Starlight on the Palace Pier: The very best kind of romance for the Christmas season in 2018. Tracy Corbett

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СКАЧАТЬ of her had wanted to question why they allowed their children to behave in such a rowdy manner, but she’d held her tongue. She suspected teaching was like the world of show business, where everyone knew everyone. If word got out that she had a bad attitude, then it would be game over.

      But it’d been tough. She’d never struggled to be civil before. But then she’d never been faced with a horde of competitive parents, who did nothing but criticise her appearance, her lack of control, or her ability to teach.

      The distressing thing was, they were right. She was a useless teacher.

      The only chink of light had come at the end of the class when one of the mothers had thanked her for helping her kids understand the meaning of ‘turnout’, something they’d struggled with under Mrs Morris. She’d introduced herself as Rosie and promised to return next week. She’d even left smiling, seemingly oblivious to just how disastrous the class had been.

      Despite all this, Carolyn had still offered Becca the job. She wasn’t naive enough to believe this was because she’d impressed Carolyn. Far from it. Carolyn hadn’t even witnessed the debacle – she’d still been asleep in the office – which meant the offer was based purely on Carolyn’s desperation to find a replacement teacher, and not on Becca’s ability. It wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement. And now Becca had to do it all again. This time with the adult tappers.

      While she waited for the class to arrive, she took the opportunity to stretch out her hamstrings. Flexibility was the key to any style of dance. Stiff joints and tight tendons didn’t allow for freedom of movement.

      She went over to the barre and began her routine, using the time to have a proper look around. She’d been so busy on Saturday trying to control the kids that she hadn’t paid much attention to the state of the dance studio. On first glance, it looked fine. It was a decent-sized space, with a wooden sprung floor, a mirrored wall, and a ballet barre running the length of the room. But on closer inspection, she could see damp patches on the walls, cracks in the plasterboard and chunks missing from the floorboards. It looked tired and scruffy, like the rest of the building.

      She was mid-stretch when the doors behind opened. A couple entered, both very tall and model-thin skinny. They wore matching woollen coats and hats, despite the mild weather. They ignored Becca and shuffled over to the furthest seats, as if trying to hide.

      She went over. ‘Hi, I’m Becca. I’ve taken over from Mrs Morris.’

      They acknowledged her with shy nods, but didn’t hold eye contact.

      Becca tried for a welcoming smile. ‘And you are?’

      They looked at each other, as if silently questioning who was going to answer.

      Eventually, the guy spoke. ‘I’m Nick. This is my wife, Cassie.’

      ‘Lovely to meet you both. Have you been coming to the class long?’

      They shook their heads. ‘First time,’ the man replied.

      Thank God for that. She figured it would be easier if people had nothing to compare her with. ‘Welcome to the class. Do you have tap shoes?’

      More head shaking. The couple were synchronised, if nothing else.

      ‘Not to worry. But if you enjoy the class and want to keep coming you’ll need the correct shoes. I can give you a list of stockists if you need them.’

      The doors opened again and two women came in. Unlike Nick and Cassie, these two didn’t appear to suffer from shyness. One was short and round with a mass of curly grey hair, and the other was medium height with fabulous red hair and an equally fabulous cleavage. They immediately came over. ‘You must be our new teacher,’ curly-haired woman said. ‘I’m Miriam, lovely to meet you.’ She held out her hand.

      The woman had a firm grip. ‘Good to meet you. I’m Becca.’

      ‘Cute hair,’ the woman with the big boobs said. ‘I’m Wanda. Wanda from the US.’

      ‘Nice to meet you, Wanda from the US.’

      Wanda laughed, a big throaty sound. ‘Well, aren’t you a breath of fresh air. Quite the opposite to Nearly-Dead-Morris.’

      Miriam smacked Wanda’s arm. ‘She was the same age as me, thank you very much.’

      Wanda shrugged. ‘I say it as I see it.’

      ‘Well, I wish you wouldn’t.’ Miriam walked off and sat down.

      Wanda followed. ‘Someone’s got their knickers in a twist.’ She let out another throaty laugh. ‘Don’t you just love that word? Knickers? We don’t have that in the US.’

      Becca suspected she was in for an interesting evening. Clearing her throat, she faked a confidence she didn’t feel and addressed the group. ‘Shall we get started? For those of you who have tap shoes please put them on, and then find a space on the floor.’

      Five minutes of faffing followed as Wanda and Miriam struggled to locate their shoes, put them on and tie the laces. Miriam was dressed in a brightly patterned smock dress, whereas Wanda wore the full dance regalia: Lycra catsuit, leg-warmers and top-of-the-range tap shoes. Nick and Cassie, who looked like they’d just come from work, were dressed in head-to-toe grey. Collectively, it was a sight to behold.

      Becca was just thinking it couldn’t get any more bizarre, when the doors opened and another woman joined them. ‘Sorry, I’m late,’ she said, hurrying in. She dropped her bag, tripped over it and then dropped it again when she tried to pick it up.

      ‘That’s Mi-Sun,’ Wanda said, in a loud whisper. ‘She’s from Korea.’

      And Becca thought dealing with the kids was hard.

      Still, at least this lot weren’t running around the room screaming. Not yet, anyway. ‘As we have two new people in the class and I’m new myself, let’s start with a few basic steps to get us warmed up. Okay?’

      Four expectant faces stared at her.

      Mi-Sun ran to join them, tripping up as she did so.

      As a fellow klutz, Becca could empathise. ‘Okay, could you all spread out so you’re not on top of each other?’ They shuffled about. Wanda and Miriam both wanted to be at the front. Nick and Cassie hid at the back. Mi-Sun was left in the middle on her own. ‘Right. The first step we’re going to learn is called the shuffle.’

      ‘Oh, I know this.’ Miriam launched into a demonstration, followed by Wanda, who wasn’t about to be outdone. What with Miriam’s curves and Wanda’s cleavage, there was quite a lot of bouncing going on. The floorboards got a good workout.

      ‘That’s great, ladies. But let’s break it down for the rest of the class.’ She waited until the floor stopped vibrating. ‘The shuffle is a combination of two basic moves, the brush and the strike. Let’s start with the brush.’ She was met with three concerned expressions and two bored ones. Miriam and Wanda failed to hide their frustration at being made to start from the beginning.

      Oh, well. Nothing she could do about that. Even with no teacher training she knew she could only go as fast as the slowest person in the group.

      Becca СКАЧАТЬ