Change Of Heart
Chapter 9: Change Of Heart
“Girl if they had me on the team they could've gotten higher than 300” an overly confident Joella boasted. Exactly what Captain Diva Crystal needed to hear at 2 in the afternoon, just exactly that.
Crystal grabs her key and opens Studio One, she opens the door gently and turns the light on, and then she closes the door.
Front Desk Lady Lisa wasn’t at the Front Desk as of now, instead, she was teaching 4th graders in the studio next door, Crystal could see that through the door window. The door that connected Studio 1 and Studio 3. Strange arrangement, but it’s whatever. Crystal's name wasn’t on the window anyway.
Crystal sat down on the floor, near the mirror, and she sat in a butterfly stretch. She watched the door waiting for someone, just anybody to come in.
And her hopes were answered, because there came Kori and Lydia, walking hand in hand like they had been married for ten years. They might as well have been in a past life.
“Hey Crystal!” Kori sang, “How are you feelin’?”
“I feel great actually” Crystal said, “Clean sweep, perfect score, only two comps in”
“Plus all dances we learned in a week” Lydia added, the door then opened, revealing Jewels and Suzie. Jewels skipped into the room while Suzie shuffled in,
“I feel a twist happening!” Jewels exclaimed, “Ms Lexi is gonna do something CRAY CRAYYYY”
“I’m just saying” Crystal reminded them, “The duet twist thingy I was talking about last week, still could be on the table after all.”
“I hope Lydia and I get to do a duet!” Kori chimed, she hugged Lydia tightly, Lydia hugging back,
“Ewww” Jewels and Suzie gagged at the same time. Crystal only rolled her eyes.
Acacia and Arrietty were the last ones to get there, they put their bags down and walked over to the other girls,
“Sorry we’re late” Acacia apologized, “Arrietty's sister can’t drive”
“Yeah, slow ass bitch” Arrietty nodded, “We’re not too late right?”.
“Ms Lexi isnt here yet” Suzie told them, “So you're not late”
The door opens,
“Yeah yeah” Ms Lexi said, “You're not late blah blah blah… Line up!”
The girls all line up in front of the mirrors horizontally, Ms Lexi walks back and forth. What can be noticed is that this time, Ms Lexi was holding a black whiteboard marker. She turned around and started writing words on the board, it read, “Solo Week”
Crystal
Kori
Lydia
Arrietty
Suzie
Jewels
Acacia
And then she moved to the left and started writing
Duets/trio
Suzie+Kori
Arrietty+Jewels
Crystal, Lydia, Acacia.
Okay, interesting,
“Ms Lexi, what are you doing?” Acacia asked, Ms Lexi huffed, and then turned around.
“As you can see, today is a little bit different” Ms Lexi said, “There will be no group dance, and everyone will be performing twice”. The girls all gawked at this news,
“I’m sorry, WHAT?!” Kori shrieked.
“I’ll elaborate the solo’s first” Ms Lexi told everyone, she opened her whiteboard marker again and walked up to the mirror, next to Crystals name she wrote something down, “Crystal, you will be performing a jazzy contemporary number called Perfect Illusion, it is very high energy and angsty and its about a girl who imagines her perfect love”
“So Lady Gaga song?” Crystal clarified, Ms Lexi nodded her head, “Okay, slay, I’ve wanted to do that song since forever!”
“Ah-hem” Ms Lexi continued, “Kori you will be doing a modern solo to Fallin by Alicia Keys, because you need to get your shit together”. Suzie and Jewels stifle a laugh until Ms Lexi glares at them, “Anyways! Lydia, your number will be Perfect Celebrity, very grungy, very extreme yada yada yada”.
Lydia only nodded, “Now Arrietty, you will be doing… What was it again? I forgot” Ms Lexi checks her phone, “riiight! I wanna shake some shit up, so we’re pulling Blood Money out of the vault”
“FUCK YEAH!” Arrietty screamed,
“That's a POTTY WORD” Kori teased, Ms Lexi cleared her throat again,
“Anyways! Suzie, you’ll be doing a tap solo to Lullaby Of Broadway by Tony Benett”.
“Oh my god a 1920s jig!” Jewels exclaimed, “That's PERFECT”
Suzie gently slapped Jewels on the arm,
“It’s actually from the 50’s” Suzie corrected her,
“Now Jewels!” Ms Lexie started again, “You will be doing Future Nostalgia,”
“Okay Werk Dua Lipa” Jewels said under her breath,
“And Acacia, you will be doing a lyrical solo to Don’t Ask by Poppy.” Ms Lexi said, “Little different, little darker than you usually do, but I think it’ll be good for you”
Acacia only nodded. Ms Lexi clapped her hands and moved to the Duet/Trio side of the mirror, “Now, first off we’re gonna have Kori and Suzie doing a tap duet to Dance Apocalyptic by Janelle Monae, to be honest you guys were supposed to do this dance a couple years ago, but Suzie got injured, and I high key forgot the dance so bare with me”. Ms Lexi wrote the song on the mirror and then moved on, “Jewels and Arrietty, you will be given full creative freedom, your song is Again by Fetty Wap, and I just want you two to have fun with this, I don’t care if you take it seriously. I want you guys to have some time together and really just have fun together”.
Jewels and Arrietty turn to each other and give each other sinister smirks,
“Ms Lexi that idea sucks” Crystal spat,
“Crystal don’t humble me” Ms Lexi said, “Anyway the final dance is a nice slow ballet number, so I combined our best ballerinas and I’ve chosen “Sandcastles“ by Beyonce because I believe you three are very emotionally connected to the routines that you do, this is a very intense contemporary/ballet number where your emotions really play a factor in the execution of your dancing. You three have the pens in gear, you just gotta use em’”
I thought you meant the utensils” Kori said,
“Kori get your ass out of here”
____
The 5th studio is the smallest studio, and it’s usually where you’d go if you want personal quiet time during breaks and stuff. Yet here it is now, the Again choreography room.
“We should dress up as JBL speakers!” Arrietty suggested,
“Where would we get THAT?” Jewels questioned, Arrietty just tilted her head with a smirk,
“I know a little smth smth, the daughter of the Costume Shop should know EVERYTHING about making JBL speaker cosplay.” Arrietty noted, Jewels nodded her head,
“That's the Lucky girl Right?” Jewels recalled, “Riiight yeah her, she's silly”
Arrietty walks around the room, her finger to her lips,
“Speaking of silly, this dance shouldn't be too silly y'know” Arrietty rambled, “We need to have good choreography but humorous execution, like imagine us all of the sudden… Idk making a fool of ourselves, and then we turn around and we start bussin it down”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea” Jewels nodded along, “Imagine if we won with this, the people would be mad!” Arrietty turned around and snapped her finger, her face an evil smile,
“Right! And the audience LOVES it when Kori and Suzie perform together!” Arrietty shouted with excitement, “But will the Judges love it after seeing us?”
“Being strategic is fun!” Jewels giggled,
____
Rehearsals for “Sandcastles” were different the moment Lydia, Crystal, and Acacia walked into the door. Instead of Ms Lexi, or Sam being the teacher, it was Front Desk Lady Lisa. Lydia didn’t suspect a thing, but Crystal and Acacia were confused as hell,
“Ms Lisa, what are you doing?” Crystal asked, an eyebrow raised, “The kindergarten class is next door”. Ms Lisa just giggled earnestly, “The kindergarten class is every saturday, silly goose. I’m teaching you your dance!”. Acacia blinked a couple of times,
“I thought you hated competitions” Acacia said, Ms Lisa just nodded,
“Well I do,” She admitted “but I choreographed this dance, and I want to be the one to teach it to you guys”.
The girls all looked at each other and nodded their heads, Ms Lisa smiled and went into teaching the trio… All they could think was, ‘Ms Lexi was right, damn’.
The dance really relied on emotion, so much so that Crystal honestly thought that it’d be put into the Level 2 category, it was a good thought, so she raised her hand. Ms Lisa gave her a look,
“What category will this be placed in?” Crystal asked, Ms Lisa's head perked,
“Level 3 small group contemporary,” She told them, “I know right now it feels like a level two, but when you get to know the piece more and more you’ll understand why it’s in level 3. Trust me I thought it was Level 2 as well but Ms Lexi knows best”.
“I mean, it’s a lot of movement” Acacia stated, “Well, that’s a given… Nevermind”
___
Koris solo rehearsal was also different, the moment she walked into the room Ms Sam looked at her with a tilted head and an expression of pure humor,
“Korinne Scott King, doing a LYRICAL solo?” She humored, “That’s like watching a pig fly,”
“Right” Kori rolled her eyes, “And you think I chose it?”
“No I know you didn't choose it” Sam smiled sinisterly, “Because I chose it.”
Sam started cackling maniacally, Kori looked at the shorter woman like she was insane, (which she was). Sam took a deep breath after her fit of laughter and then stood still for a second,
“Soooo are you gonna teach me the dance, girlypop?” Kori asked.
Learning a Lyrical solo without Acacia, or Crystal being in the studio proved to be hard because she had nobody to really look at, and when Sam ran through it with her, she marked the living hell out of it. Yet, for some strange reason she felt herself connecting with this dance on some strange wavelength and when she practiced the dance she could feel her heartstrings doing the work, not her brain. Kori just brushed it off as the effect of a love song, and she’s probably dancing like a normal Kori King would.
But Sam also noticed this, the way Kori was dancing wasn’t like the number analytical, score maniacal, statistic bound Kori. It appeared as if Kori weren’t dancing this dance to win like she typically would, she was dancing this dance to get a point across,
“Damn Kori, you're dancing like you're trying to tell someone your feelings!” Sam extolled, “Everything felt so natural! You never do that”,
“I was just doing the right thing” Kori dismissed the praise, “It’s a love song, I’m gonna dance it like a winning one”. Sam shook her head,
“THAT Kori, was not dancing to win” Sam explained, “You typically have a very calculated way of doing things, you calculate when something is short, when somethings sharp, when to smile, when to mess with your face, when to look at the judges and when not to. Whenever you are rehearsing you are calculating on how to make the judges score you higher with your performance because you’ve observed for YEARS, and you know what they want”.
Kori sat still, blinking a bit, Sam continued,
“Except this time, I see no calculation in your eyes, I see emotion and rawness”
Kori was unphased by this, she just shrugged her shoulders. Maybe Sam just sprayed too much hairspray to get her curls to stay bouncy and voluminous.
“Okay, Kori, you're done” Sam announced, “Lydias gotta learn this dance”.
When Kori walked out of the room, Sam immediately went into detective mode… How was Kori so suddenly able to break out of her dance calculator, and dance to dance?! Does she just need to do more modern solos?
But she usually dances the group dances with a calculator as well, what was so different about this dance where it not only got into Kori's head, but Kori's heart.
Sam peaked through the door, she watched as Kori and Lydia ran into each other, erupting into conversation. Ms Sam typically wouldn't care about the conversation, but SAM was invested, she couldn't hear what they were saying but she noticed everything. The way Kori looked at Lydia, Lydia's mannerisms, the way Lydia would toss her hair as she spoke to Kori, the way Kori’s smile went from a bold bodacious one, to a timid “Trying to keep my facade” smile. Sam also noticed that when Lydia talked to Kori, she held her phone weirdly, and Kori fidgeted with her pink sweatshirt.
The conversation ended, Lydia waved at Kori with a sweet smile, and walked into the studio, she gently closed the door and walked further into the studio.
That was it…
This dance was so heartfelt being done by Kori because of her.
Because of Lydia!
It makes so much sense! Kori performs this dance the way she does is because she can’t help but think about Lydia!
___
Teaching Lydia was something Sam didn’t exactly enjoy because it was like playing a silent game of copycat. Sam showed Lydia what to do, Lydia repeated it, they moved on. No words, no questions, nada.
The girl never asked questions, ever, she just did things effortlessly. She only looked at Sam when she needed to know what to do next, and then completely disregarded Sam. It made her feel useless, but the dance was coming along good, so that counts for something, right?
___
The break room was bustling with people waiting to run their solos, supposedly Crystal was supposed to be here too, but she wasn’t for some reason.
Instead, there was Suzie, Jewels, and Acacia, Kori walked in shortly after and grabbed some lasagna
“Suzie I didn't know your mom made lasagna” Kori said,
“She’s testing the waters” Suzie told her, “Oh, by the way, our duet is after Lydia's solo rehearsal”.
“Oh Em Gee!” Began Jewels, “I heard the craziest thing EVER!!!” Suzie winced at the squeal,
“What is it?” Acacia inquired, “Did Ms Lexi reveal her real name to the world?”
“No!” Jewels told them, “Auntie Sam was on a phone call on the way here, and I think theres going to be a HUGE group number next week!”.
The other girls just looked at Jewels like she was hearing voices, until Kori broke the silence,
“So because your aunt was on the phone an entire car ride, that there's going to be a large group dance next week?” Kori asked dryly,
“We do NOT have the people to do that, I mean Joella's entire class is our age and they cant touch their toes!” Acacia added,
“Well, Auntie Sam was saying something about 21 dancers being able to fit in Studio 1 no problem! We obviously don’t have 21 of us, and Ms Lexi would NEVER let anyone outside this team compete. We saw what happened when Joella tried to compete as an independent!” Jewels exclaimed, the three other girls nodded their heads with a hum in agreement,
“Yeah yeah/ That's right/ Shocked she wasn't kicked out” They overlapped each other.
“Did you get any idea of what the song was?” Suzie asked gently, Jewels nodded,
“Auntie Sam was listening to 100% Pure Love by Crystal Waters on repeat when we were going home from comp” Jewels explained,
“Okay so one of the other teams is definitely from Denali’s!” Kori interjected, “Their comp director, who is also the owner, LOVES that song.”
“I thought they were an ice skating place” Acacia muttered,
“They also do dance,” Suzie clarified, “They're really good at both, their teams are really nice. One time I was the only one from here on stage for an award ceremony, and they let me sit with them.”
“That’s nice!” Jewels chimed in, “So I hope they're the ones doing this dance with us.”
____
In Studio 4, there was no actual teacher present, but Crystal in the room by herself running through Perfect Illusion. The door opened gently, Arrietty walked into the room, closed the door, turned around, and gawked at the fact that Crystal was the only one in here.
“Am I in the wrong studio?” Arrietty asked, Crystal smiled and shook her head,
“Nope” She said, “I’m teaching your dance… Or re-teaching it”.
“But Ms Lexi sai-” Arrietty began, but Crystal cut her off,
“We came up with the dance, I choreographed it, girl you Know Ms Lexi doesn't actually want this dance to leave the studio” she scoffed, “I had to BEG her to let you perform this”,
“Really now?” Arrietty hummed, her brow raised,
“Yup,” Crystal nodded her head, “She only explained the solo the way she did because she didn’t want everyone to find out that someone was able to convince her to do something.”
____
Yesterday night
The car beeped when Crystal locked her car, she tiptoed onto the porch stairs of Ms Lexis house, ringing the doorbell gently.
The door opened, revealing Ms Lexi wearing a fuzzy pink onesie, her hair in two braids, and her face covered in a facemask. She looked unamused as hell,
“Crystal…. Come in” She said, she turned around and almost closed the door on Crystal, but Crystal grabbed it and walked in. Ms Lexi sat down on her couch, “I thought I closed the door on you”
“I’m stealthy” Crystal smirked as she sat down on the couch across from her, “Anyways, I need a favor from you”. Ms Lexi looked at her like she killed someone,
“I don’t do Favors” she huffed before taking a sip of her tea,
“Do you remember that dance Arrietty and I created, Blood Money?” Crystal asked, “The one that you-”
“Turned down in a heartbeat, yeah I remember that one!” Ms Lexi snapped, “Almost ruined my career with that one, that's why I turned it down”.
Crystal sighed,
“Y'know, you could have chosen ANY song by Poppy, ANY! And you chose the one boasting about begging for forgiveness from Jesus!” Ms Lexi continued, “That's a conservative pond I do not want to jump into”
“But the dance IS about conservatives, it’s about people who are hateful bitches and what their outcome really is!” Crystal explained, “You really care about those types of people?”
“No, I care about my reputation” Ms Lexi said,
“Your reputation amongst close minded self centered assholes?” Crystal rhetorised, “Didn’t you kick a kid out of a studio because her mom was a bitch to everyone and their kids?”
Ms Lexi went quiet, Crystal did have a point, plus it was something she did all the time. It’s Ms Lexi Loves School For Dance, not Ms Lexi Hates School For Dance. When she really thought about it, the message behind the Blood Money dance was something Lexi wanted to get across for a while, but with a song like Blood Money, she didn’t see it coming across correctly.
“Okay, fine, do it, but don’t cry to me when you get disqualified and shunned from society” Ms Lexi sighed.
Crystal completely disregarded the words that came after “Fine”, she was too happy to share something she did without any guidance of a teacher, her full artistic expression!
______