Katie Holt wouldn't consider herself fit for her job. Principal dancers needed to be tall with long limbs. Katie was 5' 4". Usually principal dancers had been dancing most of their life. Katie didn't start until she was 13. Most principal dancers graduated college with a dance degree. Katie graduated with a Mathematics degree. She was the most unfit dancer in her mind, let alone principal dancer for her company. Lance McClain on the other hand was perfect. He had been dancing since he was 6, is 6 foot, and graduated from a specialized ballet school funded by their company. He had no need to go on to college as he was selected in his senior year to continue as a dancer for the company. Although she could easily name off 17 other dancers from the corps de ballet more suited for the job, she was glad to be able to dance with Lance and have a 6 hour rehearsal with just the two of them 5 days a week and a combined rehearsal with the corps de ballet, soloists, and understudies.
"We don't have all day Katie! Hurry up!" Lance called from the other side of the studio.
They had just finished warming up with the rest of the company and now were starting their rehearsal for their pas de deux from the Nutcracker.
"Ya, ya don't get your dance belt all in a twist." Katie said as she tucked her tied ribbon to the side of her leg, effectively securing her pointe shoe, ignoring the glare the Cuban shot at her.
Pas de deuxs were difficult when the man behind you, lifting you, and none the less touching you, is who you've been crushing on since you got into the company. Many girls(and even guys) would die, or even kill, to be in Katie's position right now. She was very, very lucky.
"Alright, let's go over the lifts towards the end," the ballet master said, thus beginning the rehearsal.
Katie looked at the ugly bruises lining her torso in the mirror of the studio before warm ups. Her new olive colored leo she had been anticipating on wearing for weeks did very little to cover the evidence of the failed lift in practice the other day. The leo was just too cute to not wear, not even considering that Katie forgot to do laundry. Again.
"Is that from rehearsal the other day…?" a voice whispered almost hesitant, even a little nervously.
"Doesn't really matter where I got them, but don't think I'm not going to still beat you for dropping me," Katie smirked at Lance's reflection in the mirror, a little shocked to see how his face wrinkled in worry before smirking back at her in the mirror. Frowns really don't suit him, she thought to herself.
"Well you already hit me several times with one of your pointe shoes."
"They were brand new, I needed to break them in somehow."
"And hitting my body with it is the way to do it?" he asked with a quizzical expression.
"Hitting your thick skull breaks them in faster than any old cement sidewalk could." She teased while pulling her black tights further up her torso in an attempt to hide her bruises more. Hiding the small wince resulting from resting the tights against one of her worse bruises and proceeding to check out her body lines as well as testing her posture. She tried not to notice Lance's eyes lingering on her derriere a tick too long before lightly touching one of the visible bruises. Katie tensed and her heart seemed to get stuck in her throat.
"Are you sure you're okay? Have you seen the doctor yet?" Lance said as his face grew more serious than she's seen the entire time of them being friends. Oh. She thought. He really wasn't looking there was he…
"Yes, I'm fine mommy Lance," Katie mocked before turning to lean against the barre to look him in the eye, returning his serious look. "They said I was lucky to haven't dislocated or fractured anything. I don't fancy the idea of doing lifts for a while until the bruises are gone though." Katie cringed imagining the pain that would result if they did a lift and all her weight were to go on one of the bruises for several, agonizing counts.
"What? You don't trust me now?!" he said feigning pain. "You wound me, Kathryn Holt!"
"That's not even my real name!" Katie giggled.
"It's hard to believe Katie isn't short for anything though."
"Lots of Katies are like that, Lance."
"Uh, huh. Whatever," he said as he started to stretch before class.
Katie couldn't help but notice how the other girls looked at her with envy. If only they knew Lance was actually stupid and insufferable, would they still want him? Katie wondered to herself as she pulled on her leg warmers and jogger jacket. Well, that doesn't seem to stop me… Katie considered to herself.
The hardest part of combined rehearsals is the fact that Lance always flirts with all the other girls and never seems to notice Katie. The little moments they would share would seem to flit out the window with him.
After the warm up class had finished and Katie was on a lunch break, the owner of the ballet approached her, looking really excited.
"Katie! How are you?" she asked brightly.
"I'm fine Ms. Johnson. What can I do for you?" Katie wondered if she had done anything to make the owner come to her personally.
"Straight to the point still, I see. I was wondering if I could talk to you in private for a moment?" Ms. Johnson asked while wringing her hands together a little nervously.
"Uh, sure I guess," she answered with uncertainty.
