Kit Kat & Katie Did

by Lauren T. Hart

  Linda was the most popular instructor at AIM but she only taught three classes a year and they were less class and more audition than anything else. They were invite only and she’d put you through the wringer and back again. And if you came out the other side still smiling, she’d put you on tour. I took this class when I was 10. This was for the best really, because I had no idea what was on the line, I was just having fun. At the end of the class that was really an audition, Linda asked me if I’d like to perform even more than I already was. The answer was a resounding “Yes!” And I started getting paid.

  I only did paid gigs maybe once or twice a month, but Linda would give me a paycheck every week, just like everybody else who worked for AIM, and I thought I was the coolest kid around. I was earning $10 a week. Mom made me put half of it into savings, and I was still the richest kid in my neighborhood. Until we moved in with Erik.

  I was making closer to $10 a day at that point and was suddenly back to being the poorest kid in the neighborhood. And not just because Mom continued to insist that half my pay go to savings. I was also one of the only kids in the neighborhood with a job. There were a couple of girls who modeled, and a few more who worked for their parents. They all made way more than me. It was always interesting to see how those who were just handed money and position treated it. Mostly, from my perspective, it was undervalued and under appreciated. And I’m pretty sure it’s all part of why people think money can’t buy happiness.

  But as I was saying before I got side-tracked with my humble brag about being a 10 year old with a job… Linda ranked number one as far as instructors go, but she barely counted so really, most popular instructor was Sage, then Evie, and then Tom, then it was probably a tie between Julian and Charlotte. Julian was in higher demand, but Charlotte taught year round. And then it was Melody, and then Lydia and Claire and Wendy and Andy, but those last three all taught yoga, so they didn’t really count, and then it was me. And I’ve totally made myself sound like the least popular instructor, but I’m not, I’m just a part time junior instructor. And the point I’m getting at, is that there was plenty of other instructors I could swap classes with so that I could have a hella senior year. Or, let’s be realistic, I could have an ‘I participated in Friday night activities’ senior year. Boo. Yah.

  Five paragraphs later, I was able to rearrange my Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, schedule to Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday. Yes, I now worked Saturdays and the hours were longer. But Melody didn’t, and she was thrilled.

  And then Linda told me it was all only temporary and my schedule would be changing again in October. She said she’d try to keep my Friday’s open but who knows?

  KF: I just switched working Fridays for working Saturdays. I thought it was a good idea going in, now my boss is telling me she’s going to revamp my entire schedule and I’m second guessing even requesting a schedule change.

  D?: I work 8 to 10 hour shifts Saturday, Sunday, and 2 to 3 hour shifts Monday through Thursday. Friday is my only day off and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  I missed Parkwood’s first game of the year, but Adria said it was basically a practice game, and I hadn’t really missed anything. The next Friday’s game was going to be the real thing though because Parkwood was playing against their first real challenger, East Ridge High. But I was mostly coming to see her anyway, so that barely mattered. Oh, and there was a dance after.

  Sunday, Julian came over and helped me rig up a Lyra in the garage so I didn’t always have to drive into the studio to practice.

  I snapped a picture of the rig and sent it to Dominic.

  KF: I can practice at home now!

  He texted me back a couple hours later.

  D?: Living the dream! Congratulations.

  KF: I met another Dominic the other day. First you, then this guy, all in under a month? What are the odds, right? But I figure it’s one of those things like when you have a certain type of car you see that same car everywhere. I think there’s a name for that. I could probably just google it, make myself sound smarter, but I’m not going to.

  D?: It’s called frequency illusion.

  D?: I googled it.

  The next week kind of buzzed by as classes got into full swing. I was eating my lunch on the way to, or while I was in, Independent Study more often than I wasn’t and Kimber was a little miffed about it.

  “If I don’t do my homework at school, I have to do it at home,” I reasoned. “And I hate that. When I’m home, I want to be home, you know?”

  “Yeah, but you were just starting to make friends with some of my friends,” she pouted. “They’re going to think you don’t like them.”

  My gut reaction was to say, ‘that’s really not my problem’ but I was standing in front of a real world drama queen, so I managed to stop myself midway through the statement. “I like your friends, Kimber. I’ll try to fit it in when I can. I got AP everything, I work, gotta practice, it’s a lot you know? And we can always hang out on Sundays.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Kimber moped.

  As if that wasn’t enough, Dominic from school decided to corner me Friday in Life Skills. On Friday’s in Life Skills we make food. Groups were typically decided based on seating but Dominic decided he needed to be in our group and made both Claire and Sara trade spots with him.

  We were making eggs. Scratch that, I was making eggs. Kayley was telling Dominic that we were cousins, and that she was only just barely younger than me, so I already had my driver’s license and she had to wait, which sucked, but she’d be getting her driver’s license soon, so that would be cool, even though she didn’t have a car, but she was totally planning to get one. Oh and that I lived with them because my mom got married and moved a million miles away, basically just abandoning me, but it was cool because she was so excited that I was living with them now because we’ve always been close and even though I was sometimes boring because, apparently, I always have to be the responsible one, like all the time. But I’m also like, super cool, and sweet, and like, fun to hang out with. It was very non-stop ‘like,’ much drama, and so sob story.

  Dominic’s contribution was to say, “Uh-huh,” and “Oh yeah?” between breaths.

  After I let them know the eggs were done Dominic told Kayley to make the toast and he’d do the orange juice. I had to wonder which one of the two tasks he thought harder.

  He cornered me by the sink, where I was washing the pan and he was just going to have to wait for the water he could have used earlier. Like, when I was using the stove, and he was just leaning against the counter, flexing and nodding, for instance.

  “You don’t eat lunch anymore?”

  I was confused. I ate lunch every day, sometimes twice. Some people like to call it an after school snack, but I’m eating a whole entire meal, why not call it like it is? “Huh?”

  “I haven’t seen you at lunch this week,” he shrugged.

  “Oh. I have Independent Study after lunch, so I go early and eat there.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, me too. You go out?”

  I finished washing the pan and he took it from me to dry it. “No, unless the library counts. Wait. You have Independent Study after lunch? I’ve never seen you there.”

  “That’s because I go out,” he grinned then turned to put the pan away.

  “I can’t believe we actually have four classes together, out of seven.”

  “We don’t,” he reasoned, filing the OJ can with water. “I go out.”

  “Interesting logic.” I nodded.

  “Oh my gosh, you guys, this toaster is the worst,” Kayley whined. “Dominic, can you come help me?” It was one of the most disgusting displays of ‘idiot damsel’ I’d ever seen. I was going to have to have a very long talk with her. Or maybe I’d just have Julian do it, she might listen to him.

  Dominic took a second to assess before continuing his juice reconstitution duties. “It’s not plugged in.”

  Kayley huffed and grumbled about how ridiculous it
is not to just keep the toaster plugged in, but quickly changed her tune when Dominic chimed in with, “It’s a fire hazard. And it’s on the test.”

  “Oh? Really?” she beamed up at him. Her infatuation was kind of gross to watch. “Thanks for letting me know, I probably would have totally bombed the test, otherwise.”

  I chuckled until I realized she was being serious, because she was scowling at me with her hand on her hip. “You’re smart, Kays, you’ll do great.”

  “Yeah, probably,” she agreed with a grin. “See, Dom, I told you she was sweet.”

  Dominic nodded, but he’d also begun to fidget.

  ・❀・❀・❀・

  After class Kayley pulled me aside in the hall. She was flanked by Claire and Sara. “You know it’s not going to end well if we’re both going after the same guy, right?”

  “What now?” I was authentically confused for half a second or so. “Do you mean, Dominic?”

  “Who else would I mean?” she threw her arms in the air, rather dramatically.

  “Kayley,” I started.

  “I saw him first.” She put her hand on her hip with so much flair it was practically a dance move.

  So many things wrong with this moment. Forget the fact that I had not expressed any kind of romantic interest in Dominic. Did she actually think that’s how things worked? That she could just call dibs on another person and expect everyone else to fall in line? The sad answer to that was: probably. So I felt like I had no choice but to counter with her own logic. “If that’s how this works, then you’re actually the one overstepping here, Kays. Dominic and I have other classes together, remember? Unless you saw him before 3rd period, when he took the seat I was going to sit in and so I sat right behind him.”

  Kayley’s mouth dropped open. “Omigawd! I’m so sorry. I’m being such an über bitch right now. And I’m not even on my period.”

  “You know that’s not how any of this works, right?”

  Kayley laughed, and pulled me into a hug.

  “No, Kayley, we need to talk about some things.”

  Kayley brushed me off with a wave of her hand. “Nah, it’s cool. I’m all good. This school has plenty of other hot dudes in it.” She took off, giggling with Sara, leaving me shaking my head outside Life Skills class.

  “She’ll figure it out,” Claire offered. “Probably the hard way.”

  ・❀・❀・❀・

  Game night. My car was packed with happy chatting girls, Kimber sat shotgun, Kayley, Sara and Mika were in the back. Everybody wanted to get there as early as possible. I figured 30 minutes was early enough. I was wrong. Parking was a nightmare. Having a parking pass meant nothing anymore. I finally found a spot on the side of the school opposite the field and we walked around. The rest of Kimber’s friends and a few of Kayley’s were waiting for us near the gate and inside.

  While they went to find seats in the bleachers I wandered over to where the cheer squad was warming up and Adria introduced me to the rest of the team.

  “Katie, Janie, Alexa, Randi with an I, Taylor, Laurel, Chloe, Mark, Danny, and Jake.” That was just how she said it, one big list. At least, everybody wearing a cheer uniform had their name embroidered on their chest, so I wouldn’t be completely lost on names.

  “Hey,” I waved.

  “Oh, I know you,” said one of the guys, Jake. He had dark brown hair and green eyes. “We’re both with AIM. Aren’t you one of the teachers?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re a teacher?” It was Alexa who asked, as she came to stand right in front of me and looked at me like I was some kind of novelty. My expression was probably something similar. Alexa was tall and sporty with blue eyes, and blond hair that was almost the same color as her skin, which I found kind of novel. “You look too young to be a teacher,” she concluded.

  “Okay. I’m sixteen. I teach beginner’s aerial— dance,” I added, because most people have no idea what aerial is and I’m pretty much never in the mood to explain it, “to kids, at Arts in Motion.”

  Alexa bobbed her head “That’s cool, so you go to school here?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re partners with Julian, right?” Jake cut in.

  As I was answering in the affirmative, Alexa asked. “Who’s Julian?”

  “He’s my dance partner.”

  “Is he cute?” She had the words out before I’d even finished talking.

  “Yeah.”

  “Girl, he’s gorgeous,” Jake stepped closer. “He could get you pregnant just by looking at you.”

  “Is he here?”Alexa looked around.

  Jake continued talking, ignoring her. “I’ve been trying to train with him forever. I need to train with him. I need it. You’re his partner, so I’m hoping you know. Is that even possible and if it is, how do I do it?”

  “Is that him?” Alexa was pointing at someone.

  “He’s not here,” I informed.

  “Oh,” she pouted and turned away, disappointed.

  I turned back to Jake. “Have you requested an audition?”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Email him or Linda and tell them you want to audition. Linda likes experience, and she likes it when people have a passion for it. Julian likes to know why. And if he thinks you’re interested because you think he’s cute, he’s always going to say no.”

  “Woah, really he seriously didn’t strike me as the homophobic type.”

  “He’s not. He just likes to keep things professional.”

  Jake pulled me away from the group.

  “Hey,” Adria followed, pouting.

  “I’m totally straight,” Jake informed, his tone hushed.

  “He is. I’m not,” Adria grinned.

  “It’s a common misconception that guys who cheer are gay. None of us are — except maybe Mark — but if we play it up, like we are, it makes the girls more comfortable.”

  “Oh, we’re sharing these kinds of secrets?” Adria put her hand on her hip. “You would not believe how easy it is to persuade another chick to have a three way when she thinks the dude is gay.”

  “Adria!” Jake put his hand up to get her to stop talking, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m trying to do something here. Her boyfriend is the guy I’ve been trying to train with since I started at AIM.”

  Adria tangled her fingers into Jake’s. “We should double.”

  “Julian’s not my boyfriend.”

  Jake looked doubtful.

  Here we go, I thought.

  “You guys kiss and hold hands and do everything together. Oh wait—” he shook his head. “Is this like a legal thing, because he’s an adult and you’re not?”

  “Nope. Anyway. Just maybe mention you do cheer with your girlfriend in your email, and why you want to train with Julian. And be completely honest, he loves that. But if it’s to get more girls, he’s not going to like that answer either.”

  “That’s cool,” Jake shrugged. “I know there’s more to life than tail.”

  “Is there though?” Adria smirked.

  I turned to Adria. “I didn’t expect this side of you.”

  She shrugged and flashed me a smile. “That’s the best part.”

  ・❀・❀・❀・

  I wasn’t kidding when I told Dominic, my Dominic — text Dominic — I knew practically nothing about football. But now that I knew somebody who played… Actually, I think I’ve always known guys who played, but for some reason, thinking about Dominic’s smile in that tiny blurry photo, and how football made him happy I guess I wanted to know more about the things he cared about.

  Kimber had saved me a seat between her and Kayley.

  “Which one’s the quarterback?” I asked.

  “He’s the one with the ball,” Claire answered.

  “That’s not the quarterback,” Mika laughed. “Ryan Mathers is the quarterback. He’s the guy with the big 16 on his back, say’s Mathers just above it.”

  “I’m pretty sure whoever has the ball
is the quarterback,” Claire defended.

  Mika and several others burst out laughing.

  “I’m just gonna google it,” I decided.

  Claire was totally wrong.

  That being said, football is confusing. Not the rules so much, but there’s just so many play options. My brain was starting to buzz after the third blog post and it was too noisy to watch any of the videos. So, we mostly just chatted and cheered when everyone else around us did.

  The dance after the game was so epic awesome. It’s so rare for me to dance for no reason. And casual dancing where you bounce around, wave your arms and move just for fun is beyond the best. It’s perfect for letting go and living in the moment and all that.

  When I got home I looked up the schools complete schedule of all the activities. Something in October caught my eye. It said, AIM Assembly (acrobatic dance).

  I took a picture of the screen and texted it to Julian.

  KF: Do you know about this?

  KF: Also there’s this guy I go to school with, Jake, he’s on the cheer squad and he takes classes at AIM. He wants to train with you. I told him to request an audition. He’s got some skills, and a serious man crush, and a girlfriend who’s WAY into 3-ways with chicks. And I had so much fun at the dance tonight. I never just free dance, you know? And we need a good long day together. I’m having withdrawals from spending every waking minute with you on tour. Oh, and Kimber and Kayley are… Well, you know how they are.

  JR: That was fast. We only just confirmed it earlier today. Linda’s got about a dozen schools lined up. You’re only committed to about half of them, as it works out with your school schedule. And starting October, you only have two AIM classes per week, Monday and Thursday.