“Will she be coming later?” one of the other girls asked when Bianca ignored Eve.
“How should I know?” she snapped. “I ran into Collette in the hall and she passed along the message. She said her mom had a meeting with the board of trustees.”
“Is it about the Juilliard audition?” one of the girls asked.
I’d stopped listening the moment Bianca had said Collette’s name. I turned toward the door again. She was out there. Was she waiting for me?
Suddenly Bianca was right in front of my face, blocking my view of the door. “Are we keeping you from something, Mr. Morrison?”
Ryan gave a low whistle behind me. “Wow, Bee. Are you always this much fun or did we just catch you on a good day?”
One girl giggled behind me, and Bianca’s frown deepened. “Why are you even here, Ryan? It’s clear you don’t care about any of this.”
“News alert, Queen Bee.” He gestured around to the team. “None of us care about ballet, we’re just here because our coach is making us.”
“Oh, but we were just dying to get stuck teaching a bunch of meatheads remedial footwork,” she shot back, her tone dripping acid. “That’s not atalla waste of our precious rehearsal time.”
“Is your bun too tight, Bee? Is that why you walk around like you’ve got a stick up your butt?” Ryan sounded genuinely confused and I caught Eve trying valiantly not to grin.
Bianca’s scowl was terrifying as she leaned in until her nose nearly brushed his. “Just try to keep up.”
I heard Ryan’s soft laughter behind me as Bianca whipped around and headedtoward the front of the room.
My body was in motion before I even totally knew what I was doing.
“Where are you going, man?” Cooper asked. His question drew Bianca’s attention but I was already at the door when she spoke.
“Ethan, where do you think you’re going? We’re about to start.” Bianca called after me in an irritated tone that gave me a sort of satisfied feeling. I hated the way Collette seemed to bow down to this girl. Like, somehow, Bianca was better than her.
“You guys start without me,” I said, one hand on the door handle. “I’ve, uh…there’s something I have to do real quick.”
“Eth—” Bianca started.
But I was already out the door, turning to head down the hall and?—
Almost ran right into Collette.
I stopped short just in time, but the look she gave me while sitting cross-legged by the studio door was absurdly smug. “You need to look where you’re going.”
I crossed my arms and looked down at her. “And you need to stop sitting on the floor.”
She pursed her lips like she was thinking that over. “Touché.” She started to get to her feet and I reached a hand down to help her. She paused for a second, looking at my hand like she wasn’t sure what it was before continuing to her feet without my help.
It stung a bit, that she didn’t take my help, but Ibrushed it off. We were friends. “So, what are you doing out here?” I asked.
She smirked as she shoved a notebook into her bag. “Waiting for you, obviously.” She glanced over at the studio door. “What are you doing out here?”
“Looking for you. Obviously.”
She grinned and for a second I couldn’t quite remember how to breathe. Something about bringing air in and pushing it out. Her smile was unnervingly sweet, a distracting counterpoint to all her sarcasm and snark. It made me feel off balance.
“Bianca’s going to kill you if you skip class,” she said.
“I don’t care about Bianca.”
Her lips pressed together like she was trying not to laugh. “That won’t stop her from murdering you.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
