Dancing for the Lord: The Academy (3 page)

The drive to the Academy was long and quiet.  Mr. Wilkerson had never been much of one for words; and while his daughter’s nerves might have been more settled if they had spend the miles in idle chatter, she also appreciated the time to herself, time in which she could begin to put her own thoughts in order again.

It was from her father, she knew, that she had developed her solitary nature.  While her mother preferred to pray alongside others, both Danni and her father preferred quiet, peace, and oneness with the Lord.  They knew that where two or three were gathered in the name of Jesus, He would always be there among them; and they both felt that there was a time and a place for that sort of worship.  Private prayer, however, was intended to be exactly that, a time for contemplation that was shared only with God. 

They were together on that long drive; but each of them took the time for their own thoughts as the miles flowed away.  Danni had no idea what her father was thinking, but she bowed her head and gave herself over to God.

I know that this is going to be a good thing, God,
she prayed silently. 
You’ve been sending me this way for a long time.  I thank you for letting me in my junior year.  Sure, I’m a couple of months behind, and that’s going to make it hard—but help me catch up fast, okay? Let me start my senior year with the advantages that most people get when they’re accepted to the Academy junior year.  And Michael…Lord, let Michael be able to come in and get his classes out of the way in a hurry.  I know it will be harder for him.  He’s never been as good at academics as I am, but he’ll catch up soon enough—and he’s taking a lot of senior-level courses this year.
  They’d planned it that
way on purpose, when they had thought that she wasn’t going to be going to the Academy. The fewer classes they had to worry about then, the less time they would have to take away from their dancing.

Then she had been accepted.  That was the thing that Danni still didn’t believe—the thing that she probably wouldn’t believe until she was actually in her first dance class, in the familiar black leotard and pink tights, her pointe shoes on her feet. 

And maybe not even then.

Thoughts of Michael, however, took her mind and her prayers in a completely different direction.

Lord…
Y
ou alone know how much I’m going to miss Michael this next year.  I know it’s probably
Y
our plan that we be apart, but I’m not sure I know how to do anything without him.  He’s been my best friend and my partner for so long; and out here, since I’m not coming with my partner, it might be a long time before I get to dance with anybody.  Only the best girls will be given partners.  They probably won’t even let me in partners class until senior year!
  Oddly, that thought, at least, was comforting.  Danni wouldn’t have any idea what to do in a partners class without Michael; and on top of that, she would be missing him fiercely.  At least if it was senior year before she got put in one, she would be able to wait for him. 

On the other hand, dancing with a partner was one of her favorite things about ballet.  She loved the way the music wrapped around them, carrying them through one phase of the dance and then another until they were so completely wrapped up in it and one another that it was impossible to tell which of them was leading and which was following. 

God…it’s going to be hard, going without a partner. You know that given a choice, I would much rather dance a pas de deux than dance a solo.  But
Y
ou brought me here without Michael for a reason; and I trust
Y
ou, God.  Just…don’t let me be alone here, okay?  Let me find a friend, someone who loves dance as much as I do…and let me find someone who loves
Y
ou as much as I do.
  That was going to be one of the hardest things about her new world, Danni had no doubt.  Her family had raised her to be a true Christian, her beliefs deeply enmeshed in her life.  The world that she was entering now…well, saying that it wasn’t conducive to Christianity was a nice way of putting a deep-set fear. 

Let me find someone to come alongside me, Lord,
Danni prayed desperately, and knew that her God heard her plea. 
Let me find someone who understands what I do:  that if the dance isn’t for
Y
ou, it isn’t worth dancing.
 

Peace filled her.  Everything would be all right, one way or the other.  Danni wasn’t sure how she knew it; but as that peace flowed over her, she knew that everything that was happening was according to God’s plan.  He had brought her here; He would take care of the rest of it, too.  All she had to do was exactly as she had always done:  dance, and give the rest to Him.  As long as she gave Him everything she had, He would do his best for her in return.  She would have the life God desired for her.  She just had to trust.

Amazing, how fast the fear disappeared when she was willing to step out in faith.  Amazing how different it was between one breath and the next, as though God had literally come to stand between her and that fear.

Danni smiled.  He wouldn’t have taken away that fear if there were any reason for it to remain. 

For several miles, she simply allowed her thoughts to flow where they would—one moment considering what was ahead of her, the next, remembering everything she had left behind.  Lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t notice much of what was going on around her; but eventually, her father’s frequent glances in her direction became too obvious to ignore.

“What?” she demanded. 

He looked surprised.  “I’m not allowed to look at my daughter?” he teased. 

“Of course you are.” She made a face at him.  “Looking at me, sure.  But looking at me like I’m about to start dancing in the middle of the truck or something…that, I’m not so sure about.”

“I’m not looking at you strangely!” he protested.  “Just…looking.  It might be awhile before I see you again, Danni-girl.”

“Uh-huh.”  She folded her arms over her chest and waited for him to get around to telling her what he was really thinking. 

Her father sighed.  “I’ve been praying for you,” he admitted.

Danni wasn’t surprised.  Her father had prayed for her for years.  She was, however, curious.  “What are you praying for?” she asked quietly.

He studied her for a moment as he pulled up to a red light, taking advantage of the time to look over her familiar face and see whether or not she would be receptive to this particular prayer.  He had done that many times over the years, too—and sometimes, he chose not to tell her what he was praying for.  “Two things,” he said at
last, slowly.  “First and foremost, that you will remain true to your faith; and second, that your dancing will always glorify God.”

Danni felt peace fill her at those words—peace even deeper than what she had gained from her own prayers.  “It’s not going to be easy,” she admitted quietly.  “Going to that place…being around all those other girls who are going to be gossipy and cruel…it’s not going to be easy to keep the faith.” 

“No, it’s not.”  Her father’s big hand covered hers for a moment.  “But I have faith in you, Danni.  You can get through this.” He smiled.  “I wouldn’t have let you come to this school if I didn’t believe that.”

His praise warmed her.  Danni knew what he was saying:  that she had a faith strong enough to survive the trails ahead of her.  As long as she kept leaning on God, everything would be all right in the end. 

Easy words to say.  Harder words to live by.  As they pulled up outside the gates of Androv’s Ballet Academy, Danni felt a shiver run over her.  This was it. 

The campus, she knew from her previous visits here, was relatively small:  several small houses that held the students’ rooms to the right-hand side; the school itself in the center; a small library and huge theater over on the left.  Toward the back of the property was the setup for camp over the summer:  a huge outdoor amphitheater, several smaller buildings where campers could stay, and a large common room contained under a single roof.  During the school year, she’d been told, most of that saw little use; but the campers appreciated having their own space during the summer. 

Danni couldn’t remember the purpose of the other smaller buildings.  She could barely remember where the school was.  Suddenly, her palms were sweating, her lips
were dry, and she wished that she could go back in time to the day she had put in her application and…well,
not
, came to mind.  It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the opportunity that she had been given.  This was everything she’d ever wanted, and Danni at least had enough sense to know that.  It was just….

It was all so….

Big.

Intimidating.

Larger than life.

Her father reached over and patted her hand as he pulled up outside the large house that would be her home for the next two years.  “This is it,” he told her gently. 

Right.  This was it.  She ought to get out and start her new life.

So why was she sitting in the car, staring up at the house as though she had never seen once before? 

“Come on, Danni-girl,” her father said gently.  “It’s not going to get any more familiar from you sitting here and staring at it.” He put actions to those words, climbing out of his seat and reaching into the back of the truck to grab the first of her bags.  “Grab one of these and come on.”

He didn’t give her a choice.  Part of Danni was grateful for that as she slowly climbed up the front steps, her dance bag thrown over her shoulder.  Funny, how that was the one she had grabbed instinctively.  She hadn’t even thought about reaching for one of the other bags, or one of the boxes of books.  No, she wanted her dance bag over her shoulder.  That familiar weight was a comfort. 

“Well, here you are!”  The front door of the house was thrown open, and a warm, comfortable-looking woman enveloped Danni in a huge hug.  “I was beginning to think that you weren’t going to get here!  Was the drive difficult?”

“No, the drive was just fine,” Mr. Wilkerson said quickly.  “We were just driving along, enjoying the scenery.  You know how it is.”

“Oh, I do.”  She winked.  “And wonderful that you took the time to do it now.  Why, Danni here might not even see the outside of the grounds for weeks!” 

“I thought as much.”  Her father grinned.  “But of course, she’s eager to start looking around, see where she’s going to be living.” He faked a grimace.  “Truth be told, I’m a bit eager for that, myself.  All these bags of hers, you know.”

Danni made a face at him.  The bags weren’t
that
heavy—but her father was right, now that she was here, she did want to see her bedroom. 

“Oh, of course!”  The woman smiled broadly.  “Now, I’m Mrs. Baxter, dear. I’ll be your house mother for the next two years, as long as you stay here—and there’s not usually a lot of moving around.  Too much trouble, you see.” 

Danni could believe it.  Moving once was trouble enough; she couldn’t see going to that much effort just to change dorms. 

“Now, Danni, you’ll be on the second floor, first room on the right.  I’m afraid it’s the smallest in the house—the other girls have already had their pick, you see—but I think it’ll serve you well enough.” 

“Thank you.”  Danni was afraid that her voice emerged as a squeak.  Shrugging that off—it wouldn’t do her any good to dwell on it, after all—she followed Mrs. Baxter over to the stairs. 

“I’m just going to see if any of the boys are here tonight.”  Mrs. Baxter’s eyes sparkled.  “They can make themselves useful and carry some of those bags, hm?”

Danni just nodded, too overwhelmed to protest as she should have, and made her way up the stairs with her father right behind her. 

Mrs. Baxter had been right:  the room was one of the smaller ones.  While most of the rooms were at least twice the size of her room back home—with enough space, the girl who had shown her around commented, to at least stretch out and warm up in the mornings—this one was only a quarter again that size, and a great deal of that space was taken up by the full-sized bed, desk, and dresser.  Two slender bookshelves covered what wall space wasn’t taken up by several large windows; looking around, Danni realized that there wasn’t really any good place to put posters, especially since she planned to put another shelf over the desk. 

On the other hand, the small room felt cozy, Danni thought.  In a bigger room, she would have felt like she was rattling around in all the space.  It was strange enough that at a boarding school, girls would get rooms to themselves.  The materials the Academy had sent home had indicated that this was to help with adjustments and to prevent rivalries from developing in quarters so close that they couldn’t get away from one another.  Every student at least had their own private space.