Dancing for the Lord: The Academy (11 page)

Which was probably one of the reasons she didn’t have her car.

Michael was trying to juggle both his crutches and the cell phone.  Danni could hear it, and it broke her heart.  If she’d just been there, she could have helped him carry things for a few days; but no, instead, she was an additional burden.  “I’m okay, Dragonfly,” he promised her again.  “Just sore, that’s all.  Ice every couple of hours and I’m even really good.  Just….” He hesitated.  “Want to keep talking to me for about fifteen minutes?” 

Which was how long he’d have ice on his knee.  Danni positively ached in sympathy. 

She had a hundred other things she ought to be doing.  If she was going to keep getting ahead in her classes, she had to keep pushing herself—there was no other way to do it.

She didn’t even hesitate.  “I’ve got all night if you need me.” 

Michael was as good as his word, though.  They stayed on the phone for fifteen minutes, took another five to say goodbye, and then he hung up.  He, too, had homework that he needed to get to, and while he would’ve gladly put it off, he was trying to stay on top of things.  The fewer classes he had his senior year, the more likely they were to be able to dance their hearts out. 

Danni called him every night that week—and when she got into an altercation with Katarina on Wednesday, she didn’t bother to tell him about it.  Michael had enough to deal with.  She wasn’t about to add to the burden he was carrying, not even a little bit.

It was her job to make sure that he was all right.

Their conversation dropped off somewhat near the middle of the next week.  The two of them had always shared everything with each other; but with Danni determinedly not telling Michael that Katarina was going out of her way to make her life miserable and Michael doing his best not to whine and worry Danni, the conversation tended to dwindle in a hurry.  Several nights in a row, Danni ended up putting her phone on speakerphone and quietly doing her homework while Michael did his.  They talked from time to time—dry comments about whatever they were reading, especially when it happened to coincide—but it was mostly just companionable silence.

She missed him.  He missed her.  And at that moment, it seemed as though the miles separating them were insurmountable.

Danni wasn’t sure when she had started dreading Thanksgiving.  She just knew that it had happened.  Rehearsals for the Nutcracker were supposed to begin in earnest then, as they would be only two weeks away from the production.  She should have been ecstatic.  Instead, she was missing home more than ever.

It probably didn’t help that Katarina was still going out of her way to make snide comments about Danni’s dancing whenever possible.  It definitely didn’t help that she could tell that Michael was still hurting and doing his best not to let her find out about it.  She just wanted to go
home
.

Some of the girls were going home for Thanksgiving—the ones who had family in the area.  They would only be gone for the day itself, coming back on Friday and resuming practice as usual; but they’d be able to see their families.

Danni knew she wouldn’t be one of them.  If she asked, her dad would probably come up and get her; but her parents had already discussed it and decided that the drive was just too long.  She would be asking for trouble if she tried to get herself back; and her father couldn’t afford to come in so late Friday night, not with work the next morning.

Grimly, Danni set herself to just getting through the week.  If she could only get through the week, she would be all right.

Classes at the Academy would continue as usual through Wednesday.  As long as she forced herself to concentrate on that, she would be all right…wouldn’t she?

Lord, give me the strength to get through this holiday,
Danni prayed desperately. 
I want to go home.  I want so much to see Mom and Dad, to visit with Carolyn, to spend some time with Michael….

Actually, what she wanted desperately was to
dance
with Michael. Pairs class remained torture.  Katarina was absolutely determined to put her through the wringer; and thanks to Katarina’s clear disapproval, none of the girls seemed to want to have anything to do with her.  They would dance with her—it was better than being the odd man out, as Danni had realized someone must have been before she came into the class—but not by much.  The boys danced with her sometimes.  Josh was even nice; and he didn’t seem to think much of Katarina, which helped raise his opinion of her even more.  He was, however, still fiercely loyal to his Allie.  He didn’t like her most of the time; but he would dance with her, because she was his partner. 

He wouldn’t be setting her aside. 

On top of that, dancers had been selected from their class to dance a few pas de deux in
The Nutcracker
.  Danni hadn’t been surprised that her name wasn’t on the list, but she was disappointed.  She had been hoping to be one of the elite—one of the few who actually had two roles in the ballet.

She found herself dragging the weekend before Thanksgiving week.  It was silly to let herself get so down.  She knew what she ought to do with the holiday:  dig in and worship God with all of her heart and soul.  She should be thankful that she was here, thankful that she was living out her dream, instead of focusing on everything that she’d had to leave behind to do it.

I knew following your plan for me would mean making sacrifices, Lord.  That hasn’t changed.  I shouldn’t treat it like it has.  I just wish so much that I could go home for the holiday.

No, it’s not even that, Lord.  I just want to see a friendly face. I want to be where I’m needed again.  I know I can’t be a prima ballerina everywhere I go; but here, I’m just another face in the crowd!  Lord…let someone need me this Thanksgiving.  Let there be a reason that I’ve stayed.

In the end, however, Danni resorted to the one thing that she
knew
would get her heart back where it belonged:  she got up early on Monday morning and slipped into her room nearly thirty minutes before Mr. Orengo was supposed to be there.  She pulled the CD case out of her dance bag and slipped in another praise and worship CD, this one a mix that Michael had made for her.  It contained a selection of their favorite songs, most of them songs that they had danced to together. 

The CD had stopped before she realized that Mr. Orengo was late.  A little bit late would have surprised her, since he had indicated during her first class that most of the time, he would give her a chance to warm up before he came in; but for him to be more than thirty minutes late, something had to be going on. 

Danni was on the verge of setting out to look for him when he finally appeared—scattered, absentminded, and with an air that suggested that his focus might be somewhere else entirely. 

She frowned.  “Is everything all right?” she asked cautiously, when he had failed to instruct her for several minutes.

“What?  Oh, yes, yes, Danielle, everything is fine.  Ah—carry on on your own today, all right?”  And with that, he disappeared—more than thirty minutes before the end of her session.

Madalyn had warned her that it would happen eventually.  The instructors didn’t really have two hours to devote to every student every day; and while they would work hard with them for the first few weeks, as they proved themselves capable of handling their own sessions, they would be permitted more and more time alone.  Eventually, there would be a weekly two-hour session, with the rest of it considered free practice time. 

Danni had looked forward to it, actually.  Under Mr. Orengo’s eye, she hadn’t been as free to work on her own choreography, and that was half of what she loved about ballet.  Having it happen like this, however, just left her confused.

Lord, you know what’s going on,
she prayed at last as she slipped back into her jeans and headed for English class. 
Be with whatever the problem is; be
in
whatever the problem is; and help me to keep my focus where it belongs, rather than dwelling on matters that don’t concern me.

She wasn’t sure whether or not the prayer had made her feel easier.

English class progressed relatively normally.  At least
that
teacher didn’t seem to have lost her mind entirely.  When she got to Mme Renault’s class, however, everyone was in a flutter. 

“What’s going on?” she whispered to Madalyn as they warmed up at the barre.  Strange; this morning, she didn’t resent taking the time to warm up again as much as she usually did.  It was a good way to settle her uneasy thoughts. 

“Haven’t you
heard
?”  Madalyn sounded scandalized.  “I thought everyone knew!”

“Obviously I don’t, or I wouldn’t be asking,” she hissed back irritably.  “Now, come on—what’s happened?”

“There was an accident.”  Madalyn might have sounded a little bit gleeful as she said the words, but Danni thought better of her friend than that.  Surely it was just the pleasure of actually being the one to impart the information to her for the first time. 

“Who?” 

“Katarina!”  All right, some of the glee might have been personal and directed at the dancer who had been hurt…but no, that wasn’t fair.  Madalyn just wasn’t that kind of person. 

“What happened?”  Danni was beginning to get irritated with this game, pulling the information out of her friend piece by piece. 

“I don’t know, exactly—but she was dancing, and she fell.  She’s hurt pretty badly.”  Madalyn leaned in a little bit closer.  “They’re saying she might never be able to get it all back.  She fell
hard
.”  Her eyes glittered.  “Somebody said that it was her partner’s fault.” 

Danni just stared at her, all pretense of the warm-up routine set aside. 
Lord, be with them—with both of them,
she prayed silently. 
Katarina is sure to be devastated; and her partner, Nicholas…I’m sure he feels guilty whether it was his fault or not.  Be with them both.  Keep them.  Let Katarina heal quickly—and let them both know that you are in this, as well.
 

She could imagine how she would have felt if it had been her partner injured.  She wasn’t even thinking of Michael in that moment; she was just thinking of how she would feel if the person she was dancing with got hurt in the middle of a routine.  Partners were supposed to look out for one another.  If that failed—for whatever reason—it was heartbreaking for both parties. 

“What are you doing?” Madalyn wanted to know. 

Danni opened her eyes.  “Praying,” she admitted calmly. 

“Praying.” Madalyn’s eyebrows shot up.  “For Katarina?”

Danni nodded.  She didn’t want to add,
and Nicholas
.  She wasn’t sure Madalyn would be able to understand. 

Actually, it was pretty clear that Madalyn
didn’t
understand, especially as she shook her head in complete and utter disbelief. “Katarina hates you,” she pointed out.

“I know,” Danni agreed.

“And you’re praying for her.”

“Anyone can pray for the people who care about them.  Praying for your enemies—loving your enemies—that’s the hard part.” 

Madalyn shrugged.  “Better you than me,” she declared.

Now that Danni knew the truth, it was easy to see who among the dancers was a friend of Katarina’s—or, as Madalyn had pointed out early on, idolized her—and who disliked her, for whatever reason.  There were a lot of gleeful whispers behind hands, some of them even more obvious than Madalyn’s had been.  Others glowered at anyone who dared to smile on such a horrible day. 

Danni wasn’t actually sure which was worse:  the people who idolized Katarina, or the people who hated her.  She just knew that by the time she got to pairs class, she was ready to throw a screaming fit if anyone so much as whispered the other girl’s name.

Mlle Kirby, at least, didn’t seem to be overly affected.  She was standing at the front of the room just like always, her hands resting on her slender hips.  “All right, dancers, pair off,” she commanded.

Danni started to fade back to the back of the room, where she had been for the last couple of weeks.  She was happy there.  It didn’t give her much of a chance to shine; but at least she was able to work out the steps on her own, without feeling as though she was fumbling her way through them. 

A warm, masculine hand closed on her arm.  “Dance with me.  Please,” a hoarse male voice requested. 

She jerked around, looking up into the young man’s desperate golden eyes. 

“Please,” he whispered again. 

Well, Danni wasn’t heartless; and she certainly couldn’t abandon anyone who seemed that upset.  She nodded slightly, her heart in her throat. 

“Thank you.”  His shoulders slumped forward in sheer relief.  “I wasn’t sure—“ 

Mlle Kirby clapped her hands, and the young man fell silent.  “All right, dancers!” she commanded.  “I want you to go over the pattern that we were practicing three weeks ago—and dance it like you mean it!” 

Danni’s heart skipped a beat.  The pattern they had danced three weeks ago—but she hadn’t been in this class!  Usually, she would have just stepped off to the side
and watched for a round or two; but this was the first time she’d been able to dance the entire class with a guy since she’d come out here.  She didn’t want to blow it!