March 22nd, 2025
At 1:30 in the afternoon, the dance studio is bustling with 3-5 year olds either leaving dance class, or going to dance class. With the growing popularity of the dance studios kindergarten classes, Ms Lisa had to open up two classes.
Ms Lisa had pride in her kindergarten classes, which were taught by her and one of her most notorious students, Kori.
Kori was known for her eye-catching style, unique leadership of the competition team, and her skill with the kids.
A 5 year old Jewels walked into the dance studio hand in hand with her father, her dance outfit was pink and sparkly, her dark curly hair in two ponytails,
“Okay Jewels, have fun at dance,” Her dad told her, he pat her head and walked out of the studio. When Kori noticed Jewels, she remembered something.
More than a month ago, Suzie (who’s also 5) had made Valentines day cards for everyone in her class, but at the time Jewels was in Puerto Rico visiting family. The Valentines Day card sat in Ms Lisa's desk drawer a little more than a month until Kori remembered that it was there
“Jewels” Kori called out, “I gotta give you something! Come here!”
Jewels walked over to Kori who went into the drawer and grabbed the card. The card had some cheesy Valentine's message with a frog on it, with To: Jewels, From: Suzie written neatly, clearly by Suzies mother Onya (Who taught the older girls classes).
“What’s this?” Jewels asked, Kori smiled,
“Suzie made this for you for Valentine's day, but I forgot to give it to you until now” Kori told the young girl, as if on queue, Suzie and her mom walked into the studio, Onya took Suzies street shoes and sent her off. Kori motioned for Suzie to come over to Jewels and her. Suzie walks over to Kori excitedly,
“Yes Ms Kori?” Suzie replied, Kori smiled and turned to Jewels,
“Jewels, this is Suzie, she’s the one who gave you the card” Kori told Jewels, well, Suzie probably didn’t make it, Onya probably bought the cards, wrote all of Suzies friends names on them, and just gave them to Suzie to hand out knowing that Suzie is a very good reader for her age. Either way, when Jewels learned who the card dealer was her face lit up, she dropped the card and hugged Suzie tightly, Suzie (Taken aback at first) reciprocated the hug but not as tightly as Jewels.
“You're my best friend!” Jewels chirped. Suzie just went along.
—
April 2028
Friday class
Being in second grade meant taking the Friday class, which meant that Ms Lisa would teach Ballet, and Ms Crystal would teach everything else.
Jewels excelled in Jazz and became the youngest member of the Junior Jazz Team, while Suzie became one of the best tap dancers in the studio, rocking an annual Tap Solo at recitals.
Although the girls constantly grew and evolved in their studies, and their dancing, their friendship remained intact by gorilla glue, there was zero tearing them apart. They were attached to each other by the hip.
“Jewels! Suzie! Stop holding hands or I’ll have to separate you!” Ms Lisa would shout at them during Ballet, to which Jewels very boldly retaliated with,
“Ms Lisa, if you separate Suzie and I, I will throw a tantrum so loud you'll go deaf in your right ear!” which left Suzie a giggling mess.
Except this Friday was different, Suzie and Jewels sat in the back of Jewels’ moms car on the way to get ice cream.
“Jewelsie? I have to tell you something” Suzie finally spoke after minutes of radio silence. Jewels turned to Suzie and raised an eyebrow, or tried to.
“What is it, Suzie?” Jewels asked, “Did your mommy finally get you those really cool blue tap shoes?”. Suzie just shook her head,
“Please don’t be mad at me” Suzie pleaded,
“Why would I be mad?” The other girl asked again,
“Because I’m quitting dance…” Suzie murmured, “I want to do theater full time”.
Instead of being met with the expected tears and sadness from Jewels, instead she was met with a happy Jewels who hugged her tightly again even though they were strapped in uncomfortable seat belts. She was also met with Jewels’ mom’s joy, even though Shontelle had known about Suzie’s choice, hearing the words from Suzie herself made her feel even more proud of Suzie.
But nobody was as proud as Jewels, no distaste was in anybody's mouth, it was a sweet memory, not bitter at all. There’s no bitterness or sadness simply because Jewels knows that she wouldn't be saying goodbye to Suzie forever. She and Suzie had a playdate scheduled the next day, that wouldn't change at all. Nothing would change between Suzie and Jewels, and Jewels was smart enough to know that, so was Suzie. The girls are both exceptionally bright after all, they know that the only change being made is that Jewels won’t have someone to goof around with like she did Suzie.
—
December 2032
The girls were twelve now, Jewels was still dancing her little heart out, while Suzie was climbing and climbing up her play world. This time Suzie was able to land the role of Young Elsa in her theater company's winter production of Frozen. She should've been in the school production, but she astonished the teachers with her talent that she got put in the community production.
Young Elsa wasn't the biggest role, but when Jewels got the news, she immediately told Onya to get her a ticket, and immediately told Ms Crystal that she wouldn't be in class the day of the show… Or, all three days.
Yes, Jewels went to all three days, cheered the loudest when Suzie did her bow, and immediately found Suzie backstage after each performance. Closing night was no different.
“Suzie!!!!! Suzannn!!!! My girl you were AMAZING as usual!” Jewels cheers, a tear forms in her eye and she wipes it away, “Not shocking, but still… Makes. Me. so. Proud” Jewels grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and started dabbing at her eyes dramatically, as Suzie got a closer look she realized that Jewels was actually crying.
“I’m so proud of you! I could actually cry!” She sobbed, “And I am!”
“aaaand you aaaare…” Suzie confirmed, she slowly pulled Jewels into a hug, getting a good whiff of her shampoo, “You really are crying.”
“I’m a wreck!” Jewels continued to sob, “C-c'mon Suzie Su, your m-moms waiting for- WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”
Suzie just grabbed Jewels’ shoulders and led her out of the room,
“Yup, yup, lets go” Suzie nodded along, “Bet that Handkerchief is dead space right now.”
The week after that show was Jewels’ Winter Recital where Jewels was in four dances, her main class dance, her solo, the Tap Team dance, and the Jazz Team Dance.
Jewels was never good at tap, never cared for it, but since Suzie left, she felt the need to continue Suzies legacy, so she worked endlessly to get better at tap.
When Suzie learned the date of the recital she… Well she didn’t need to buy herself a ticket considering that her mom was a teacher at the studio, but she immediately snatched herself a front seat and made sure that she was the loudest cheerleader whenever Jewels was on stage. When Jewels finished her solo, Suzie gave her a standing ovation
“Suzie, sit your ass down” Onya had to whisper yell at her, Suzie immediately sat down after that, “God you two are like a freshly married couple”
“WHAT?!” Suzie shrieked, in the middle of a dance… oh god.
Suzie had waited in the hallway for a good five minutes until Jewels came walking out of the dressing room, her costumes and makeup was all shoved in a suitcase,
“Smart cookie” Suzie smirked, Jewels pushed her suitcase to Suzie and did a heel click, making Suzie laugh
“Did you shriek during the kinder tap dance?” Jewels asked, a hint of tease in her tone.
“My mom said something crazy” Suzie told her, “She told me we act like a freshly married couple!”
“WHAT?!” Jewels shrieked
“See, exactly” Suzie chuckled, “Now c'mon, lets go, our parents are hungry, and our moms are fighting over whether or not to get Sushi or Mexican food”
“Very valid debate” Jewels nodded her head.
—
March 2035
2035, meaning that the girls are freshmen now, meaning that Onya has gone from being Suzies mom, to Suzie’s mom, and Jewels’ dance teacher. At least Onya doesn’t teach Jewels’ solo.
Speaking of Onya, Onya’s house was where Jewels is right now. Well, she would call it Suzie’s house, but yeah. Every Monday, Jewels goes to Suzie’s house after school, hangs out with her, and then goes to class with Onya.
That's why right now, Jewels and Suzie are laying next to each other on Suzie's bed, each on their sides facing each other as they scroll through their phones.
“So how’s dance?” Suzie asked, breaking the comfortable silence they had, Jewels looked up from her phone and hummed
“It’s good, I thought your mom would have some favor towards me considering I’m her daughters best friend” The other girl said with sarcasm, Suzie laughed at this,
“You know my mom doesn't play like that” Suzie chuckled, “She’d be like-
“I don't play like that, with that petty shit” The girls mimicked in unison, bursting into laughter after the fact.
After ten years of friendship, calling Suzie her “Best Friend” felt wrong to her in a way that she couldn’t fathom to understand. It felt like she was only calling her “Best friend”, as if there was some sort of title above that, yet they are just “best friends”. Yet, best friends are supposed to be the highest category of friendship, right? The girls are best friends! Best friends who told each other everything, best friends who often shared cuddles with each other and came out to each other before even coming out to their parents. So saying “Best Friends” felt like a slap in the face to Jewels, which Jewels would never say.
Jewels noticed a strand of Suzies ginger curls covering her face, so naturally she brushed the strand out of her face. She did it more for her personal gain rather than Suzie’s, she didn’t care whether or not Suzie could clearly see, she gave a damn about being able to see Suzie’s face clearly.
“You know what, I think in our senior year you should make a dance come back” Jewels declared, quietly, “You should do a duet with me!”
“That does sound fun” Suzie thought aloud, “But I’m rusty now, I’d make you look horrible”
“So? I don’t care!” Jewels chirped, “As long as I’m on stage with my favorite girl in the world, I’m the happiest girl in the world”.
Suzie only chuckled at that, she looked at Jewels with the most sincere affection in her eyes,
“You're the cutest girl in the world” Suzie said, “That's for certain”. When Jewels heard this, she squealed, but bit her fingers to stop noise from coming out of her mouth.
“Jewels! You're gonna hurt yourself!” Suzie panicked as she pulled Jewels’ hand out of her mouth..
“Sorry!” Jewels yelped (ish), “I was gonna say, you’re my best friend Suzie.”.
The girls stared into each other's eyes for a good five minutes until they heard Onya,
“JEWELS IT’S TIME FOR DANCE”
“Or more, IDK” Jewels continued before running off. Suzie just sat up in a state of confusion.
“What is my life?” She thought aloud.
Suzie grabbed her phone and dialed Jewels’ moms number, she put the phone on speaker and waited for Jewels’ mom to pick up. When she picked up, Suzie blurted out, “I have a crush on your daughter”, and then hung up the phone. No questions asked.
Onya's car was quite different, it was Onya driving, and Jewels was in the passenger seat with a distraught face and her hands pressed on her lap. She stared dead at the road,
“What's wrong” Onya stated, no question to it, she knew something was up. Should Jewels lie and say nothing is wrong which wouldn't work because Onya is a smart woman. (duh where else would Suzie learn her brilliance from?). Or should she come up with a bullshit reason like ‘Oh my fish got hit by a tractor’, which also wouldn't work not because Onya’s smart, but because Jewels doesn’t have a fish. Or, she could tell the truth and face the dragons of wrath. least desirable choice, but the most do-able.
“I have a crush on Suzie” Jewels blurted out as fast as possible,
“That’s my Suzie we’re talking about, right?” Onya clarified, Jewels nodded, Onya just shrugged, “Okay”
“You're
not… mad?” Jewels questioned, Onya shook her head,
“I knew you liked her since the moment you told me to get you tickets for all three nights of Frozen” Onya elaborated, “The way you watched her was as if she had hung the stars… And don’t get me started on how you looked at her during "Into the Woods”. Jewels blushed intensely and covered her face with her hands,
“Well, do you at least know if she likes me back?” Jewels asked,
“I suppose so, you think Suzie would tell me?” Onya laughed, “She knows what I would say to others, and what I wouldn't. Kids take after their parents, even if they're adopted. Unfortunately Suzie learned how to be a smartass from me”.
“But I like Suzies smartassery!” Jewels protested,
“Of course you do, Suzie could play a snowflake in a musical and you’d be sobbing” Onya teased, “You two love each other so much it makes my heart sing”
—
June 2038,
Senior year was filled with many ups and downs, lefts and rights, fronts and backs, and side to side. Jewels being the senior this year meant that she was also a team captain, and it also meant that she would be doing a total of TEN dances.
Maybe the tenth one was her fault, after teaching the Kindergarten class their new tap dance with Ms Lisa, she asked Ms Lisa if she could do the dance with them to which Ms Lisa thought was the best idea ever since hair dye.
Even though they joked about it, Jewels and Suzie didn’t do a duet, but Suzie was at as many rehearsals as she could go to, and she was Jewels’ biggest rock.
As of right now, the recital was tomorrow, and Jewels spent the night in her basement running her dances to the utmost perfection. So of course when Suzie came downstairs, it took her by surprise.
Jewels turned her music down and turned to Suzie who was holding a container with a cake in it. Jewels tilts her head,
“Suzie! I told you not to buy me anything!” Jewels scolded her,
“If it makes you feel better, I baked this myself.” Suzie told her, “Well, my mom helped me… Well, my mom mixed up the batter and put it in the oven and then frosted it” Suzie placed the container on the stack of old acro matts in Jewels’ basement, “I just licked the bowl, and then the frosting knife. I did think of it though”
“Yeah, I think I’m glad your mom did the baking,” Jewels commented. Suzie clutched her heart in feign offense,
“Excuse me!” She wailed, “I would not have set my house on fire”
Jewels could only laugh at this,
“I never said you would have!” Jewels cackled, “You would've! But I never said you would”
“Well now you did!” Suzie chimed back. Jewels let out an exaggerated huff, tossed her hair, and went back to going over her dances. Suzie just sat there with her arms crossed,
“Yknow, you're gonna burn yourself out before you actually have to perform” Suzie said, Jewels turned her song off and turned to Suzie, “Come, have some cake”
Jewels only sighed, she put her phone in her pocket and walked over to where Suzie was sitting, on the acro matts.
“It’s fine if we eat on these , right?” Suzie asked, Jewels nodded,
“It’s fine, I don’t use these anymore anyway.”
Suzie opened the container and cut the cake in slices, while Suzie was focused on that, Jewels took some frosting onto her finger and swiped it onto Suzies nose. Suzie looked up at Jewels with an alarmed look on her face, like a deer in headlights.
The sight was so adorable Jewels felt tears forming in her eyes, she laughed earnestly and licked the frosting off of Suzies nose, causing Suzie to wince
“Jewels!” Suzie yelped, she grabbed some frosting from the cake and smears it on the other girls cheek which causes her to squeal,
“Suzanne Boot you did not!” Jewels shouted, Suzie only laughed, she too licked the frosting from Jewels’ face. “Ew Ew Ew! Suzie! Stooop!”
The horsing around with frosting might have messed up the cake, but what caught their eyes (Or ears in this case) was when Jewels’ finger slipped and a slow Jazz song started playing. It was Fly Me To The Moon, a dance Jewels did a couple years ago in December.
Suzie could remember reusing flight attendant costumes, two of the three costumes were borrowed by alumni, Jewels was the only one who had her own because she was in the original dance that costume was used for… Right! Jet Set, the musical theater dance where little freshman Jewels outshined and out danced all of the upperclassmen as the youngest girl in the high school class, leaving other freshman Suzie impressed and aghast.
But in personal preference, Suzie preferred Jewels’ performance of Fly Me To The Moon because it was more recent, and it was performed by a more mature Jewels with such sophistication, and presence that you couldn’t teach anybody. What Suzie admired the most about that dance was how Jewels spotted Suzie in the audience during that dance and looked at her the entire time, not the back wall of the auditorium, not Ms Crystal, not Shontelle, not Onya, just Suzie, all smiles and infamous winks went to Suzie and nobody else.
Now here we are, present tense, night before Jewels’ last recital. Suzie watched Jewels get up and just start twirling around, shouting, “Shit I forgot!” over the music, “Suzie I dont remember it!”. Suzie only chuckled, until Jewels ran up to Suzie and grabbed her by the arms, “Dance with me Suzie!”
“Jewels I’d make you look stupid!” Suzie protested, Jewels only wrapped her arms around Suzies neck (Not choking her), and shushed her,
“Nobodys watching,” Jewels murmured in her ear, “I don’t care”
Right, nobody is watching. Suzies hands wandered naturally to Jewels’ waist as the two of them waltzed, except none of them knew how to waltz, so if anyone was making anyone look stupid it’d be them making each other look stupid.
The song ended, and a different song played, a song from a dance Jewels HATED. Jewels broke free from Suzies hold and ran over to her phone and simply paused the song.
“Is that the chicken dance?!” Suzie laughed,
“You shut up!” Jewels snapped,
“Then why did you put it in there?” Suzie teased her, Jewels only flipped her off,
“This playlist is a time capsule of all of the dances I’ve done over the years… That I remember” Jewels explained, Suzie only chuckled, who else but Jewels?
“The fact that you have the chicken song in there is impressive” Suzie said, “I forgot about that dance until it started playing.”
“When you have to dance in a disgusting hot pink excuse of a costume next to Kori, and Ms Lisa dressed up in fugly yellow chicken costumes” Jewels ranted, “You tend to remember that don’t you?”
Suzie nodded, Jewels had a point didn't she? Suzie walked back over to Jewels who was sitting on the old acro matts, she puts her phone down and looks up at Suzie, Suzie looks down at her. They were barely an inch apart but that didn’t phase them at all.
“Kinda glad I quit that year” Suzie murmured, Jewels rolled her eyes at her and laughed,
“Fuck you Suzanne!” she said with a toothy smile. Suzie's face shifted to a smile as well.
“Didn’t think you’d be so vulgar” Suzie teased her, “Especially to your best friend… Or more IDK”. This caused Jewels to laugh her ass off.
Both of them actually, laughing messes, laughing idiots in love who just say, “You're my best friend! Or More IDK”. Except when Jewels was still laughing, Suzie's face went firm, Jewels of course didn’t notice, ‘make or break, she’s not paying attention’ thought Suzie. She didn’t know why Jewels not paying attention was more beneficial to her, it was, she was about to ruin their almost twelve years of friendship anyway, so why care?
So she did it, she grabbed Jewels by the chin and pressed her lips to hers. Jewels let out a muffled squeak in shock at first, but her hand traveled to the back of Suzies hair and she deepened the kiss.
Not only did Suzie not expect Jewels to kiss her back, but Jewels didn’t expect Suzie to even do that. After telling Onya how she felt towards Suzie, Onya never brought that up ever again. So she really did think that Suzie only saw Jewels as a best friend. Except the turn of events this night had completely changed Jewels’ point of view. So when the two of them finally pulled away from each other, they each looked at each other with fear in their eyes.
“D-did you just kiss me?” Jewels questioned,
“D-did you kiss me back?” Suzie asked,
“Did you mean that?” Jewels continued to question, “Or did your mom tell you how desperately in love with you I am, and this is you being evil Suzie… Is this a joke?”. Suzie scoffed, same old Jewels, clueless unless you actually tell her.
“Come here you idiot” Suzie scoffed, Jewels only tilted her head
“You're practically on top of me, what do you mean?” she thought aloud, “Is this your way of trying to be able to call me stupid?!”.
To which Suzie laughed, “No, I called you an Idiot, never said that you're stupid.”
“I’m not an Idiot!” Jewels protested, Suzie only laughed and kissed the other girl again.
The day of the Last Recital.
The day of the Last Recital is always filled with stress and chaos at first, Jewels showing parents where to bring their kids, Suzie and Onya helping set up the “Dressing room” which is just a hallway closest to the auditorium stage. There were parents backstage helping their kids get into their first costume before going to the audience to sit down, the middle schoolers acting like they're the shit when they don’t know how to remember a dance for the life of them, the kindergarten class looking mindlessly at everyone, and Suzie sitting with the kindergarten kids.
Typically every week, Jewels helps Ms Lisa teach the kinderdance class, they call her Ms Jewels. Since Ms Jewels is in so many dances, Ms Suzie keeps track of the Kinderdance at the recital.
“Ms Suzie, wheres Ms Jewels” One of the kids asked,
“Well, she’s with her dancing friends,” Suzie tells the kid. Although it was a great question, where is Jewels?
Suzie turned to the High School area, Jewels wasn’t there, it was just other girls fixing their hair and makeup. Suzie stood up and walked through the hallway, and through the door to the stage. When she looks out through the wings she sees Jewels marking her solo on the stage to the closed curtains. She could hear the murmurs of the audience and the chatter of the other girls, but her focus was only on Jewels. She watches as Jewels halfasses her turns, causing her to almost fall over, Suzie runs over to Jewels and catches her, her arms holding her waist tightly, pulling Jewels back up.
“Suzie! My savior!” Jewels praises her, resisting the urge to kiss Jewels on the lips at this moment was a difficult task that Suzie did not wanna do, so Suzie pressed a kiss to Jewels’ lips which she gladly reciprocated.
When they pulled away from each other, they turned to see the astonished faces of the 4th and 5th grade class.
“Oh my god you guys” One of the girls gasped, “Jewels and Ms Onya's Daughter are best friends!”, the other girls turned to her and gasped as well, “Or more, IDK”.
Suddenly, they all heard Ms Lisa on the microphone doing her opening speech, Jewels and Suzie ran backstage, Suzie gave Jewels a tight hug before saying,
“Do good out there, I’ll be watching”.
“Suzie, you're my best friend-
Or more, IDK”