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“Hey,” I whine at the same time as Carter. I snatch it back and stuff it in my mouth while glaring at a smiling Presley. He has banana in his teeth but he’s still so attractive.
“Ah, memories,” Presley jests so I kick his foot under the table. “Ouch.”
“How was your first night in the trailer? I forgot to ask this morning.”
We didn’t do much talking at all this morning.
“We ended up going back to Carter’s for food and crashing there.” He shrugs his shoulders. “I’m coming over to grab my shit and see Paisley later.”
“I’ll take you,” Carter says and I turn to smile at him.
“You’re so swe—”
Before I can finish, our table is flanked by Lame, Lamer, and their posse.
“Can we talk to you three in private?” Michael asks, smiling politely. He winks at Asher and Alice, and Alice rests her chin on her hand and flutters her eyelashes.
“You can talk to me in private anytime.”
“You are shameless, Alice,” Asher hisses around a laugh.
Carter, whose arm is resting along the back of my chair, smirks at Michael. “About?”
“About the thing Hammond told us about this morning.”
I’m the rational one who nods and pats both Carter’s and Presley’s legs. “Come on, don’t be dicks.”
This morning the entire dance class was called to the studio where we were told we’d be performing at the winter dance, which is in approximately three weeks. Not a lot of time to prepare something special on top of everything else we’ve got going on, but we agreed anyway.
Michael wants us all to do something together as one big squad as opposed to two different groups and I think it’s a great idea. The guys, however, do not.
Still, we manage to talk them round and all agree to meet in the studio when school ends. Hammond has given Michael permission and the keys to utilize the space in preparation.
“Working with other dancers, learning new styles, tricks, and moves isn’t a bad thing this close to the national dance competition.”
Carter rolls his shoulders and clicks his neck. Presley kicks at a rock on the ground.
“We’ll go home first, yeah?” I suggest to Presley. “Go see Paisley, explain to Stanley why you need to lose an hour of work here and there, and then we’ll come back.”
Presley nods and we all turn back to the guys.
“We’re in.” I shake Michael’s hand and smile wickedly. “But if y’all can’t keep up, we’re not waiting for you.”
“Trust me, honey,” Penny, their female dancer, snaps with a smile while eyeing me up. “We can more than keep up.”
“Well, alright then.”
After school, Carter is nice enough to take Presley and me to my place so Presley can see his sister and talk to Stanley about switching his shifts around just while we prepare for the winter dance. Carter decides to wait in the car while Presley and I go inside. He says he doesn’t want to intrude when he wasn’t invited, which is ridiculous, but whatever.
We play with Paisley and Presley asks her if she’s happy here. I see him become visibly emotional when she replies that she never wants to leave. Of course she wants him to stay too but I think if he had any reservations about this being the right choice for her for now, they just vanished entirely.
“We’re going to visit your mom at seven if you want to join us, Presley?”
Presley nods. “That’d be great. Thanks.”
“Can I come?” I ask him softly.
“If you like.”
We speak to Stanley and because it’s for school he has no problem with it whatsoever. He also tells Presley that his father called this morning but Presley didn’t acknowledge it. To him, his father is dead because he almost killed his sister.
We head out again and pile into Carter’s car to then go back to school for an hour of practicing a new routine. It’s way more fun when it’s just the three of us but whatever.
“There’s gotta be something,” Presley demands of the doctor as he apparently does every time he visits his mom. “How can you just hear nothing?”
“Presley,” Rebecca warns, lifting her hand to him. She looks good today in comparison to how she usually does. “Come here, stop fretting.”
“I’m sorry,” the doctor says with a sad smile.
Stanley shakes his hand and Presley drops into the chair by his mom’s bed. We’ve been here for twenty minutes talking about school and life, and already my heart is breaking. Probably not my best choice of wording, what with Rebecca actually dying from a broken heart.
“So you’re dancing in the Christmas show?” Rebecca asks and I realize she’s directing the question at me.
I nod. “With Presley and a few others.”
“Are you a good dancer?”
“She’s incredible,” Presley answers for me and both Stanley and Lane look my way.
“You said you were okay, I guess,” Stanley puts in, making his voice high-pitched on the last part in an attempt to mimic me.
