That morning, when I woke up, by phone buzzed with a plethora of texts just streaming in. Turning on the phone, I immediately averted my eyes at the bright screen and wallpaper filled with texts. I turned on the light and rubbed my eyes, squinting at the clock that displayed 5:30am. I turned on my phone and scrolled through the texts.

After reading five or six texts, I got the gist of it. Jeanine had come up with the idea to wear fancy clothes today in honor of Mr. Rickman, and potentially take a picture to send to him, if the teachers let us. I opened my closet with its creaking doors and pushed aside the pants and shirts, finally finding the dresses.

I contemplated what to wear, and in my sleepy daze, finally decided on a form fitting white dress made of cotton. It was almost sleeveless and had tiny cotton bits all over, surrounded my white netting. I paired it with a thin black belt that had a bow at the front and a black sweater, along with pearl earrings and a bracelet.

After picking the outfit, I grabbed my towel and jumped into the shower. By 6:45, I was out of the house, fancy clothes and everything.

When I reached the school, most students had worn outfits as fancy as mine, if not fancier. At lunch, most of the Global 9th students gathered in Mr. Marvin's room and took a large class picture that the teachers promised to send to Mr. Rickman.

Days passed and, soon, the solemn mood began to lift. One day, Mr. Marvin even joked about dancing. We were learning about pop culture through history and he began telling us:

"As you all have come to realize, Global is not just a program that is academically advanced," he explained. "We also teach life lessons. So, put on your dancing shoes because we'll be learning swing dancing tomorrow."

The class gasped in surprise. We hadn't expected him to be serious... We actually thought he was joking. But he didn't seem to be.

"You will learn many dances in your lifetime, but swing dancing is the heart of it all. The waltz, tango, even the whip originate from swing dancing in the 1960s." The last example resulted in a few laughs across the classroom. "It is a very important skill," he warned, dead serious. "So, we will teach it. Brace yourselves!"

The room fell silent until one person raised her hand and asked the question we had all been wondering. "Will boys have to dance with girls and vice versa?"

Mr. Marvin laughed. "Of course! What other type of dancing is there?"

I looked around the room, desperately hoping there were more girls than boys or something. But, unfortunately, the number seemed pretty balanced. I internally groaned, realizing what this meant. But at least I had until tomorrow, right?

Tomorrow came far too fast and, soon, it was History class again. All the desks were pushed to the edges of the classroom and the middle was wide open. After everyone had filed into the class, Mr. Marvin had us line up, boys on one side, girls on the other. Then, he simply walked down the aisle and paired up the two students across from each other.

On the Promethean board, which was pretty much a giant iPad, he showed us a video of the national swing dancing competitions. It was evident why it was called swing dancing, as the partners held hands and swung arms, kicking their legs side to side. It was extremely fast, and kept getting faster. Then, the complicated moves began. Twisting arms and untwisting them above your head. Picking up your partner and throwing her in the air, although Mr. Marvin assured us we wouldn't be doing this.

Soon, it was time for us to dance. I got paired with a students who I had gone to elementary school with, although I didn't remember his name, and we began dancing. After a few minutes, Mr. Marvin declared it a competition. That's when I went all in.

I had always loved dancing and took dancing classes for six years. I had participated in many competitions. Needless to say, I was very competitive. So, when the music began, we started dancing and didn't stop for a single moment. We even began attempting the hand twist and do-si-do, and other complicated moves. I was completely engrossed, but soon, the number of people left had decreased dramatically. There were about five couples left in the center and all the other students had been eliminated, sitting on the sidelines. Another couple was eliminated. One more and we would be in the top three.

"Go Anasika!" Clary and Lina cheered. Even Jessica joined in, and I soon realized it was just us and two other couples on the floor. My partner and I made eye contact and silently agreed to attempt one more complicated move. I crossed by right hand with his behind his head and attempted to do the same one with the left, but I couldn't reach. In my struggle, I felt a tap on my shoulder and realized we had been eliminated.

I sighed, defeated, but I was smiling. I shot my partner a "better luck next time" look, which he returned with a sheepish smile. But, my heart beat fast and there was a new spring in my step as I realized we had reached third place. So technically, I hadn't lost. I felt a sense of accomplishment and grinned to my friends as I took a seat beside them

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" asked Lina. I gave her an embarrassed smile.

"I used to take classes," I explained. "Plus, I really love dancing."

Clary smiled. "Well, you should. You're really good at it."

I smiled at the compliment and turned to watch the remaining two dancers. It was Jeanine and Brett versus Ethan and another girl named Maddy. Both were dancing really fast, although not as fast as the national competitors Mr. Marvin had shown us. Soon, Maddy and Ethan were eliminated. Jeanine and Brett were declared the winners.

"Great dancing, guys!" Mr. Marvin complimented to us all. "Now see, that wasn't that bad, was it?"

It wasn't. It was actually really fun.

Moments after I had zipped up by backpack on one of the desks, the bell rang, signaling us to go to Biology. We walked to the classroom, wondering who to expect today. For the past few weeks, we had a variety of substitutes, although the one I liked the most was Mrs. Callie. Just like on last Thursday, we had Mr. Trendle today. He was an amazing teacher, and one of my favorites as well, so I hoped he would be our long term substitute. Soon, even Biology and Technology were over and I was walking home.

On the way home, I received a torrent of panicked text messages from Vanessa.

Vanessa: Hey are you walking home? Are you there? Hello? Hello?

Me: Jeez calm down. Yes, I'm here. What's up?

Vanessa: Can I come over? My mom can't pick me up, and I'm kind of stranded at Southeast High... and yeah.

I told her yes and soon, she was over at my house. After eating a small snack, we turned on the TV and my screen landed on the movie "The Fault in our Stars."

"Oh I love this movie!" I exclaimed. "Do you want to watch it?" She nodded, and we began watching. After an hour or so, we were holding a box of tissues and sobbing.

"He... He's going to die!" I cried. But, by the time we finished the movie, my mom had come home. She smiled at Vanessa, who's mother called soon after and she left.

That evening, I went back to my diary and wrote another entry. By worries seemed to float off of me and transfer onto the page. By the time I went to sleep, I felt more relaxed than I had ever been before. But, before I lay down, I took one last look at my entry.

I still can't believe I'm actually doing this diary thing. School was pretty interesting today. We didn't do much in periods 1-4, but in History we did swing dancing. It was so much fun! I got really into it, too, because I've been dancing for a long time and I absolutely love it. I still miss Mr. Rickman, but I hope he's getting better. The teachers said we might be getting a substitute tomorrow, and I wonder who it is. Whoever it is, I just hope he or she is a good teacher. Nobody would be able to replace Mr. Rickman, but having a good teacher would make things easier. Okay, it's getting pretty late and I have to go to bed. See you tomorrow! -Anasika

I smiled. Maybe things would be alright after all.