One of the film crew that has been following our trainers everywhere comes to film whatever is about to go down.
“Are you ok? Did you get injured? I’ve never seen you make so many mistakes.”
She looks genuinely concerned and disappointed, and I hate the feeling that I’m letting her down.
“No, ma’am. I’m not injured.”
“This isn’t like you, Taryn. You’ve been my best dancer since day one.”
I hang my head. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“If you had danced like you did this morning, you wouldn’t be at training camp. You would’ve been cut way before the final selection. As it is, this morning you did worse than the girls we are watching for potential dismissal. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, ma’am. I just had a bad night and I couldn’t sleep. I’m just really tired.”
To my surprise, Lexi’s expression softens. “I understand. Carole and I know how much we’re asking of you and your teammates. We know the physical and mental toll training camp takes because we’ve been in your shoes before. And even now, we’ve barely seen our families since we started the audition process.”
I hadn’t thought about how demanding camp is for our coaches, but I guess Lexi is right. Even though they don’thave to go through the physical exertion we do, our trainers are here twenty-four seven. They work just as hard as we do, and if we feel under pressure, I can only imagine the expectations and responsibilities that weigh on their shoulders.
“Ok. I’ll tell you what,” Lexi clears her throat. “We have two more hours of rehearsing after lunch.”
I nod. I know the schedule.
Lexi continues. “Then we were planning to give you the rest of the afternoon off before we see you at the arena at seven p.m.. How about you just skip the last rehearsal and catch up on your sleep so you’re refreshed for tonight’s performance?”
“Ma’am, I don’t?—”
“You do, Taryn. There’s no shame in admitting that you’re struggling. Unfortunately, camp is condensed into a handful of weeks, and we can’t make many allowances, but I think you need to rest.”
I know Lexi is right. “Thank you, ma’am. Does this mean that I’m not performing tonight?”
“That is up to you.” She says. “We need to make our final cuts by next week. As you know, we’ll announce the final thirty-two live after the Cove Knights’ final game. It would be important to see all the dancers perform tonight. If this were someone else, I would be nervous to have them perform after skipping the final rehearsal. But when we started learning tonight’s routine yesterday, you had it down on the first try. So I know that this morning’s disastrous training session was just a fluke due to lack of sleep.”
Her words should make me feel relieved, and they do. But relief isn’t my only emotion. There’s a part of me that wouldn’t have been completely devastated if Lexi had asked me to sit tonight’s performance out. I filethat feeling aside for later and nod at the team’s chief choreographer. “Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate it.”
The older woman offers me a nod of her own. “I hope today will serve as a learning opportunity for you, Taryn. We expect flawless performance and professional conduct from our dancers at all times. That, however, includes knowing when you’re not in a condition to perform. So it’s your responsibility to ensure that if tonight you aren’t back to your usual self, you’ll come to me before you have to be called out.”
The implication that if I fuck up tonight, there are going to be consequences is abundantly clear.
“Yes. Ma’am.”
“Now go and rest. See you at seven in the locker room.”
As I leave Lexi’s office, I start walking toward the dining hall. I check my phone and find a message from Jodie. As expected, she’s worried about what Lexi wanted to talk about in her office.
My best friend isn’t the only person who messaged me though. The second message is from Tucker.
Despite the disaster I caused yesterday, he wanted to check that I’m ok.
Tucker: Hey baby, are you ok? Coach has just released us after morning skate and I’ve spent the last hour trying to establish a solid pre-game routine. I hope that something I do will stand out. So if we win tonight, I’ll have a new lucky charm. I’m about to make myself a PB&J for lunch; that’s a possible good luck ritual. Then I’ll take a nap. It’s something a lot of NHL players swear by on game day. I hope your rehearsal goes well. I just wanted to let you know that I miss you. Kissy face emoji.
I smile as I reread his message again and again. Tucker isn’t just smoking hot and funny. He’s also surprisingly sweet, and that is my favorite thing about him.
An idea makes its way into my head. What if I could help Tucker with a new good luck ritual? Maybe we could nap together, and I have an idea to help him relax.
I change course and head to the housing building. If I hurry, I should get to Tucker’s apartment while the cheerleaders are still on lunch, so there’s very little chance of being seen.
“Hey Tar-Tar,” Mack, Colsen, and Nash are closing the apartment’s door behind them.
