Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,6

were far away from one another.

She would do them all, she swore to herself—but it wasn’t going to be easy.

Finally, her father was there; and though he ate with gusto, he was at least done quickly. He seemed to realize that Danni was staring at every bite of food put in his mouth, waiting for him to be done.

Either that, or he understood the same urgency. Now that it was time to go, they were all eager to have the journey done, to start settling into their lives according to the new routine.

“Well, kiddo,” he asked in his warm, firm voice. “Everything packed and ready?”

“I think I’ve got it all, Dad,” she agreed. “And anything I missed, Mom can ship to me, right?”

“Right,” her mother hastened to put in. “We’re not so far away as all that, after all. Maybe we can come up and visit you some weekend.”

“Now, Kerri,” her husband pointed out gently. “You read all that material just the same as I did. There are parents’ weekends when we’re allowed to visit, but Danni’s going to be too busy for us to interrupt her for awhile.”

Those words left a sick feeling in the pit of Danni’s stomach. That was the thing that she liked least about the Academy—the reason she had almost decided not to go. Parents weren’t welcome except for one weekend every other month. Oh, they were allowed; but the parent materials had made it quite clear that they were to visit only on very rare occasions. Dancers at the Academy simply didn’t have a lot of extra time.

And she wouldn’t, Danni knew. On top of her academic work—cramming two years into one—and her dance classes—a schedule more packed than any she’d ever seen before—she was going to be working with some of the younger students to help earn her scholarship money, just like she had at home. And there were rehearsals, and performances, and a hundred other things that would eat away at her time until she didn’t have any left at all….

Yes, it was going to be an interesting new life—nothing like the one Danni had remembered.

But she would be able to dance. God would use the next two years, she felt sure.

She was going to be able to dance for Him, just as she had always dreamed. As far as Danni was concerned, that was the important part. All of the rest would fall into place, just as long as she could dance for her God.

Chapter Two

The drive to the Academy was long and quiet. Mr. Wilkerson had never been much of one for words; and while his daughter’s nerves might have been more settled if they had spend the miles in idle chatter, she also appreciated the time to herself, time in which she could begin to put her own thoughts in order again.

It was from her father, she knew, that she had developed her solitary nature. While her mother preferred to pray alongside others, both Danni and her father preferred quiet, peace, and oneness with the Lord. They knew that where two or three were gathered in the name of Jesus, He would always be there among them; and they both felt that there was a time and a place for that sort of worship. Private prayer, however, was intended to be exactly that, a time for contemplation that was shared only with God.

They were together on that long drive; but each of them took the time for their own thoughts as the miles flowed away. Danni had no idea what her father was thinking, but she bowed her head and gave herself over to God.

I know that this is going to be a good thing, God, she prayed silently. You’ve been sending me this way for a long time. I thank you for letting me in my junior year. Sure, I’m a couple of months behind, and that’s going to make it hard—but help me catch up fast, okay? Let me start my senior year with the advantages that most people get when they’re accepted to the Academy junior year. And Michael…Lord, let Michael be able to come in and get his classes out of the way in a hurry. I know it will be harder for him. He’s never been as good at academics as I am, but he’ll catch up soon enough—and he’s taking a lot of senior-level courses this year. They’d planned it that way on purpose, when they had thought that she wasn’t going to