Rhythm and Blues
Authors: Samantha-Ellen Bound
Four friends. One dance school. A whole lot of drama.
Riley is one of the best dancers at Silver Shoes. Does this mean she will be a great teacher too?
Riley has sprained her ankle and is forced to take a break from dancing! Sitting at home on the couch is at odds with Riley's energetic nature, so she excitedly takes up Miss Caroline's offer to become her personal assistant at Silver Shoes. But will Riley get carried away with her new-found authority and end up hurting her friends? And will her impatience to return to dancing and master the lyrical exam routine make her injury even worse?
For Andy
I don't know how it happened.
One minute I was reaching for the ball, the goalpost in my sight, and the next I was down on the sticky floor, staring at everyone's sneakers, the ball bouncing away from me.
I felt a weird sensation in my lower leg, like a balloon full of pins had burst inside my ankle. Then WHAM! my head smacked into the ground.
Never was I more thankful for my nana's thick, tight braids (âNana' is what I call my mum; it's a term from Fiji, which is where I'm from). I'm sure they cushioned the blow.
Blackness flooded my vision for a second. I blinked it away and let my eyes swim back into focus. There was a crowd of girls peering down at me.
âLet me through, let me through!' My basket ball coach, Stacey, pushed the players aside and knelt down next to me.
âRiley?' she said. âAre you okay? Did you hit your head? What happened?'
I coughed and tried to sit up, but little stars danced across the insides of my eyelids. A queasy feeling was making a whirlwind in my guts. I wished everyone would back away because they were making me feel worse.
Talk about embarrassing.
âI jumped to catch the ball,' I managed to say. âAnd then I landed on my foot wrong. It kind of rolled?'
âDoes it hurt now?' asked Stacey.
âNot too badly,' I said, although the sensation of a million pins stabbing into your ankle probably wasn't that healthy.
I never get injured. I was mad at myself and my body for letting me down, and causing this stupid scene in the middle of the court.
âSit up when you're ready,' Stacey said. âWe'll get you off the court and bring you some ice to put on it.' She looked at my head. âAnd for your noggin, too. You might have concussion.'
âI don't have anything,' I said, and to prove that, I took a breath and sat up. My eyes went swirly and my stomach along with them, but after a second the feeling went away.
Stacey glared at me. âRiley, I said when you were
ready
.'
âI am ready,' I lied. âGet me off this court.'
Stacey reached under me and put her arm around my back to hoist me up. I almost died. One of my friends, Ellie, would have loved the attention. She would even have thrown in some fake faints! My other best friend, Ash, would have laughed it off and made a joke about being a klutz. But I knew my third best friend, Paige, would have felt exactly the same as I did. I wished she was here right now instead of all these strangers smothering me.
âRiley, don't go so fast,' Stacey scolded me.
I was just about pulling her along the court towards our team seats. My head was swimming and I felt like my breakfast might come back up. But I just had to get off that court, and away from all the attention.
Thankfully, I heard the whistle blow behind me, which meant the game had started again.
Opal, the girl subbing for me, held out her hand for a high five as she raced on.
I gave it a weak slap but really I was super annoyed at her for taking my place.
âSit on the ground, Riley, and put your foot up on this.' Stacey carefully placed her backpack under my injured foot. The assistant coach, Jackson, handed her two ice packs, each wrapped in a towel. âPut this on your ankle, too. You might have a sprain. Whack this other one on where you hit your head. Jackson will sit with you to make sure you're okay.'
âIs this really necessary?' I grumbled, trying to wave Jackson away. âI'm fine. I can barely even feel it.' In truth, both my ankle and head felt like they were on fire, but I just needed to sit by myself for a few minutes and I'd be okay.
âProbably 'cause you've got concussion,' Jackson said.
âPut your jacket on, too,' Stacey said. âKeep warm. Don't let yourself get cold.'
âBut I'm going back on in a minute!' IÂ protested.
Stacey stared at me. âRiley,' she said, âyou are not playing for the rest of the game.'
âWhat!' I went to stand up but didn't quite get there.
âCase in point,' Stacey said. âThe St John Ambulance man is going to check in on you in a second. You have to sit the rest of the game out. Otherwise you'll do more damage than good.'
âI can tell you some really cool jokes in the meantime,' Jackson offered, but I was too disappointed to even pretend to laugh.
I hate sitting out on anything. All I could think was that my stupid ankle better be fine by tomorrow, because there was no way I was going to miss my dance classes at Silver Shoes.
Silver Shoes is the dance school Ellie, Paige and I have been going to since we were tinies. Ash joined us at the start of the year â she came from our enemy school, Dance Art Academy. But I think we all agree she's way happier here!
I had a lyrical class at Silver Shoes on Saturday morning â the day after my little accident at basketball. There was absolutely no way I could afford to miss it â especially
with our exams coming up in a few weeks. Plus, IÂ really love lyrical. Ballet is my main style, but I started doing lyrical a couple of years ago when Ellie told me I was too serious and needed to try a style where I could let my feelings out. It's amazing how lyrical lets you express yourself in a way that ballet doesn't (even if sometimes I struggle with really âletting go'!).
I didn't tell my family that I'd hurt my ankle or slammed my head into the ground. My big brother Fergus picks me up and he never comes into the stadium; he always waits outside near his car so he can whistle at any girls who walk by. (He doesn't seem to notice or care that they snort in laughter and roll their eyes).
The ambulance man had wrapped a bandage around my ankle, told me to keep icing it, and not do any vigorous exercise for a few days. So there was no getting around that. But I
just told Nana and Tata (that's âDad' in Fijian) that it was there because I'd landed a bit funny out of a jump. I said nothing at all about my âconcussion', even though I felt a bit woozy right up until I went to bed.
Are you wondering why I didn't say anything? Well, it's because I knew I'd be all right. I didn't want any fuss and to be stopped from going to dance class just because I'd hurt my ankle a bit.
I didn't need people telling me things about my body when it seemed to me that I was the best judge of it and what it was capable of doing.
And missing a dance class so close to exams was not an option. We only did exams once a year, and this year my age group were doing our Silver Shoes Level Three exams in jazz, tap, musical theatre, ballet and lyrical â whatever classes we took. If we didn't pass, we wouldn't
be able to move up to the next level â which would be embarrassing, but it'd also be a waste of all the time and effort we'd put in to get better.
So, with that on my mind, I cruised into lyrical class on Saturday morning like nothing had ever happened. I made sure I wore thick leg warmers over my ankles so our teacher, Miss Caroline, wouldn't see the bandage on my right foot.
And I tried to ignore the little niggling pain in my ankle that insisted this wasn't a good idea.
âHey Riley, how'd you go at basketball last night?'
Paige took her place next to me before warm-up, which is how we start every class, followed by travelling exercises, and then a short routine. At this time of year, we also spend half an hour at the end of class running through our upcoming exams.
âWe lost,' I said, rolling my ankle around in circles to see where the pain was.
âOh, I'm sorry,' said Paige. She gave me a sweet smile, which made her look even more doll-like than usual. Today she'd pulled two bits of hair out of her tight blonde bun, and they curled around her face. I gave one a playful tug.
âDoesn't matter,' I said. âIt's the off-season. It's only meant to be a bit of fun after the main season.' (Which, I might add, my team won.)
Paige said something else but I was concentrating on my ankle, silently willing it to get through this class and not make a fool of me. It didn't feel 100 per cent great, but if I took it easy IÂ should be okay.
âRiley?' asked Paige.
âHuh?' I said.
She gave me a strange look. âAre you okay?'
âYeah, of course,' I said.
âWell, what I was saying,' she continued, âis that after Ellie finishes rehearsal today, she wants to know if we can meet Ash at Groove Train for ice-cream.'
Ellie is in a musical at the moment called
Mary Poppins
, and they rehearse over in Silver Shoes' drama studio. It's actually just after our exams that they'll have their opening night.
âOh,' I said. âYeah, sure. Sounds good.'
That's if I didn't put myself in the hospital first.
