‘Hi, Namé,’ Laila hugged her and Namé hugged back keeping her eyes on the door, but without finding the one she was looking for.

‘Hi,’ said Namé. Only about half the class had arrived, there was still time. That was what she told herself, but her heart was already panicking.

‘Namé!’ said Laila and Namé jumped.

‘What?’

‘I was talking to you.’

‘Oh, sorry…’

‘Why are you so nervous?’

‘It’s just, today is the day we have to choose partners…’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Laila, ‘I’m sure miss Jefferson will let us be partners for another six months. There aren’t enough boys anyway.’

‘Oh, uh,’ Namé throat was suddenly all dry, ‘actually, I thought that maybe,’ her voice was very small, ‘perhaps we should try ne… partn…’

‘What was that?’

‘New partners? Perhaps?’ said Namé.

‘What? Why?’

‘Err… well… Miss Jefferson said that it’s good practice to dance with someone you aren’t used to. And we could still you know, see each other when we’re not dancing.’

‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’

‘What? No. I just thought perhaps-’

‘Alright, go find some other partner then,’ was that tears in Laila’s eyes?, ‘see if I care!’ Laila stormed off into the corridor.

‘Wait!’ Namé went after her, ‘Wait!’ When she came out into the corridor, she saw Laila running towards the toilet. After a quick glance back at the studio she followed. Laila reached the toilet and slammed the door after her. Namé skidded to a halt in front of the door.

‘Laila?’

‘Go away.’

‘Laila, it really isn’t like that,’ said Namé.

Sullen silence.

‘I loved being your partner, I’d just really like to dance with… someone else.’

‘I understand,’ said Laila, ‘you just want to dance with anyone else but me. So go ahead, I don’t care.’

‘No, it’s just,’ Namé sighed, ‘it’s someone special.’

‘I said, I don’t care. Go away!’

‘I’m really sorry,’ Namé looked at her watch, it was five minutes to. ‘I’ll see you later.’ Namé ran back to the dance studio.

She made it just in time to see Natalia walking up to Victor with a smile, a smile that was perhaps a little bit more than just an ‘I-am-nervous’ smile, and Victor returned the smile, perhaps it was an ‘I-am-happy-to-see-you’ smile, and Natalia said something still smiling her ‘I-sort-of-like-you’ smile, and Victor smiled and nodded as if saying ‘I-like-you-too’, and right there Namé Hara first saw the ugly green monster they call jealousy, and she felt like destroying them or ripping them apart or… but then perhaps both smiles were in fact an ‘I-love-you’ kind of smiles, and perhaps if she had told them how she felt, they would not laugh or be angry, but be sad for her, for as her mother said, love was never planned, it just happened, and maybe they  would make each other happy, and perhaps they were happy, very very happy without Namé, perhaps everyone in the dance studio would in fact be much happier without Namé, and jealousy was pushed aside by grey despair and she left the dance studio without a word to anyone.