Perfectly Prima by Whoopi Goldberg

Author:Whoopi Goldberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Middle Grade
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Chapter 9

Everyone stops. Jessica helps me up. JoAnn picks up my dance bag, which I’ve dropped, and Dad races over.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” he asks, looking me over.

My heart is pounding. I look down at my limbs and move them experimentally. There’s a big hole in the right knee of my tights—my once-perfect, once-clean, favorite tights. My knee looks as if it had been shredded by a cheese grater. It stings like crazy. I blink back tears as blood seeps out onto the fabric.

“My tights are ripped, and they’re all bloody,” I say.

Dad hugs me. “That doesn’t matter, honey.

We’ll get you some new ones. As long as you’re okay.”

But it does matter.

We start walking again.

“I’m sorry, Jerzey,” Mason says in a small voice. He walks right behind Jessica and me, hugging his basketball contritely (a word that means he does it as if he’s sorry—even though I think it’s better not to knock your sister over in the first place than to be sorry after you’ve done it).

“I hope Miss Camilla doesn’t notice the hole in my tights,” I say to Jessica. I lean over and see the hole getting slightly bigger as I walk.

She examines it. “I don’t think she will. You can hardly see it,” she says, patting my arm.

When we get to the school, Dad walks us inside, borrows the first-aid kit from the main desk, and cleans up my knee. As the other girls come into the waiting room, they stop to watch. Brenda offers Dad some tips on wound disinfection, which he does not seem to find very helpful. I just want to disappear. Instead, I feel like a patient in one of those medical TV shows.

“All right, girls,” Dad says when he’s finally done. “Epatha’s sister will walk you home.” He leaves just as Ms. Debbé calls us into class.

“Is Miss Camilla here yet?” Epatha asks, craning her neck as we enter the studio.

“Do you think she’ll remember us?” asks Jessica.

“Of course she will,” says Epatha.

“I know she’ll remember me,” says Brenda nervously.

“Mason, you need to be extra good today,” Jessica says to him. “There’s a very famous ballerina who’s coming to our class.”

He looks insulted. “I’m always good,” he says, fidgeting with his jacket.

Right after class starts, the door opens and Miss Camilla comes in, followed by Mr. Lester. Miss Camilla wears a navy blue dress that is very simple in the way that expensive clothes are. It fits her perfectly. She carries a large purse with an open top and gold rings on the outside. She’s pretty old—even older than our parents—but she has perfect posture, and she walks like a queen. Her eyes are kind, but they obviously don’t miss a thing. She gracefully bends to set her purse on the floor.

Ms. Debbé claps. “Girls, I have the great honor of introducing to you my old friend and teacher, Miss Camilla Freeman.”

Miss Camilla smiles and nods. She notices us and winks at Brenda, who looks relieved that Miss Camilla does not appear to be holding a shoe-grudge.

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