Chapter 6-To Dance or Not to Dance?

“Okay everyone, now if I can have your attention please.” Linda Dawson said as she called all the girls, as well as Kat, Victoria, and Jessica over to where she was.

“Thank you. Now I know we still have a few weeks before the performance, but I figured it’d be best if we begin preparing as soon as possible. Now last week I told you girls a little bit of what we’re going to be doing and how and where, but before I continue any further I just want to know here and now, are all of you interested in doing this? Because we cannot do this show if we don’t have enough people.”

Everyone raised their hand.

“All right, no worries then.” Linda said with relief.

“Uh, excuse me Ms. Dawson?” asked a girl.

“Yes?”

“I know we’re going to be doing a dance performance at the civic center, but you haven’t told us as to what the show is going to be.”

“You mean the name of the show itself?”

The girl nodded.

“Well, some of you may know the style of this show, and some of you may not, but…” Linda then gave a small grin. “…the show’s name is…‘The Nutcracker’.”

“Wait a second, you mean sort of like the one that had Macaulay Culkin in it?” Krista asked.

Linda nodded. “Yeah,” she replied. “Now I know compared to that movie this performance is going to be smaller, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it a good show, and one that isn’t going to be boring.” she concluded as the girls nodded in agreement.

“So what exactly are we going to be doing in this show?” asked another dance student.

Jessica stepped forward. “Well, since we’re doing a ballet version of the story (much like in the movie), we’re going to be using dance moves in our production. However, though the movie is our inspiration, we’re not going to be using the same moves that were used in it. Instead we’re going to give our version a different feel. Or in other words, do it Cosmos-style.”

“Now what I have here is programs of what dances we’re going to be doing and how many people we need for each piece.” Victoria said as she walked over to the group and started handing the girls a slip of paper for each of them to look at. “Make sure to look at each and every part carefully and choose the part decisively, for once all the spots in a part are filled, that’s it. And there can’t be any changes made once we start this, so if you’ve chosen a part and you find something else you might like better, let me, Kat, Jessica, or Linda know by the end of the day, otherwise…as they say, ‘or forever hold your piece’.”

“Since we need to prepare, we’re going to cut class a little shorter so you girls can have at least some time to look at the program and see what part you would want to do.” Kat said.

“Okay,” Krista said as she looked at the program Victoria gave her.

“All right, well, having said that, everyone break off into your respective groups with your respective teachers.” Linda said.

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A short while later, class ended and the girls were then able to take a look at the programs again and choose what they wanted/didn’t want.

“You think there’ll be enough time for everyone?” Kat asked Linda and the others as she sipped some water.

“I hope so.” Linda replied. “Usually we’d have more time in advance to get everything ready and whatnot, but…I don’t know, for some reason prep-wise time ain’t on our side this year. And as much as I hate to put more pressure on the girls, we only have a few weeks to pull this off, so it’s pretty much a are-you-in-or-are-you-out kind of thing, sadly.”

Kat nodded.

“Well, we may be a little low on time as opposed to last year when we did ‘Christmas Carol’, but hopefully everything will fall into place.” Jessica said.

“One can only hope.” Victoria said.

As the teachers talked, Krista, like much of her other fellow co-dancers was busy looking at the program and looking through the different parts bit by bit, wondering what part she could do.

Damn, it’s almost like being asked what your favorite hobby is and you’ve got all your favorites on the list. she thought as she continued to look. Suddenly she then came to a part that as soon as she saw it a small grin spread across her mouth and a look of thought crossed her face

Hmmm…I wonder…

After she took a look at the program for a few more moments she then made her decision, checked off the part she was looking at and headed over to where Kat and the other teachers were.

“Uh, excuse me, Miss Hillard? Miss Dawson?”

“Yes Krista?” Linda asked. “What is it?”

“Well, I took a look at the program and I think I’ve made my choice.” Krista said as she handed Linda the program.

Once Linda took a look she then looked at Krista with a small smile and raised eyebrows. “This is the part you want?”

“If it’s all humanly possible, yes.” Krista replied.

Linda whistled slightly. “Well okay, but just keep in mind though, since you got this role, you need to make sure that you got the moves down as we teach you them in the coming weeks, all right?”

“I got it.” Krista said sincerely.

“Okay, good.” Linda said as she wrote something down on a clipboard.

“Thanks a lot, Miss Dawson.” Krista said.

“You’re welcome.” Linda replied with a smile.

More girls then came shortly after to tell their teachers of which roles they wanted to do. Linda then showed each girl her clipboard that had the list of what roles were taken and which ones weren’t. There were a couple of disappointments since at least someone had a role another girl liked, but eventually it ended with everyone having a role that everyone could at least do.

Once the last girl left for the day Katherine went into the locker room to change clothes while Victoria and Jessica helped Linda move a balance beam over to one side of the room. They had almost placed it right where it was supposed to be when they heard a knock and then the opening of the front doors.

“Hello?” asked a voice.

“Hold on, we’ll be right there.” Jessica replied as she and the other two women finally put the balance beam in place.

“Who is it?” Victoria asked once they were done.

Linda shrugged. “You got me.” She replied as she then walked over to the doors where the voice was coming from. As she approached she then saw a young man looking around the place.

“Uh, excuse me, can I help you?” Linda asked as the man turned around and faced her.

“Uh, yeah, um-” Tommy said as he stammered a little bit. “I was…just wondering…this is Cosmos, right?” he asked rhetorically.

“Well, if it says so on the sign, then I’d have to say, yes.” Linda replied.

Okay, good, I wasn’t misreading it. Tommy thought in relief. “Look, I don’t mean to impose or anything like that, but I was wondering if Katherine Hillard was around or if maybe you had seen her.”

“Well, she’s in the locker room changing right now, she should be out soon.” Linda said.

“Oh, all right.” Tommy said.

“Are you a friend of hers?” Victoria asked with a little bit of a sly smile on her face.

“Yeah, you could definitely say that.” Tommy replied. “I’m Tommy Oliver.”

“Linda Dawson,” Linda said as she shook Tommy’s hand. “And this is Jessica Velasco and Victoria St. John.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tommy said.

“So how are you friends with Kat?” Victoria asked curiously.

“She and I knew each other since we went to high school together.” Tommy replied. “I had run into her-literally run into her while I was on my way out to get something for the Thanksgiving party at Hayley’s Cyberspace.”

Hmmm. Interesting. Linda thought.

“That’s when she told me that she had moved here from London and well, I figured I’d help out and show her around as much as I could.”

“Oh, that’s sweet.” Jessica remarked.

“Linda!” Kat called out as she approached the group, unaware of Tommy standing with them.

“Right over here, Kat.” Linda said.

“So, are we going to start-” Kat began, but then she stopped as she saw Tommy. “Hi Tommy,”

“Hi.” Tommy said.

“What’s up?”

“Well, I was passing by here and I thought maybe I’d give you a ride over to Hayley’s or to your apartment so you didn’t have to take the bus.” Tommy said nonchalantly, even though his hands were already beginning to get sweaty just by looking at Kat. “Plus, I had also gotten a call from the guy over at Rooms-To-Go saying that they still have the sofa available and if you were still interested.”

“Oh, right.” Kat remembered. “Well, just give me a few minutes and I’ll be right out.”

“Okay. I’ll wait outside.” Tommy said.

Once he stepped out Linda whistled. “So who’s the hottie?” she asked Kat slyly.

“He’s…an old friend.” Kat said as a blush began to spread up her neck.

“Uh-huh.” Victoria said sarcastically. “Yeah, the looks you two were giving each other were pretty obvious.”

Kat didn’t say anything, but the light blush across her cheeks said it all.

“He lives here, right?” Linda asked.

“Yeah. He started teaching over at Reefside High a few months ago.”

“So he isn’t that much of a resident, is he?” Victoria asked.

“Well, compared to me, he definitely has more, but even he’s a little bit of a new guy.” Kat replied with a smile. “Well, anyway are we going to start tomorrow?”

“Yes, we are.” Linda said.

“Okay,” Kat said. “Just wanted to double check.”

“Well, go on, girl! Don’t keep ‘Tommy’ waiting!” Victoria said slyly as she tried to mimic Kat’s Australian accent.

Kat just laughed. “See you tomorrow, guys.” She said as she headed out the door to the front of the building where Tommy was waiting.

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