Page 80 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
"I'll find one later. But right now, we shouldn't be worried about me. This is your dance now."
"Oh my God..." I had been so concerned about Kristen being hurt that it hadn't hit me until just then. I was the understudy. And now that Kristen was hurt, I was going to have to perform the dance. On this stage. I looked around at the cameras, the thousands of empty seats in the audience. My head started to spin. "Nope. No. This can't be happening. We need to find someone else to do this."
"Who else? You were the only other girl in all of our dance practices."
"Right. Okay, well, maybe your ankle just needs some tape?"
Kristen laughed a little. "Alina, tape isn't going to fix this. The dance is in less than three hours and I can't even put pressure on it."
"I really don't think I can do it. What if the guys just all go out there without us?"
"I wouldn't mind watching that, but I don't think it's allowed. I'm pretty sure this is a women's event, so without a woman, we'd be disqualified. Alina, you can do this. I saw you in practice. You know it just as well as I do."
"Yeah, I can do the moves in the studio. But in front of all these people? And what if I lose? I'll have to kill myself if Gabriela beats me again."
"You know you can't think like that. If you were that afraid of losing, you'd never have gotten this far in volleyball. We go out on that court every day thinking that we're going to win. This is no different. Just picture the look on Gabriela's face when she's looking up at you on that gold medal podium. That'll be priceless."
"You really think I can beat her?" I asked.
"I know you can. But first you need to do a rehearsal run. We only have a few more minutes before we get kicked off the stage."
"Should I wear my shoes?"
"Do you have an understudy?"
"No."
"Then hell no. You're wearing sneakers until five seconds before you perform. We can't have you spraining your ankle too."
***
The music stopped and I looked over at Kristen.Please tell me I wasn't awful.
"Alright, I'd say you're ready," said Kristen. "My only advice would be to not shy away from the sexy parts. Arch your back more. Really get into it. It's supposed to be a sexy dance, so be sexy. You haven't had a problem being sexy with Bryce during practice, that's for damn sure."
"But this is in front of millions of people."
Kristen shook her head. "The lights on stage will be so bright that you won't be able to see any of that. While you're dancing you can just pretend like it's you and Bryce, but in the end, you're going to do such an awesome job that you'll be happy all those people are there to see it."
"Is Bryce even gonna be out there with me? He's Tim's understudy, so unless Tim was practicing in high heels this morning and tweaked his ankle like you, he's not going to be out there."Actually, Tim practicing in high heels wouldn't really surprise me that much.
"I'll go to the guys' locker room and convince him that you need Bryce out there. But first let's go to our changing room and find me some crutches."
I helped Kristen to her feet. She draped her arm around me and hopped on one foot towards our changing room.
Our changing room was marked with a gold star with "Kristen - USA" printed in the middle. I held it open and let Kristen hobble through. There were three women inside. One was pulling a ridiculous amount of makeup out of a duffel bag and setting it on a counter in front of one of those fancy mirrors with all the light bulbs on the side. Another had at least three different curlers and flat irons plugged in and was cleaning off a comb. And the third was our wardrobe designer, Annie, who had just hung up Kristen's dress and was making a few last minute measurements with a tape measure.
All three of them turned to look at us.
"Hi, girls," said Annie. "I'm just putting a few finishing touches..." She paused and looked at Kristen. "Are you okay? Why are you hopping on one foot like that?"
"I sprained my ankle during the rehearsal. Alina is going to have to dance for me."
Annie shook her head. "That's why we have understudies."
"Do you think you can find me some crutches?" asked Kristen.
"Sure, I'll be right back." Annie looped her tape measure over Kristen's dress and hurried out of the changing room.
