The Newest Ballerina: Recital

Still mad about the ballet class he had had to take, the last place on earth Dalton wanted to be was at Emily's ballet recital. He had tried to tell his parents he had homework to do, but they had insisted he support his sister.

"No one does homework on Friday night anyway." His mom said. So Dalton now found himself standing in the lobby, waiting to go inside as his parents had what sounded like the single most boring conversation in history with other grown-ups. If only they had bought his lie about homework, he could be at home, watching a movie or playing a game.

"Oh! Dalton, would you quick run this backstage?" His dad handed him a duffel bag he had been holding.

"What is it?"

"Emily insisted she needs it and I forgot I had it until just now." Dad said with a shrug. "Just go quick. We'll be sitting down soon." He forced the bag into Dalton's arms, signaling the conversation was over. "Thanks, bud."

~ D ~

Dalton stepped backstage. He grimaced as he saw girls swarming everywhere in their tutus. It was like none of them were where they needed to be and had to all get there at once. He spied a few guys who must have been high school seniors chatting away, but their bolero jackets and tights were as foreign to him as anything else. Where was Emily? With his luck, she was as far away from the backstage door as possible.

He weaved his way through ballerinas. Did none of them realize that the tutus and tights and all that made them look like giant five year olds, regardless of age? He thought he recognized a few of them from his ordeal a few months before, so he hurried on, searching for his sister. He had seen her recital outfit earlier. Why had he not paid more attention? Right, he had been fighting with mom about having to wear 'a nice shirt'. Well, he still felt like a dork in his button-up and slacks and he was definitely sticking out like a sore thumb back here. Where was Emily?

A group of girls walked past him in a single file line, their yellow tutus identical to the one he had worn. He hid his face behind the duffel bag. He should just give up. Whatever was in this bag was clearly not that important if Emily had forgotten to grab it.

"Yeah, I'm gonna start it tomorrow. I swear, they pick like the worst books." That was Emily's voice. He marched straight toward her, not even caring who got in his way.

"Here." He thrust the bag at his sister, who looked at him with delight.

"Oh, wow! I almost forgot about this, thanks, Dalton!" She grinned. "Now we can get ready."

"Like I care."

"You should." Emily said. "Grab him, girls!"

"Help!" Dalton had thought long and hard about when the girls had ambushed him and dressed him up like a ballerina, promising himself he would never be caught by surprise again. Unfortunately, reality proved otherwise. He tried to fight, to get free, to do anything other than call for help that would never come as the girls stripped him and dressed him in an identical sparkly white and blue tutu, leotard, and tights to what they wore. Last time had just been for class. This time, it was a big recital, so Dalton's head was held firmly in place as the girls did his makeup.

"Hold still!" One of the girls scolded. "I'm using a soft brush, but it'll still hurt if I poke you in the eye!"

"Help!" He yelled. Could no one hear him?

"We're trying to help you!" One of the girls said. "Hold still!"

"Goddammit! Let me freaking go!" He knew if he actually swore, Emily would tattle in a heartbeat. There were too many of them and nothing he said seemed to matter in the slightest.

By the time they were done, Dalton's makeup matched theirs. A blue tinsel scrunchie held his hair in a tight bun like theirs, the ribbons of his ballet slippers latticed up his legs like theirs.

"Let me go!"

"Fine. We're done." The girls stepped back and he got to his feet, feeling a bit shaky with the satiny slippers on his feet in place of his solid sneakers.

"Where are my clothes?" The girls all giggled.

"You'll get them back after we dance." Emily held up the duffel, now locked shut with a zip tie. Dalton, horrified, pushed past Emily and her friends. He would find mom and dad or, better, hide in the bathroom and try to get all this stuff off. Emily and her friends weren't even chasing him! It was only when he saw the yellow ballerinas in front of him that he realized this was all too easy.

"There you are." One of them said. Up close, he could tell the tutus were slightly different from what he had worn during that class. "Figured you'd find your way into a tutu again. Your sister's told us all about how you secretly wear her tutu all the time. That's why you snuck into class that one time, right?" He glared at her. He knew she knew what had really happened. They all did. "Let's get this lost ballerina back to her group."

"No, stop! I... I" they pushed and pulled their captive back over just as Emily and her friends were all gathering for a photo.

"Oh, one more. Join your friends. Quickly." Dalton found himself pulled right into the middle of the group of ballerinas, every one of them dressed identically to him. "Perfect. You" the photographer pointed to the girl in front of Dalton. "Move just a bit to the left so we can see everyone. There. Perfect. Big smiles! This is for Facebook! Smiles!" Flash! Flash! Flash! It felt like a hundred photos before finally, they were allowed to move.

"Ready, Dalton?" Emily asked, keeping her brother close to avoid another attempt at escape.

"You... you can't really..."

"You're dressed for it!"

"I don't know... the moves... and stuff." Emily laughed.

"Don't worry. There's a few groups in front of us. We'll teach you." She giggled. "But really, all that really matters is you get out on stage with us."

"Yeah, right." He scoffed. "Even I know you've been working on this stuff for months. There's no way I can learn it in like twenty minutes." Emily nodded knowingly.

"Yeah, but again, all that really matters is you get out on stage with us."

"What? But" Dalton's face paled as he realized what Emily meant. Every eye would be on the boy dressed like a ballerina stumbling around. By the time he got off stage, if he didn't break his neck, everyone would "know" that he had sneaked backstage to dress up and that was all that mattered.