FYI: So you guys know, it takes actually a very long time for someone to earn pointe shoes (toe shoes). Sorry about that, but it was needed for the progression of my story. Thanks to the reviewer who brought it up! 3
The next day, Max and the gang walked into school again. Iggy was more excited today than he was yesterday because he would get to hang out with Fang and Max instead of Ms. Perreta, the evil woman from the pits of Tartarus.
Iggy grabbed the string from Fang's backpack and discretely followed him to his locker.
"Bye guys!" He heard Max say, and he continued until Fang stopped.
"Gimmie your stuff." Fang said, and Iggy handed him his backpack, which had a binder, a pencil pouch, and a voice recorder.
Fang stuffed the backpack in and handed Iggy the stuff inside, then grabbed his own stuff, snapping every so often, giving Iggy a chance to turn without having to grab Fang's pants (Which today, had a belt in them.).
"First class today is art." Fang said, and Iggy followed him into a room which smelled like laundry scented candles.
"How's this gonna work?" He asked, and Fang shrugged.
"I shrugged." He said, and Iggy nodded.
Fang led him over to the back corner, and introduced him to the group from yesterday.
"Hey guys, this is my kinda brother Jeff. Jeff, this is Sasha, Ally, and Scott." Iggy sighed.
"Would you guys mind telling me your names?" Iggy said. He didn't know who was who unless they used their voices.
After they did, Scott made an interesting observation.
"You're blind." He said.
"No, really? When did this happen?" Iggy said sarcastically, and they all laughed, except for Fang, who kinda smiled.
"Wait a second… this isn't gonna work! Art is a visual class, so if you can't see you might fail, and if you fail, you might cry, and if you cry, you could make me cry, and if I cry my dad gets mad… speaking of which, he's mad at me because I mugh…" She was saying, until a hand was clamped onto her mouth.
"Sorry about her," Sasha sail, wiping her now saliva infested hand on her jeans, "She talks a lot."
"Our sister, TC, does too." Iggy said, thinking of the hours he spent in a crate listening to her talk.
"Cool." She said, and it was an awkward silence, (in which the gay kid celebrated the joyous occasion of his birthday) until the teacher banged the gong.
"Today's assignment will be to draw a self portrait of yourself, due by the end of the class." She said, and strutted off into her closet. (What's going on in there? Hehehe… nothing illegal…)
"F-Nick, help me out!" Iggy whispered to Fang, who had gotten them both paper and pencil.
"Kay, but let me do mine first, then I'll get to you." He replied. "Make it look like you're working, though."
Iggy nodded and began scribbling on the paper.
Fang, on the other hand, decided to actually try and draw well today. You see, he had an idea. What if he drew himself, but as a kid? It would still be a self portrait if he drew that, right?
Fang used a lot of the time doing his, thinking of himself at ten, and getting every single detail right.
After about 45 minutes, he began to work on Iggy, using a completely different style. He drew over the scribbles and sloppily drew him out, but more cartoony, less realistically.
"Thanks, man, you saved me back in there!" Iggy said to Fang as they walked out, handing the teacher their work.
"No prob."
Line…
At study hall, Iggy sat across from Max and Fang, who were pouring over their textbooks. He, on the other hand, was relaxing while listening to his notes. His feet were on the table and every once in a while, he'd flick his foot and shuffle Max's meticulously organized papers.
"Sorry!" He would say jokingly, in turn being slapped. He was sure his shins had hand shaped bruises under his dark blue jeans.
As another one of these cycles repeated, he heard footsteps run up to them. He paused his iPod, which held his notes, and listened to the girl who was speaking.
"Hey, guys, I'm sorry. I won't be coming this weekend. That poo face, Jonas, broke up with me, so I won't be at the movie."
Iggy was confused. "Guys… who's that?" He asked Max and Fang.
"Oh, sorry about that. Jeff, this is Isabella diStrella. Isabella, this is my adopted brother, Jeff." Max said.
Isabella smiled. "Hi, Jeff. Nice to meet you!" She said, and stuck out her hand. He didn't respond, so after a few seconds, Fang reached over the table and grabbed his hand, placing it in hers.
"Hi, I'm Jeff, and I'm blind. Pleasure is all mine, and might I add, you have soft hands!" He said, flirting with her, and she chortled.
"Thanks, but I'm done with boys right now." She said, and pulled out the chair next to him and sat.
"Oh really?" he told her, raising his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes.
"She rolled her eyes, Ig- I mean Jeff." Max said, and he laughed. Isabella raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Same old, same old." He said, falsely nostalgic,and propped his feet back up on the table.
"Hey, why don't you come over Friday night? We could play Monopoly." Max said, looking at Fang for approval. When he nodded, she gave Isabella a reassuring smile.
Isabella smiled back, seeming to like the idea.
"Sounds good!"
Iggy placed his hands behind his head and pressed play. Maybe he'd get to know this chick.
This line is dangerous!
Iggy let himself into Ethan's office.
"Hi, Jeff." He said, and put down the bag of popcorn he was munching on.
"Hey, Ethan." Iggy said, and sniffed the air. 'Smartpop, really? I prefer Orville Redenbacher."
Ethan was astounded. "How did you know the brand of popcorn I was eating?" He asked, dumbstruck.
Iggy shrugged and nonchalantly plopped his books on the table, then sat down on the comfy couch.
"I don't know, maybe the smell." He said, then slouched into the cushions.
"That's remarkable!" Ethan said, and Iggy snorted.
"You should see me cook!" He said proudly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"You cook?" He exclaimed, and Iggy nodded. "Did you have to cook for your family? Is that why?" He probed, and the mood turned sour.
"It was either that or desert rat. Take your pick." Iggy said darkly, eyebrows furrowed. It was usually desert rat anyways.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make your day turn bad." Ethan said.
'You never do, but it always happens.' Iggy thought, and similar to yesterday, they spent the rest of class in silence.
This line is inedible…
Nudge was sitting in front of the store after Fang dropped her off, waiting for Anna at the Shoe Basket.
"Hi, TC, I'm sorry! I got held up at the school today." Anna smiled apologetically. "Are you ready?"
Nudge nodded, and together, they went inside the store.
"Hello?" A scratchy voice moaned. It was an old man, Tom, who owned the store with his livelier wife Joyce. He was tall with a wiry frame, whereas she was plumper with platinum blonde (dyed) curly hair, very different than she had looked as a professional ballerina.
"Hi Tom! It's Anna. I'm here with a student for a pointe shoe fitting." Anna said, finding the old man in the supply closet, poking pins into a voodoo doll.
"I'll get Joyce." He rasped, and stalked off to find his wife. A moment later, a happy looking older woman came out behind the door.
"Hello! You must be TC! Nice to meet you!" She said. She had a pink shirt on and was wearing false pearls around her neck.
"Hi!" Nudge said, and waved.
"Let's get started, shall we?" She said, and grabbed Nudge.
"Here are all the pointe shoes we have." Joyce said, motioning to a wall filled with rows of boxes. "We'll find the right shoe for you, don't worry!"
Nudge tried on every shoe possible. She must have tried every brand: Capezios, Grishko, Gaynor-Midens, Russians, Mirella, Prima-Soft, Leo's, Freeds, Chacott, and Blochs. Nothing seemed to work right, and Nudge was beginning to get discouraged.
"Here, try these!" Joyce said, and Nudge took the box from her hands and slipped the shoes on over the gellow toe pads. They were Bloch Seranades. She put them on and immediately knew they were the ones.
"Wow! These are perfect!" She gushed, and took them off and hugged them to her feet. She handed them to Anna, who took them and paid for them, along with the other stuff she needed. Nudge chatted all the way home about how happy she was to Anna, who didn't seem to mind the endless stream of words coming from her mouth. When they reached her house, Nudge unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Thank you so much, Anna! You don't know how amazing this is!" She squealed.
She jumped out of the car and waved at her until Valencia opened the door.
Anna just smiled. She knew there was a star hidden deep inside.