Despite the extra cost for the dancing group, my parents were thrilled at my suggestion when they picked me up at Olivia's house.

"You know, kiddo, you've worried us for almost two years, retreating into yourself. Maybe this will help you get out of your shell", said my mother.

"You think so? It was mainly to get more control over my body"

"That too. I wasn't long in the dance club in high school, but I made good friends when I was in it."

"You were in your dance club, Mom? I didn't know!" I said

"Oh, it didn't last long. I wasn't that good. Not that you have to be. But you have a different objective than I do"

"Right, I just want to get out of my shell", I say.

"I was always out of my shell. But you don't have to be. You are you, and that's all that matters"

At home, they had recently returned to naturism, so they undressed, but Edith and I stayed fully dressed.

I hadn't told Olivia at her place about the dance club as she wanted to talk about the essay in social studies, but mainly about her short story.

She really struggled with it.

But that was at her place. I was back home, and Edith wanted to talk to me in private.

"I can't talk to anyone else about this"

I almost panicked. What was she about to tell me? But I wanted to be there for her.

"You know how broken I am, right?"

"How broken you were. You have gone a lot way"

She smiles. "I did. Nevertheless, I am still somewhat broken"

"Sure. It will take years, I guess"

"That's what my therapist says. Well, Charlie has his own problems"

"I bet"

"He came to a few of my sessions"

"He did? Did you like that?"

"It was my idea"

"Did it help you?"

"It did. I think I am falling deeply in love with that stupid, ridiculous, immature guy", she says, a little ashsamed.

"Hey, the heart wants what it wants"

"The worst is, he is like the opposite of my dad"

"You mean your father?"

"Right, my dad is our dad. My father is in jail. He is the opposite of my father"

"How?"

"My father was nice to everyone but my mother and me. He was horrible to us"

"Right, you told me"

"Charlie is a jerk. In every way, shape, or form, he is abrasive, his sense of humor is deplorable, and he gets into so much trouble at school. Ellie is discouraged"

"Isn't he better now?"

"Oh, he is. That's him now. Imagine before"

"But with you?"

"With me, he is an angel. The nicest guy I know. Even Ellie noticed it. And it's not like when I am absent, he turns into a monster. It's like, if I don't see him for a few days, he acts out, but if I am close to him, he is nice with others too"

"You are a good influence on him"

"I think I am. Oddly enough."

"You are a good person, Edith. I keep telling you"

"I know, I know. I find that difficult to believe, but I will try to. Anyway, we talked about sex"

"Oh?"

"About having sex"

"Sure. You are both 16 and have been dating for a while"

"Yeah, and I was scared, because I am not ready"

"Then don't let him pressure you into having sex"

"But that's the problem"

"He does?"

"No, he doesn't. He isn't ready either. He says that he needs to mature a lot more"

"So problem solved?"

"No! Why doesn't he want to have sex with me? Is he repulsed by me? I see guys oggling me. I know I look good, especially with a good bra. But not my own boyfriend?"

"Ah. Maybe you should talk to him"

"Ask him why he doesn't want to fuck me?"

"Maybe not that way, Edith. Just ask him if he finds you attractive."

"He does"

"He told you?"

"All the freaking time. It's almost annoying."

"So, he is stuck with sexuality, and you are too. It seems like a win-win"

"You don't get it", she says.

"Call him."

"What?"

"Pick up the phone, call him, and pass me the phone"

"Julie..."

"Let's settle this once and for all"

She sighs and calls him. It's Marge who answers, and Edith does some small talk with her, but then, she has Charlie on the phone. Right, Marge has a phone, but then, Charlie didn't. He is rough with his things and preferred not to have one he could break.

"Julie wants to say something to you"

She passes me the phone.

"Julie?"

"Hey Charlie. I was speaking with my sister, and well, she told me you are not ready for sex, and we are both happy that you were able to tell her."

"Yeah, I told her, not you"

"Charlie. Stay nice. I am trying to help your girlfriend"

"Fine", he said, with all the despair of an annoyed teenager.

"I just want to ask one question. If you realized you were ready for sex, who would you want to have sex with?"

"D'uh, Edith. She is so sexy"

"Did you hear that, Edith? He does desire you but isn't ready for sex."

She mouthed, Thank you, and I gave her the phone.

In my bedroom, I began working on my short story.

Something in that conversation inspired me, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

So, I fixated on the start.

My main character, I called him Scott for no good reason, is at work, helping a colleague. He is the nice guy in the office. Over lunch, he goes to a friend's house to prepare food for their teenage son, who eats at home while his single mom is at work. They bond, and he promises to help him practice baseball that evening. "I have only a daughter, not a son". That afternoon, he collects funds for a local youth center. Overall, a nice guy. He even texts his lovely wife that he is going to run late and that he will buy food for supper. He thinks about the dress he bought for his daughter and about the date he will have with his wife the next Friday. In his mind, he looks forward to kissing her and holding her in his arms. But then, he gets home, gets to the two freezers in the basement, and salutes his wife and his daughter, dead at the bottom of them. The story makes it clear that he killed them.

Dark, unexpected, and the contrast between how nice he is at work and with everyone and how it turns out he is a monster might work.

I typed it on my computer, and it gave me a count of 678 words, which is sad, because I wanted to add details, and I am almost out of words.

I still add a few, and when I am 725, I count them manually since the computer and Mr. Cook don't count the same way. It's annoying.

My father read me a story. Yes, I asked for them to come back. It was a much more complicated one, as I am older and fully there. The new twist is that he is back to being nude, which, oddly enough, I liked.

"Are you ok, sugar? Really?"

"Getting there, Dad. Getting there"

It was enough for him.

I gave my draft to Mr. Cook early on to give me time to make another one, but he said it was perfect. Other than typos and some wonky grammar, storywise, it's perfect. "Between you and me, I won't be harsh if Word says less than 750 words and I count more. You are a talented writer, Julie. Just don't tell the others," he said, winking.

I smiled.

I didn't have social studies, but I went to see Mrs. Sanchez over lunch in the dance room. She was with 3 other older girls, none of whom I knew. They all wore leotards and appeared to be freezing cold. How is this any better than being nude? But the worst is that Mrs. Sanchez is also wearing one. I mean, I can clearly see that she isn't wearing a bra or a pair of panties. Is that appropriate for a teacher? Not that the girls are wearing any. It's weird, I think.

"Ah, Julie. I got your form. I'll have your leotards tomorrow. Maybe you can just learn some basic positions while Emma, Lindsey, and Grace keep practicing their choreography."

The three of them looked at me, but I wasn't presented. I then didn't know which one was Emma, which one was Lindsey, or which one was Grace.

All I know was that they were older than me, looked a lot older than me, were much slimmer than me, and so much hotter than I ever would be. Oh, and all were inches taller than me.

As Mrs. Sanchez began to teach me, I failed to see how I could ever be as graceful as them, but I didn't join for that. I joined to lose weight and gain confidence.

"So Julie, the hard thing about learning to dance isn't so much learning the choreographies. It's learning the base moves. After all, when you write a text, you don't need to remember how to trace each letter. You have that in your muscle memory"

"I guess so"

"So dancing is first about learning letters, actual moves, and then how to form words, which are movements, or a chain of multiple moves, and finally, whole sentences and even paragraphs. But first, you need to learn some letters"

"I like that. Dividing it into smaller segments"

"Good", says Mrs. Sanchez.

She takes a step back and makes a very basic dance move. She moves her left foot to the left and then brings the right one next to it. Then, it's the right one that moves right, and the left joins it.

"This is a step touch. It's a very basic move, but it's very useful for moving left or right. The trick is to follow the rhythm of the music.

I tried, and it's effortless.

"Good", she says. "Next is the grapevine", she says. She starts with the step touch, but the foot that moves crosses behind the first one. She steps again to uncross them and then closes her feet together.

I admit it's not as easy, but I get it.

"Ok, next, it's the box step." She steps one foot across the other, steps back with the other foot, steps to the side, steps forward, and returns. It makes a sort of square on the ground.

I need a few tries, but she is patient with me.

She does comment that Grace needs to be a tad faster, and I realize how she knows until I realize that the wall behind me is a mirror.

"The next one is the pivot turn." This one is straightforward to do on the surface but challenging to execute for me. You move a step forward and pivot 180 degrees to face the opposite direction. I can do it. The question is, can I do it gracefully and smoothly?

I will need to practice that a lot.

The last one is the body roll.

Now that one I couldn't get, like, at all. But instead of being angry at me, Mrs. Sanchez was patient and kind with me.

In short, I have to move as if there was a point in my body rotating around me. It's difficult to describe. Imagine that you move your head forward but also lower in an arc until, at the bottom, your head is right under where it was. You complete the circle and return to the original position. When she taught me that, it helped a lot. But that's not the dance move. I have to imagine that at the start, my head is the point rotating, but when I make about 45 degrees of the circle, it's my chest, so I need to move up, and then my stomach, but I am going down, and when at the bottom, it's the hips. I rotate back up on the return. It makes for a weird move, but I see the girls do it often in their routine.

I try a few times, with pointers from Mrs. Sanchez

One of the girls says they will go eat, and Mrs. Sanchez congratulates them on their progress.

"Good, do you need to go eat, Julie?"

And I do, but this is important too. I am learning basic moves, and I am not that hungry.

"No, I am fine"

"Listen, I don't want you to starve yourself, but I saw the look you had when seeing the girls, and you told me you wanted to lose weight. I will certainly not force you to stop dancing to eat. You are old enough to decide on your menu. I, myself, do intermittent fasting. I feel like it improves my focus"

"Intermittent fasting?" I asked.

She laughs. "I eat a light breakfast, skip lunch and any snacks, and get a heavier supper. I feel like being free from digestion keeps my mind clearer"

"Ok", I say, confused. But if she can skip lunch while being thin, maybe I can skip lunch from time to time too.

We practice a few times. She is so patient with me until she says.

"I feel like your clothes are in the way.", she leans forward to whisper. "You know, if you want to practice nude, I won't tell anyone"

I look at her.

"What the hell?"

"Oh, shit. Aren't you Stephen and Kylie's kid?"

"You know my parents?"

"Ok, so you are their kid. Sorry, I might have overstepped. Please forgive me?"

"How do you know my parents?" I ask

"Oh, if you didn't get the reference, maybe I shouldn't talk", she says, all shy and worried.

"Wait, are you telling me that you are a naturist and know them from an activity?"

She seems so relieved. "Yes, ok, you got me worried there. Yes, I am a naturist. My husband too. I joined the local non-landed club, and I am even running for president at the next election."

"Oh, I used to be one, but, you know"

"Right, teenage angst. I was the same. When I first got my breasts, I didn't want to be nude anymore, which was awkward. Because, like Mindy, I grew up at a naturist resort. She is your friend, right?"

"Yes. We grew a little apart when I stopped being a naturist"

"Oh, I went there. Lost my best friend. She couldn't understand. But then again, she was just Miss Perfect," she says, mocking her.

"But you returned?"

"I did. And maybe so will you"

"I just want to lose some weight"

She puts her hand on my shoulder but then picks it up. "Sorry, I wanted to say something and felt like putting my hand on your shoulder, but I am not supposed to touch students"

But I feel like I like that. So I tell her. "It's ok, you can"

She smiles and puts it on again.

"Julie, you will never lose all the weight you want to lose. Look at me. Do I look like I lost it all? But at some point, you have to decide to just accept yourself. Which doesn't mean stopping to try. Just being happy with the intermediate steps in between"

"Right"

"Anyway, let's practice, but this time, I will give you a routine"

"Already?"

"It's simple, you will see! You do all five steps in a row"

"Oh"

So I try, and she is super patient with me. When we still have 10 minutes in the lunch period, she feels like I got it.

"I think you just broke a record. Normally, we would spend a few lunch breaks on this, but you got it the first time. You'll be my star in no time", she says, smiling.

She grabs her blouse from a chair and starts to tie it on.

"You don't change?"

"And put on a bra? Yuck. I never liked them. Even when I gave up on naturism, I couldn't bear locking my breasts away. But the school doesn't let me go without a bra under my clothes, so I put on a leotard, and it's why I joined the dance team", she says, winking.

"Each day?"

"Well, not the same one. I have a few. Hey, I'll tell you something: maybe I can give you 3 instead of 2. That way, if you want to do the same, being a naturist in exile, you could"

"I'll think about it"

"And if you ever go to the non-landed club, there is a dance room there too. Well, most of the time. We could practice, you and I, before the pool", she says, smiling.

It's weird, but it's making me consider it. She is so nice.

She puts her skirt back up and then a long sweater over it, which truly completed the "social studies teacher look".

I never noticed, but her shoes, those that she wears daily, are dancing shoes, which she wears without socks.

I went back to class, had time to eat at least half of my sandwich, and ended up just drinking some water. Perhaps I could skip lunch too, but not today.

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