Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,54
“I have the feeling she’s been hurt pretty badly somewhere along the way—that’s why she treats people the way she does. If she’s nasty to them first, it doesn’t hurt so much when they don’t like her, you see.”
“I don’t understand how it is that half the girls in the Academy idolize her,” he muttered.
“Maybe they haven’t been exposed quite so much to her stunning personality.” Danni smiled tiredly. “Or maybe she doesn’t show them quite as much as she’s shown you. She disliked me from the beginning; you, she just expected to answer her every whim. And let’s face it: you’d still be dancing with her if she hadn’t gotten hurt. Like you told me, she’s not all bad.”
“Can she be pretty close?” His words emerged as a whine.
Danni didn’t answer him, just squeezed his hand gently and asked, “So, are you going to ice that shoulder, or are you going to sit there holding on to the cold pack like you’ve never seen one before?”
Nick grimaced. “Do I have to?” he wanted to know.
“Yep.” Danni took it from him and eased it into place for him, carefully shifting it so that it covered the entire surface of the shoulder. He winced, but didn’t make a sound; they both knew that eventually, this would help. “Now, I believe we have work to do. Dwelling on Katarina isn’t going to get it done; but the two of us getting on it might.” With those companionable words, she pulled out her science book and propped it on her lap, leaning over so that Nicholas could see the chapter easily.
If anyone had come through the door at that moment, they might well have gotten the wrong idea about what was going on between Nick and Danni. He was propped up against her pillows, as comfortable as though he had done it a hundred different times; they were sitting very close together; and as they read, her head dropped to his shoulder, the book carefully shifted until it was resting between the two of them. When Nick eased the ice pack off of his shoulder, he lowered his head to rest on top of Danni’s.
They read at approximately the same speed. That was handy. She and Michael would never have been able to do this unless one of them was reading aloud—Danni read twice as fast as he did, and Michael tended to want extra time to absorb concepts before he moved on to the next one. With Nicholas, Danni would hesitate for just a beat before she turned the page, her hand lifting almost imperceptibly; with the faintest of movements, he would let her know whether or not he was ready for her to continue.
They finished the chapter. Danni pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil, passing another set to Nick—and all of this without ever shifting away from him. She could tell by the way he was sitting that he was actually comfortable and relaxed for the first time all day; the less she jarred him, the more likely it was that he would actually be able to stop his shoulder from hurting before he left for the night.
The ice was reapplied. Nick hissed faintly as the cold began to seep in, a noise that Danni would never have heard if she hadn’t been tucked so close to him.
He wouldn’t have let anyone else hear that noise, she realized—and she didn’t comment on it. She just laced her fingers gently through his and pulled out the next book—again, tucked close enough to her that he didn’t have to move in order to get comfortable again.
It wasn’t unusual for them to work for a long time at night. Both of them were easily engrossed in schoolwork, and they had gotten used to each other’s company. Working together, they even tended to accomplish more than either would have alone, and they were more likely to retain the information. On that particular evening, it was even later than usual when Nick finally slipped off of the bed, yawning hugely.
“If we don’t get some sleep, we’re both going to be useless at practice in the morning,” he pointed out quietly.
“You’re not wrong.” Danni gathered her books, slipping her assignments into them through bleary eyes. She wasn’t sure how she had managed to see what she was doing for the better part of the last thirty minutes.
“I did enjoy it, though.” Nick collected his own materials, slipping them into one of the spare folders