Page 4 of Dance Dirty With Me

“This is Robbie, and he’ll be your waiter while you’re here. I hand pick our waiters from the best universities. Robbie here is at Oxford, and he’s been with us each summer.”

“Baby’s going to Cambridge in the autumn,” my dad says proudly, and Robbie gives me a supercilious smile. I don’t think it’s the ancient rivalry between the two universities that causes it; I imagine he just looks at everyone like that.

“Robbie, these are my special guests, so you treat them well, you understand?”

“Yes sir,” Robbie replies and gives my sister a long look. Of course she preens a little under his gaze.

“This is my granddaughter, Nicola,” Max says, and I look up into the face of a young woman, maybe my age or a year or two older. She has mousey brown hair and thick horn-rimmed glasses, and she’s dressed in a maroon Poplins blazer and a white pleated skirt. She beams round at us, her gaze landing on me for a second before she’s ushered away by Max. He works his way through the tables, greeting people on his way.

My dad, always impressed by those who want to be educated, asks Robbie what he’s studying.

“Economics and management, sir. Just about to start my final year,” he replies, and I see my father nod. He asks him more questions about his studies in between him bringing us our food and clearing the table.

“He’s an impressive young man,” my father says to me as we leave the table. “He has his career all mapped out.”

“I do too, Dad.” It’s not strictly true. I don’t have a clear path ahead, but I want to study law so I can help people. The ones who need it the most.

“I know you want to make a difference, and you will, Baby,” he says with the soft smile he reserves for me. He’s always tried to make the world a better place if he can, and I want to follow in his footsteps doing the same.

He opens the door to the ballroom and holds it for us to enter. Lisa gives a squeal of delight. It might look like a large square building on the outside, in keeping with the rest of the buildings in this section of the camp, but inside it’s opulent and ornate. There’s a large raised stage at one end, where an orchestra is seated playing soft music.

In front of the stage and taking up most of the space is a dance floor where there are a few couples dancing.

Arranged around the edge of the room are tables and chairs. My mum selects a table and we sit down. Lisa looks around her with wide eyes.

“Look at all these pretty dresses. I knew I should have brought the blue with the pink roses.” I tune her out as she talks excitedly to Mum, a skill I’ve learnt over the years. Instead I people watch. There are a wide mix of families and couples, as well as a few very elegant ladies on their own. Dotted around are a few people in the characteristic blue blazers of the entertainment staff. Some of them are engaging with holidaymakers, encouraging them to get up and dance.

A shadow falls across our table, and I look up to see Nicola standing there and looking straight at me.

“Shall we dance?”

I can’t think of anything I’d like to do less, but my mum practically pushes me out of the chair.

“Yes, go on, Baby.” My dad looks like it’s some kind of honour as Nicola tugs me towards the dance floor. I try to remember at least a few of the steps from the dance lesson this afternoon so I don’t actually stand on Nicola’s toes, but it’s not elegant. But if she notices my shuffling, which is not in time to any rhythm the orchestra is playing, she doesn’t mention it.

The music ends and the floor starts clearing. I’m just about to use it as an excuse to return to my table when a group enters and stands in a line. I recognise them from earlier, when they arrived during Max’s briefing.

My eyes land on the man in the centre... the gorgeous one. He looks like he’s the leader, and next to him is the blonde woman who took our dance class earlier. They dance as agroup for the next ten minutes—a formation dance, all perfectly in time with each other—and they finish to well-deserved, thunderous applause. The dancers start inviting the guests to dance, and soon the floor is filled with dancing couples again. Nicola pulls me into the middle, my chance of escape firmly gone.

A new tune starts up and I see the lead couple dancing. They move together as one, though, and it’s spectacular. They whirl around the dance floor as if they own it, couples moving out of their way. I can’t stop watching them and almost trip over my own feet, receiving an exasperated sigh from Nicola.

“Who are they?” I blurt, curiosity getting the better of me.

“Them?” Nicola nods towards the dancing couple, her tone brimming with contempt. “That’s Johnny and Penny, they’re the head of the entertainment staff. But they should be dancing with the guests, selling dance lessons, not showing off like that. It’s not good for business.”

“I think they look wonderful,” I say and receive a look like I’m naive and have a lot to learn.

As I watch them move effortlessly round the dance floor, I can’t help the fleeting wish that I could dance like that. After a very impressive whirl they stop suddenly, step apart, and each choose a holidaymaker to dance with, the beautiful man selecting one of the very elegant ladies I noticed was alone earlier.

“That’s told them,” Nicola says smugly, and I follow her gaze to see her grandfather glaring across the room at them.

Good morning, campers. Are you ready for another fun-filled day?

I groan and pull the pillow over my head, drowning out the list of ways I can fill my day with fun that the voice over the tannoy is determined to tell me.

But I only get a few minutes rest before Lisa starts talking to me. Urgh, I never have to share my space with her normally, so this feels like torture. She begins to tell me about the heats for the beauty contest she’s determined to enter. If it’s designed as a tactic to get me out of bed, it’s effective, as I can’t stand it any more and rise. I pull on some trousers and a short-sleeved polo shirt and go into the main part of the cabin.

My parents aren’t awake yet, so I go to the dining hall by myself for some breakfast. I’m just about finished when I see Nicola enter the hall and look around, then she spies meand starts to walk over. I’m certainly not in the mood to talk to her right now, so I hurriedly finish and make my way to the exit. I almost run straight into Mum, Dad, and Lisa.

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