Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,21

back and forth as Danni showered—something that she’d never had the chance to do before, really. Oh, there had been friends in her dance classes from time to time; and when you changed in a locker room full of other girls, you got over any modesty issues in a hurry. She’d carried on shower conversations before, too, especially in those locker rooms.

This was different, though. More intimate—like something you’d only do with your best friend.

Danni smiled faintly at the thought. Wouldn’t her mother have had a fit if it had been Michael sitting in the other room? No, he was the one who had to wait downstairs on the sofa, patiently trying to make conversation with Lizzie while she finished up in the shower.

Funny, how much like a date that would have seemed to someone who didn’t know the two of them. Funny how Danni had never considered it before—and that it would occur to her now.

She wrapped a huge, fluffy towel around herself and padded on bare feet back to her bedroom. She was in for the night; so rather than dragging out another pair of jeans, she pulled out a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt. Madalyn, she had noticed, was dressed the same way; this seemed fairly common for the girls when they were back in their rooms for the night.

“So,” she said cheerfully. “Want to do some homework with me?”

Chapter Four

By Friday, Danni had successfully managed to find all of her classes on time and to get to them with everything she needed to have. She had even managed to dig her pink ballet slippers out of the closet—impressive, since they’d been at the bottom of a box of things that she hadn’t even been sure why she had packed to begin with. She was proud of herself, and feeling more than just a little bit relieved.

Friday was wonderful, too, because she didn’t actually have any of her academic classes. That meant two blissfully free hours that she could fill any way she wanted—and if she chose to fill them with homework, well, Danni was still determined to get ahead as fast as she could. Her teachers had been impressed with the work she had handed on Wednesday and Thursday; she wanted them to be equally happy with her when Monday and Tuesday came around again.

Which was why she was sitting in the corner of one of the dance rooms, a book and several pieces of paper spread out around her. She’d nearly been late to the children’s class the day before, thanks primarily to the fact that she had been engrossed in a history assignment. On learning that Danni was trying desperately to make up the time she had missed at the beginning of the year in her academic classes, Mlle Kirby had mentioned that the room was empty prior to the class they were teaching together; if Danni wanted to study there until the students started arriving, she was more than welcome to do so.

Danni had jumped at the chance. She had her own little corner, and she was very happy there. It was quiet. No one had interrupted her for more than an hour, and she had gotten a lot done.

Thanks for this, Lord, she prayed silently, sliding a completed science assignment into her book and arching her back to stretch it. If I can just keep it up this way, I’ll get a lot more done, and I won’t have to worry so much about where I’m going to find time for it all. This studio was empty after the kids’ class, too; and Danni was already considering taking advantage of another hour in the quiet. She liked Madalyn well enough; but the other girl wasn’t really a good study partner. She tended to talk too much, and to get frustrated when she didn’t get an answer when she thought she needed one. That meant that Danni spent a lot of time pointing out to her that they were supposed to be working—and it was hard on her concentration, too.

A noise at the door made Danni look up, startled. No one was supposed to be back here yet. She still had thirty minutes before the beginning of class; Mlle Kirby wouldn’t let the students back here until ten minutes before, and that only so that they could start warming up,

She was prepared to tell whichever of the students it was that they couldn’t come back yet—even prepared to deal with a