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Lia doesn’t answer, and I get an uneasy feeling. Damn, I really shouldn’t be here.

“Travis, I don’t think I should—” I begin, but Pearson silences me with a glance before turning back to Lia.

“Phoenix always revealed too much emotion when he danced. He always showed more of himself than the role demanded.”

I grimace and swallow the protest that’s on the tip of my tongue because, unfortunately, he’s right. That hasn’t changed in recent years, no matter how hard I’ve tried.

“That’s why I want the two of you to rehearse together for Lia’s role,” he announces. His words hit me like a blow. Lia too.

“What?” we both blurt out simultaneously, sounding a little too shocked. He can’t possibly mean that. But judging by the look on his face, he’s dead serious.

“I realize that this is an unusual approach, but think of it as a lesson for both of you. I’m convinced that you can do the role justice if you learn to let go, Lia. And I believe it will do you good to be mentored by someone you don’t know as well as Francesca. I have a feeling it will be easier for you to come out of your shell if you’re working with someone who hasn’t been teaching and evaluating you every day for the past three years.”

I inhale sharply and almost choke on my own spit. What the heck is going on here?

“And, Phoenix, I hope you will also learn a lot from working together. Francesca sees so much potential in you, but you’re not quite ready for us to trust you with the main performance, even though you know the choreography, of course.” Of course. He knows that I danced Swan Lake in New York. “That’s why Francesca and I believe it makes the most sense to have you rehearse together.”

Everything is urging me to tell Pearson that this is the worst idea he’s ever had, but I keep my mouth shut.

“You can learn a lot from each other, and Lia will be able to handle it if your corrections and explanations aren’t quite as precise as they should be, Phoenix. She has enough experience.”

Yeah, she probably does. Still, anything would make more sense than putting Lia and me in a room alone together. How can he not see that?

Because he trusts you.

Yeah, he trusts me, and I don’t deserve that trust at all. Just because Lia and I haven’t spoken in two weeks doesn’t mean I don’t think about her far too often.

“Why are you doing this? Why do you want to help me?” Lia’s hands are clenched into small fists in her lap, and there’s a note of mistrust in her voice.

“Because I want the best for all my students,” Pearson replies with surprising gentleness. “At this school, we value your ability to develop to your full potential. We want to do everything we can to support you in the best possible way. Maybe at the end of the semester we’ll find out it didn’t work, but at least we can try, right?”

“Yes, but why me?”

“Because you deserve it.” Pearson looks at her like he knows something I don’t. “You’re so focused on being perfect that you forget to enjoy yourself sometimes.”

She lowers her gaze, and I hate seeing her like this. I hate having to be part of this conversation.

I clear my throat. “So that’s the plan? Lia and I will spend our afternoons together rehearsing the leads?”

Pearson nods. “Right. Of course, Tyler will be there too as Charlie’s understudy. I’ll let him know soon, but I wanted to talk to you two first. However, he doesn’t have to be there all the time. That would mess up our plan, since he knows you quite well by now,” he says, turning to Lia. “That’s why he’ll also be working with Charlie and Francesca. I’m quite convinced that this will help you, Lia.” His gaze becomes a little gentler, but she can’t see it because she’s still refusing to look at him.

I’m not sure how he manages to do that. Maybe it’s a gift one needs as the director of a ballet school, but I almost believe that he knows what’s going on in her head. I wish he’d tell me, because I have no clue.

“Why couldn’t you tell me this alone? Why did he have to be here?” Lia blurts out all at once. She gives me an accusing glance and loses her composure for a moment but immediately catches herself again. She bites her lower lip, as though she could take back her words that way.

My shoulders cramp. Yeah, why did I have to be here? Especially when she so obviously has a problem with it. Pearson could have predicted that. Damn, even I could have predicted that if I’d known what he wanted to talk about.

“Because it was important to me that you both understand why I’m making this suggestion.”

We understand very well, but unfortunately, we’re the only ones who know why the idea is fucking awful. Except we can’t tell him why. Part of me wants to talk my way out of this, but that would be more than a little stupid. Aside from the fact that there’s no remotely plausible excuse we can give him without revealing our secret, Pearson is giving us both an opportunity that we would normally almost never get. We’re supposed to learn to get the best out of ourselves, as dancer and teacher, and he’s probably right that we could learn a lot together.

And we could also get ourselves into all kinds of trouble. Because spending that much time together is going to mess everything up.

“However, if you feel uncomfortable with my suggestion, I can ask Miss Chelsea to rehearse with you,” Pearson continues.

I automatically hold my breath. I have no idea what answer I’m hoping for.

Lia hesitates for a moment and then shakes her head, and I breathe a sigh of relief.