Dancing for the Lord: The Academy (16 page)

She nodded. 

“Now.  I would like to do it one more time—cement it in your memory, if you will.  Nicholas, do you mind if I borrow your partner for just one more repetition?”

Nick waved him on without lifting his right hand.  Once he had sat down, he had finally realized how exhausted he was; he wasn’t getting up until he had to. 

Androv did not offer to let him run through the last repetition of the dance with her, Danni noticed.  Did he sense Nick’s exhaustion and pain?  Or did he simply believe that her partner had been sitting there long enough to get cold, and believe it wasn’t worth the wasted time for him to warm back up?  Not to mention the fact that Nick had just replaced the ice pack on his shoulder….

Then she was swept into the dance again; and as always, she saw nothing, thought of nothing, but the steps and the man dancing alongside her.  Androv wasn’t one of the men she was so comfortable with; but he was a joy to dance with nonetheless, and his style was enough like Nick’s that it was easy to make the faint adjustments in order to bring herself perfectly in tune with him. 

“Beautiful,” Androv declared.  “Perfect.  Now, first thing in the morning, you two—but run it only once.  I will come by…around eight?”

They nodded.  They had been planning to start practice around seven anyway, and the first time, they always walked through the steps as a warm-up. 

“Good.  Now, if you still have it, Danni, you won’t need me; but if you don’t, then we will dance it again, and again, until you have found the steps again—and then you may dance your last round with your partner.”  He smiled.  “Now—away with you both.  I believe dinner is long past.” 

With a glance at her watch and a near-tangible shock, Danni realized that he was right:  it was nearly eight o’clock.  There wasn’t even a chance that she would be able to find something already hot in the kitchen—but at least Mrs. Baxter would have noticed
her absence and made sure that there was a plate for her in the fridge.  Nick’s house mother would not be half so kind. 

“I’ll share, if you want to come back with me,” she offered as they gathered their dance bags. 

“I appreciate the offer.”  His golden eyes were warm; but she could still see the exhaustion beneath that warmth.  “But honestly, Danni, I’m going to grab a power bar and some Advil and fall into bed.  I need the sleep if you want me to be any use to you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”  She touched his cheek gently.  “Take it easy tonight, okay?  I’ll see you here in the morning.” 

He looked surprised.  “That’s it?” he demanded.

“What?” Now it was her turn to be confused. 

“You’re not going to whine about me abandoning you?”

“Nick.”  There was that smile again, warming both of them in the same moment.  “You’ve pushed yourself for me all week.  I can’t promise that I won’t work ahead in some class or another, but I’m not going to be angry with you for needing a night off.”  She grinned.  “Besides, it’ll give me a chance to call Michael.”

“You still haven’t gotten in touch with him, huh?” he wanted to know.

“Nope.”  Danni rolled her eyes.  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think there were demons conspiring to keep us apart.  Since I’m smarter than that, I’m just going to go with the theory that he’s been almost as busy as I have.” 

“I feel for him, then.”  Nick walked her in the direction of her house as long as the path coincided with his own; but when it came to the point where they needed to separate, he didn’t linger.

Take care of him, Lord,
Danni prayed as she watched him walk away. 
He’s done a lot for me this week—and I know he’s pushed harder than he should have because of it.  Don’t let him hurt any more than he has to.
  Advil probably wasn’t going to be potent enough to take all of the pain away; but Danni prayed fervently that it would make enough of a difference to at least let him sleep.  Surely Nick deserved that much. 

As she trudged toward her own house, however, Danni’s thoughts shifted away from her new partner and back to the one she had left behind.  By the time she reached the house, simply imagining Michael’s voice had given her a renewed surge of energy; and after she bolted down the plate of food that had been left out for her and got ready for bed, she called him.

He picked up on the second ring.  “Danni!  I was beginning to think you had dropped off the face of the earth or something.  What’s been going on!”

She leaned back against a pile of pillows, a genuine smile spreading across her face.  “Michael, you’re never going to believe it.  I’m dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy!”

There was a moment of utter silence. “I’m sorry, Dragonfly, the connection must have gone bad,” he informed her.  “Because I could have sworn you said—“

“The Sugar Plum Fairy!”  She practically crowed it, remembering only at the last minute to keep her voice down.  Katarina’s room was on the third floor of the house and at the other side, but it would be just her luck if the other girl walked by just in time to hear her exulting in her new role.  “The girl who was supposed to have it got hurt—and I
feel so bad for her, Michael, but really, I’m so excited I can’t stand it.  This is my
dream
role!” 

“Congratulations!” There wasn’t even the faintest hint of envy or disappointment in Michael’s voice now.  He cared too much about her for that. 

“Michael, you’ve got to come see me,” Danni told him.  “The first performance is for family and friends—tell me you’ll come.”

“If your parents don’t mind me tagging along, I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.”  When she told him the date however, she could practically hear his face falling.  “Oh, man—that’s the day of our
Nutcracker
, too.”

“And you’re dancing in it,” she whispered.

“Yeah.”  Michael groaned.  “I could quit,” he offered.

“No—don’t quit, Michael.  It’s okay.”  Danni squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to prevent the sudden surge of tears that were threatening behind her eyelids.  “Someone will videotape it—I’ll send it to you, okay?”

“Definitely,” he swore.  “And hey—I’ll be thinking of you every second.”

“Oh, no you won’t,” she teased.  “Who are you dancing with out there, huh?”

“That’s not the point.  I’ll be
wishing
every moment that she was you,” he informed her. 

“That’s not very fair,” Danni had to point out.

“Probably not.”  Michael was perfectly cheerful about it.  “And I’ve got to admit, I owe her.  She’s been good about keeping an eye on me and making sure I don’t dance for too long.”

“Yeah?  How’s that knee of yours holding up, anyway?” Danni wanted to know.

“It’s holding.  Still wearing a brace for class most nights, but I think I’ll be good by the time the Christmas performance rolls around.  Say, Dragonfly, you going to be in town for it?”

Danni grimaced.  “They’re asking the primary cast not to go home for the holidays,” she admitted grimly.  “We’re not dancing on Christmas, but we are two days later—and the way the weather’s looking, there’s too good a chance we’d get snowed in.”

“What, you don’t have understudies?” he teased.

“No.”  And Danni’s voice took on the same flat quality Nick’s had possessed the day she’d asked that same question.  “No, I don’t have an understudy.  It—the girl who was supposed to dance it got hurt, and she apparently didn’t believe in understudies.” 

Michael was silent for several seconds, trying to process that one.  “Doesn’t…believe…in understudies,” he said slowly.

“Yeah.”  Danni’s voice was grim.  “She informed them, when they asked her if there was someone that she would prefer to have as her understudy, that she would ‘prefer’ not to have to worry about someone standing in the wings, eager to see her fail.” 

“Well—“ Michael stopped.  “I can’t blame her…but I don’t agree with her, either,” he said slowly.

“You have to know Katarina to know how it would have come out sounding, too,” she admitted.  “She’s not the nicest person I’ve met since I came here.”

“Wait—is that the girl who was so determined to see you fail before?  And now you’ve got her part?”  Michael shook his head.  “You’re getting in over your head, Dragonfly.”

“Her part and her partner,” Danni informed him.  “Which is worse, because Nick is pretty much the best guy out here.”

“Oh, so it’s ‘Nick,’ now, is it?” Michael teased.  Thankfully, he was still showing no signs of jealousy.  Danni was relieved by that; she didn’t know what she would have done if Michael had decided to be
jealous
of her. 

“Turns out, he pretty much hates Nicholas,” she informed him.  “So it’s Nick…but the teachers insist on referring to him as Nicholas, so sometimes….” She shrugged, knowing that he would hear it in her voice even though he couldn’t see her. 

“Well, I wish you the best,” he informed her. 

“Why the sudden optimism?” she demanded suddenly.  “I thought you were going to be grumbling about how I ought to be missing you more, or something.”

Michael laughed.  “Honestly?  I made it all day at school today without the brace.  It’s the first time in weeks I’ve been able to do that, and I’m taking the opportunity to rejoice.  Nothing is going to get me down today.  And besides….” His voice turned teasing again.  “The more status you get now, the better my chances when I finally get out there with you.  I mean, you won’t leave me in the dirt completely, now will you?”

“Not a chance,” Danni informed him fervently.  “You’re still my best friend, Michael.  Always.” 

“Good.  You just make sure you don’t forget it, huh?”  He sighed.  “I would happily have stayed your partner forever, Danni—but I’m happy for you, too.  You need to have these experiences out there—and it’s not like I’m dancing solo.”

“Good.”  She meant it, too.  “You weren’t designed for solo work.  It’s a pas de deux for you.” 

“And you, Dragonfly.”  He smiled; she could hear it in his next words.  “Sounds like you’re on the verge of falling asleep on the phone with me.”

“I am,” she admitted cheerfully.  “It’s been a long few days.  Remember, I’m cramming a lot of practice into two weeks.”

“You get to be a prima ballerina, and you’ll be doing that all the time,” he reminded her warmly.

“Yes, but I’m
not
a prima ballerina yet.”  Although she was dancing the prime role, and she knew it.  “Besides, I don’t want to mess this up.”

“You won’t,” Michael informed her warmly.  “You can do this. For now, though, go to sleep—before I end up having to hang up on you.  I always feel bad when I have to do that.”

“Once!” she protested.  “You’ve done it once!”

“And once was more than enough.”  He sobered.  “Take care of yourself, Danni.  I’ll see you soon, all right?  And…I’ll be praying.”

She fell asleep with a smile on her face that night—and every night, all weekend.  She was dancing the way she was meant to dance, and living out the dream.  It didn’t get any better than this.

Thanksgiving was over and done before Danni even noticed its passage.  If she thought about it at all, it was with a fond nod to the holiday, a brief reflection on her family and friends back home, and how they would be preparing for the day.  Suddenly, the last week of rehearsals prior to the performance was on them, and Danni knew full well that if she didn’t push herself, and push hard, she was never going to be ready.

It seemed impossible that she would ever achieve the effortless grace that Katarina had displayed in all of her dances.  Katarina had been given weeks more to work on it—no, more than that, Danni thought.  She’d been preparing for it all along, simply
assuming
that she was going to be the Sugar Plum Fairy.  She, on the other hand, had been absolutely astounded to have the role land in her lap; and now that she had it, she wasn’t entirely certain that she had any idea what to
do
with it. 

Dance.  Dance her heart out, again and again, pouring herself into the dance as though she had never done it before.  That was the only way to do it. 

And Nick was with her every step of the way.  That was one thing that Danni was desperately grateful for:  no matter how long the day might have been, Nick was right there beside her, encouraging her, insisting that she was doing better than anyone could legitimately expect of her.  She didn’t believe his flattering words; but she appreciated them nonetheless.  It was clear that he meant them.

And you mean them, too, don’t you, Lord?
She prayed, in one of her rare free moments. 
You’ve asked me to go out there and do my best, and I’ve done exactly that every step of the way.  You wouldn’t ask anything more of me.

Once she finally allowed herself to take a breath—once she finally accepted that she was truly doing her best, and that while she might be disappointed in herself at times, everyone else was more than pleased with her—Danni began to notice other things, too.

The fact that Nick was in more pain than he was letting on, for example. 

“If you couldn’t do another round, why didn’t you
say
so?” she demanded heatedly, her hands on her hips as she glared at him.