Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,154

But I don’t know, maybe you’re not interested…”

“Absolutely I’m interested,” Taylor said, and she almost jumped with excitement. “Just tell me when and where.”

“So you’re going to be watching a room?” Greg asked when they met up afterward bound for lunch and homework at the house.

“I think it’s more than that. It’s like introducing people and stuff, and making sure everything goes okay. That kind of thing.”

“Hm. Well, at least it doesn’t sound too hard.”

“Oh, I was going to tell you,” Taylor said. “I think the guys are coming tonight to help clean out my room after dance class.”

“The guys?”

“Yeah, Nels and Wes. They said they would come and help.”

“Oh, well, if you need help, we could do it today.”

“Nah. I think it would be better tonight. With enough help, it’ll only take a couple trips down.”

Greg shrugged. “Okay, whatever.”

It was a perpetual scramble to keep up with all of the homework. With a paper due in English and the assignment to finish up in Poli Sci, not to mention the upcoming test in Chemistry, Greg was more than thankful when Taylor offered to make lunch.

“Whatever,” he said, sitting on the couch to pull up the laptop and get to work. “I’m not picky.”

In the kitchen, he heard her humming, and he smiled. There was something so pure about her when she was happy, like life was finally going in a good direction.

“Do you want turkey or ham?” she called.

“Surprise me.”

Taylor would be glad to get her own laptop back provided it was salvageable, which was anybody’s guess by that point. She had called the police department to clear it with them, and they had given her the go-ahead to go get her stuff out of the crime scene. It was weird to think of her life in terms of the crime scenes she had been a part of, but that’s where she found herself.

“They cool with it?” Greg asked from his seat on the floor where he was frantically typing.

“Yeah. I’m going to call Celeste, the R.A. and let her know too.”

“Good plan.”

There was yet another shuffle of classes before they ended up going to dance class. They’d decided it was pointless to drive separately since their entire itinerary had them going to the exact same places.

Of course Clara greeted them when she and Ryan showed up, and she even gave Taylor a hug. Add one more friend to the growing list.

It was only when Nelson showed up with Paige and Wes with Lauren that Taylor remembered how things in the real world worked. She tried to smile at her sister and her sister’s friend, but they didn’t so much as acknowledge her. Oh, well, some people weren’t meant to be on the list.

“Tonight we’re going to try a few new moves,” Marco, the instructor, said. “The first is pretty simple. Ladies put your hand around the back of your guy’s neck, and gentlemen, you’ll do the same with her.” He demonstrated with Amelia. “Ladies, step right next to your partner, hip-to-hip, and gentlemen, secure her hand behind your neck, then you just dip her backward.”

Taylor grinned at Greg and bounced her eyebrows. “You think you can keep up?”

He grinned back. “Watch me.”

As long as she didn’t think about the people in the room who hated her, Taylor actually loved dance class. Greg had become super easy to dance with. Even when they did the free dance part, she never had to worry about getting tangled up or confused. He led so smoothly that following was a breeze.

“That’s it for tonight,” Marco said. “Hope to see everyone next week.”

The whole getting the guys to help thing had sounded great right up until that moment. As Taylor grabbed their water bottles from by the wall and took a long drink, she began to doubt the wisdom of it all.

“So we’re moving you tonight?” Greg asked, glancing over at the others, and Taylor didn’t miss the trepidation on his face as she handed him a bottle.

“I don’t know. Maybe we should just wait and do it tomorrow.”

“Oh. No can do. I’ve got work all day, remember?”

“Ugh. Well, maybe I could do it myself.”

He shook his head. “We’re not doing that. Come on. Let’s go remind them they’re still your friends.” With that, he took her hand as much to pull her as to make sure she didn’t run. “Hey. Are you guys ready to head over and clean out Taylor’s room?”

Nelson looked up in a brief flash of surprise. “Oh, yeah,