Lucky Break #6 by Cindy Jefferies

Author:Cindy Jefferies [Jefferies, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7. Picking Up Tips

After dinner, Marmalade watched Jack rehearsing. Chloe had been right. He was dancing well, and very differently from everyone else. Marmalade wasn’t really jealous. It wasn’t in his nature to feel envious of other people’s lives. He would rather make the most of his own. But he was worried. Marmalade could see that while Jack had been soaking up information like a sponge, he himself had been too complacent. To keep ahead, he needed to pick up some tips of his own.

Now that he was taking notice of Jack’s skills, Marmalade could see that Jack had been politely listening to all his advice, but only using the parts of it that were useful to him. Marmalade would have blushed, if he were the sort of person who blushed easily!

Instead of feeling embarrassed, Marmalade thought carefully. Perhaps he could learn from Jack without seeming to... Big jumps were Marmalade’s favorite part of dancing, and he wanted to put a couple of really spectacular ones into his routine. Jack wasn’t really into big jumps, but he knew all the theory, so all Marmalade had to do was pick his brain. Mr. Penardos was sure to be impressed if Marmalade could come up with some totally accurate classic leaps in his jazz routine. The music he’d chosen would be perfect. Marmalade could just see himself flying from his piano dance into his portrayal of the double bass and again into the saxophone solo.

But the evening was moving on and it would soon be homework time. Marmalade would have to wait until the next day to put his plan into action.

“Hey, Jack! Can we talk?” he asked right after breakfast the next morning as everyone was gathering their belongings for the first lesson of the day. It wasn’t the best time to ask about dancing, because they had a math class to get to, but Marmalade couldn’t wait any longer to start working on his idea.

“Sure!” agreed Jack.

“You know that jump I did some time ago, and you told me its official name?”

“Yes?” replied Jack, looking puzzled.

“I can’t remember what you’re supposed to do with your legs,” Marmalade told him.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jack replied. “Your jump was great.”

“Yes, I know that,” agreed Marmalade casually. “But I can’t remember what you said, and it’s been annoying me.”

Jack picked up his bag and shrugged it over his shoulder. He looked pleased to be asked about his specialist knowledge. “I’m not that good at jumps,” he said, “but I know how it’s supposed to go. I’ll show you at lunchtime, if you want. We could try it in the small dance studio before afternoon classes.”

“You don’t need to show me,” said Marmalade. “Just tell me and I’ll do it now. You can say if I’ve got it right or not. I’ve been thinking about that jump all night and I want to get it figured out.”

Jack sighed. “You’re supposed to have one foot pulled up to the other knee for a classic saut de basque,” he told him.

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