Page 63 of Forbidden Dance
Chapter 22
By the time I get home, I’m determined to escape. I’ll take any risk, do anything.
But Mom and Dad don’t go to bed at their normal time. They’ve had a good evening together, and they dawdle on everything, insisting Andy and I watch a classic movie with them until Andy falls asleep.
It’s almost midnight before I even get a chance to text Blitz, and that’s only because I hole up in the bathroom.
Where are you now?I ask him.
Hannah has us all in her hotel suite, reviewing social media activity and having a strategy team react.
Are other people Tweeting for you now?
Hell yeah. Hannah says she’d rather have a five-year-old handle my Twitter account than me.
I don’t want to pull him away. It’s obviously an important night. I hear footsteps in the hall and quickly flush the toilet. While I run water to pretend to wash my hands, I text him one more time before I have to stop until my parents are asleep.
I’m so happy it has gone well. Can’t wait to see it with you in person.
He doesn’t respond right away. I picture him in a room with a dozen people, trying to find moments to look at his phone. It’s okay. I know this is bigger than me. It will always be bigger than any girl, especially a shy homeschooled girl who hasn’t gone anywhere near a television studio.
I tuck the phone in my bra and hurry to my room, afraid that someone might notice the bulge. I can’t imagine anything more devastating than losing this phone right now.
I finally go to sleep in the wee hours. I’m going up to the academy tomorrow whether Mom likes it or not. I won’t go another day without Blitz. I’m not sure I have many left.
~*´`*~
When I make it to the academy the next afternoon, everyone is talking about Blitz.
Moms have their phones out, playing the video. Danika runs around, pushing dancers into their classes.
I know Blitz isn’t here yet, because I asked him. He is coming early before the hip-hop group, though, and we’ll dance together before class.
I’m wearing pink today, a ribbon woven into my elaborate braids. If I owned makeup, I’d sure as heck be wearing it. But this is how Blitz knows me. I can’t change anything. I’m not going to compete with those sexy dancers on his show by trying to beat them at their own game. I have to stay the same, no matter how much panic I feel that he’s slipping away.
“You doing okay, Livia?” Suze asks me as I approach the desk.
“Sure,” I say. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
She steals a glance over at Danika before she says, “You know about Blitz, right?”
My stomach falls. He didn’t tell me anything had changed. “He said he’d be here for hip-hop.”
At this point, Danika comes forward and takes my arm. “Let’s go for a little walk, Livia.”
“He’s on his way,” I tell Suze. “Can you let him know where I am?” I know it’s desperate, but I want to establish that he comes for me. That we’re more than just a couple people who flirt in dance class. That I really do know more than she does about Blitz.
Danika leads me to her office. “Sit down, Livia,” she says, dropping into the oversized chair behind her desk. Her blue hair is electric against the dark brown leather. Her voice is kind, but it puts me on guard. I feel like she’s going to warn me off Blitz now. She has no idea how far things have already gone. No one does.
I sit in a cushioned chair opposite her, warm with my secret. I’m old hat at forbidden romance. There is nothing she can do to change how I feel or what I want.
“Livia, Blitz is not coming up here today.”
I sit up in the chair. “Yes, he is. I just spoke to him.”
“Within the past fifteen minutes?” Her voice is still kind, like she’s having to give me a talking-to but doesn’t want to come off as an authoritarian.
Still, I rebel. “Before I walked over here.”
