Portfolio - Part One

My life was was ordinary. I usually skipped my breakfast because I slept in late; maybe I snacked on some toast on my way to the university. My mornings were full of studying and classes and I worked as a waitress in an Italian restaurant during the afternoon. When I get home my mom is still instructing her late classes. I sit at the tiny desk in the sitting area. Sometimes my mother’s students or their moms will give me their tuition or ask me questions, but mostly I can sit their and work on my assignments. After we are seated for a quick dinner; my dad and I listen to my mom talk about what she’ll do with the empty space when I move out. I stayed up for some last minute studying or to watch my show, and went to sleep. There wasn’t anything special about me.

Of course, that was before I met Kristan. It was on a windy, autumn day after class and I was walking to work with my friend, Maria. We saw him further down the sidewalk, and Maria noted how handsome he was. Kristan has golden hair that he keeps combed. He dresses nicely, on that day he was wearing a pant suit with a coat and scarf. He has deep blue eyes, and with his gold hair he looks like a prince charming. He was talking with a little girl. Her name is Rosalie and she was seven years old at the time. She was just as striking as the man, with her dainty figure and long, black hair that fell down her back. Even though they were talking casually, I could hear the stern tone in his voice. As we got closer we could make out a little more of what they were talking about.

“�"I would have. It’s not safe for a girl like you to go about this city.”

“But I was always a step behind you.”

“That doesn’t matter. This is too important for me to be worrying…”

We heard him trail off as we passed by them. They didn’t say another word as we walked away. Maria looked back and quickly suppressed a squeal. I glanced and saw both of them staring at us. I’m not quite sure what Maria did, I think she winked at him, I just felt nervous. She talked about him the whole way until we split up.

I didn’t think about them hardly any after that encounter. A few days later I was studying at the desk in the studio as usual. I heard someone come through the door, and looked up to my surprise at the guy and girl from the university. My heart stopped for a moment from the shock, but I had to quickly act normal again. I tried to compose myself as they walked up to my desk.

“Hello, can I help you?”

“Yes, hi, I was hoping my sister could take dance classes here.”

“Sure, the class for her age group is at six on Thursdays. It will be thirty dollars for the rest of the month.”

He took his wallet and started counting. While he was paying, I looked down at the girl. She was eagerly smiling at me, and I felt more uneasy. The man gave me two hundred dollar bills. For a moment I was confused, but I took it and gave it back with his change so that he wouldn’t feel awkward.

“And now just fill this out real quick.” I said handing him the application. “You can take a seat there if you’d like.”

They sat on a couch and he used a magazine to fill it out. It took a lot longer than I thought it would have, and a few times I could see him straining himself. Finally, as the class finished, he brought back the application.”

“Thank you, um, Kristan and Rosalie. We’ll see you on Thursday.”

“Alright, and what’s your name.”

“Margot.” I responded with slight hesitation.

He nodded with a smile. “Thank you, Margot.”

 

“You have to admit, that was creepy.”

“Margot, I’m sure you’re reading too much into it. Maybe he is a bit strange, but no man is perfect. And he is as close to perfect as you’re going to get.”

Mom had seen Kristan while she was teaching, and asked if we were together first chance she had. I thought she would see my point of view after telling her the whole story, but it only made it worse. Still, it was better than trying to fend my mother off from claiming my room for her meditation room.

“Mom, he’s probably using his little sister as his wingman. Not to mention he’s been stalking me to find out where I am. Isn’t that weird?”

“Oh, it’s all probably a coincidence, dear.”

“Oh, we’ll all be laughing about this next Christmas after we’ve married.” I mimicked in her voice.

“Now you’re thinking positively.”

“Dad, what do you think?” My mother all of a sudden turned a tiny bit more serious.

“Well, I don’t like it.”

“Of course you don’t like it.” She said before he could add anything. “But she isn’t your little girl anymore. If she isn’t careful, all the good men will be gone and she’ll be an old maid.”

“If I’m not careful, I could marry a psychopath who will kill me in my sleep.”

“Carrie, she’s only twenty.” My dad said to my mother. “She has plenty of time before she turns into an old maid. Weren’t you twenty-six when we married?”

“Six years too late if you ask me.”

“Six years of being young and living your dream, not six years of settling down and having a family.”

My mom didn’t respond. She knew what he said was true, because her dream was to have her own dance studio, which she accomplished in her early twenties. She stared at her plate solemnly. I picked up my plate and kissed them both on the head adding a silent thank you to my dad. After cleaning my plate I hurried to my room before mom thought of something to add.

I couldn’t concentrate on my work that night. My thoughts would return to that guy and his sister. I replayed my encounters with them, looking for warning signs. Truth be told they seemed normal enough, and they were really attractive too. I wondered if the guy was a model or something.

Thursday came within a few days, and as promised Kristan and Rosalie came too. She had on a leotard and ballet flats, and she joined in at the front of the class. I thought she was bold to go to the front row even though she had no experience, but she proved to be a fast learner. She kept up well for being new. I acted like I was absorbed in my work, but I still couldn’t concentrate knowing they were there. Occasionally I glanced over at Kristan, who was sitting with the rest of the moms. It was funny watching him sit there between two mothers, flipping through a Vogue magazine.

After about twenty minutes I got bored and started watching the class. It was delightful to watch Rosalie dance. She was more graceful than the other girls, and she could hold her poses better than they could. She must have already been trained because there is no way she was new at this.

“Excuse me?”

I was again startled to see Kristan standing in front of the desk.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said, comfortingly. “I wanted to apologize. Umm….” He was starting to look more nervous. “I just don’t want you to have the wrong idea about me. I know you saw me the other day at the university, and it must have seemed weird when we came here a couple days ago.”

“I’ve got to admit,” I said, to ease some tension, “you did have me wondering what you’re up to.”

“Oh nothing, it’s only coincidence. Because, isn’t that you on the posters?”

I quickly realized what he was talking about. I was the poster girl on my mother’s studio flyers, but the picture was from when I was in high school.

“I thought that was you,” he continued, “I was about to ask but you were with your friend and I had to take my little sister home anyway.”

“I can’t believe you recognized me from that old picture.”

“But you don’t look much different from then. Anyways, I knew I made you uncomfortable when I came here. But I assure you my sister had been talking about dancing for quite a long time. So you don’t think I’m following you or anything, right?”

I exhaled because it was almost funny how he knew what I was thinking about him.

“Not anymore, I believe.”

“Good.” He said with a bright smile, and I smiled back.

“Well,” he started, “now that that’s cleared up, would you like to go out sometime?”

“Woah.” Was my first response, this was a little soon for just thinking that he was a stalker. “Umm…really?”

“Yeah, I’d like to get to know you better.”

“Why?”

I could tell I put him on the spot; he looked like he was about to panic.

“What can I say? You’re gorgeous, and I want to know you better.”

I didn’t trust him. He had been acting suspicious ever since I met him. But then I heard mom’s voice telling me, ‘he’s as close to perfect as you’re going to get.’ I grinned thinking about it. If she were hearing this right now she would have already answered for me. Then again she was a few yards away. I suppressed the urge to look at her.

“Sure.”

“Really?” He said in disbelief. “Alright then, are you free tomorrow?”

“Yeah, around eight.”

“Perfect. I’ll come by then.”

The class ended soon, and I waved them goodbye

It wasn’t smart. I felt like there was still something wrong with this guy, whether it was his sudden interest in me or if it was the way he came off. Still, events like these are rare. It’s an occurrence like this that can change a person’s life, or so I’ve seen in movies. Maybe this was the beginning of some romantic movie with the quirky, secluded girl and the guy whose way out of her league. So he was a little strange, so his story seems a little too clean; well these may be little things once I get to know him.

I weighted the pros and cons that whole evening. Mom prodded me for answers through dinner about my chat with Kristan. I said it was nothing and went to my room quickly. All night was spent in deep thought. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

Author's Note

This is something I've been working on to submit to a college for their Creative Writing program. Please! I know this is terribly rough, but tell me what y'all think and ESPECIALLY how I can improve. I don't have many friends who can edit my work, I know I'm asking a lot. But I'm sure there's some of y'all out there who like doing this sort of thing? So don't hold back, tell me what you honestly think!