Suppressing a smile, she watched as he went off to do her bidding.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Don’t be afraid to be confident.” Vanessa didn’t know how many times she had to say it. The girls were getting their walks down. A few of them had pretty unique strides, eye-catching and bold. But the overall body language still screamed:Please, God, no one look at me.
Which might be typical for this age group and women in general. But if she had the power to do one thing right here, it was to show these kids they did deserve to be there, and they were worth the attention.
“You’re still walking like this.” She hopped onto the stage and strutted half the runway. “The mechanics are all right, but the sass isn’t there.”
They all stared at her blankly.
“When you can walk like this.” She rolled back her shoulders and shook her hair out. With her chin held high, and sensing Jordan’s eyes were fixed on her, as they had been all afternoon, she walked like she did that morning. Full of utter confidence knowing that the one person in the room she couldn’t stop thinking about was eating her up like a serving of tiramisu.
When she stopped at the end of the runway, Rory looked at her pointedly. “There’s no fucking way I can walk like that.”
“Language,” Vanessa scolded, wagging her finger. That one cussed like a sailor. While Rory had come a long way since they met, Vanessa had never been able to clean that mouth. “And yes, you can. As soon as you see what I see, you will.”
“And what do you see?” Tessa asked, crossing her arms defensively. “Because all I see is a room of under-privileged kids on the wrong side of the bridge trying to play dress-up with a princess.”
The words hit Vanessa like a punch to the gut. Resounding silence fell around her. After three weeks of meeting five days a week, anywhere from two to four hours a day, was that really how they saw themselves? How they saw her?
She scanned the room, her heart sinking as she caught the subtle nods, the downcast glances. Most of them avoided her gaze, and the few who didn’t only confirmed what she feared. To them, they were kids pretending, not worth more than what they’d been told they were.
Her chest tightened, but she fought to steady her voice.Sheknewbetter.Shebelievedin them. But at that moment, the weight of their doubt was crushing.
“Get up here,” she said to Tessa.
With a heavy sigh, Tessa got on the stage. Over the last couple of weeks, Vanessa had learned a lot about her. She worked two part-time jobs, one at a donut shop with Rory and the other at a care home washing dishes. Tessa managed to get to school most days, but sometimes skipped class to pick up an extra shift.
At first, Tessa also skipped several rehearsals or leftearly, but lately, she showed up to every single one and stayed the whole time. Vanessa could see it: Tessa loved this, but she was also tired, more than a kid her age should be.
When Tessa stood in front of her, the tension between them thickened. Vanessa challenged Tessa with a slow lift of her chin, and Tessa instantly copied the movement, her gaze unwavering. She continued to pull Tessa up with an invisible thread, lifting her straighter, taller, beyond the weight of her doubts.
“Are you working a shift tonight after rehearsal?”
Tessa followed as she nodded. “Yep, at The Cedars.”
“You make good money there, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question. She’d heard Tessa talk about how she made more there than at the donut shop when she tried to convince Rory to work there too.
“Decent enough,” Tessa replied, her tone casual, but also with a hint of pride.
“You almost hit your savings goal.”
Tessa smiled. “I’m over it. Got my first year of college in the bank.”
Vanessa rolled her shoulders back, her own pride swelling in her chest, and nodded when Tessa did the same. “Impressive. Earning your own college fund. You know there will be a lot of girls in this gym on Saturday night who are going to be inspired by you. They’ll see what you’ve done, read your bio in the program, watch you on this stage, and they’ll want to be like you.”
Tessa huffed a laugh, disbelief flickering across her face. “No way.”
“Way.” She kept her voice firm, unwavering. “Because you’re a powerful woman who works harder than most girls her age. You have a dream, and you’re not letting anythingstop you from achieving it.” She spun Tessa to face the length of the catwalk. “Now walk.”
She stepped aside, and let Tessa have the spotlight. The young woman took the runway with a sassy half-smile, her face lit with pride. Her chin was lifted, shoulders squared, hips swaying with newfound confidence. She owned the space, the room, the moment. Like she deserved.
“That’s it!” Vanessa cried. She whirled around to face the rest of the kids. “The world is your runway. I want you to walkeverywherelike it’s a stage because it is. You deserve to be on it. So show them all what you’ve got.”
For the rest of the practice, the girls fed off the motivation, hitting their marks with more confidence each time. They were nailing it, and the energy shifted in the room. But the boys, particularly Beck, were still struggling.
Where Murray exuded a natural swagger, despite his obvious embarrassment, Beck’s gait was more awkward, his movements choppy. He seemed caught in a tug-of-war with himself, not quite as confident as he was with a basketball in his hand, but also not wanting to give up.
