Liska crept into her first dance class with Hunter after changing in the locker room. It had taken over a week to straighten out the mess with her schedule. The jazz teacher, Juli, was a big fan of Papa’s and kept saying how sad she was to lose Liska from her class.

Liska wanted to hug the mirror wall, but there were already several students warming up at the bar. So, she sat down in the corner and began stretching, knowing that Hunter would not let Liska off because they were related.

Lunch rolled in Liska’s stomach like wet laundry in the dryer. Why was she freaking out? Dance was easy, especially with Hunter instead of Papa. And it would keep her family from focusing too much on Liska’s music.

Despite her parents’ hopes that she would give up music to follow in her family’s footsteps, Liska was relieved that it was Hunter she had to deal with every day at school. Even though Hunter loved dance more than anything, she also seemed to understand that her sister needed music like her she needed dance.

Ephy slid to the floor next to Liska and started stretching, too.

“Are you ready for this?” she asked.

Liska shrugged, but she couldn’t convince herself to smile.

“At least we’re in the class together now! We can make it fun.”

Liska tried to absorb Ephy’s enthusiasm. She knew Hunter was going to make them work for it, though. Liska wasn’t sure Ephy understood what it was like to dance with a Renard teacher.

A clap broke her thoughts.

“Listen up, everyone!” Hunter had come into the room. “Some of you are already warming up—good! I expect you to warm-up on your own for five minutes at the beginning of every class. Then we will finish warming up and practice technique at the bar for twenty minutes. For the rest of each class, we will learn some choreography. At the end of each class, we will do a few strength building exercises and then cool down.”

Bellona raised her hand. Ephy rolled her eyes at Liska.

“Yes?” Hunter glanced at her clipboard. “You are...?”

“I’m Bellona. Graves.”

“Yes, Bellona Graves?” Hunter tapped the clipboard with her fingers, staring at Bellona.

“What type of dance are we studying in this class? Ballet was a separate class, but otherwise, there were no other options.”

“That’s an excellent question, Bellona. We will mainly be studying contemporary and world dance, but we will explore many dance styles. The aim is to improve your general technique, but when you reach the high school level, you can choose to specialize further, depending on your goals after graduation.”

Bellona opened her eyes and mouth wide, reminding Liska of a bug. “Thank you, Ms. Renard.” “Please, call me Hunter.” Bellona nodded.

This time, it was Liska who rolled her eyes at Ephy. Ephy suppressed a giggle.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“To the bar!” Hunter said. Liska reluctantly got up and went to the bar. Ephy stood right behind her.

“I have found that middle school dance students at Eclipse have a range of training backgrounds, but most are lacking in either core strength, foot strength, or turnout. So, these are what I tend to focus on at the middle school level.”

Liska had heard this all before, a million times, but Hunter would notice immediately if she tuned her out.

Just get through the class today. You know what to do, even if you don’t want to do it.

The dark, curly-headed boy in front of Liska was clearly a ballet dancer. Liska could see it in his muscles and in his graceful style during the technique exercises. He was completely focused on the movements. He must be a dance major, which meant he was probably taking ballet as well as this class.

Most of Liska’s family members were fans of either world dance or hip-hop, but Liska did have a cousin, Alena, who was a ballerina. Alena’s papa was an accountant, which was a huge family scandal, though no one had ever brought it up to her immediate family. Some family members avoided Alena’s family entirely because they were so different from the rest of the family.

Hunter came down the line and gently corrected technique problems. When she got to Liska, she asked, “Why are you hunched?”

Liska lifted her chin and correcting her posture, pushing her shoulders back and down.

Hunter nodded but then paused as if she wanted to say something else. Then she turned to Ephy. “Beautiful posture, Ephronia! Yes, just like that.”

Liska felt her face get hot. She bent and pretended to check the position of her feet.

“Okay, I want everyone to find a spot on the floor. Spread out so you can’t touch your neighbor.”

Hunter pressed some buttons on the stereo system in the corner. A rhythmic drum pattern came on. “I want everyone to reach up into the sky, as high as you can!” She demonstrated, and most of the students copied her immediately. “Wave your arms back and forth. Then move like you feel.”

This was one of Hunter’s favorite warmups for faster dancing. Liska started counting the beat. It was a 6/8 rhythm. A melody came to Liska’s mind. La la-la La la-la. Up and down.

“I shouldn’t hear any voices right now. Feel the beat in your head, and let it extend to the rest of your body.”

Liska blushed. She had been singing aloud. Ephy cast a curious glance at her.

“Liska! Ephy! Pay attention to the beat!”

Focus on the movements. Hunter had super hearing and super sight, so she never missed anything. Ever.

After they practiced the beat for a little while, Hunter started demonstrating a foot pattern in the front, facing the mirror. She didn’t say anything, but after a few beats, most students were following the pattern. Then she added her arms to it. “Now, put your own spin on this and keep going. I will walk around.”

Hunter started on the other side of the room, so by the time she got to Ephy, sweat was starting to drip into Liska’s eyes. Her muscles felt warm and loose, but the knot in her stomach wouldn’t unravel.

“Ephy, make sure your movements are big enough to be visible to an audience. Good.”

Liska was pouring everything she had into the dance when Hunter turned toward her. Her sister hesitated for a moment and frowned, but then she moved on to the ballet boy.

Finally, Hunter told everyone to stop, and they did a few standing stretches. “Alright, everyone, take a seat on the ground, and we will do some core strengthening exercises.”

Both Liska and Ephy flopped on the ground, panting.

They went through a core routine that was familiar to Liska, although she hadn’t done it in a while. She wobbled in the V-shaped boat pose, but she was better off than some others in the class, including Ephy. Ballet boy, whom Liska heard Hunter call “Julius” when she complimented his pointed feet, did all of the exercises with ease.

Finally, Hunter dismissed them. Liska carefully got up from the floor, but Ephy lay still, panting. Liska offered Ephy her hand, and Ephy accepted it. She felt like a deadweight, but Liska still helped her up.

“I don’t like that last one,” muttered Ephy.

“Liska! Please come see me after class!” Liska jumped, not expecting to hear her name, but she slowly walked toward Hunter’s office, waving for Ephy to go on without her.

Ephy looked from Liska to Hunter for a moment and then waved back as she walked out the door.