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 Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:59 pm
The Cygnet ballet class for the kids under 8 years old was gearing up for a little Saint Patty's Day ballet performance involving rainbows and leprechauns. Andrea had no idea really of the details, since he had been working on his own practice for the Firebird routine he would be doing in several weeks, but since he was already on the way home from dance practice, when the lady who ran the kiddie class asked him to take the poster to the print shop to have copies made, he figured it could not hurt to help. Especially because it was such a nice day out. Most of the time, Andrea just took the bus home after dance because he could just stand there and zone out, but something about the sudden stroke of warmer weather made the half-hour walk seem quite inviting.
Ginkos Copies was easily identifiable by the distinctive leaf logo they had on the sign out front, but since Andrea had been treading the path between home and the dance school since he was about five years old, he had sort of gotten used to the stores along the way to the point that he could not quite remember what was where. He was pretty sure it was across the street from that place with the blue awning that had been a bakery at one point but had since become an accounting office or something boring like that ... but he was looking at the blue awning right now and the store on his side of the intersection was a nail place, not the Ginkos.
The USB drive with the file of the poster to be printed was shaped like a pink girl's ballet slipper and on an equally pink lanyard; Andrea twirled it around his hand as he edged close to the curb to try to peer down the block ahead to see if the Ginkos was there, or if he had already passed it. It was somewhere along this stretch, of three blocks or so, but it was not helping that this was the first time since it got cold a few months back that the dark-haired boy had walked this route ... and the recent warmth had prompted several businesses to put out their awnings for spring. All conveniently blue.
After waffling for a few moments on the street corner, Andrea figured he would check this last block before he went back to see if he had passed the place, feeling thoroughly dumb that he could not remember where the stupid print-and-copy store was. Maybe because he rarely had need to use it. As he stepped off the curb, he noticed that the crosswalk had already been blinking for a few seconds, indicating that he was, at least in theory, ill-advised in starting across the street right now, and so the dancer hurried, his track pants swishing and his duffel bag bouncing against his leg while he kept twirling the ballet slipper flash drive.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:00 pm
Azzo was nibbling on homemade cookies as he walked down the street towards his grams's house. He noticed a guy looking slightly lost, he paused looking around before walking up to the guy.
Figuring he might've been looking for his sister or something, since that glaring bright pink ballet slipper, thing... didn't seem to match the guy. He was already out of his school threads. He hated those shorts with a passion.
"You look lost." He said stopping by the guy. He was carrying a gym bag, that seemed to double as a book bag for today, from the papers sticking out of the corner. He had a brown paper that held the cookies in them. "Or did you loose your little sister?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:54 pm
Andrea quirked a brow at the other guy who joined him, and shook his head, "No, my sister should be home now from school, and my dad would have called me if there was a problem," he replied, looking confused as he missed that the stranger was getting little sister from the USB slipper. Really, Andrea had just about forgotten that he was carrying it, since his mind was occupied with finding the print store.
"Do you know where the Ginkos is?" he asked after a moment, turning back to find himself peering at another boy who looked about high school age or perhaps a bit older. "I know it's like, somewhere on this block because I know I've walked by it and driven by it a million times, but it's been a while since I actually had to go there, you know?" The dancer grinned sheepishly and licked his lips, combing his fingers through his hair as he nodded again to the stranger to indicate he was still listening, and looked back up the street the way he had come.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:49 pm
Azzo nodded, "I see." He said softly giving a nod towards the direction he'd come from. Which incidentally was the same that the other boy had came from. "I think it's back there near that shopping center."
He shrugged, looking at the USB curiously. "Why are you carrying that thing? You're sister loose it?" (RE: Azzo has no idea what it is) He seemed puzzled as to why else the boy would be carrying a charm on bright a** pink string.
He shrugged, "So are you in Meadowview?" He asked having thought he'd actually seen that hair style before. Then again that half bleached hair was seen somewhere else too, a place Azzo barely remembered (Actully he didn't remember anything important) but knew faces. The shorts and the uniform of Meadowview gave him an ew feeling... he hated the shorts, which is why he changed as soon as he could, and also why he wouldn't blame the guy for being in sweats.
Holding out the bag, "Chocolate chip cookie? My grams made them." He said as he offered the boy one or a few. Andrea would find that there was at least a dozen and then some still in the bag.
"Oh by the way, My name's Azzo."
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:40 pm
"Oh, this?" Andrea held up his hand with the lanyard tangled around it. "No, not my sister's, it belongs to the dance school up the street. I swear, they have flash drives shaped like everything these days. They have a poster they need printed, so I offered to drop this off at the Ginkos on the way home."
He nodded in response to the question about his school. "Yeah, sophomore there. How about you?" The other boy lookd a bit familiar, too, but then there were plenty of people he passed in the halls but did not really know. Considering this area was pretty close to the district for Meadowview public, too, it seemed like a reasonable assumption.
"Oh, thanks, but I was just exercising, so I don't quite feel like having anything to eat just yet," Andrea added, politely turning down the offer of cookies. He studied the bag a moment, though, and quired a brow. "That's cool, though, does your grams do a lot of baking?"
At the introduction, he quickly untangled the pink lanyard from his right hand and offered it for a firm handshake. "I'm Andrea. Nice to meet you, and thanks for the help." Then, gesturing up the street back the way Azzo had indicated, he offered, "You headed up in that direction, too? If you wanna walk with me a block or two?" The dancer figured he could at least offer, and did not really mind either way if he had company or not. ... That was, if the elder boy did not mind being seen within ten feet of the ballet slipper USB drive, Andrea thought to himself with a slight smile.
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:57 pm
Azzo blinked, "Oh," He chuckled slightly, "That's where I got the sister thing at." He shrugged.
"Oh, Senior. Or at least suppose to be. I think they're having trouble deciding what to do with a few of us." He grinned.
"Oh, it's cool, Grams has just has me use to eating about all the time. I've had to take up kick boxing to keep off some of this fat." He blinked, "Yes... tons. She'll stuff your pockets with cookies if you're not watching her close enough."
He took the hand in a shake, "Nice to meet you too. And no problem. I do that a lot myself."
He shrugged, "I can it's not like I'm expected to be anywhere for a few hours."
He tilted his head, "What kind of exercise do you do?" He didn't seem to be the judgmental type, even if he did assume things.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 12:59 pm
Andrea laughed as well, dangling the plastic slipper with a plug at the toe. "I can see it now that you mention it. Just didn't cross my mind before. Dunno why." His 7-year-old sister Gabby would be all over pink dance things like that ... she was just not quite to an age yet where she needed 8GB of flash memory.
Azzo's mention of the school not knowing what to do with a few of the students prompted a nod of sympathy from the younger boy, though; he had heard horror stories about school red tape, like classes that should have fit a requirement suddenly not fitting the requirement, necessitating such terrors as summer school. The other boy's easy grin on the subject gave him hope that it was not too bad an issue, though. "Hopefully you can graduate on time, man," he offered. "Not that I hate school, but I don't think I would want to be there any longer than I had to be." Andrea quirked a brow to help indicate his sarcasm. "Too much of a good thing and all that."
He started back up the street towards the shopping center Azzo had mentioned, slowly at first so he would not look like he was trying to escape the other kid. Andrea was always reluctant to reveal details about himself to people he barely knew (and yes, his favorite hobby of nearly 11 years was a detail), and so shrugged off the question about what exercise he did.
"Oh, I was just out for a walk since it's so nice this afternoon. And conveniently could run an errand for the studio in the process." The boy started twirling the USB stick on its lanyard around his hand again.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:30 pm
Azzo nodded, "Heh yeah, it's the little things that always make for weird coincidences."
He nodded and shrugged, "I can hope but from the sounds of it they're going to screw us anyways." He sighed and shook his head.
He followed the other humming casually for a second, "OH, do you know what kind of classes they teach and if there's an older/elder division?" He paused, "Grams kinda wants to learn ballroom dancing. But she's only just kept looking at the TV when shows that have that in there come on and sighing at it."
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Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:59 pm
"That sucks," he remarked with a glance at Azzo and sympathetic frown. He wondered what the problem might have been, at least in part for fear that he might somehow end up in the same situation himself, but Andrea figured at the same time that it was really none of his business. Especially lately, there seemed to be all sorts of things that could go wrong, what with terrorists and rumors of monsters and all manner of things running around his hometown. Like some messed up movie or something.
Azzo's next question snapped Andrea back to reality, and he gaped for a minute while his brain actually processed the words. Then, a moment later, he replied, "Oh, at this dance school? It's primarily ballet, but I think they have like a sister school or something that opened recently across town. I don't really know anything about it yet, but they might have info at this school about it."
He caught the twirling plastic slipper in his hand and pointed with it at a taller brick building about a block ahead on their side of the street. "Studio's on the second floor there. The office is right at the top of the steps, so you can ask there and pick up fliers or whatever without actually having to go in." In case this Azzo fellow was, like many high school boys Andrea had met, unwilling to be caught dead standing on the same parquet floor as a bunch of ballet dancers.
A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth as he added, "That is pretty cool, though - I hope your Grams can find lessons somewhere."
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:38 am
Azzo just simply shrugged, "Pretty much." He said with a nod of the head, as to agree that it did suck. He hoped at the least they'd let him finish whatever he could've missed in S.H. It at least had a little more flexible of a schedule. At least he hoped it did.
Azzo made mental notes on the building and where it was, and where the office was. "Hum... Ballet." He seemed to stop and think, "Those dancers have some mad skills. Speically to stand on their toes like that."
He didn't seem the type to actually do ballet dancing, "And yeah, I hope so too, even if I have to play dance partner. I don't really mind. As long as she's happy." He was looking for the print shop, eyes jumping from window to window.
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:42 pm
"Eh." Andrea shrugged lightly. "I don't think there's anything terribly shameful about ballroom dancing. I mean, I'd rather know than not know. So it might work out well for you." He glanced at the older boy and smiled.
He started to twirl the lanyard again, but snatched the USB drive out of the air as he saw the print shop. "There it is," he exclaimed, pointing up ahead. The roof of the Ginkos was visible, but set back from the street, and the city planners had crammed in a couple tiny trees between it and the sidewalk; no wonder Andrea had missed it on the way up. He still felt sort of dumb for missing it, though - the place was no more than half a block from the dance studio.
"My thing shouldn't take too long to drop off," he told Azzo. "So I dunno if you want to ask at the dance studio about ballroom while I do this and then meet up again after? Or if you have to go your own separate way?" He was not really sure they had much more to talk about, but if he had someone roughly his own age to chat with at the bus stop, it might make the wait a bit less boring.
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:59 pm
Azzo shrugged softly, "I know a little..." He said tilting his head curiously.
"Actually, mind if I follow along" He was curious what he was the boy was going to do, he wasn't as tech savvy as everyone else. He'd normally admit it however he was more curious as to what it was. But he didn't see anything to drop off.... just the charm.
He shrugged, "I don't really have anywhere to be yet..."
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:25 pm
The sophomore shrugged again. "Sure, that's fine. Then we can drop by the dance studio again if you want. I just have to fill out a form and leave the flash drive with them. They take care of the rest of the printing and stuff and, since they need like, two hundred and fifty prints, we definitely don't have to stand around and wait for that."
He unzipped the top of his duffel and pulled a watch out of one of the inside pockets, turning it right-side up to check the time before dropping it back into the bag. "I just have to be home for dinner, but I have a while for the bus ride and all, anyway. So we can either stop by the dance studio or to the bus stop, whatever works for you, I guess. I dunno where you're going, though."
They reached the door to Ginkos then, and Andrea pushed it open and held it for Azzo. "Either way, nice to meet you, and I'm sure I'll see you hanging around school."
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:39 pm
Azzo followed, still curious. Was that 'charm' a flash drive? He didn't usually bother... "So this flash drive, what is?" He asked deciding to voice his ignorance.
He watched as Andrea pulled out his watch, "Mmm grams doesn't mind as long as I'm home eventually. She knows she packs way more than enough for me to munch on if I just want to walk from home to where ever. Which is most of the time what I do."
He nodded, "If you have time that'd be great, I wouldn't want to make you late though."
He gave a nod, "Of course, maybe there'll be a mixed class again, I know they did that once for my English. Though I suppose both of the classes was technically the same class."
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 1:54 pm
"Oh, yeah, this is the drive," he replied with a laugh, holding the plastic slipper up for Azzo to get a good look at it. When he was not twirling it, it was easier to see that there was a metal plug coming out of the toe. "I remember like, a year or so ago when these just came in boring sticks, but I've seen ones that look like animals and stuff, too." Andrea studied the drive, too. "No idea how much space is on this one, though."
Once inside the Ginkos, Andrea stepped up to the yellow counter shaped like a ginko leaf that separated the professional printers from the customers, and started working on filling out the form required to get the fliers done. Then he turned it in to the man who was working the counter along with the ballet slipper flash drive and got a receipt, chatted with him for a moment, then returned to Azzo near the door.
"Dance studio next?"
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