Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,38
She wouldn’t have thought talented Katarina would have that problem, though. When she voiced that, Nicholas laughed bitterly.
“She doesn’t,” he said flatly. “She can lose the height and pull the jump off perfectly. But she’s convinced that the height is more important; so she gets me to catch her around the waist as she comes down, just for a second.”
Danni nodded. He would catch her weight, then lower her gently to the ground—she could see that. That way, Katarina stayed en pointe, and she got her height on the jump, too.
“I missed.” Nicholas shook his head. “No—that isn’t fair. I caught her. I just couldn’t support her weight for even that half-second. My shoulder….” He laughed again, the sound even more bitter than before. “It gave out on me hard. Just plain refused to support the weight.”
Danni winced along with him. “You dropped her,” she said simply.
“I dropped her.” He grimaced. “And according to Kat, knocked her so far off-balance in the process that she couldn’t have landed it on her own even if she had gone flat-footed.”
“Which she didn’t.”
“Which she didn’t.” He closed his eyes. “And now she has a broken ankle with enough ligaments ripped that she may never get it all back, she’s absolutely furious with me, and every friend she’s ever considered having at the Academy thinks I’m the lowest piece of dirt they’ve ever walked on.”
“I don’t think you’re a piece of dirt.” Danni held out a hand, instinctively easing him around a turn so that he wouldn’t walk off the path. “It was just an accident—and if she was pushing you to keep dancing when you’d said you couldn’t, then she was an idiot.”
He gave her a grateful smile. “So, no regrets?” he asked cautiously. “You’re not afraid to dance with me now?”
She looked him straight in the eye. “I’ll make you a deal,” she suggested. “You tell me when your shoulder starts bothering you, and we’ll quit for the day—or, if I absolutely have to have you, we’ll just walk through those parts.”
“It’s going to be hard getting the dance down when you can only do it twice a day,” he pointed out softly.
Danni shrugged. “I’m not worried,” she said simply. “If I have to, I’ll go grab a guy and practice the lifts for awhile. Besides….” She offered him a smile. “I thought you and I did pretty well together back there, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” Nicholas had to smile back at that—a real smile, one that actually went all the way up to his eyes. “Yeah, we did—especially for someone who hasn’t ever danced the piece before.” He pulled his hand out of his pocket long enough to check his watch and made a face. “Come on. I don’t know about you, but if we’re going to run a two-hour practice, I need to grab something to eat.”
“I didn’t think the cafeteria was open,” Danni said hesitantly.
“It’s not.” Nicholas flashed her a grin. “But there’s a lounge upstairs that’s always got protein bars and stuff tucked away. Come on; I’ll show you.”
As she followed him back into the Academy, Danni couldn’t help but smile. It looked like she had made one more friend—and gained herself a partner, however temporary, in the process!
Chapter Seven
Nicholas hadn’t been exaggerating about his shoulder, Danni realized later that evening. They’d been working on the dance for hours, one piece at a time. Mlle Kirby—obviously aware of the injury—was taking it fairly easy on him, all things considered; but by the time they’d worked through two hours, he was sweating too heavily for it to just be exertion.
“All right,” Mlle Kirby declared at last, clapping her hands together as she looked him over. “Nicholas, I want you to go ice that shoulder for awhile. Danni….” She hesitated. “Go with him,” she said slowly.
Both of them jerked around to stare at her.
“If you’re left to your own devices, you’ll go home and absolutely refuse to do anything about that shoulder until it falls off,” the older woman pointed out in a too-patient tone of voice that suggested they’d had that conversation before. “Danni, due to the fact that she’s going to want a functional partner for this performance, will make you take care of yourself.”
“But—“ Danni began.
Mlle Kirby stopped her before she could even complete the protest. “Let me guess,” she said wryly. “We haven’t done any of the individual work yet, and the longer you have to work on it, the better it will look.”