Magic Bunny: Dancing Days by Sue Bentley Page A

for her.
    Sara stared fixedly out of the side window at the familiar streets as her mum drove them home, but in her mind she was back at the studio with all her dance friends. Just a couple of hours ago she was enjoying the wonderful feeling of her body moving in time to the music as she learned some new steps.
    Then it had happened. She’d landed awkwardly, slipped on to the side of her foot and felt a sharp pain zing through her ankle. The doctor had told her she’d sprained it, and even though it didn’t hurt that much now that it was all bandaged up, she’d been told that if she wanted it to heal properly she had to rest it completely.
    So no dancing for three whole weeks!
    Despite Sara’s efforts to put on a brave face, her eyes pricked with tears.
    ‘I wonder what Beth’s going to do now?’ her dad remarked. ‘You two practically live at that studio.’
    ‘I know. I feel really bad for her,’ Sara said miserably.
    She and Beth were best friends as well as dance partners. They’d been practising a brilliant new routine, ready for Jane’s auditions. Now Beth would have to perform it on her own.
    Sara remembered something. ‘I’ve left some of my stuff in the lockers at the studio. Could we go and get it, please?’
    ‘Are you sure you want to? I can get it for you any time,’ her mum offered.
    Sara shook her head. ‘Dance classes will have finished for the day, so I can just go in quickly without everyone making a fuss. Anyway, I might as well start getting used to these things.’ She waved one of the crutches.
    Her mum nodded. ‘OK.’
    A few minutes later they parked outside the community college. It was an impressive dome-shaped building, always flooded with light from the glass panels that formed its walls. Its wide staircase and high ceiling could be seen through the entrance windows.
    Sara’s dad helped her out of the car. He walked with her through the automatic front doors and then up to the first floor in the lift. Adults and kids wearing sports kit passed them in the corridor. The smell of freshly brewed coffee met them as they approached the large open-plan cafe.
    ‘I’ll be fine now, Dad. The studio’s just over there. Why don’t you wait here for me?’
    ‘If you’re sure,’ he said, taking a seat in the cafe. ‘Take care on those crutches then.’
    ‘I will.’ Sara negotiated the door into the changing rooms next to the studio. She managed to get across the room, but it was difficult to fish her locker key out of her jeans pocket while balancing on crutches.
    She carefully propped one of them against the lockers, so she had a hand free. Opening her locker, she reached for a book, a CD and some practice clothes and began stuffing them into a spare holdall that she found crumpled at the back. It was a bit awkward with one hand, but she finally managed it.
    As she closed the locker, she didn’t notice that she’d brushed against the crutch that was propped next to her. It slid sideways and crashed to the ground. The loud noise made Sara almost jump out of her skin and she dropped the holdall in surprise.

    ‘Oh great! Now what do I do?’ she groaned.
    There was no point in calling for her dad as he wouldn’t hear her through two doors. She’d have to try to bend down to pick up the crutch herself.
    ‘Right. How hard can this be?’
    Sara gritted her teeth. Keeping her injured ankle in the air, she balanced on one crutch and tried to crouch down. But then she lost her balance and felt herself falling.
    ‘Oh!’ she gasped as she braced herself for a painful landing.
    Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a cloud of crystal dust appeared and swirled around Sara. She felt a strange warm tingling sensation down her spine, but the hard bump she expected never came.
    To her complete amazement, Sara found herself hovering in mid-air a few centimetres above the floor. She caught her breath as she felt herself turning and then floating gently downwards until she ended up sitting on