AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m a little bummed, too,” I admitted. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t want Katy to get a bad impression of Lisa’s decisions, even if I didn’t agree. “But Blake is a great dancer, and I’m sure you’ll love her as a coach.” Not sure if that was true.
I saw Katy shrug through the rearview mirror. “She’s okay. She taught a couple classes this summer.”
“That’s right. You’ll have fun. Besides, I’m going to be there today, too.” I reached back and squeezed above her knee, sending her into a fit of giggles.
We got to the studio a few minutes early and headed into studio A for the rehearsal. A few other girls and parents were outside waiting.
“Are you coaching now?” one particularly snooty mom named Vicki asked. Her daughter, Olivia, was pretty mediocre, but Vicki had forced her into the top-tier team. She was Blake’s loudest supporter, and the biggest reason why I didn’t have these girls this year.
“I’m just here to help today,” I said with a smile.Don’t let her get to you.I waltzed into the empty studio and the girls followed me in.
I watched the clock as the time ticked by. 3:58. 3:59. 4:00. 4:01. 4:02. The eight girls milled around the room, practicing leg holds and pirouettes, but Blake was nowhere to be found.
I texted Lisa.Where is Blake?!?!
No response.
By 4:05, I decided it was time to get them started and warmed up. Vicki stared daggers at me through the window, but I got the girls spread out and turned up the music.
Blake finally strutted through the door at 4:09, an iced coffee in her hands and giant sunglasses covering her eyes. “Thanks for getting them warmed up! I’ll take it from here.” She waved me away, set down her bag, and pushed her giant sunglasses on top of her chic blonde bob.
When I didn’t walk out of the room, she furrowed her brow. “Didn’t Lisa just send you to start class?”
Well, this was awkward. “Uh, no. She asked me to come help out with coaching.”
Her eyebrows rose. “I don’t need help.”
I was going to kill Lisa. She didn’t tell her? “I’ll hang out, then. I won’t get in your way.” I unplugged my phone from the speaker system and curled up on the floor in the corner of the studio.
Pretending to busy myself on my phone, I witnessed one of the worst rehearsals in dance history. Blake had no plan. She asked them to do some turns, then took a solid five minutes to play around on her phone while the girls messed around. Then she asked them to do leg holds. Then five minutes on her phone. The cycle repeated until 4:50.
“Oh, this went by so quick! Great work today.” She gathered her things.
“Wait, we’re done?” Katy asked. Leave it to my sister to call her out.
“Yeah, I have an appointment. See you next week.” She waved them all out.
The girls filed out of the room. Katy bounced over to me, and I sent her to her next class with the rest of the girls so I could talk to Blake alone. She had her huge sunglasses back on and her bags loaded on her arms.
“Hey, Blake, can we talk for a second?” I asked.
She sighed and checked her watch. “Be quick. I have a nail appointment.”
A nail appointment? You’ve got to be kidding me.“I was wondering what your plan was for the team.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why do you ask?”
I weighed my options. Should I tell her that Lisa wanted me to help? No, that needed to come from her.
“I was just curious. I wanted to make sure our teams didn’t have the same music or anything.”
She laughed. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. Our teams are on totally different levels. Even if they had the same music, it wouldn’t matter.”
I gritted my teeth. “Well, my girls would be really disappointed if they were the same. So, what’s your plan?”Come on, come on. Give me something.
She sighed and pushed her sunglasses on top of her head. “I haven’t really thought about it yet. I’ll figure it out.”
“Style? Costumes? Choreography? Music?” I pressed.
