“God, youaregetting old and mushy.” We both laughed. He used to be the funny guy, but he had been more sad than funny lately. “Is everything okay with you and Mom?”
He wiped tears from his face. “Why do you ask that?”
I gave him a look. “I don’t think you’re just crying in the dark because I’m a good dancer, Dad.”
“We’re fine, Sweet Pea. Marriages go through phases.”
“Dad, the pageant shit has to stop.”
“Penny,” he chided.
“I’m serious. She’s gonna screw up Kiki.”
“It’s all she has right now,” he argued.
“No. She has you and she has me.”
He smiled weakly. “Go get some rest, Penny. You need to eat dinner and then soak your feet. They look terrible.”
“Dancer’s feet, Dad.”
“Yeah, yeah, but they’re my baby girl’s feet.”
THE NEXT DAYI headed to Ling’s study, my stomach tied in knots. Why had I agreed to do it? Lapse in sanity, I guess. But I had promised Ling, so after Professor Douglas’s dance class, I showered, dried my hair, brushed my teeth, and dabbed on a bit of lip gloss before heading to Clark. I was wearing jeans, my UGG slippers, and a hoodie from my old dance studio. It was a blind kiss, after all; it’s not like I had to impress anyone with my fashion choices.
Once I got there, I knocked on the classroom door. Ling answered without a word and ushered me in. There were four girls all chatting next to a table of juice and cookies.
“Go ahead and have a snack.” Ling leaned in and whispered near my ear. “I have a flask with rum in it, if you want.” Why did everyone in college drink rum? It has to be the most disgusting liquor. Also, Ling was more nervous than usual, which made me more nervous.
I smiled. “No, thank you. I’ll just wait.”
There was a connecting room with paper covering the window in the door. Ling spoke to someone on a walkie-talkie and said, “Okay, ladies, we’re gonna go in and show you the studio. The boys are waiting in another room on the other side of the studio.” She pointed to each girl in front of me and said, “You’re one, you’re two, you’re three, you’re four, and Penny, you’re five. That’s the order you’ll go in.”
“You’re not matching us up based on looks, are you?” one tiny blond girl with a pointy nose and pursed lips said.
Ling stared at her for an uncomfortably long time. “Are you serious, girl?” Ling was so awesome.
“Well?” Pointy Nose said.
“No, it’s totally random and looks are subjective. That’s the whole point!” Ling practically shouted at her.
We went into a large classroom where all the chairs had been pushed to one side to create a staging area. There were four students in the room: one guy behind a camera propped on a tripod that faced a small makeshift stage, another guy, and two girls standing near the stage with clipboards.
“Hi ladies, I’m Tracy. Ling and I are heading up this study.” Tracy was all business, complete with brown hair in a low bun and a pair of glasses on the end of her nose. I noticed the heater had been cranked up really high in the room.
I whispered to Ling, “It’s hot in here.”
“Just wait until people start making out.”
“No, seriously, I might puke.”
“That would be really gross, Penny. Please don’t do it on camera. When it’s cold, people’s nerves go haywire, so we’re trying to make everyone comfortable. Take off your sweatshirt if you have to.”
I only had a dancing tank on with no bra, not that I needed one. “Umm. Well, okay it’s not like he’s going to see me.”
“Exactly,” she said.
I tore off my sweatshirt and threw it on a nearby desk. The students showed us where we would be walking and standing, so once we were blindfolded we wouldn’t feel disoriented. Afterward, we were led back into the first room to wait.
