Page 96 of Forbidden Dance
Audience members rush the stage. Whatever security is there can’t keep them back.
We’re surrounded. Cameras zip overhead, recording the scene even though we’re off the air. I have a feeling my face is going to be everywhere tomorrow. I wonder if Mindy will see it. If my parents will.
Blitz keeps his arm tight around me. “I’ve got you,” he says.
Eventually four burly security guards muscle through the crowd and lead us offstage and back into the hall. Juliet and Bennett are there, excited and happy.
“Was this your doing?” Blitz asks Bennett.
Bennett holds his hands in the air. “I just bought the jet fuel,” he says.
Juliet embraces me. “You looked beautiful up there. It was perfect.”
“Not too amateur?” I ask.
“It was just fine,” she assures me. “Let’s get out of here before the place is mobbed any worse than it is.”
The four of us hurry down the hall. But when we turn the corner, there they are.
The finalists.
All three.
Giselle lunges at Blitz. “What the hell was that? One more humiliation for the road?”
Christy is crying. “I thought you were going to pick me!” she says.
Mariah has her arms crossed. “I was told that you had chosen me. My dress was the one that matched the final dance set!”
Giselle and Christy turn to Mariah in disbelief.
“Really!” Mariah says. Then she spins and walks away.
Blitz seems like he wants to say something, but I think it’s best he doesn’t.
“I’m sure you will all have wonderful careers,” I say and pull on Blitz’s hand to move us away.
“I can’t believe you fell for a two-bit amateur ballerina!” Giselle says. “I always knew you were a loser!”
“Okay,” Bennett says. “That’s enough playground trash talk.” He waves at the security guards to move the girls away.
Soon we’re out of the building and into Bennett’s Mercedes.
Juliet, Blitz, and I squeeze into the back.
Juliet sighs. “This is about the craziest night I’ve had in a long time.”
Blitz holds on to my hand and kisses my fingers. “You came for me.”
“Of course I did,” I say.
“I didn’t deserve it.”
“Of course you did.” I press his hand to my cheek. “I saw a prince who needed to be rescued.”
The lights of the studio flash by as we make our escape. Behind us, we leave it all behind. The crowd, the show, Blitz’s old life.
Now it will simply be us.
