Alice stared down at the sheet, a smile curling at her lips. Her birthday was next month. Not only could she sign the sheet, but it occured to her that after February 13th, she and Malcolm weren't an illegal relationship anymore. The worse they could do was fire him, no one could take her away after that. Though she did mentally remind herself that getting him fired was a terrible thing and not to be taken lightly, Malcolm loved to teach and was very good at it and she didn't want to ruin that for him.
                              
"Earth to Alice, hello.....?" Kim waved in front of her face and Alice rezoned into reality. 
                              
"Ah...?" Alice looked confused and realized everyone was packing up and heading to the last class of the day. She sobered up immediately, a little ball of worry wobbling around her gut. 
                              
The first day back from winter vacation and dance class discovered that Mrs. Moodie had broken her leg skiing over the holidays. She would be unable to assist with choreography, but would be staying on to help direct. In her place was a new teacher, fresh out of Julliard in the States. Maddison Avery had been a student here four years ago, and her solo in the Gala had gotten her a full scholarship to the illustrious dance school. Alice wasn't worried about impressing the young substitute, but instead was concerned because Ms. Avery had looked at the dance sequence Alice had written out for Oberon and promptly decided that Ace would be her partner for the Gala. Suddenly Alice's responsibilities were doubled and she was helping the teacher come up with the dance work for characters she'd never actually dance with on stage. 
                              
But as much as Alice hated the extra responsibilities, she had to admit that secretly it felt great to have someone trust her that much with the work. This wasn't to say that Ms. Avery wasn't working herself, she was spending a class with each student, gonig over character work and helping them design costumes etc...., she was just trusting the young Alice to help her with finalizing the footwork. So today Alice and Lexi were having their first forced partnership. Every step towards the performance hall filled Alice with dread, she was not looking forward to this. But she squared her shoulders and prepared herself to deal with the worse Lexi could throw at her. 
                              
"Alright girls, you know the roles. Alice, as Puck you are trying to convince Titania to come back to Oberon, forgive him and forget Bottom. You are trying to break the spell the flower put over your Queen. Lexi, you are the Fairy Queen, your fighting with your King and have taken on a human lover because of the flower's spell. Trusting your friend Puck you are copying her movements until the tempo of htesong changes, then you take the lead. When the song switches over, remember you are having the solo, so all eyes are on you." Ms. Avery reminded both girls. 
                              
The tension in class was palpable, the student body long aware of the animosity between the two female dancers. They both stood on the stage, facing each other and sharing the center. Lexi's eyes shone with anger and hatred and Alice just took a deep breath and put on her show face, pleasant but blank. She was only peripherally aware of the eyes of the class on them, and even her awareness of Lexi faded until she was just another dancer. This was choreography that Mrs. Moodie and Lexi had both worked on, not just Alice, so she had to remember the movements carefully, not wanting to spark a fight if she didn't 'put her all into it'. 
                              
Alice started to move and had to ignore the half second delay before Lexi started to mimic her. It was supposed to look disjointed, that was the point of it and the soft movements at the beginning emphasized that dispairity. The dance called for a contemporary ballet style at first, broad, sweeping movements and floating layers. Often they were supposed to reach out for each other as if they were long trusted friends and this was were their ability to focus past their mutual dislike was tested. The pace of the music changed, as stronger bass and more electronic components involved. Now Lexi and Alice were dancing at the same tempo, no time difference at all. The dance changed from the swirling ballet to a more demanding sequence that segued them into dancing seperately. Alice's movments pulled her to the front of the stage where she settled down, watching Lexi take her solo.