Dancing for the Lord: The Academy (5 page)

Danni’s gut clenched.  No, she didn’t have her schedule yet.  She wished that she did.  It would be nice to have Madalyn show her around now, before she was worried about being late to one class or another as she tried to find her way around. 

“Oh, don’t worry!” Madalyn told her quickly. “It’s not hard to figure out. All the academic classrooms are in one wing, see, and the dance classes in another.  It’s a tight fit if you have back-to-back classes, but it’s not so bad once you get used to it.”  From this, Danni deduced that Madalyn had back-to-back classes.  “And really, it’s nothing that we wouldn’t be doing in college.  We’re just doing it a couple of years early.”

Danni just nodded.  By that point, she was so overwhelmed that she didn’t know
what
she was going to do come Monday morning.

Danni had really meant to make it to church on Sunday—to seek someone out and get them to tell her where to go.  Unfortunately, she forgot to ask Mrs. Baxter Saturday night; and since she spent half of the evening pacing the floor of her room, she ended up oversleeping.  She did, however, find a quiet corner where she could get away for a little while—a place where she could spend some quiet time with God.

It was chilly outside; but that was all right.  Danni was used to bundling up to keep warm.  She found a corner of the garden and let herself simply pray, listening for the call of God in her mind and spirit. 

It came in a still, small voice as it always did, the reminder that Danni had needed since she had left her home. 
This is the place I have for you.
  She had long since learned to heed that voice, to acknowledge and trust it; and she was letting herself trust it now.

She was here for a purpose, and God had already planned things out according to his will.

That knowledge made her no less nervous as she faced the school for the first time.  She’d been through it before, on a tour; but somehow, going on a tour and actually being a student there were two very different things.  Danni swallowed hard, working up her courage. 

“Oh, come on!”  Madalyn grabbed her by the arm, tugging so briskly that Danni could either hurry alongside her or end up being dragged.  “I knew you’d be nervous, so
I was waiting for you.  Come on, I’ll take you to the office—and if we’re lucky, there won’t be anyone here, and I’ll have time to show you where your first class is.”

Danni shot the other girl a grateful look.  “Thanks,” she whispered. 

“Oh, don’t mention it.”  Madalyn grinned.  “I was new here just a couple of months ago, remember?  But I guess it’s a lot worse, coming in now.  I mean, everybody else has already adjusted, and here you are, just starting out, you know?”

The words were intended to be comforting—Madalyn’s way of telling her that she understood how she felt.  Danni didn’t feel comforted. 

She did, however, appreciate a familiar, friendly presence at her side as she collected everything she would need from the office and stared down at her schedule for the first time. 

7:00-9:00 a.m.:  Individual practice with Mr. Oregno

9:15-10:30 a.m., Monday/Wednesday:  English

9:15-10:30 a.m., Tuesday/Thursday:  Science

10:45-12:15 p.m.:  Individual class with Mme Renault

12:30-1:45 p.m., Monday/Wednesday:  Math

12:30-1:45 p.m., Tuesday/Thursday:  History

3:00-4:00 p.m., Monday/Thursday/Friday:  Kids’ class with Mlle Kirby (scholarship aid)

4:00-6:00 p.m.:  Open practice; please schedule a room if you wish to practice during this time. 

Rehearsals will be held from 5:15 and following during the evenings, as well as on Saturdays.  Some Sunday practices may be scheduled.  Fridays are considered an
open day and any rehearsal scheduled on a Friday is to take precedence over any previously scheduled class. 

She’d never seen a schedule that looked so…busy…before. Oh, she could see that she was spending less than half of the time in academic classes that she had back home.  Less than three hours a day, only four days a week….

“But those hours are really independent study, most of the time,” Madalyn told her when she commented.  “I mean, the teachers are there if you have questions, and you have to work; but when you walk in, they give you a syllabus, and it’s your job to get as much of it done as fast as you can.”  She made a face.  “And as well as you can.  If you do badly or try to skip something, they make you do it again.”  It didn’t take Danni long to figure out that Madalyn had tried this once or twice and failed miserably.

“Actually,” Madalyn had continued, when Danni let her go on without comment, “most of the teachers design their schedules so that you can do, like, a unit a week.  You can only take tests when you’re in class, but if you want to, you can do it that way.  It gets you done….”  She frowned.  “I don’t exactly remember when.  One every other week will get you done by the end of your junior year, so you can do the dance thing next year.”

Of course, Danni thought, that was assuming that you’d started at the beginning of the year.  She immediately decided that she was going to set herself to taking a test every week in each of her academic classes—though when she was going to find the time to do any of it, she had no idea. 

“Don’t worry,” Madalyn assured her.  “They never make assignments due without giving you the weekend.  I think that’s what Sundays are for, really.”

In Danni’s world, Sundays had always been for worship. She couldn’t imagine spending the entire day pouring over her schoolbooks instead of using it to praise God.

But
Y
ou sent me here, Lord,
she prayed resolutely. 
So I guess
Y
ou know the
direction Y
ou want this to go.  Just…go easy on me, okay?  And don’t let me lose touch with
Y
ou.
  The more she saw of the Academy, the more vital she knew that prayer to be.  Always before, she’d been surrounded by people who believed as she did.  Now, she was surrounded by those who would think her beliefs quaint, or even downright weird.  It would be a challenge to continue to practice as she believed—and yet somehow, she had to do it anyway. 

Of course, the first part of the challenge was going to be simply getting through the day. 

Finding her first class of the morning wasn’t hard—Danni just followed Madalyn, who was more than eager to direct her to wherever she needed to be.  Unfortunately, Madalyn didn’t have English class with her; so Danni was left to find her way to the individual dance class on her own. 

It can’t be that difficult,
she consoled herself desperately. 
All of the dance classes are in one wing—so all I have to do is
go
there.  Surely someone will be able to tell me where room….
She squinted down at her schedule. 
Room 203 is.

Unfortunately, none of Danni’s teachers seemed overly inclined to take into consideration that on her first day, she would benefit from a little bit of extra time.  Instead, her English teacher held her over after class so that they could have a discussion about her books, and make sure she understood the way the curriculum was planned out at the Academy.

Danni got it.  Really, she did.  What she didn’t get was the way this blasted building was organized, or why on earth she had to run from one end of it to the other to get to her next class!

Girls were rushing everywhere, all of them looking purposeful.  Danni supposed she could have stopped one of them and asked if they could point her in the right direction; but by that point, she was too overwhelmed to make eye contact with anyone. 

203…203…come on, Lord, it has to be here somewhere.  Please, please, just let me be able to find it!

“What are you doing?”  A slender girl with long, black hair shoved Danni aside, glowering at her.  “Don’t you know better than to just stand around in the hallway?  I mean, good grief, some people think it’s
important
to be in class on time!”  She put her hands on her thin hips, looking as though she might decide to say more.  A glance at the clock on the wall, however, had her scurrying away again before she could say another word.

Danni wasn’t sure whether it was worthy breathing a sigh of relief or not.  What was
with
that girl? 

And, unfortunately, the black-haired girl wasn’t the only one who was about to be late.  Danni glanced to the side, desperate—and spied a number.

202.  Which means 203….
  She glanced to the other side of the hallway.  Yes!  There it was! 
Thank you, Lord!
  Danni scurried inside, grateful—not for the first time—that she had long since developed the habit of wearing her leotard and tights beneath her clothing. It made for a rush if she was trying to get to the restroom between classes; but it saved her a lot of time when she was running late for dance class.

Since, in Danni’s world, dance class was the
most
important thing, that was definitely a mark in the plus column. 

“There you are!” Madalyn hissed, grabbing her arm.  “I was beginning to think I needed to send out a search party!”

“Got lost,” Danni whispered back, jerking her jeans down and pulling her sweater off over her head.  Luckily, she had gone through these motions a hundred times before.  It took her no time at all to transform from her street clothes to her dancer’s uniform.  “Pointe shoes to start, or ballet slippers?” she asked swiftly.

Madalyn blinked.  “Um—oh.  Start out in slippers to warm up.  We’ll all come over and put on pointe shoes in a minute.” She displayed her own slippers quickly.

Wincing, Danni realized that Madalyn’s were pink—as were those belonging to every other girl in the room.  She hadn’t even thought about it; but for the last several years, her teacher, Carolyn Richards, had requested that the older girls wear black ballet slippers.  It was a matter of practicality, really.  The boys in the class—particularly Michael—had always worn black slippers; and they blended better during recitals if everyone wore the same color.  She had a dozen pairs of black slippers in various stages of their life cycle, from the trashy pair that she kept tucked away in her locker at school in case she and Michael found a few free minutes to the brand new pair that she wore for class.  She had pink ones….

Somewhere. 

Actually, now that she thought about it, Danni was fairly sure that her pink slippers were tucked into her closet back in the dorm.  It wouldn’t be hard to dig them out; but she hadn’t even
thought
about it before. 

Blushing furiously, she jerked them on and hurried to find a place at the barre.  There wasn’t anything she could do about it now. 

Madalyn stared down at the black shoes.  “Those are pretty!” she told her, a faint hint of jealousy in her voice.

“What?”  Danni glanced back at her.  “Yeah, they’re also different from everyone else’s.”  She wasn’t sure why she had found it necessary to say that aloud.  The other girl was nice, but it wasn’t as though she had her best friend.

It wasn’t as though she was Michael. 

“Oh, don’t worry about that!”  Madalyn squeezed her hand quickly before returning her own to her place at the barre.  “Trust me, give it a week, and everyone will be wearing them.”

Danni hoped so.  Ballet slippers weren’t half as expensive as pointe shoes, but they weren’t cheap, either; and while she might have
a
pair of the pink, they wouldn’t last her very long, not as much time as she was going to be spending in class now that she was at the Academy. 

Luckily, Mme Renault chose that moment to enter the room, so she didn’t have to place her insecurity on display for the benefit of her new friend.  She just bowed to her teacher along with the rest of the students, then followed the familiar instructions as they went through the round of limbering exercises that every dancer performed daily.

Here at the Academy, they performed them more than once every single day. 

Plié, relevé.  Plié, relevé.  Grande plié, relevé.  Grand plié, relevé.  Second position, and repeat.  Mme Renault tapped out the rhythm, and Danni quickly found her
body settling into the familiar movements.  She could do this.  Everything else in the world might be confusing, but when she danced, she knew that she was home. 

Lord, thank you for this,
she prayed silently. 
Thank you for reminding me that
Y
ou are still here, in the silence.  Do
Y
ou dance right alongside me, Lord?
  It was a favorite theory of hers, and one that had given her many joyful mornings as she considered the possibility that on the occasions when she thought she was dancing alone, it was really a pas de deux of the most intimate type of all. 

“All right, girls.”  Mme Renault clapped her hands, calling them to the center of the floor.  “I would like for you to rehearse the piece of your dance that we were going over last week.  Remember, I want to see graceful snowflakes.”  She looked over the gathered young ladies.  “Danielle?  May I see you for a moment?”  She gestured.

Danni had no choice but to follow her.