“Aren’t you going in there?” he asked, pointing toward the studio.
I shook my head. “Nope.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and forced myself to keep my emotions in check.
He looked adorably confused. “So, you’re not in this dance class or?—”
“I don’t dance.” The words felt…wrong. It felt like a lie. Heck, itwasa lie. I still danced on my own, I just wasn’t welcome in dance classes…that my mother taught, at a dance academy. It was like living at Hogwarts, being Dumbledore’s long-lost daughter, and not being able to practice magic.
And yes, I may have been rereading Harry Potter. Again.
“But isn’t this, like…a dance school?” he asked.
For Pete’s sake, why couldn’t he just let it go? Mr. Perfect over here seemed intent on making me spell it out.I let out a weary sigh. “Yes, Captain Obvious, this is a school. It’s a fully accredited high school as well…” I stopped myself before I could rattle off the whole brochure. He didn’t need to know how competitive this place was to get into, or how expensive. I gestured behind me where my mother had disappeared. “That scary lady you just met? She’s my mother.”
“So you take classes here,” he said.
“I take academic classes, yes,” I said, beyond irritated that we were still having this conversation. “But I don’t join in on the dance classes.”
He looked so confused it was almost funny. “But you’re the ballet lady’s daughter. Isn’t following in your parent’s footsteps like the reason your parents had kids?” And then his voice dropped an octave. “Or is that just mine?”
I shrugged as I turned. I didn’t want to get into the nuances of my relationship with my mom or the fact that I have hips that disappointed her. I also didn’t want to spill my guts to this stranger who was staring at me like I had two heads.
“Nope,” I said over my shoulder and then disappeared into Mom’s office and shut the door. Once I was alone, I settled down in her chair and tried to keep my gaze from slipping over to the window on the far wall. It allowed Mom to be able to watch what was happening in the studios without having to leave the comfort of her Aeronoffice chair.
I could see Mom had paired the partners together. Ethan was with Bianca—of course. As the two leaders of the group, it only made sense that they set the standard for what was expected.
Ryan was with Tilly and Cooper was with Eve. He was towering over her like King Kong towers over Ann Darrow. It was comical to see the two of them together. I half expected him to grab her and hoist her up the tallest building.
I chuckled at my own joke as I brought my feet up to rest on the seat of the chair. But that made my belly fat squish together so I dropped them to the floor and straightened.
Needing a distraction for the exact reason why I wasn’t in the studio, fulfilling my family destiny like Ethan so delicately put it, I reached into my backpack and removed my notebook. I’d been working on my Harry Potter fan-fic—a secret obsession that I hadn’t told anyone about, not even my best friend Olivia. It’s a little embarrassing but it’s fun and helps pass the time when I’m stuck in the office, waiting for Mom to finish up.
Or when there isn’t a studio free where I can let my guard down and dance.
I shoved the thought aside. Being in Mom’s cramped office was better than doing what I loved. I just wished the hollow feeling in my chest agreed.
Eventually, I lost myself in my writing. I could always depend on the wizarding world to whisk me away. By thetime my hand cramped, I glanced up to see practice was winding down. I straightened and set my notebook down on Mom’s desk. Then I pressed my hand into my lower back, not realizing until now how cramped I felt.
Writing hunched over was wreaking havoc on my back.
Despite my best efforts, my gaze went directly to Ethan who was red faced and sweaty. I could tell from the way he was limping that Mom had not been gentle with this practice. She’d shown them what it was like to be a ballerina and they felt it.
Everywhere.
I allowed my smile to twitch on my lips. Serves them right. I could only imagine the jokes they told each other when they learned they were going to a ballet school. I’m sure words like 'sissy’and ‘girlie’were thrown around a few times. The overly confident boys that first walked into the studio were now hunched over and shuffling out of the studio.
I was pretty sure they were eating their words.
I slung my backpack on my shoulder and moved to walk out of Mom’s office. But, just as I reached out to grab the door handle, it swung open to reveal Mom’s irritated expression.
“I know, Bianca, but there’s nothing I can do. I made a commitment to their coach. They need to learn discipline and my dancers need to learn teamwork.” Mom sidestepped me like I was a piece offurniture in her way. She set her clipboard down on her desk and pinched the bridge of her nose. She reserved that move only for Bianca when she was being a pain in the butt. Which was pretty much all the time.
“Ms. Boucher, I understand you made a commitment, but this is my career we’re talking about. If I don’t dance in the winter final, scouts won’t see me. If scouts don’t see me, I don’t get into Juilliard.” Bianca had her hands firmly planted on her hips.
Mom sighed and glanced over at her. “Rethink your statement, Ms. Jones. Every noun in there wasI. Do you see why this school might have a teamwork problem?”
I stood in the corner, my gaze moving from Mom back to Bianca who looked like she’d just swallowed a lemon. I wished I had a bucket of popcorn and a soda, the drama was getting good.
Bianca sputtered a few times and then threw her hands into the air. “So that’s it? There’s nothing I can do?”
