The Ballet Game

by Beffy Flowers

 

Ballet Game chapter 7

Jimmy decided to take advantage of the down-time by doing a little homework. The sun warmed him considerably as he became lost in thought while working through some math problems. So he was startled when a woman walked up to him on her way from the parking lot.

"Hello young man, are you a student here?" From the look of the black tights on her legs peeking out from under her coat, Jimmy guessed that she was a dance teacher.

"Um, no. I'm just waiting for someone who's taking ballet here." Jimmy squinted in the sunlight.

"Oh, well maybe you should take a class or two yourself—have you ever thought of trying out?" She tilted her head to one side and smiled. Jimmy was surprised at how pretty she was.

"Try out?" Normally, Jimmy would have answered with a simple "no" or some unintelligible grunt in keeping with being a typical boy talking to a typical stranger. But he was confused by the question. Was this a school or a drama performance?

"Oh you have to audition before we'll let you in so we'll know exactly where to begin with you. And we do need boys. Are you on any sports teams after school?" She was pulling something out of her purse.

"Uh, no." still confused, he started to get up but she motioned for him to stay seated.

"Here's our card. Give it to your parents and tell them there's a full scholarship available for boys. New classes start every season. We can probably get you into our current session, in fact, since it started just last week."

"I, uh." Jimmy understood what she was saying, but she left him little time to think of any more articulate responses. He took her card. "But..."

"You'll just need your parents to fill out a form and sign it and we can enroll you anytime. We'd love to have some boys to give our holiday performances a boost! Just call that number if you have any questions. Oh, and don't worry, we have facilities for you to change and take showers and the like. I don't think the scholarship covers dancewear—you know, tights and things—but we have quite a stockpile we keep on-hand for costuming, so maybe we can work something out. Have a nice afternoon!"

She said all this while walking to the front door, leaving no breaks for Jimmy to interject any sort of reply. He felt a little breathless from the exchange, and was glad it was over now, but he couldn't help wondering to himself at the coincidence of having two people talk to him about ballet lessons on the same day! He tucked the teacher's card inside his math book and resumed studying.

Fifteen minutes later, Jimmy looked up from his books as the front door opened and girls began streaming out of the building. He noticed with some alarm that his mere presence seemed to be drawing attention from a number of students, so he tried to bury his face back in his books and avoid looking to see if anyone was still wearing tights as they walked out.

Jenny and Laura approached him together, greeting him cheerfully. He was both disappointed and relieved to see that Jenny was back in jeans. As the two sat down on either side of him, however, Jimmy couldn't help but look at the stretch of thigh that the slit in Laura's skirt revealed. He closed his books and while putting them away in his backpack he stole another glance at her feet before sitting back up.

"So Jimmy, ready for a little shopping?" Jenny asked as she scratched his hunched back. He turned to face her in an effort to avoid being caught looking at her sisters legs—an effort which turned herculean as he noticed Laura crossing them out of the corner of his eye. "Maybe we'll buy you a new nightie!" Jenny blinked at him, smiling broadly.

"What?" Jimmy, still unaccustomed to Jenny's teasing, was once again reduced to monosyllabic responses. Jenny laughed and tickled him at the waist just as Mrs. Dale pulled up in their station wagon.

Laura got in the front seat and Jimmy and Jenny shared the back. The ride was pleasant but uneventful. He didn't talk about his conversation with the ballet school teacher, and was grateful that Jenny stayed mum about their earlier conversation. He sensed that Mrs. Dale and Laura would be almost as excited to hear of his dance lessons as Jenn was, and he just couldn't take any more crazy tingly conversations today.

Soon they arrived at the local shopping mall, and as they walked towards the main entrance to one of the resident department stores, Mrs. Dale put her arm around Jimmy. He noticed a slight sheen on the taupe stockings adorning her legs, a grey skirt fluttering just above her knee. "The girls know what they need, but I don't know if you need anything sweetie. I can advance you a little money today as long as your mother can pay me back, so feel free to do a little shopping for yourself as long as it's not too expensive."

"And as long as it's not boy-pajamas!" Jimmy turned around, surprised that Laura was now joining in on the teasing. He was doubly surprised to see that Laura had directed her comment not at him, but at Jenny, who was blushing and smiling. Her eyes gleamed as she returned Jimmy's glance.

"Now you two be nice. Jimmy's been so sweet he deserves a little peace!" Mrs. Dale squeezed him closer—he became aware of her breast pressing gently against his shoulder. "If you want to buy some pajamas today, you go right ahead. You know you can wear our nighties for the rest of the week, but if you'd rather have new pajamas, I'm sure you can find something on sale today."

Jimmy smiled silently as they entered the store, wondering idly what kind of nighties Mrs. Dale and Laura wore. They split up and agreed to meet in one hour in the shoe department.

Jimmy made his way to the boys clothing area, and half-heartedly looked over the sale racks. His mother bought his clothes for him, and although he was generally happy to spend that sort of quality time with her, he didn't really like shopping much. As much as he thought about the clothes the girls at school wore, and as much as he pored over that Sears catalog and the other catalogs his mother got in the mail, he simply didn't take much of an interest in his own wardrobe.

He found some "boy pajamas" on sale—they were made of heavy plaid cotton, similar to the PJs locked up in his house next to the Dale's. The sale seemed like a bargain, and he knew his mother would gladly pay for them, but these pajamas were simply the last thing he wanted to wear to bed that night. He put down the pair he was holding and quickly walked out of the store and into the shopping mall proper.

Time went by quickly once he found a bookstore and got lost in a paperback. When he returned to the shoe section of the department store, he found Mrs. Dale and both girls actively trying on an array of heels and sandals. "Hi Jimmy, come sit down!" Jenny said as he approached, patting a chair next to her. "We're just having some fun trying on shoes."

"Feeding our shoe addiction, more like it!" added Laura as she took off an ivory pump. "This is like one of our rituals."

Mrs. Dale smiled at Jimmy and took off the navy pair she had been trying out, collapsing back into her chair with a tired end-of-the-day sigh. For a moment there was silence. Jimmy's eyes fluttered down to Jenny's white sandals. She was still wearing her pink tights.

"Hey, you should join in, Jenny Two!" Jenny exclaimed when she noticed his gaze. "Why don't you try these on? I bet they'll fit you! Our legs look the same, maybe our feet match, too!"

Before he had a chance to react, Laura winked at her sister and pounced down on Jimmy's feet, untying his shoes and pulling them off. "Hey, wait!" Jimmy's half-hearted protest was ignored. He looked over to Mrs Dale in embarassment, and she smiled at him, then cocked her head to watch the girls.

Jenny had the sandals off in seconds, and brought one up to Jimmy's foot. She got his toes inside, but the shoe was simply too small—the strap wouldn't fasten. "Oh, your sock is too thick. Let me..." she peeled off one of his socks inside out, dropping it behind her.

"Uh, Jenny. These nice clerks at the store are kind enough to let us try on all these shoes, but they aren't going to like someone putting their bare feet in them. We need to get going anyway—it's getting late." Mrs. Dale put her own shoes back on and she and the girls tidied up all the loose shoes. "Jenny, why don't we get you that pair?"

"Really, mom?"

"Sure. They're marked way down, and I think they'd look so good with your church outfit!"

They purchased that pair for Jenny, and a pair of black mules for Laura, and went back to the car. During the ride home, Jenny changed into her new white sandals again and jokingly placed her feet across the seat in Jimmy's lap. "How do you like your new shoes, Jenny Two?"

Jimmy had played the deer-in-the-headlights so many times in the past two days that even though Jenny's feet in his lap were causing quite a stir, he managed to maintain some composure. "I think they're just divine," he said in falsetto, "but Mother told me no white shoes after Labor Day!" The Dales, all three of them, erupted in surprised laughter. Then, as Jenny put her feet back down, "Anyway, they're too small for me..." This last comment slipped out almost involuntarily in a soft, low voice.

Jenny seemed to be the only one who picked up on it, because she leaned over to whisper in his ear "I think they might fit you if you try them on with tights." She punctuated it with a light kiss to his ear. Whatever composure Jimmy had was gone now—he simply froze from all the tingling. The rest of the drive went by quickly, though he was scarcely aware of anything other than the warmth of Jenny's knee as it brushed against his.

  

  

  

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