Silver Shoes 2 (3 page)

Sweetheart camisoles, halter leotards, character skirts, wrap skirts, racer back crop tops, ribbed singlets, booties, striped capris, knitted shrugs, dance sneakers, dance boots, feet gumbies, dance paws …

Going into a dance store is like entering heaven. The best ones smell like backstage – new tights, hairspray, make-up and fresh cotton. This one did. There were so many
colours and styles of dance clothes, and then shelves of dance bags, shoes and drink bottles. And that wasn't counting the accessory displays – hairnets, ribbons, tape, make-up and ten styles of bobby pins.

I was at the Danceworks store, waiting for Bridget to finish her shift. I'd walked all the way from school. It was stinking hot, and my squished toes were losing the battle with my hand-me-down shoes. My backpack felt like a tonne of bricks on my sweaty back.

‘Bridge won't be long, babe,' called out Stacey, who works at the front desk. She has the sharpest nails and the longest eyelashes I've ever seen. ‘She's just finishing off the labels on the new stock.' Stacey was lounging on the front counter, so I didn't see why she couldn't pop into the back room and help Bridget out.

‘That's cool,' I said, hoisting my backpack up.

‘Hey, you want a drink bottle or something?' Stacey swung around and heaved a cardboard box up onto the shelf. ‘We've got all these drink bottles to give away. You want one? There's pink, or purple, or you like blue? We got blue. Yeah? You want one?'

‘Sure,' I said. The pink one was an Ellie shade of pink. I chose purple.

‘Just be careful when you drink, cool? Sometimes the water leaks out when you tip it up. I think that's why we're giving them away for free. Hi there, how you going?'

I opened my mouth to reply, when I realised the store door had just opened and Stacey wasn't talking to me.

She was talking to two girls.

Two girls and one of their mums.

The last three people on earth I wanted to see.

I turned away and pretended to be really interested in the rows of bobby pins near the
front counter. For the record, bobby pins aren't interesting. And they have a habit of getting lost after you wear them once.

But the two girls were Indianna and Daisy – two girls from my old school, Dance Art. Two girls who'd once put fish heads in my dance bag while I was in class.

Yeah, I guess you could say we'd never been friends.

‘You need help with anything?' Stacey trilled.

‘Tights!' Indianna's mum declared. ‘Tights, tights, tights!'

Stacey went to show them the tights and I snuck back out into the hot afternoon sun. I found my water bottle and had a drink, but there was only a trickle left. Just when I was debating whether to go find a tap to fill up my new purple bottle, I heard the door swing open behind me.

Then came the witches' cackle.

‘Nice drink bottle,' said Indianna. ‘That's about the only thing you'll ever get from Danceworks. I thought you did all your shopping at Savers.'

‘Only my earplugs,' I said. ‘And you're right; they don't work well, because I can still hear you.'

‘Real funny,' said Daisy.

‘Thank you,' I said.

‘So we heard you were at Silver Shoes now,' said Indianna.

‘Poor you,' said Daisy.

‘Well, you didn't hear it,' I said. ‘You
saw
me at the Jazz Groove competition a few weeks ago. That's okay, not all of us know the difference between eyes and ears. Oh yeah, that was the competition you swore you'd never go to. And let me just think about this … that's right, Silver Shoes won. My new studio.'

Daisy and Indianna both huffed and rolled their eyes. Indianna tossed her glossy brown curls and, on cue, Daisy tossed her two long shiny black pigtails. Both their faces went into identical sniffy expressions. I swear they'd practised in the mirror.

‘Whatever,' said Daisy. ‘That comp is so dumb we weren't even trying.'

‘Why bother turning up at all?' I said.

‘For a laugh,' said Indianna.

‘You don't need to go to a comp to have people laugh at you,' I said. ‘They'll do it for free.'

‘Tove told us you were doing hip hop now,' sniffed Daisy. ‘At least that's more in line with the kind of clothes you wear.'

‘Money doesn't buy taste,' I said, but I could feel the throat bubble again. I was hungry and hot, my backpack was heavy, and the only reason Daisy and Indianna had come out of the shop at all was because there were two of them.

I was sick of being teased about money and my clothes and being the girl who left Dance Art to be the new girl at Silver Shoes. None of that meant I couldn't dance well, or I didn't have a right to do what all the other girls did.

I swallowed the bubble. I held up my head. I marched over to the tap and I turned it on as much as it would go. The water hit the hot cement and splashed onto Indianna and Daisy.

‘Gross!' they shrieked, leaping away.

‘Whoops,' I said.

While I was filling up my bottle someone jogged up behind me. ‘Hey Ash,' Brimax said, ruffling my hair. ‘What's up?'

‘Just came out here for the entertainment,' I  said, looking over at Daisy and Indianna, who were dancing around trying to flick the water off.

‘Slow day then,' said Brimax, with his crooked smirk. ‘Hi girls.'

‘Hi,' they mumbled.

‘Looking nice and cool,' Brimax said cheerfully. He had all his muscles on display in his low-cut singlet and there was some new symbol shaved into the side of his cropped hair. Brimax thinks he's tough, but he's really a total goofball.

‘What are you doing here?' I asked.

‘Picking up Bridget,' he said. ‘She about finished?'

‘I think so. Just doing labels or something.'

‘Sick,' said Brimax. He picked me up and tucked me under his arm. ‘Let's go rescue her. I'm hungry and we three have a pizza date. See you later, girls.'

Yeah, see you later,
I thought.
See you when I'm the new face of the Danceworks hip hop range.

Because now I was even more determined than ever.

Aaaaa-chooooo!

It sure was dusty in the Silver Shoes costume room.

When I first walked in, I saw the costumes from the latest performance all hanging up neatly on the racks. And a desk with the bibs and bobs you need to put the finishing touches on any costume – needles, cotton, sequins, safety pins, velcro straps.

But beyond that.

Wow.

I'm talking chests and cartons overflowing with material, piles of mismatched shoes, unfinished versions of costumes and bundles of hats, gloves, skirts and headpieces.

There was some great stuff there. If I ever needed to go to a costume party, I was in the right place.

I decided it was best to just jump right in with my first attempt at tidying and sorting out this Silver Shoes mess.

I moved the neat racks into the props room, and then shoved everything as best as I could onto one side of the floor. Then I dashed off to the storage room to find some tubs to begin my sorting.

Each tub had a label: Junk – throw out, Hats, Accessories, Full sets, Could be used again, Material scraps. But as I began my
sorting I realised I was making another little pile next to me: the Ashley pile.

Because I was beginning to get ideas about the Danceworks photo shoot.

While I was sussing out some lace, trying to decide if it was too yellow to be used, there was a knock on the costume room door, which I'd left open.

‘Hey Ash,' said Riley. ‘What are you doing?'

‘Oh,' I said. ‘Um. Just hanging with the costumes. Get it, hanging?'

Riley giggled. ‘Better luck next time.'

‘Must be all this dust clogging my funny veins,' I said. ‘Well, actually …' I paused, wondering if I should tell Riley the truth. She might be angry that I was getting a special deal. But then I knew I couldn't lie. Riley was my best friend at Silver Shoes.

‘Miss Caroline said if I helped around Silver Shoes I could pay for part of my hip hop
lessons that way,' I said. ‘Because Mum and Dad don't really have that extra money at the moment.'

I paused again, waiting to see what she'd say.

But Riley just shrugged. ‘Cool,' she said. ‘That's a smart idea.' She peered around the corner of the door and made a face. ‘Looks like you got the bad end of the deal, though. What a mess!' She pointed at an old scarecrow costume. ‘I remember that! That was for our Under 7s jazz eisteddfod –
The Wizard of Oz
. Paige was Dorothy and Jasmine was the wicked witch.'

‘Sounds about right,' I said.

Riley laughed. ‘Jasmine really suited the part.' She pointed at the little pile next to me. ‘What's that?'

‘Well,' I said, ‘I was thinking, if it's okay with Miss Caroline, that I could use them for the Danceworks competition. I'm going to enter.'

‘Good!' said Riley, sitting down next to me. ‘I hoped you would.'

‘You know how to enter you have to send in some modelling pictures of yourself and a page about why you love hip hop?'

‘Yeah,' said Riley.

‘Well, I was thinking, because I don't have any proper shots already, or, you know, like the latest hip hop clothes or whatever, that it might be cool if I sent in photos of me dressed up in costumes that show hip hop style throughout the years. Influences, stuff like that. I've been watching a lot of hip hop history on YouTube, so I'm collecting anything that I think might work for the photos.'

‘Ash, that's an excellent idea!' said Riley. ‘No one else will think of that. Can I help? With the photos? My dad's got a really good camera I can ask to borrow.'

‘Yeah sure,' I said. ‘I want to ask the other girls as well, but I know that Ellie wants to enter the comp too, so it might be a bit weird. And Paige will probably want to help her.'

‘You can only ask,' Riley said. ‘But this will totally catch their eye. So exciting!' She pushed me into the dusty, smelly pile of costumes. ‘Just remember me when you're famous!'

‘Never,' I said, pushing her back. ‘Who are you again?'

‘What!' Riley laughed. She swung some mouldy velvet at me. ‘Maybe this will make you remember!'

And that's how the costume room ended up looking worse than when I began.

The night before my first paying hip hop class, Brimax and Bridget took me to a fundraising hip hop gig that Brimax's crew was putting on.

‘There's a hip hop festival for kids in about a month,' Brimax said. ‘My crew are organising it. Tonight is a sneak preview of all the good stuff to come – we're having a battle showdown and the money raised will go towards the festival.'

At first Bridget turned her nose up and said it wasn't suitable for me to watch, but then Brimax and I teamed up and won her over.

‘It's in the name of research,' I said. ‘Yeah, for Ash's great hip hop career to come,' added Brimax.

‘You two are as bad as each other,' she said, but I could tell she was trying not to smile.

The fundraising battle was so cool. It was just like what I'd seen in some of my favourite dancing movies (which I watched without telling Mum because she didn't think they were ‘appropriate').

The showdown was in this community hall and there was a big space in the middle for the dancing. People were sitting around it or handing out flyers for the upcoming festival. The lights were all hazy and there was a remix of hip hop beats playing.

Brimax walked in, clapping people's backs and being everyone's best friend. Bridget stood off to one side, clinging onto my arm. She looked unimpressed.

While Brimax went off to warm up with his crew, Bridget and I sat on some blocks near the wall because Bridget didn't want to be crushed by ‘smelly armpits and gold chains'.

It didn't smell that bad. But Bridget's fussy like that. She spends two hours getting ready every morning, maybe three if she knows she's going to see Brimax. Besides, she was trying to fit in really bad, I could tell. Her ash-blonde hair was covered by a beanie and she was wearing jeans instead of one of her usual girly dresses.

The battle started. Brimax had managed to get about eight crews to take part. Some were huge and others only had three or four people. First, each crew performed their dance and
then the crowd had to vote on which crews they wanted to battle. Whoever won would go on to the next round.

I was itching to get up and dance myself, but Bridget kept a stern eye on me. She only relaxed when Brimax danced. Then she went all melty and goggle-eyed.

I loved watching the girls; they were outnumbered a bit by the boys but they made up for it in attitude. A lot of them had these really outrageous hairstyles and some of the funkiest high tops I've ever seen.

The best thing about the costumes was that they weren't just something a teacher had knocked together. They were expressions of each person. I liked that. I stored away some ideas for my hip hop shoot.

In the end, a crew called ‘Reggae Fusion' got voted as the winners. Their style was dancehall, full of Jamaican flavour. The crew
weren't big on tricks but they were smooth and so in sync. Sometimes it looked like their bodies had no bones. Jay would have called them ‘tight'.

That night my body was buzzing and I could barely sleep, I was so excited about my hip hop class the next day.

Jay didn't disappoint.

‘And we go pop, lock, hold it, glide, heel, toe, kick, walk-it-out, knee, drop, turn and hold,' he shouted. My feet got so tangled it felt like the only flat I would be doing was on my face. ‘Body roll front,' he shouted next. ‘And we go floor sweep right, floor sweep left.'

A floor sweep is where you kind of sweep the floor in a circular motion with your foot and then move backwards on the other one. It sounds easy, but then you have to put the groove into it. Every time I tried to do that, things got a bit unco.

Then we did this locking sequence that reminded me of Michael Jackson when he danced, all these movements with bent knees and small freezes for emphasis. Your arms and hands are in constant motion, like you're trying to hit the beats as they come out of your feet.

It was HARD work. At times I got totally lost and had to stop, but I always picked it back up.

‘How you going, Ashy?' asked Jay.

‘Loving it,' I said. ‘My feet get a bit confused, though. All these moves I haven't heard of before.'

‘You're doing great for your second lesson,' Jay said. ‘And you know what? You're thinking too much about it, I bet. Just go with the beat. Enjoy.'

‘But I want to be good,' I said.

‘You are,' said Jay.

‘I want to be better,' I said.

‘Now you sound like Ellie.' Jay grinned.

‘I'm not wearing enough pink,' I joked.

‘There!' said Jay, pointing at my face. ‘That's what I need to see more of. It doesn't matter if you don't know everything technical or the right name for the move. You've only had two lessons. You'll pick it up. All you need to do is get the feel of the music. Listen to your body. If your arm goes left instead of right, who cares?' He slung his baseball cap on my head. ‘Except, of course, if you're in a competition. Then we get serious.'

‘Your cap stinks like sweaty hair,' I said.

‘Well, you got the 'tude, all right.' Jay laughed.

He let me keep his baseball cap until the end of the lesson. I don't know if it was a good luck charm or what, but I did relax, and I stopped listening to him calling out the
names of moves and turned my attention to the music instead.

Jazz class was on Wednesday, and although it was now my second favourite style, I was so excited to see Ellie, Riley and Paige, and to fill them in on this new style I couldn't get out of my head.

We met up in the change room and were just sharing a big packet of jelly snakes (usually one of us will bring snakes every lesson), when we all heard a voice behind us.

Our worst nightmare.