Carole dismisses the dancers who don’t have a doll. “We’ll do the photo shoot right now. Genevieve, Taryn, Talia, and Olivia come with me and Lexi. Everyone else can choose to do some extra rehearsal with Adrianna in half an hour or go to the spa with Marianna for some deep tissue massages. Before that, can I please ask Dana and Alicia to go see Adrianna in her office? Other than that, Lexi and I will see everyone in the big studio at eight a.m. sharp.”
“Fuck,” Jodie hisses under her breath. “There’s only one reason they’re calling those two girls into Adrianna’s office.”
I nod. “Yup.” They’re getting cut. This means they cut five of the ten dancers who won’t make the final team so far.
“As far as the hockey team is concerned,” Coach Harrison says. “Shayba, Prescott, Thomas, Belkin, andHeston go with Carole and Lexi for the photo shoot. The rest of you, candy ass pucks, will enjoy a lovely afternoon with me in the weight room.”
Coach’s instructions are greeted with a collective groan, but the players know better than to argue with their head coach.
As I follow Talia and the other girls out of the auditorium, and the guys come past us, Tucker stops Talia.
“Hey sis,” he smiles, lowering his voice. “Well done. If things go well, we can help Mom and Dad catch up on their mortgage payments.”
I should probably go. Talia and Tucker are exempt from the no fraternization rule as siblings, but I could get in trouble.
After a look around the hallway, I choose to take a small risk. Carole asked the girls to follow her into one of the rooms where we did our uniform fittings, and Lexi went into the room next door with the guys.
“It’s exactly what I thought.” Talia says to Tucker. “Mom will be happy. She’s been so stressed since Dad got hurt at work and has been stuck at home. Hopefully, we can get the five grand advance straight away.”
“Yeah,” Tucker nods. “I was hoping to help them with my sign up bonus, but…”
Talia hugs him. “I know. But like Meemaw says, where there’s a will, there’s a way. You’ll see. We’ll help our parents until you hit the big time in the NHL. They won’t lose our family home.”
Before Tucker can respond, Lexi sticks her head out of the room. “Tucker, we have a tight schedule. If you could please come in here. You can catch up with your sister after the photo shoot.”
Her eyes skim briefly over me, and I pretend to be engrossed in my phone.
“Yes, ma’am.” Tucker walks past me, brushing his arm against mine. To any bystander that should look like a casual gesture, but Tucker’s pinky links with mine for a few seconds before he picks up his pace and jogs into the room.
“You two are so cute,” Talia smiles, but I don’t miss the tension in her shoulders.
I stop her with one hand on her shoulder before she starts toward the fitting room. “Tal, are you ok?”
“Not really,” she sighs. “But hopefully, I will be. I know you’ve met my mom, right?”
“Yeah, at the ER on the night Tucker and I met.”
She nods. “Look, we’re trying to keep things discreet, but things have been difficult at home. A few months ago our dad hurt his back at work. He’s a mechanic. He has been out of work ever since and thankfully his health insurance is good because Mom works at the hospital but he isn’t getting paid. They rejected his application for disability, and our parents got behind with the mortgage payments on our family home. Tucker had promised them to use his NHL sign up bonus to help with the payments, but his team decided to keep him here for another year, so that bonus is delayed. We were hoping to help with the money from the reality show, but we won’t see anything until camp is over.”
I squeeze her shoulder. “Oh, Talia. I had no idea.”
Her smile is uncannily similar to Tucker’s. “Yeah, we don’t want to make it a big deal. If everyone knew, people would ask us about it, and to be honest, it’s a relief not to talk about it here at camp.”
I get that. Sometimes keeping stressful things to oneself is a temporary relief from the situation. Not because you’reignoring it, but because you can let it exist in the back of your mind and let your brain work out a solution in the background. For me, it’s like when you’re watching a video on social media and it’s buffering if your Wi-Fi connection sucks.
“I understand, and I’ll keep it quiet. But if you ever want to talk about it to anyone other than Tucker, I’m here for you.”
Talia pulls me into a hug. “Thank you. Now let’s go and pose for some photos with our dolls.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IN THE DOLLHOUSE
COLSEN
The only thing I enjoy about the photo shoot is that the photographer hired by Carole and Lexi makes us pose with each cheerleader. It’s the only way I get to look at Taryn without fear of getting her in trouble.
Being at camp under the constant eyes of our coaches is stressful, and getting time together has been hard since they made us aware of the no fraternization rule.
