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It started out as the craziest thing. One Wednesday morning, Anne, who was doing some time in the guidance counselor’s office for being tardy yet again (which was always funny considering she lived a grand total of two blocks from school), overheard some news. She was quick to fill us in around lunch period.

“Have I got news…” she blurted.

“I can never, for the life of me, imagine how you can be late for school two out of five days a week,” I ranted. “You can practically hear the flag ceremony from your room. If that doesn’t wake you up, our singing should,” I kidded her.

“Nah. I swear, the singing lulls me back to sleep,” she said, dismissively. “Anyway, they’re opening up two spots for the Dance Club!” she announced. “The Dancing Twins are leaving school for good.”

Silence. Nicole and I looked at each other blankly. For Anne to be excited over news like this was uncharacteristic. She wasn’t exactly Ms. School Spirit and was always complaining about how trivial everything in high school was. One look at Jill though, and we understood where Anne was coming from.

Jill jumped up from her seat and broke the silence, “We’re trying out for Dance Club, baby — you and me.”

At the time, I wasn’t looking up. I was trying to remember which twin had a boyfriend, and what a horrible time that couple must be going through. But I could sense strange looks directed at me, and when I looked up, Jill was beaming. Grinning at me from ear to ear. Obviously waiting for my response.

I blinked. And couldn’t stop blinking.

“Have you gone bonkers?” I finally managed to say. “Why would you even think… What’s gotten into you… Why in the world would I… How on earth would we…” I stammered in rapid succession.

“Oh, I’ve seen your moves Katie, and you have some up your sleeve! Don’t you see? This is a chance for us to do something fun together! Think of all the practices and the exercise and teh cute little costumes we can shop for! We’ll have a blast! And we’ll surely get in because I have Britney’s Dance Beat on Playstation, and we can mooch our moves off of her for our audition!”

My stomach was in knots, but Jill was practically jumping up and down. “Jillian,” I said, apprehensive, “You’ve seen my moves because we dance to O-Town and make fun of their moves to get Nicole to laugh. The goal of that exercise is to look like a clown! I’ve never danced to impress because I don’t think I can! And sure, it would be really fun doing something with you… but dancing!?” I bit my lip. “Maybe Anne or Nicole could do it,” I suggested. “Don’t even think about it, Katie,” Anne interjected, “I’m allergic to jazz,” she laughed. Jill’s face fell like I’ve never seen it fall before, and she sat back down again. “You won’t even think about it?” she asked me quietly. Nicole tried to help. “Katie? I never laugh at your dancing. You shouldn’t look at it that way. I laugh because you try so hard to look silly. Doesn’t that mean you could be a great dancer if you can control your body so your moves look silly? I think it does.”

After some sleepless nights, I agreed — not quite sure why. Of course I wasn’t cut out for it: I had no training whatsoever, with my one and only ballet class lasting all of three months back when I was five years old. I wasn’t up-to-date on the latest dance music. I’ve never been to a rave, and my first high school dance would be some seven months away. I don’t even tap my foot in public whenever some catchy song is being played! If I do get into the club, I’d be such a mutant.

So I kept a healthy dose of negativity throughout the ordeal, knowing that the only reason I was putting myself out there was because of Jill. Despite aching feet, overstretched muscles, and possible public humiliation, I did want to get closer to her, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. Throughout that one whole week of practice, I hoped that was enough.

Today, the day of the big announcement, Carlo came up to me to say, “What can I say? I’m officially impressed!” breaking out in a cocky grin as I put my books under my seat. At first, clueless, I figured it out in five seconds. “And Jill?” I asked, biting my lip.

And he shook his head.