Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary Page B

length of the room, and others were practicing at the exercise bar that was built along the mirror-covered wall. All the girls stopped when Ellen appeared.
    “Well, where did you come from?” asked Linda Mulford.
    “The dressing room,” answered Ellen briefly, as she took hold of the bar and began to practice a circular movement of one leg that Mrs. Spofford called a rond de jambe . She felt uncomfortable, because all the girls were looking at her. She hoped the bulge around her middle did not show.
    “I didn’t see you,” said Amelia.
    Ellen pretended to be so interested in rotating her leg that she didn’t hear. If she kept moving, maybe no one would notice the goose flesh on her bare shoulders.
    “I didn’t see you either,” said Joanne.
    “Where were you?”
    “Oh, I was there,” said Ellen vaguely.
    “You just didn’t see me.”
    She twirled her leg faster. Then she looked in the mirror and saw Austine watching her. Ellen felt sorrier than ever for what she had said, because Austine looked so unhappy. She was practicing alone at the end of the bar and none of the other girls were talking to her.
    Valerie Todd Spofford walked to the center of the room. “All right, girls,” she said.“Let’s get in line in front of the mirror.” The girls stood several feet apart, in a row.
    Ellen was careful not to stand near Austine, who, she could tell by looking in the mirror, remained at the end of the line.
    Valerie Todd Spofford stood in front of the girls with her back to the mirror.“Now, girls, we will go through the five positions of the ballet. Remember, ballet dancing is based on these positions.To be good dancers we must learn them perfectly. First position.” She stood with her heels together and her toes turned out, and held her arms slightly out from her sides.The girls imitated her as she looked critically up and down the line.
    “Knees together, Joanne,” she corrected.
    “Turn your toes farther out, Amelia. That’s right, Linda. Splendid!”
    Ellen was careful to do everything exactly right, because she did not want Mrs. Spofford to call attention to her. The five positions of the ballet were easy for her, because she practiced them every night before she went to bed. Now, as she pointed her toes and held out her arms, she thought more and more about what she had said to Austine. What a terrible person she was to make a new girl unhappy! Again she looked in the mirror at Austine and thought how lonely she looked, standing at the end of the line a little apart from the other girls.
    Ellen knew what it felt like to be lonely, because she had been lonely herself since Nancy Jane had moved away. Maybe Austine sat on her front steps and wished she had someone to play with. Maybe she hoped someone in the dancing class would ask her to come over after school. The very least Ellen could do was to be friendly. She made up her mind to tell Austine she was sorry the first chance she had.
    “Fourth position,” said Mrs. Spofford.
    “No, Janet. We do not raise both arms over our head in the fourth position.” She walked over to Janet and arranged her arms so that one was circled over her head and the other was held out from her side.
    Here was Ellen’s chance! When she saw that Valerie Todd Spofford was not watching the whole class, she slipped out of her place in line, darted behind several of the girls, and stepped into line beside Austine, where she quickly assumed a perfect fourth position.
    “Austine,” she whispered, “I’m sorry I said what I did. I really didn’t mean it. Honestly, I didn’t.”
    “Ellen,” said Mrs. Spofford sharply, “have you forgotten that we do not whisper during our dancing lesson?”
    “No, Mrs. Spofford,” said Ellen.
    “All right, girls. Fourth position again!” Ellen arranged her arms and legs in the correct position once more. Mrs. Spofford was watching, so Ellen could not catch Austine’s eye in the mirror. Had Austine for-given her? She couldn’t