Eye Sore by Melanie Jackson

Author:Melanie Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV028000, JUV031020, JUV006000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2015-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Away from the house, Lauren grew more relaxed. She teased me about my first appearance at the Bilks’. “Cramming your arm into a pot of soil. What dance move would that be?”

In the dance studio, she sat down on a bench. I dragged a stepladder over. Then I got some mats from the studio shelves and piled them behind the stepladder.

I got my tap shoes out of my locker. “I’ll show you the routine I’ve been practicing,” I told Lauren. “It’s very formal. The important thing for me is to stay dignified. Dignity, always dignity.”

I did a few whirls around the floor as a warm-up. Then I tap-danced backward onto the first stair of the stepladder. I danced on and off the step several times.

She was smiling. That energized me. That put music into my head. I danced up to the second stair and down again. I repeated that. Then I tap-danced backward up to the third step. I repeated that too.

Then I tap-danced backward up to the fourth step.

Except that there was no fourth step. My feet met air.

Lauren shrieked. She stood up. But there was nothing she could do. It was too late.

I dropped my mouth into a wide, horrified O. I flailed my arms. I fell on the mats. I kicked my legs straight up.

And spun into a backward somersault.

I jumped into standing position on the floor behind the mats and took a deep bow.

It was Lauren’s turn to gape. Then, relaxing, she laughed and clapped. “You had the whole thing planned!”

I nodded, pleased. “I based it on a Gene Kelly routine. I even used one of his lines—Dignity. Always dignity. Of course, he meant just the opposite. He believed that people should have fun watching dancers. Dance doesn’t have to be serious all the time.”

“Neither does life. Tell that to my uncle though.” Lauren sighed.

I wanted to ask her about that. Then Gene Kelly’s voice sang out “Gotta dance!”

It was my ringtone. I pulled the phone from my jeans pocket.

Dad said, “Son, I’m at the Eye. Someone just tried to break in. The guard chased him away.”

Dad sounded more tired than I’d ever heard him. I didn’t get it. We had a guard now. He’d done his job.

“So that’s good, isn’t it?” I asked.

There was a pause. Dad inhaled loudly. “The intruder used steel cutters to chop two massive holes in the fence. That means a security guard isn’t enough. I’m going to have to invest in video surveillance.”

I heard something else in his voice, and it scared me. Dad didn’t just sound tired. He sounded hopeless. Defeated.

As his next words proved.

“I don’t know if I can afford to go on with the Eye, Chaz. Not when someone wants me out of here so bad. It may be too much for me.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.