Page 6 of Tell No Lies

The final bell rang, and I gathered my things and pushed out the door before Luke could stand up. Interacting with him wasn’t something I could handle today.

I made it to my car quickly and slipped behind the wheel before the rest of the students made it to the lot. Dance was the perfect distraction, and I wanted to get there as quickly as possible. Well, that and I didn’t want to have to talk to anyone. I needed a few moments to compose myself and shake off the feelings that lingered every time I saw Luke.

Three

Despite competition season being right around the corner, the studio was peaceful. Well, what I considered peaceful. A mixture of music floated in the air as I made my way to the back room. I stole a peek into the first class I passed and caught toddlers dressed in light pink leotards, spinning at random intervals. It was adorable to watch them try to master the beginning steps, and the instructor looked like she was doing her best not to laugh.

I continued with a smile on my face. This world was so much easier to navigate. There were no boys who had broken my heart. Nothing to make Brandon stress over me. Here, I was free to let go of my day and be around people who felt the same way.

The changing rooms were all open since I’d gotten here early, so I took my pick and dressed out for my first class.

No one else was here yet, so I turned on the lights and music and started stretching before the other girls slowly filed into the room. Cassie sat next to me on the hardwood and began warming up as well.

“You’re here early. You’re usually rushing in right before class starts.” She smiled like she was joking, but she was right.

“I snuck out of the lot without seeing anyone.”

She laughed quietly. “Ah, so Mike didn’t stop you and ask you if you were okay, safe, happy, warm …”

I couldn’t help but stop her by sticking my tongue out. “Whatever.”

We both laughed but stopped when our instructor walked in. Miss Amy was strict and did not allow any sort of distraction in her class, including amusement or enjoying life in any form. The only thing that made me tolerate her was her choreography.

With competitions starting soon, there was no room for error. Our ballet routine was immensely difficult, but when all the girls were on beat, it could be flawless. We had been warned at our last class that today was going to be grueling.

We ran through our stretches and warm-ups before Miss Amy stopped the music. “In position. Now.”

She didn’t have to yell to get our attention. We scrambled into our opening formation and waited. She slowly made her away around the group, analyzing every detail of each dancer. She didn’t speak as she tapped various body parts with her wooden pointer. I sometimes thought she could use that as a weapon if she wanted, like an old schoolteacher.

Once we were all in perfect form, she leaned back on the barre, facing us. She stared us down for a few uncomfortable seconds then began tapping out counts. At the beginning of the second eight-count, we began to move as one.

We made it through two full eight-counts before she stopped us. This was going to be a long class.

“Are you girls even trying?”

A couple of the girls dropped their heads, knowing they had messed up. It was too soon into practice to get down. If they gave up now, we would never make it through the full routine, and we would pay for it later.

“I feel like I’m watching the toddlers down the hall.”

Well, that was unnecessarily harsh.

“Move back to the opening formation.”

Without uttering a sound, we backtracked into the positions we had just left.

“If you are all ready to begin, let’s try this again. This will be perfected at the end of this class, or you will all be coming in on your Saturday off.” A few of the girls gasped. My eyes shot up and met Cassie’s. She looked just as shocked as I felt. We would miss the trip if we couldn’t get this together.

“Again. Five-six-seven-eight …”

This time I could feel the girls around me straining to get every move right. We made it more than halfway through the routine before we were stopped.

“Again.”

We hurried back to the starting formation and waited to be counted in.

This pattern continued for over fifty minutes. We were already over the class time, but with no group after ours, Miss Amy felt she could keep us as long as necessary.

“Are you all trying to frustrate me?”