Disclaimer: I do not own the Baby Sitter's Club or any of the characters.

Author's Note: I am now trying to get better about updating all of my stories.

Chapter Five

Jessi

Essay for Ballet Across America Application

Ballet has always been a huge part of my life. My parents first enrolled me because I was a very active child, and they wanted to find some way to burn my energy. Not only did it help burn my energy, but I also fell in love with it. It has taught me dedication to not only myself, but to other people. In order for a production to succeed, everybody needs to do their part.

It has also taught me humility. While I normally am one of the best of my classes, I have met people better than me. And they have taught me to work harder. I want to bring joy to America for ballet, and I feel like I can do this as part of this team.

By: Jessica Ramsey

999

So, here I was, sitting on an overcrowded bus on my way to New Hampshire. I know that ballet is not really that important to most people in America, but really? There were fifty of us crammed onto this bus the size of a school bus. It even smelled like school kids. Plus, it was just awkward.

The kid sitting next to me, Brad or Bert or something, was listening to his I pod and did not really seem to be paying attention to what was going on around him. If he would have, he would have noticed all of the girls staring at him. To say he was attractive was probably true, but it did not help that he was by far the best-looking guy on the trip. And he was my buddy.

Well, not like we were friends. They had decided to give us all a new version of the buddy system. So, every girl had to be paired with a guy. We had to exchange cell phone numbers and look out for each other. Now, since I could not remember his name, I had decided to enter his name as "Brad". The only problem with the buddy system, was that there were way more girls than guys, so some guys had two girls that they were buddies with.

Apparently the lack of another girl on my buddy team happened to make all the other girls jealous. It wasn't like I didn't already have enough problems fitting in without this added on. My roommates would not stop talking about how they wished that they were me and trying to get me to figure out information for them.

And, while Brad (or whoever) seemed oblivious to the girl's craning their necks to check him out, the boys sitting next to him did notice. One of them tapped him on the shoulder and he took out his headphones.

"Dude, all these girls think you are hot," the guy explained to him. The face that Brad gave him almost made me laugh out loud.

"And? What do I care?" Brad casually answered, then began to look down at his I pod. The boy then turned to the guy sitting next to him.

"I think he's gay," the boy whispered, in a very loud voice. I let out a snort of laughter at that.

"What's so funny?' Brad (or whatever) turned to me harshly.

"I can laugh if I want," I defensively said.

"Whatever," Brad rolled his eyes at me and then put back on his headphones.

I put my own back on and then pulled out my book, glad that the brief conversation was over.

000000

"So, what did you and Brad talk about?" Allie, one of my roommates asked me as her and the other one, Jen, were getting ready to go eat lunch. I was laying in my bed, reading a book.

"Nothing, really," I casually answered.

"Come on, he had to say something about one of us," Jen, my other room mate eagerly said.

"No, besides he is probably gay," I gave a little laugh. They both stopped what they were doing to stare at me.

"Seriously?" Jen asked.

"I was just kidding," I explained, immediately feeling bad for saying it, "Some kid tried to tell him about all the girls staring at him, and he did not seem to care so the guy called him gay, so I just said he might be."

"Well, if he does not care about girls …," Allie muttered under her breath, "Why is it always the good looking ones?"

"Don't you think you are being over dramatic?" I asked, "I mean, it is not like he is really gay or anything."

"Of course he is not," Jen said, but the tone in her voice did not make me absolutely sure that I could believe what she was saying.

"You aren't going to say anything to anybody else are you?" I asked, suddenly fearful of that.

"No, of course not," Allie assured me. But, as her and Jen walked out the door, I realized that her voice had basically the same tone as Jen's.

00000

Our first practice had been brutal. That was the only way to describe it. Sure, I probably could have spent more time in the last couple of weeks practicing ballet moves or running or some other exercise instead of hanging out with Mallory and trying to meet cute guys at the mall, but come on!

She told us that the routines she had shown us were the easiest ones that we would be learning. I had struggled my way through the best I could, but I was nowhere near the best of the group. It has been very few times that I have been in a ballet class (even in advanced) where I am not the best one, or at least among the top three. I was now in the middle of the pack.

I made a vow to myself to practice more so I would be prepared for next time.

"Good job out there together," one of the girls sneered at me, and then immediately began talking to the girl next to her again. They both gave one last look at me and snickered under their breath.

I just continued to walk out, knowing that there was no point in doing anything about it. I waited until I got around the corner and then leaned against the wall. I could feel tears burning hot in my eyes.

"Hey, don't listen to them," a familiar voice spoke up next to me. I looked over to see Brad, "They just think they are better than everybody else."

"They were right, I did suck," I shook my head.

"Truth moment," Brad said, touching my shoulder, "Sure, you were not the best. But, you did fine. I have been in class with those two girls since we were in kindergarten. They may think they are the best, but once you learn the moves, you will outshine all of them."

"How are they already so good?" I asked.

"They were here last year," Brad smiled, "And there are a lot of the same moves. Trust me, just work hard and you will be fine."

"Thanks," I smiled. I knew a couple of tears were still in my eyes, but I felt a ton better.

"And, I am sorry about earlier," Brad confessed, "I have just spent my whole life growing up with girls in ballet class, and for the most part, they are just shallow and I cannot stand that. I just hate when people make assumptions just because I do not care if every girl on the trip is interested in me or not."

"I was just laughing because they made such a stupid assumption about you," I admitted to him.

"Well, buddy, looks like we are on good terms," he patted my shoulder one more time and then walked away.

I smiled and began to make my way back to my room. I vowed to myself that I would get up an hour early tomorrow to practice the moves we had learned today. There was no way that I was going to be the joke of this program.

00000

"You were talking to Brad again," Jen accused me as soon as I stepped through the door. I just laughed a little and turned towards the bathroom. I really did not want to discuss my conversation with Brad with them.

"Did you find out of he is gay or not?" Allie asked.

"I thought we had already decided that he wasn't really gay," I protested.

"Of course he is not," Jen said, using the same tone of voice as earlier, "We were just merely curious about him."

"Then ask him yourself," I sighed before slamming the bathroom door shut.

"Someone is TOUCHY today," Allie exclaimed to Jen.

"Probably because she did terrible during practice," Jen giggled. The two began a new conversation in whispers.

I sat down on the edge of the tub. I was definitely going to be sitting in here for a while.