Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,19

desperate just to hear his voice—to hear him telling her that no matter how bad things might have seemed, she was still where she was supposed to be, doing exactly what she was supposed to do.

In spite of the heavy load that both her books and her dance bag made—a load that, she had been assured, she wouldn’t have to carry all the time, since for the most part, her books would stay back in her room—Danni hurried back to the dorm. Her cell phone was exactly where she had left it, sitting beside her bed. She hadn’t wanted any distractions this morning; and anyway, if Michael got caught texting in class one more time, he was going to end up getting his phone taken away.

He wasn’t in school anymore.

Danni pressed the speed dial button that would get her her best friend, half praying in impatience until he picked up.

“Hey, Dragonfly.” The familiar voice rang over the line, cool, calm, and confident—Michael all over.

Danni bit her lip, suddenly unable to speak. What was she going to say to him? Hey, Michael, my first day was completely lousy. Wish you were here.

But it hadn’t all been bad…had it? After all, Mlle Kirby seemed to like her. And Madalyn was going to be a pretty good friend, if Danni could ever get past her tendency to gossip about everyone she knew.

“Hi, Michael,” she managed to get out, aware that the silence had stretched on for far too long. “How are you doing?”

“Missing you already.” But he said it so cheerfully that she knew he was all right. “How was your first day of classes? I was just thinking about calling you, but we hadn’t talked all weekend, so I wasn’t sure when you would be free. Wouldn’t want to interrupt dance practice or anything.”

“It’s over.” That was probably the best thing she could say for it: she would never have to go through this terrible first day again.

No, there was just tomorrow, with a whole new set of classes that she would have to scurry to find. At least tomorrow, she wouldn’t have to worry about the dance classes. She knew where those were.

Somehow, that wasn’t as comforting as it could have been.

“That bad, huh?” She could almost hear Michael slouching down on whatever piece of furniture was handy—and if she closed her eyes, she could picture it. He would have the phone propped between his ear and his shoulder, completely comfortable and at ease no matter where he was. As long as the conversation went on, he would be completely focused on the person on the other end of the phone.

Or, at least, he would be as long as it was her. If she had been beside him and it had been one of his girlfriends, on the other hand, she probably would have been teasing him—tickling his sides; running her fingers up his arm; anything that might distract him and get him to break the so-serious tone of the conversation.

“It…I just wish you were here.” She felt safer admitting that to him than she would have with anyone else. Michael understood her better than anyone else in the world. He would know that she wasn’t coming on to him, or making a pass. She just missed him—furiously.

“I will be next year,” he offered.

“Yeah, well, right now, next year seems like a really long way away.” Danni sighed. “I’ll be all right. And I think I may have made a friend. This girl, Madalyn, is really nice. I share a bathroom with her….” She chattered on for a few minutes, doing her best not to sound as though she was feeling sorry for herself. It wasn’t Michael’s fault that she had been miserable, after all—and it would just depress him if he thought the Academy wasn’t everything they had dreamed it would be.

“And I’m dancing pretty much all day every day, which is wonderful,” she added.

“That’s my girl.” There was genuine warmth and pride in his voice as he said the words. “I knew you’d find a way to make the best of things, even if today has been rough.”

“It’s definitely been that.” She sighed. “But tomorrow will be better—and next week will be even better than that.”

“And by this time next month, you’ll be insisting that you love it,” he agreed warmly. “Now—much as I’d love to keep talking to you, unlike you, I haven’t gotten to dance yet today.”

It was Monday—that meant Michael had class at six. Danni glanced