Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,16

girl from the hallway—the one who had looked at her with such disdain. Danni winced. She had really been hoping that she wouldn’t have to encounter this girl again, at least for a little while. Why, Lord? Couldn’t I have at least had a chance to settle in before I had to confront someone who hates me?

“What are you doing?” the girl demanded.

Danni tried to make her face as calm as possible. “Um…dancing?” she suggested.

“Oh, is that what you call it?” She sneered. “Well, I suppose you’ll just have to make do for now, won’t you? But trust me when I say that you won’t make it long around here if you keep going like that.” She was gone again before Danni could reply.

Huh. Ego problems, if she can’t even handle an answer to her needling, Danni decided. She was trying hard not to let the other girl get to her; but in spite of those efforts, she had to admit that the barbed words hurt.

“What bile was she spewing?” Madalyn was at her side in an instant, somehow sensing that there was a need.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Danni waved it off. “She didn’t like the way I landed my grand jeté, I think.”

“Oh.” Madalyn rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s Katarina for you. She thinks she rules the school and everything and everyone in it.”

“Huh.” Danni didn’t want to encourage gossip, but…. “So it’s nothing personal, huh? She dislikes everybody, not just me?”

“Pretty much.” She made a face. “Fancies herself the next prima ballerina for the company, if you can believe it. They’ve got a spot for her in the chorus line when she graduates, but if she doesn’t straighten up her attitude, Androv is probably going to take it away from her.”

“That doesn’t seem entirely fair,” Danni said softly.

“Maybe not.” Madalyn looked surprised to even consider the possibility. “But personally, I hope she gets kicked out soon. Her attitude really irritates me. And you know what’s worse?” She continued on in spite of Danni’s efforts to return to the dance. “Half of the girls in the school, like, worship her or something.”

“She’s good?” Danni asked softly.

“Yeah—good at being a—“ The word Madalyn used then was one that Danni wasn’t sure she’d ever heard thrown out in casual conversation before, and it reminded her of exactly how sheltered she had been, living back home. She’d known that girls talked like that—some of the cheerleaders had done it, for one thing—but they never talked like that to her. If they had, Michael would have put a stop to it.

Michael. She missed him more and more fiercely all the time.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Madalyn continued, completely oblivious to the fact that her use of that word had made her new friend very uncomfortable. “I’d give anything to be able to dance like she does. She’s, like, grace in motion or something.” Which was exactly what Danni wanted to be, now that she thought about it. “But it’s like she sold her soul to be able to dance or something. And, um, no thanks, you know what I mean?”

Danni made a noncommittal noise and let the conversation go. She had a dance to learn, and a very short time in which to learn it—and besides, she had never felt that gossip was an adequate use of her time. She danced her heart out, giving it everything she had; and by the end, she was sure that she had at least the first quarter of the dance ready to go.

“You looked good in there!” Madalyn told her, grinning, as she jerked her jeans back on over her leotard and tights. She would have loved to take the time to change; but she had to hurry if she was going to be on time for math class as it was. Besides, she hadn’t thought to throw an extra leotard in her bag for later, and when she came back to help teach the kids’ class, she wouldn’t want to put on a sweaty leotard.

She had an hour. She could go back to the dorm and pick up a clean leotard then. It was very tempting—as was the idea of falling face-down on her bed for an hour before she had to return for the kids’ class. Probably it would be better all the way around if she did, actually. That would give her a chance to regain some of her inner calm before she tried to deal with a room full of kids. And how