The pets had yet to find out whether or not Jimmy's owner would like his shiny new suit, but for the moment Jimmy didn't care- he was just so relieved that the other pets were talking to him.
There was no stopping Vinnie as he wriggled to the front of the pets surrounding Jimmy. "Hey, that suit is perfect! You know what it is perfect for? Dancing!" he said, twirling around and toppling over backwards as he tried to do the Moon Walk.
"Who's that?" asked a confused Jimmy.
"Yeah... that's Vinnie Terrio on the floor" said Penny.
"Oh no..." muttered the other pets in unison.
Well, all of them except Zoe who had jumped up to the pink stereo and flicked the switch "I'm gonna' tell you 'bowt a few things, so just watch me go, steal the show, sit on back and try to follow!" she sang to Jimmy while the other pets groaned inwardly and Pepper got ready for her part- there was no stopping Zoe now- she was in the zone, as it where.
When it was finally over, Vinnie tried again. "So yeah, as I was saying: dancing!"
"Um... I can't dance" said Jimmy. "I can't do much really." he mumbled.
"Nonsense!" said Zoe. "Everyone can do something! I can sing, Pepper makes people laugh and... well, you heard the song" she replied with enthusiasm.
"I'm not great at much, really" he said, scuffling at the ground with his foot and looking upset. "No wonder my owner is so ashamed of me."
"Well you are in luck, because today is the day you will learn to dance!"
As a matter of fact, today was not the day that Jimmy would learn to dance. His greatest efforts were even worse than Vinnie on a bad day. After an afternoon of crashing and tumbling all over the daycare area, Mrs T. popped her head around and threatened to put the pets in cages to stop them from fighting.
"Maybe dancing isn't your thing..." mused Vinnie, massaging a poorly elbow.
"Maybe not" agreed Jimmy, rubbing his head, "the floor is harder than it looks."
"Yeah, well it does take a bit of practice to become a pro like me!" Vinnie said, but was silenced by a cough from Zoe- not a great way to make someone feel better about themselves, it warned him.
"Maybe you should try something with less gusto and more grace. Although you have a lot of improvements to make when it comes to gracefulness- no offence" said Zoe. "Maybe Penny Ling can help you there?"
Penny stepped forward, blushing, ready to give her new friend lessons in rhythmic ribbon dancing. "Ok, um... put your foot there and point your toes. Next, hop from one foot to the other, like you are gliding through the air... um... not really like that" she said as Jimmy launched himself through the air and landed head first with a crash. It wasn't like he wasn't trying- he was just not very good. Penny and the rest of the pets clearly had their work set out for them, but Penny didn't want to give up on her new friend just yet. "Ok... um... let's just try walking with a glide, then maybe we can try a light jog, then moving from one foot to the other, then we can try it with ribbons..." she said quickly, more than a little flustered. It was going to take a while for Penny to hand over her ribbons to the clumsy little cat, regardless of how much she valued their new friendship.
Songs used in this chapter: "Let Me Introduce You to Everyone", The Hub.