For the previous Twirl, go here.

For my new Invisible Friends, Twirl is the story of a feisty, sassy ballerina named Vivi and her handsome cowboy named Wade. After falling in love swaying on the dance floor to the sound of a fiddle and steel guitar, the couple have stumbled onto a old Texas legend that might possibly lead to riches! On top of everything, Vivi is fighting her controlling father and over involved dance teacher, who are trying to trap her into a life she may not want. Add in a mysterious secret with her mother, a scheming evil boy in her dance class and regular teen angst and you’ve got DRAMA!

To catch up in the archives, go here and here.   Soon, all posts will be available under Never Ending Stories.  Soon!

And now, for the rest of their story…

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“Damien?”  Vivi peered at her sneering dance classmate’s face.  “What are you doing here?”

“Shouldn’t you be with your family, son?” Red asked, his voice strained.

Damien wrinkled his nose and muttered something.  Wade jabbed him in the back and he narrowed his eyes.  “Let me go,” he growled.

“I oughta”– Wade started.

“Son, here’s the deal,” Red interrupted. “Even though your family are paying guests, we don’t take kindly to tresspassers who listen at windows.  This here is a private residence.  So if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll call the cops.”

Vivi tossed her hair over her shoulder and glared at Damien.  “What were you doing?”

Damien slid his eyes to the side, his face gathered in a scowl.  “Well, at first I just wanted to take a picture of you with your boyfriend on my camera.  I figured I could use it to bribe you later if you didn’t dance the Lover’s Dance with me like I wanted.  But then when I heard him”–he nodded toward Red– “talking about the Bullet Bill guy and all that treasure, I got curious.  I wanted to know more.  So I got closer and closer and well, you know the rest.”

Wade’s lips pressed together in a thin line.  He glared down at Damien, spatting out his words as though they tasted vile on his tongue.  “You should have never been here.”

“Take him back to the main barn,” Red ordered, his wrinkled face sagging in the harsh yellow outdoor lights.  He looked as though he had aged a million years in a few minutes.  “Tell his parents and J.W. what happened.”  Eyeing Damien, he added, “I catch you over here again, I call the cops without question.  Understand?”

Damien narrowed his eyes.  Leaning forward, his pupils flashed as he stared at Vivi.  “I can help,” he whispered, his voice filled with a desperate excitement that made Vivi shiver in the cool night air.  “Take me with you.  I can find the treasure, I know I can. If you let me go, I won’t make you dance with me.  And I won’t tell your dad about your boyfriend.”

“Let’s go,” Wade growled, shoving Damien forward with more force than necessary.  As Wade dragged him to the barn, Damien’s wild cries pierced Vivi’s ears.  “If you don’t let me go with you, you’ll be sorry!  You’ll see!  I’ll make sure of it.  You’ll be sorry!”

Vivi stared after his form as it was swallowed by the dark night, chewing on her lip as she thought about all the dance halls she and Wade would have to search.  The idea of Damien accompanying them made her want to vomit.   At the same time, she knew Damien’s temper.  He had once sabotaged a recital because he didn’t get the main role, injuring one of the top dancers and destroying a teacher’s classroom.  His raw anger, or passion, as the dance teachers liked to call it, was stuff of legends at their dance school.  If she crossed him, she could cross her career in dance goodbye.

A soft hand tapped her shoulder.  She looked down to see wrinkled fingers that looked like they were tooled from tanned leather.  Looking up, a pair of soft, watery blue eyes smiled at her.

“Want to see what’s in the box first?” Red asked.

Vivi couldn’t help but to grin.

To be continued….

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  Sunday we have our first creative woman feature, the fabulous Gisele!  Then we have a week full of whimsical fun, tasty recipes and dozens of stories, including Penelope’s Pie Shop from Pie Week!  Stay tuned!