Two fierce looks. Four castanets. Neither would miss a beat.
Perfectly Serious
“It’s only practice,” Elena said.
“Of course,” said Marisol.
Neither lowered her chin.
Elena stood in yellow, Marisol in red. Between them lay a patch of wooden floor which both had decided was exactly the right distance for a challenge.
They had finished the short dance they were rehearsing. Their teacher had gone to find the next piece of music, leaving them with their castanets and a few minutes.
Elena made three crisp clicks.
Marisol answered with three of her own.
Then she added two.
Elena’s eyebrows rose.
“Oh.”
Marisol kept her face perfectly solemn. The red flower in her hair trembled as she lifted her arm.
Your Answer
They had invented the game the week before: copy the other person’s little pattern, then offer something back.
At first, the gaps between turns had been full of discussion.
“Was that four?”
“You did it too quickly.”
“I haven’t finished yet.”
Today they hardly spoke.
Elena answered Marisol, paused, and sent back a short, tidy series of clicks. Marisol watched her hands. The lace at Elena’s wrist quivered each time her fingers moved.
Marisol copied it. Then came her answer, with a pause just long enough to make Elena wonder whether she was done.
Elena almost began.
One last click stopped her.
Marisol’s mouth twitched.
Elena narrowed her eyes, which was difficult to do while smiling. She lifted her arm higher and replied.
Outside the room, footsteps passed the door. Neither girl looked round. Elena was waiting for the exact moment Marisol would answer, and Marisol knew she was waiting.
A Familiar Pattern
Elena made the next pattern slowly.
Marisol knew it before the end.
They had practised it together on the afternoon she first brought her castanets. One hand had kept falling behind the other, and Elena had sat beside her, making the sounds again and again until she could hear where hers belonged.
Now Elena played it with a grand, challenging expression, as though she had just invented something terribly difficult.
Marisol answered easily.
Then she added the little ending Elena had struggled with that same afternoon.
Elena stared at her.
Marisol lifted one eyebrow.
The first laugh came through Elena’s nose. She tried to cover it with another pattern, but her shoulders had begun to shake.
“That’s not fair.”
“You know it now.”
“I know.”
She proved it. Marisol answered, and Elena came straight back, their pauses growing shorter because each could already hear what the other was about to do.
A yellow ruffle brushed a red one as they stepped closer.
For a few moments, neither tried to add anything harder. They kept the familiar sounds travelling between them, each answer arriving where the other had left room.
Two Winners
Their teacher returned carrying a small speaker.
“Ready for the next dance?”
Both girls turned. Their arms came down, and the sudden quiet made Elena laugh again.
“What have you two been doing?”
“Practising,” Marisol said.
Elena nodded with unnecessary firmness.
Their teacher looked from one face to the other, then set down the speaker.
“Have some water while I find the music.”
At the chairs, Marisol loosened the fingers she had been holding so carefully. Elena reached for her bottle.
“I won,” Marisol whispered.
Elena lowered the bottle.
“You answered everything I did.”
“So did you.”
They considered that.
From beside the speaker, their teacher called their names.
Marisol stood, smoothed her red skirt, and gave three very quiet clicks.
Elena answered before she had put her bottle down.
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