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Why was I so worried? I pulled up to a red light and tried to figure out what had me so worked up.
“If we had just started dating now, I think it would be different,” I explained. “But we’ve been meeting up and hanging out this whole time behind her back. I don’t want her to feel betrayed.”
“I could see that,” he mumbled. “I don’t want to ruin anything while my relationship with her is so fragile.” He paused for a moment, and I imagined him running his hands through his perfect brown hair. “All right. We’ll wait to tell her until I’m on more solid ground with her.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
He exhaled. “Have you talked to Lisa today?”
That was an abrupt change. “Uh, no. But I’ll see her this afternoon.”
“Okay. Just checking.”
“All right, weirdo. I’m at the studio now. I’ll call you later.”
“Sounds good. And I guess I’ll see you Saturday. At my parents’ house.”
A chill ran through me. “I can’t wait.”
I ended the call with Scott and grabbed my bag and water, then headed into the studio. After two hours of private lessons, I walked into Lisa’s office to find her basically bursting with joy.
“Ivy! There you are.” She ran and squeezed me tightly in a hug. We dancers never did things by halves. “I have the best news. Sit, sit.”
I took a seat in one of the chairs. “Did you fire Blake?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I know she’s a mess, but the moms would be furious. No, this is huge. We got a giant donation to the studio, and now we don’t have to worry about losing our space. We don’t even have to raise tuition.”
I blinked a few times, processing this drastic change. We didn’t have to raise tuition. The studio could keep running. My parents wouldn’t have to worry about paying more money for Katy. I couldn’t believe it. “That’s incredible! So, we’re good on money now?”
“We’ll be set for at least the next year,” she said.
“Where did this donation come from?” I asked. It seemed completely out of the blue.
She rifled through a few papers, trying to find a name. “I haven’t found out yet. But this does mean that I might be able to pay you for helping with Blake’s teams.” Lisa brought me out of my stupor.
“That would be amazing.”
“Speaking of which, here’s Blake,” she said.
Blake strutted into the office, iced coffee and giant purse in hand. Her bug-eyed sunglasses were already perched on her head this time. “Already talking about me? I’m flattered.” She laughed, but it sounded like a horse giving a whinny. I wanted to smack her.
Lisa could tell and gave me some serious warning eyes. “I was just telling Ivy that we received a very generous donation, which will allow us to keep running without raising tuition.”
Blake shrugged. “They should be paying more money for the training I’m giving them.”
The training she’s giving them? Someone hold my earrings.
Lisa cleared her throat. “Yes, we’re very glad to have you here. We wanted to talk to you about the ideas Ivy had for your teams. She’s been very successful with concepts and costuming over the last few years, so she wanted to help out where she could.”
Yeah, I definitely did not want to help Blake.
Lisa made some dangerous eyes at me. Apparently, I was not hiding my feelings very well. I cleared my throat. “For the minis, we were thinking of doing something from the Little Mermaid Broadway show. The song ‘She’s In Love’ is adorable.”
“Musical theater? Pass.” Blake waved her hand away.
My eyes flitted over to Lisa for help. Musical theater was perfect for that age group. They loved playing characters. Lisa shook her head slightly and motioned with her hand for me to continue.
“For the juniors, they could be fifties housewives. We could set really cute, old-fashioned choreography.” I pulled out my sketches. “And the costumes could look like this.”
