interrupted by Mr. Stalker.
"About how good I am?" He smirked this time.
"Sure, Christian, sure. About how good you are." Tara rolled her eyes and then looked at Kat again, hoping to finish what she was trying to say, but saw her with a cheeky grin plastered on her face.
Kat checked her watch and got up, picking up her trash and her dance bag. "Well, I'm off to class. You two should start heading up too, don't want to be late for our partner exercise!" She said quickly and started towards the building, leaving Tara and Christian alone.
"Ok, come on Christian, let's head up to class," Tara said with a sigh. Of course Kat would leave here with Christian. She picked up her trash and her dance bag and turned to look at him.
Now that she really got a good look at him, she admitted he was attractive. He had a sculpted face, but that mole just irked her. His body wasn't too bad either…
"You done admiring me, Tara?" Christian said, breaking her stream of though. He had a knowing smile on his face.
She blushed, but said, "In your dreams, Christian." She walked over to the bin and threw her trash away. "Now come on, I really don't want to be late for class." She said and started walking.
"Eager are we?" He said and slowed his pace just to annoy her. "I don't see what the rush is—all were doing is getting our partners."
"Exactly! And I want to see who mine is! So come on, lets get a move on!" She said and grabbed his hand and started walking faster with him in tow. She realized that she had done after they reached the stairs leading to the academy.
She didn't let go of his hand, though, just increased her pace. Her checks flushed and she was glad that Christian was walking behind her and couldn't see her face. He would have made fun of her for sure.
Christian wriggled out of her grasp and increased his pace to match hers. "So we're holding hands already? That's moving a bit too fast. Don't you think so Tara?" He asked, teasing her.
Tara rolled her eyes. Typical Christian, of course he would say that.
When they finally reached the class, he said "well we're here so good job, we made it," Christian said. He looked around the room, "but we seem to be the last people here."
"That's because were late," Tara said and then her eyes quickly found Mrs. Raine's. She looked at them, frustrated, and sighed.
"Welcome to class you two, I'm glad you both decided to join us,"she said. "I've already paired everyone else up since they were here on time, so it looks like you two are going to be partners."
Tara and Christian looked at each other. He smirked and she sighed, but Christian could have sworn he saw the beginnings of a smile on her face.
Yay, chapter 4! How was it? Tell me in a review!
Oh and just so y'all know, I'm probably going to be updating every week, but that's not definite.