Dancing to Remember

It'd been six years since she'd first walked through the studio doors. Back then, dancing was just an activity she's been dragged to by her mother. Now however, it was a lifestyle. It was her own place where she could go in order to escape from the world, escape from everything bad that was going on in her life. It was her life. And now seventeen, Casey MacDonald knew she wouldn't have changed anything about it.

"Casey!" her best friend Emily screamed happily as she rushed over to Casey as soon as she stepped into the studio. "Check out the new maintenance boy Patricia hired." Emily said quietly while they began to warm up.

Casey glanced quickly over at the boy who was washing one of the large mirrors that the studio had. The boy caught her gaze, flashed a gorgeous smile and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh! Is he cute or what!" Emily exclaimed breaking Casey's gaze with the boy.

"Derek!" the maintenance supervisor, Hank shouted, "Stop staring at the girls and get back to work!"

Emily giggled and Casey rolled her eyes, she had no time to get swept up in some boy who had a nice smile. She had more important things to worry about. Like her showcase performance. If she wanted to pursue a career in dance and hopefully run her own studio someday she'd have to make sure her routine was flawless.

"Okay girls." Patricia began, calling the class to order, "Let's refresh the drills we learned last week. Casey, will you start us off?"

Casey stepped forward, it seemed that no matter what she did, she always excelled in it.

Class finally finished. Patricia handed out notes as she did every week. Lists and pointers that each girl needed to practice in order to succeed at their showcases, which were only a month away.

"Casey. You need a ride?" Emily asked as her and most of the other girls began to file out of the studio.

"Nah," Casey smiled "I'm gonna stay a bit longer."

Emily smiled at her friend and left. Casey would stay at that studio night and day if she could.

By now, Derek had begun mopping the floor. Working at this high-end dance studio hadn't been his first choice as an after school job. But it payed good, and Derek needed all the money he could get. With his parents getting a divorce and his dad making little to no money at the small claims law firm he worked at, they were tight for cash. So, on top of school Derek was working three jobs. Someone had to take care of his little brother and sister right?

"Ow!" Casey screamed as she crashed onto the hardwood floor. "Hey you! Clean-up Boy! Could you wait till I'm done before you mop? These floors are like ice when they're wet!"

"Hey! Little Miss Dancing Princess! No. I have a million other things I have to do before I can go home tonight. It's not my problem that you want to stay late." Derek retorted.

"Hey! My name is Casey, and you just saw me fall. This floor is dangerous, and I need to practice."

"Yeah," Derek smirked. "I did see you fall. And here I thought dancers were suppose to be graceful."

Derek returned to his work with a smirk on his face. But Casey, who always needed to have to last word hadn't finished their conversation.

"Excuse me." Casey began, "All I asked was for you to show some courtesy and wait till I'm done before mopping the floors. There was no need for insults."

"Okay." Derek sighed, "Listen, how 'bout we make a deal? You can use that half of the studio. I already cleaned it and it's dry so it's okay and I'll be over here cleaning the rest of it." He leaned his mop against the wall, clasped his hands together and looked at Casey. "I'll stay out of your way, and you'll stay out of mine...deal?"

Casey's eyes narrowed. She didn't like this guy, she didn't like him one bit.

"You know what...Clean-up Boy. I'm just gonna leave. Your rudeness and- and -and total lack of any class has made me realize that if I could be anywhere right now it'd be no where near you!" Casey yelled, grabbing her bag and began to leave, but not before the boy said,

"Derek."

"What?" Casey asked angrily

"My name is Derek."

"Whatever" Casey said under her breath and walked past him.

"Watch out!" Derek shouted as Casey walked across the frshly washed floor and crashed to the ground.