A/N: OK! We're in the past now, to watch the unfolding of B and A's unlikely romance. Happy days. You may recognise the second half from this fic's predecessor "Like We Used To" but it has been tweaked. Sorry for the length, but I guess this is a linking chapter. Besides, I uploaded twice in one day to make up for the long wait!

RdF

Chapter 3 – A Rocky Start

"Hey, can you put me through to William Hale please? Department Nine? Thanks," Alex said, clutching the pay phone to her ear as she tried to speak clearly down it in the school corridor, which was teeming with students. "Oh, sorry. It's his daughter, Alex." She waited for the response, absentmindedly playing with the phone cord until she heard a familiar voice down the end.

"Dad? Hi! No, nothing's wrong. I'm fine – actually I was just ringing because, well...you know that audition I had? Well, I got picked," she muttered quietly down the phone, running her fingers through her hair. "Yeah – I know. It's just I knew you were gonna be late home and you said you wanted to know as soon as I did so...no, I'm going to think about it. I haven't decided yet," She nodded and frowned, feeling a pair of eyes on her. When she turned she saw Blake standing a few feet from her, looking expectant. "Look, Dad I've gotta go," she said glaring at the boy. "Yeah, I'll be fine. See you later. Love you, bye."

She put the phone back on its hook and folded her arms. "What do you want Collins?"

He adjusted the strap of the bag he was holding, pulling it up his shoulder, and gave her a steely glare, obviously biting back a comment he wanted to make. "I wanted to discuss something with you – I presume you've seen my notice."

"Yes," she responded frostily.

"Good. We should talk about our schedules."

"Our schedules?" she repeated.

He rolled his eyes impatiently as if he was talking to a child. "When are you free?" he asked he slowly. "I hope you're better at partnering than you are conversationally."

Alex glared at him but found no retort came easily. Instead she watched as he went into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper from a folder, reaching out to hand it to her. She snatched it from him angrily and glanced over it.

"That's a copy of my timetable," he explained carefully. "Just mark on it when you're free for rehearsals and we'll block in a routine."

"Sounds like fun," she said dryly.

"I figure we should have a stable rehearsal pattern."

"You do?"

Blake zipped up his bag aggressively. "There's no need to be intentionally difficult. Look, this is a marriage of convenience," he said simply. "I didn't pick you because I like you, I picked you because I know that we'll dance well together and that's really all that is important to me. So if this is going to happen, we should just try and be as civil as possible. If you can manage that," he added with a sceptical look.

"This isn't a 'marriage' of anything," Alex hissed exasperatedly. "And for the record, I don't like you either. Anyway, I haven't even agreed to be your partner. I didn't even audition!"

"Well that's strange," Blake mused, his voice laced with sarcasm. "Because from where I was sat, it looked like you auditioned."

"Because you laid down a gauntlet! I didn't want to be your partner. So don't just waltz over here and assume simply because you 'chose' me that I'm going to accept. I have other things to consider," she added snidely.

"Like what?"

"Like whether or not I can stand to be in the same room with you," she retorted with an unpleasant smile.

Blake glanced off with a frown and sighed, clearly irritated that it wasn't all going as carefully as he had planned it. "Fine. But I'll be in the main studio tonight. If you could make up your mind and decide what you want to do, that would be great." He walked away before she could say another word, leaving her standing there, gripping his timetable and scrunching it up slightly with her fist.

"Alex," someone said from a little way down the corridor – her friend Jane. Alex paced towards her slowly, folding the timetable in half. "I saw you talking to King Collins – what did he want?"

"He wants to compare our schedules," Alex said, putting on a voice to sound like Blake's clipped, officious tone.

Jane smiled. "So you've decided to be his partner?"

"No!" Alex snapped. "I haven't decided anything yet, but I need to by the end of today, and he wants me to let him know."

"Well," Jane said carefully, pulling her out of the way of the students milling about. "What are the pros and cons?"

"There are a lot of cons," Alex sighed. "I don't like him really. He's a bit of an ass. But..."

"But?" Jane repeated.

"He's a really good dancer," Alex shrugged, sounding obviously torn, "and as loathed as I am to admit it, we're a similar height, weight...we're a good match in terms of dancing. It's just a question of whether I care enough about dance to put myself into a partnership that might result in me being sent to prison for murder."

Jane laughed and nudged her friend. "Come on, you'll be able to handle your own against Collins. In fact, I'd pay to watch you handle your own against him. Everyone's still talking about your audition and how you showed him up after he insulted you. Even more so since he picked you out of everyone else. He's notoriously hard to impress, like his Mom and Dad."

Alex exhaled a deep breath. "I guess."

"Collins is a good dancer, and I'm sure that you'll just go to rehearsal, do a few hours hard work and that will be where you interaction ends," Jane mused wisely, pulling on a denim jacket. "It's up to you. In the mean time, we've got class."

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Alex watched his figure through the glass of the studio door and weighed up the advantages and disadvantages for the hundredth time that day. She wished she could talk it through with her Dad but she knew how busy he was at the moment, and he would only tell her it was ultimately her decision. Blake was a good dancer; she could see that from where she stood, nervously shifting her balance from one foot to the other. And so was she. She could already see that technically, their partnership would be gold. She had been hand-picked too.

She sighed. Damn her ego.

Blake stopped dancing as he heard the creak of the door and turned to see the girl walking across the floor towards him. He had to admit, he didn't think she'd show up after their discussion earlier that day. He'd resigned himself to the fact that he might have to dance with Freda Philips, the blonde haired girl Alex had interrupted. But he had obviously underestimated Hale's pride. Blake took a bottle of water from his bag and took a drink.

"I didn't think you'd come," he said with a smirk. Alex shrugged.

"How could I turn down the lead in the Blake Collin's show?" she said mockingly. "Besides," she added, dumping her duffel bag at the side of the room and pulling out her ballet shoes, "I'd have to look for my own partner sooner or later, so I've killed two birds with one stone really."

"You've killed two birds with one stone? I don't believe you were even going to audition." Blake smiled at her as she tied her ribbons. She looked up, her hair falling across her face.

"Well, it was obviously predestined," she said sarcastically, straightening up.

Blake didn't say anything. He waited patiently as she warmed up. He tried hard not to watch her but he couldn't deny how intrigued he had been by her performance the other day. She had fused ballet, dancing that he knew well and loved, with something unfamiliar; a little more modern and feminine. She had listened carefully to the beat and the melody of the song and moved effortlessly and in time with it. Blake had spoke about it incessantly to his mother and father, the only people he could admit to that he had been wholly impressed with Alex. He could never tell her that, although he knew she would interpret his selection of her for her own ego. The student populace had talked non-stop about her audition and 'that pretty Hale girl getting one up on King Collins'. He detested the jokes about royalty.

He had been honest earlier when he said that her personality and whether they actually got on or not wasn't important to him, but he couldn't deny that it would be easier for all concerned it they just got on with it and tried to be nice. He'd heard that she could be, even though he hadn't witnessed it so far.

"Ok, your majesty, I'm ready," she half-smiled. Blake winced.

"Please, don't call me that," he found himself saying, though he supposed it might be pointless to ask.

She frowned at him. "Sorry, it's just everyone..."

"Don't. Don't do what everyone else does," he murmured coldly. "My name is Blake."

She didn't know what to make of him. She supposed that no one had come as close to Collins as she was going to over the next few weeks and she had better be ready for some surprises. "Sorry, Blake," she said meaningfully, as a kind of acceptance that she would do this his way; no easy feat for someone as stubborn as Alex.

"Thank you," he said quietly with a nod, so low that Alex thought she might not have been meant to hear it.

"Right, let's get on with it," she said, filling the awkward silence. "They tell me you're quite good," she teased.

He raised an eyebrow. "They tell me you like to bait people; it won't work with me."

"We'll see," she said moving closer and allowing him to direct her into the first position he wanted her in. "You look quite easily 'stirred'." He rolled his eyes and lifted her arms to fifth.

"Shut up," he said in a low voice in her ear as he stood behind her. "I didn't pick you for your mouth. Let's just agree to working in silence, unless we have something to say that's to do with dance."

"Suits me fine," she replied with a resolute expression, staring straight ahead into the mirror and biting her tongue.

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