Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,32

going home for Thanksgiving—the ones who had family in the area. They would only be gone for the day itself, coming back on Friday and resuming practice as usual; but they’d be able to see their families.

Danni knew she wouldn’t be one of them. If she asked, her dad would probably come up and get her; but her parents had already discussed it and decided that the drive was just too long. She would be asking for trouble if she tried to get herself back; and her father couldn’t afford to come in so late Friday night, not with work the next morning.

Grimly, Danni set herself to just getting through the week. If she could only get through the week, she would be all right.

Classes at the Academy would continue as usual through Wednesday. As long as she forced herself to concentrate on that, she would be all right…wouldn’t she?

Lord, give me the strength to get through this holiday, Danni prayed desperately. I want to go home. I want so much to see Mom and Dad, to visit with Carolyn, to spend some time with Michael….

Actually, what she wanted desperately was to dance with Michael. Pairs class remained torture. Katarina was absolutely determined to put her through the wringer; and thanks to Katarina’s clear disapproval, none of the girls seemed to want to have anything to do with her. They would dance with her—it was better than being the odd man out, as Danni had realized someone must have been before she came into the class—but not by much. The boys danced with her sometimes. Josh was even nice; and he didn’t seem to think much of Katarina, which helped raise his opinion of her even more. He was, however, still fiercely loyal to his Allie. He didn’t like her most of the time; but he would dance with her, because she was his partner.

He wouldn’t be setting her aside.

On top of that, dancers had been selected from their class to dance a few pas de deux in The Nutcracker. Danni hadn’t been surprised that her name wasn’t on the list, but she was disappointed. She had been hoping to be one of the elite—one of the few who actually had two roles in the ballet.

She found herself dragging the weekend before Thanksgiving week. It was silly to let herself get so down. She knew what she ought to do with the holiday: dig in and worship God with all of her heart and soul. She should be thankful that she was here, thankful that she was living out her dream, instead of focusing on everything that she’d had to leave behind to do it.

I knew following your plan for me would mean making sacrifices, Lord. That hasn’t changed. I shouldn’t treat it like it has. I just wish so much that I could go home for the holiday.

No, it’s not even that, Lord. I just want to see a friendly face. I want to be where I’m needed again. I know I can’t be a prima ballerina everywhere I go; but here, I’m just another face in the crowd! Lord…let someone need me this Thanksgiving. Let there be a reason that I’ve stayed.

In the end, however, Danni resorted to the one thing that she knew would get her heart back where it belonged: she got up early on Monday morning and slipped into her room nearly thirty minutes before Mr. Orengo was supposed to be there. She pulled the CD case out of her dance bag and slipped in another praise and worship CD, this one a mix that Michael had made for her. It contained a selection of their favorite songs, most of them songs that they had danced to together.

The CD had stopped before she realized that Mr. Orengo was late. A little bit late would have surprised her, since he had indicated during her first class that most of the time, he would give her a chance to warm up before he came in; but for him to be more than thirty minutes late, something had to be going on.

Danni was on the verge of setting out to look for him when he finally appeared—scattered, absentminded, and with an air that suggested that his focus might be somewhere else entirely.

She frowned. “Is everything all right?” she asked cautiously, when he had failed to instruct her for several minutes.

“What? Oh, yes, yes, Danielle, everything is fine. Ah—carry on on your own today, all right?” And with that,