Leaps and Bounds [Open]

[Rory Lennox]

Rory had been thrilled to find out that the some of the training rooms contained space that was suitable for dance. She could feel the difference in the flooring, and the mirrors that lined one of the walls reminded her of her home studio. Well, it wasn’t exactly like her studio; it was pretty bare, but she would take what she could get happily.

Trying to keep up with her practice in her dorm wasn’t as easy as she thought it was going to be. Sure, it was fine for stretching, but Rory definitely needed a little more space. Most of the training rooms were empty, so she assumed she was allowed to be here as long as a lesson wasn’t going on.

She pulled her long hair up into a pony tail, tying it off with the band around her wrist and throwing her bag on the ground in the corner. She would get her speaker out of it later, after she stretched.

She was a little rusty, since she’d really only been keeping up with her stretching since she got here. But now that she knew about this nifty little room, she could work out more of a schedule. And it was quiet here - at least as quiet as it could get - so she was ecstatic about that. Dancing also tended take up most of her focus, so she wasn’t worried about the constant murmuring distracting her here.

Her stretches took a little bit longer than she thought they would, almost a half an hour. But she needed it. Now that she wasn’t able to take her flexibility class, she was losing some of it. She probably should add in a little extra time for it the next time.

But there were other things to work on, and she dug through her bag to find her small speaker, quickly hooking it up to her phone. She didn’t set the volume too loud, not wanting to attract attention, but loud enough that it filled the room. She’d decided earlier in the day to work on leaps, since she hadn’t been able to in a while. Leaping around her dorm room would definitely result in injuries, to either herself or one of her roommates.

Rory had been practicing her straddle leap a few times when she felt someone behind her, or rather she saw them in the mirror. Her focus and the music had distracted her from whatever the person’s thoughts were, but she whirled around to face them, eyes wide. “Sorry...am I not supposed to be here?" Maybe there was a class or a session starting shortly?

[Hunter and Terrence Park]

Hunter and Terry hung around the training rooms. They weren't there to work out or train or anything like that. Hunter and Terry were there in poke fun at others. They made sly comments. In the past the Park twins had done this and had a blast. Hopefully, someone was around.

There was a soft hum of music caught the attention of Hunter and Terry. They went to investigate. Terry looked through the little window next to the door as Hunter opened the door. The music came pouring out of the room. A girl was jumping through the air. It looked like no one else was there. And with her reaction the girl was just the kind of person the Park twins were looking for.

"Don't know." Hunter said. "Did you do something you shouldn't of?" Terry joined in. He rested his arm around Hunter's shoulders. "Maybe she got banned from the training rooms. What a bad girl." Hunter and Terry grinned.

[Rory Lennox]

It was a pair of boys who walked in on her. They were older than Rory by a few years, which was probably why they didn’t look familiar. Rory hadn’t been here very long, and had really only become acquainted to the underclassmen so far.


The pair looked alike as well, like brothers. Although one’s hair was significantly lighter, and he stood a few inches shorter than the other boy. Both of them were significantly taller than Rory, who was barely over five feet tall.

Rory hadn’t thought there would be a problem with her dancing in here. This room specifically looked like it was designated for something similar. But the way these boys spoke to her made her rethink her previous conclusion. Only for a moment though, since their tone made it apparent that they didn’t seem serious. It was almost like they were mocking her.

They spoke like they were one person, and their thoughts were jumbled together as well, almost overlapping with one another. It was confusing, and a little disorienting. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” She said, warily. “I just didn’t know if you were coming in here for a class or something.” That’s what these rooms were used for, weren’t they? Why else would they be in here if they weren’t training for something.

[Maggie Probasco]

Maggie stood outside of the small training room. She'd come to investigate the noise that was disturbing her reading. She had been studying some advanced old english roots, they were fascinating. Two boys had been trying to cause trouble all day as well, they looked like brothers. Maggie had been dodging them all day, trying to avoid their stupid jokes.

And now they were annoying another student. She looked to be about the same size and age as Maggie, maybe taller. And the two boys were being annoying. She had been doing leaps, but paused to look at the boys. Maggie wasn't sure of what she was saying, but by the way she looked, she was most likely annoyed, not only by being interrupted, but because she had been practicing something important, and they were being rude.

She closed her book, placing her yellow ribbon inside to mark her place. She quietly opened the door, just loud enough to make her presence known. "Why do you boys have to interrupt her? She was doing her own thing, and you had to disturb that. How would you like it if we interrupted you in something you guys really enjoyed?" She held her book to her side, looking at the boys waiting for them to reply.

[Hunter and Terrence Park]

Hunter and Terry were amused by the dancing chick's reaction to their question. The way she was acting she must of been a newbie. That meant fresh meat for the Park twins to play mind games with. "Nah." On very rare occasions did Hunter and Terry come to work out. Most of the times it was to pick on other people.

The brothers' attention changed to someone entered the room. They looked at each other. Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting. They weren't expecting someone else to step in, especially someone to tell the brothers off. Hunter and Terry looked at the new girl. "Well, ain't you the feisty one. Didn't know the bad girl had a body guard." Hunter and Terry chuckled. They were looking entertainment and they found it.

[Rory Lennox]

They weren’t here to do training? Did they come in just to bother her then? That’s kind of rude… She’d come here to practice, if she wanted to be interrupted she could have just stayed in her dorm. Regardless, Rory had come all the way over here, she wasn’t going to let a pair of overgrown trouble-makers get in her way.

And then another girl appeared out of nowhere, walking in and immediately getting in the twins’ faces. Rory appreciated her effort, but it really only looked like she’d egged them on even more. She rolled her eyes at their response, grabbing her phone from next to her speaker and lowering the music.

“Can I like…actually help you two with something?” She asked, her snotty attitude kicking in now that she knew the boys were only here to joke around. She could practice with them in the room, though she’d prefer not to. As a competitive dancer, she was trained to dance through distractions. That was the professional thing to do. Although, now that her telepathy had manifested it was much harder to ignore some people now, since it was like getting double-teamed with their thoughts on top of their actions.

“Or are you just planning on standing there and watching?” They could if they wanted…though Rory assumed they didn’t come all the way in here and interrupt her just to watch.

[Maggie Probasco]

Maggie watched as the girl rolled her eyes at the boys reply. Why were boys so annoying sometimes? "I'm typically quiet, but I surely don't enjoy you coming in here and interrupting her. She was doing something productive, unlike you two." She stared at the boys for a few seconds, making her point. Then she turned to the girl. "So, let me guess, you dance." She tried hard to ignore the boys, maybe if they got bored they would leave.

"There are over 520 forms of dance around the world." Maggie had read this two years ago, when she had to study one form of dance for a report. Each type was unique. "Which one are you practicing? Oh, and if you don't mind, I'd like to stay and watch."

The boys were still here, maybe they'd leave, or maybe they'd stay, if they stayed, well, this girl would have a hard time tuning them out. If they left, Maggie would be quiet as a mouse and respectful, and the boys wouldn't be here to distract the girl either.

[Hunter and Terrence Park]

The Park brothers had picked on people who would stand up for them selves. That wasn't new to them. What was new was having two people team up against them. If you count minds it was always one on one. Now, still counting minds, it was two on one. Counting bodies it was all even. The brothers weren’t about to back down. Hunter and Terry grinned at the unfolding event.

They raised an eyebrow. Why would anyone know about how many dance styles there were? Somebody didn't get out a lot and had her nose stuck in a book. “Well, we’re bored. So entertain us.” The two of them whined like little children. "We'll stay and watch with feisty know-it-all. Thanks for offering."

[Rory Lennox]

Rory nodded. “I do.” Obviously she danced; she wasn’t leaping all over the room for no reason. Though she supposed her straddle leaps could get confused with gymnastics or even cheerleading to those who didn’t know a lot about it. “And I was just practicing leaps and technique right now.” Rory was trained in several different kinds of dance, though no where near 520. She’d remembered her teachers going on about all the other genres, but they didn’t focus on the exotic ones at her studio. It was mostly jazz, hip hop, ballet, contemporary, etc.

“You can watch if you want.” She said. Rory didn’t mind an audience. At her studio, there was always at least one person watching, so she was used to it. She certainly didn’t expect the twins to take her up on the offer though, so she was surprised when they did.

“Just don’t get in the way.” She added, more to the twins than to the other girl who had walked in. She didn’t seem like the type who would, but the other two did. They seemed like they liked to meddle, which could get dangerous if they got too close while she was tumbling or turning.

“I’m not sure if it’ll be that entertaining.” Rory said, stepping back in front of the mirror and starting to turn. She wasn’t practicing combos or anything right now, so she wasn’t sure if she could ease their boredom.

[Maggie Probasco]

Maggie sighed angrily. She was part annoyed, and a little bit angry. First of all, she didn't know everything, she just happened to know a lot. And second, she wasn't feisty, she just was strong about what she believed was right to do during certain moments.

"I won't be getting in your way." Maggie was more worried about the other boys getting in the way. Maggie would make sure to watch the boys, she didn't trust them, not one bit. If anybody were to get in the way, it would be the boys. They seemed to care only about ruining something important.

"I'm sure you will be, I've never watched anyone dance before." It wasn't like Maggie had never seen anyone dance, just not anyone with a good amount of experience, like this girl would most likely have. She was taking a guess, but she had an idea that the girl had been dancing for a while, who else would spend their free time practicing if they weren't good and allow an audience? Not many people.

Maggie walked over the wall where a small speaker sat. At least it looked like a speaker. She slid down the wall, and sat cross legged on the ground. She waited, she watched as the girl started to turn. Maggie watched attentively, she was already thinking of all the ways she could calculate how to turn faster, or even improve a little bit. She was already calculating things, typical Maggie, the one thing she was good at.

[Hunter and Terrence Park]

The party had begun. Hunter and Terry also took a seat in the front of the room. They left their legs stretched out in front of them. If this wasn’t going to be interesting the brothers were going to make it interesting. Their faces were blank. Most non-dancers would be impressed with the dancer’s à la seconde turn. Okay, Hunter and Terry were a little bit impressed with the bad girl’s ability. Neither one of the boys were going to say anything out loud.

How on earth was it possible for someone not to get dizzy with all the spinning? Hunter leaned over to feisty girl. “Hey Feisty, you should try that.”

[Rory Lennox]

As Rory continued her turns, she could hear the thoughts of the three people who sat across from her. The twins were not quiet about their’s and she heard them clearly above everything else. The girl’s were a little softer, but still loud enough to hear clearly. Still, it was…distracting.

She did think she would eventually bore them, since her pirouettes and turns were mostly what she came in here to work on. And stretching. Rory was naturally a turner and naturally flexible, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have to practice to maintain the skills. She could already feel some of her flexibility slipping. She was a little rusty.

Rory had to focus to keep her balance going on her a` la secondes, keeping them slow and precise. She was a jazz and lyrical dancer, so fast and fluid turns were what she did best, but it wasn’t always about who could do it the fastest. In a contemporary piece, they looked for slower and precise turns, since that showed you had great control and technique.

But at least the twins were quiet for the most part, despite their thoughts. From their entrance, she expected them to be a lot more obnoxious than they actually were. She finished her sequence, pulling her leg up by her ear for the last four turns.

“That probably isn’t a good idea.” Rory said, brushing a few flyaway strands of hair out of her face. A` la secondes were pretty tough, and were basically impossible if you didn’t have the basic technique. Usually, young dancers started with pirouettes and fouettes and worked their way up.

[Maggie Probasco]

Maggie cleared her thoughts away, she wanted to focus completely on the girl's turns. She had practiced a pirouette before, but she typically didn't do them anymore. She hadn't even seen anyone do what the girl was doing, it was so advanced. She'd only taken one dance class, and she was four. It bored Maggie, so she quit after a week of practice, enough time to learn how to do a pirouette and a basic leap of some sort, the name of which, Maggie couldn't remember.

She pushed her thoughts away, and one of the boys said something to her. She didn't want them bugging her, so she ignored them. Then the girl said something, and Maggie snapped back to attention. The boys had told her to try whatever the girl was doing, and the girl had said no. "That sounds like a good idea. I think I'll just continue to watch." She fidgeted with her hands, she wanted the girl to continue so the boys would be quiet. It was much easier to concentrate when the boys were quiet, or if they weren't even there. But they were here, so being quiet was the only way to concentrate.

The boys had called her feisty again, something Maggie would have to get them back for. Maybe she'd come up with a plan to do something to get back at them. She smiled mischievously, she would come up with a great idea.

[Hunter and Terrence Park]

The twins were wrong. This was anything but entertaining. It was kind of dull. Things didn’t get better the Park twins were going to die from boredom. If Hunter and Terry wanted to have their minds go numb they would have been sitting in class. The dancing bad girl was impressive but boring. The feisty know-it-all wasn’t being antagonized by them. Nothing was fun anymore.

“How is this entertaining? Why would anyone take the time to do this?” Hunter and Terry whined. “When will it get interesting? “Hey Know-It-All, when will things pick up?” Terry leaned over his brother.

[Rory Lennox]

Rory hoped she hadn’t offended the girl by telling her it wasn’t a good idea. That definitely wasn’t her intention. She just knew from experience that trying these types of moves when you weren’t ready or were inexperienced could only lead to injuries.

And thankfully, the girl seemed to agree with her, politely rejecting the twins’ suggestion and continuing to just watch. Rory knew the boys were just trying to stir up trouble, so it was a good thing that the other girl wasn’t taking the bait.

Honestly, the twins were starting to give her a headache. A slew of negative thoughts were basically hitting her in the face, and it was definitely disorientating because both of their streams of consciousness were sort of jumbled together. She thought she could handle it, but it was starting to give her a headache.

She rubbed her temples, trying her best to block them out, but they were so loud. And technically, it wasn’t really her job to entertain them. She was just practicing and they all barged in on her, demanding some form of amusement. “It’s practice. It’s not supposed to be entertaining.” Rory snapped, her increasing headache making her short. “No one asked you to stay. And you’re both giving me a headache.” And she definitely didn’t think more turning would make it go away.