Willow tilted her head to the side. “I think those Bettie Page–type bangs would look great on your face. Then a layered inverted bob, to accent your cheekbones here, longer in the front than in the back. It’ll bring out your eyes.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “We’ll even out your hair, and take out much of the volume. We’ll make sure it retains its movement, but won’t get into your eyes.” I felt like she’d just figured out my entire life for me.

Wearing a vinyl cape around my shoulders, I sat on a wooden stool in her kitchen and she got to work. When she was done, my hair looked like it had been chiseled out of stone, falling in a clean sweep against the line of my cheeks.

“As it grows longer, we’ll keep trimming it until we get the shape we want,” Willow said. “You have very dramatic eyes and this will really highlight them.”

I’d never known these things about myself. My eyes now did seem much larger. I hadn’t realized how much the blob of hair on my head had affected my appearance. After we were done with my haircut, I taught Willow for an hour. She blasted the music and we grooved to some mambo, merengue and cha-cha.

It wasn’t until the next morning, after I shampooed my hair, that I fully realized how good she was. It was just like Nina had said. I’d never been able to control my hair, but now it fell into place after I washed it. I hardly needed to style it. If only the rest of my life were as simple to fix.

Eleven

That morning, Lisa waved a letter at me and Pa. “I got my Hunter test ticket!”

“That’s great. Make sure you don’t lose it,” I said.

“I know. There was some problem with Fabrizio’s record and now maybe he won’t be allowed to take the test.”

Pa said, “Ah. Maybe he is being punished for something he did wrong. Bad acts always rebound on the doer.”

I rolled my eyes. I knew Pa thought his petty-spirits ritual had reversed some kind of curse the boy had put on Lisa. “He’s Italian. I don’t think he knows about that kind of thing.”

Lisa said, “What are you guys talking about?”

Pa and I both said, “Nothing.”

Lisa was examining my hair. “You look different, Charlie.”

I couldn’t help raising a hand to my new haircut. “Do you like it?”

Lisa nodded emphatically, while Pa said, “It is so flat. You look like a coconut.”

“Pa!” It was hard to feel pretty in this family.

He said, “Maybe you could have the hairdresser perm it for you or something. It wouldn’t be so plain then.”

“I like it simple,” I said. “Some people think it brings out my features.”

“Oh?” he said. “Like Winston?”

Now I groaned while Lisa giggled.

—

Everyone gaped at me when I walked into the studio with my new haircut and my makeup done as Mateo had shown me. Julian was back and I saw his head turn as I went by. Viktor gave a long whistle before he was cut off by Katerina playfully tackling him.

“You go, girl,” Nina said. “Willow’s amazing, isn’t she?”

Then Dominic came up to me the way he did every Monday. “However, lovely as you are, you spent the whole weekend walking like this!” he said, hunching his arms over like an ape.

“I did not!” I had tried to remember but I did forget sometimes.

“You did. People lie. The body does not lie,” he said, glaring at me. His heavy fingers pinched my shoulders back. “I can see it in the slope of your shoulders. Keep them straight.” As he was talking, he pushed in the center of my back and rolled down my collarbones.

I was used to this by now because Dominic was always correcting my body. It obviously offended him whenever it wasn’t properly aligned.

Once, Nina had pretended to be Dominic teaching a dance session. “I don’t like your feet, your legs, your shoulders and your head. Just cut them all off!”

But the week before, I’d caught sight of myself in the mirror while going to a student and I’d had to double-check that it was really me. This woman, walking proud, shoulders back and neck stretched out long, looked like she belonged here. It was sustaining that appearance that was the challenge.

Julian was leading that morning’s dance session. Despite myself, my heart thrilled. I remembered how loose and sure of myself I felt dancing with him. He began by announcing, “We will be doing international tango and the emphasis in today’s lesson is standard technique. Simone, if you please.”

With a little smile, Simone positioned herself in Julian’s arms. He stepped right up to her, so that there was no distance in between their bodies. She arched her back and head back in a dramatic sweep away from him.

Julian adjusted her head. “Don’t break the line. It must all come from the spine.” He dropped his arms so that he was only touching her with his stomach and stepped forward and back. Simone followed him perfectly. He pivoted, and she did as well, moving as one entity. Then he stepped away from her with a nod and turned to the rest of us. “Gentlemen, when you lead with the true center of your body, you will not need your arms. When we lead with arms, we are only as graceful as an octopus, because that is what we will look like.”

Julian pretended he was an octopus. We all laughed. I wondered if he knew how appealing he was. But of course he did. “Take a partner, everyone.” Then Julian held his hand out to me and I felt my pulse flutter. “No arms, Silver syllabus international tango across the floor.”

The other dancers set off and I was astounded to see how smooth and coordinated their movements were, even though they only touched each other with their middles.

Julian put his arms around me and arched my back, while maintaining contact with our pelvises. Before I could worry about how inappropriate this would seem to Pa, he positioned my spine and head until I was staring at a point on the ceiling. It was so awkward and uncomfortable, I forgot everything else. “How does that feel?”

“Awful,” I squeaked. I could hardly breathe in this position.

He chuckled. “That’s good. It takes some getting used to. Now, hold that and let me lead. Don’t worry about where your feet go, just keep your spine arched and your head up.” He took me into dance position and started off. I saw the ceiling spin as we went into a series of lightning-fast pivot turns across the floor. I panicked and started to straighten.

“No, hold the position, breathe into your center. You’re doing just fine,” he said. We started moving in a straight line again, then he dipped me so that my back was almost parallel to the floor, and we both flowed to the side, then he stopped abruptly and pivoted us around. With a jerk of his arm, our heads snapped to the other side. He swung me into a series of fans around his body. “Welcome to international tango. You’re a natural.”

I smiled, flattered. I had never been a natural at anything. He let me go and I looked up to see that the others were finishing their round of the ballroom, still without using their arms. Simone swung into a swirl around Dominic without any contact at all.

Then we all assembled again. “Now we switch leads,” Julian said. “Still no arms for the rest of you. Charlie, you may lead me with your hands.” All of the women got into the leading position and the men, including Dominic, took the lady’s part.

“I’ve been waiting for this day,” Simone said, as she positioned Dominic in front of her. Everyone laughed. It was the first time I’d heard Simone say anything funny. I was so used to her being unpleasant.

The others took off again, with just as much precision as they had the first time around.

“How can they do that?” I asked.

“It’s the job of the professional to be able to do both roles equally well,” Julian said. “All right, our turn.”