“No dance,” she says again, crossing her little arms and lifting her chin up to glare at me.
I let out a slow breath, pinching the bridge of my nose.She’s had a long day—I’ve had a long day. I just need to get us both to the end of it in one piece.
“Okay Rem, I’ll make you a deal,”I offer, not above bribery at this point.
Her little eyes flick up to meet mine with interest.
“You go to dance, and if Miss Emily says you did a nice job, I’ll put chocolate chips in your pancakes tonight.”
She visibly brightens, her arms falling to her sides. “Chocolate chips?”
“Mhm.” I nod, seizing the opportunity to snatch her right foot, successfully getting the slipper on while she’s debating whether or not my deal’s worth it. “In all their chocolate-y goodness.” I’m over-selling but… desperate times…
“Okay, chocolate chips,” she agrees, and I let out a sigh of relief when she offers me her left foot all on her own.
“That’s my girl!”
I deposit a light kiss on her forehead, leaving her in Studio C before turning and sprinting down the hallway. I dodge dancers and trailing glares of annoyance before attempting to slip into Studio A as quietly and unassumingly as possible.
I catch the warning look in Lily’s eyes while I put my pointe shoes on as fast as I can. I already feel Mr. Carr watching me, clearly displeased at my tardiness.At least he hasn’t kicked me out. Small victories.
I’m quick to the barre and fall into the warm-up routine with the rest of the class.
An hour in, I’m a mess of sweat as we go across the floor. But I’m distracted, unable to stop my mind from trying to work out how the hell I’m going to pay for that new injection. Apparently, it shows because Mr. Carr is quick to call out my mistakes, his tone growing sharper as the class goes on.
When he finally calls for a water break, it takes nearly everything in me not to collapse in relief.
“What’s up with you?” Lily hisses, scurrying over as I down nearly my entire water bottle in one go, breathing hard. “You’re so tense.” And then lower, in a near whisper, “Did something happen at the appointment?”
Tense? Yeah, I’d say so. My body is so wound up, I feel like I might explode. An anxious feeling has settled deep into my chest, and it seems no amount of intense cardio is going to shake it.
I glance around, drawing Lily slightly away from the rest of the dancers in our group before quickly filling her in on what happened at Remi’s appointment.
Her eyebrows nearly touch the sky when she hears the price.
“TEN THOUSAND dollars!” she exclaims, loudly, drawing attention from the other students.
“Shhh!” I nod, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I come up with ways I could get my hands on that money. But aside from pulling a bank heist, I’m falling short on ideas.
I’m in my final year of the pre-professional program at the Conservatory, and if it weren’t for my scholarship, dance and I would’ve been finished a long time ago. The money Lily and I make teaching dance classes for the lower levels just about covers rent, groceries, and the bare necessities. This is exactly the situation that led to my having to borrow the money from Gio in the first place.
“You’re not thinking—” Lily starts.
I shake my head. “I don’t know that I have a choice…” Referencing borrowing more money from Gio.Hell, I’m already in the hole, can I really make it worse?
But she’s adamantly shaking her head. “No. That’s a bad idea. You’re already in too deep with him.”
“Maybe I can pick up some more shifts at the club?” Lily was correct earlier. I am at my limit, but I could still try to do more.Who needs sleep, right?“I could pick up dancing shifts?” I whisper under my breath.
The club Gio was nice enough to hook me up with is a strip club. While I have thought about picking up a couple of dancing shifts, I really hate when the men at the club try and touch me. So, I’ve only been working bartending or serving shifts. They don’t pay as much but they sure as hell pay a lot more than they would at a regular restaurant.
Lily doesn’t have time to respond because Mr. Carr calls the class back to attention.
He has us do the routine a few more times. My performance isn’t great; I’m tired, but surprisingly Mr. Carr doesn’t comment on it again.
“That’s it for today. Remember to practice overnight. I hope to see better results in class tomorrow.” His eyes stop on me, and I shift uncomfortably under his heavy stare. “Miss Ralston, a word?”
I feel the eyes of my classmates on me, so I nod stoically, straightening my shoulders back while scrambling to follow Mr. Carr into his office. He motions to a chair by the door, and I sit, uneasy, as he leans back in his.
