I don’t have a chance to dwell on it before my parents come into view, grinning and clapping. But it isn’t my parents that my eyes fixate on. It’s the tall black man standing behind them, a shy smile on his face. An anguished cry of “Henry?” from behind me is the only warning I get before I’m pushed to the side in Cole’s hurry to get to him. I can only look for a moment before the raw emotion on both their faces has tears blurring my vision and a blush heating my cheeks.
“You did good, Mija.” My mom gingerly kisses my temple, one of the few spots on my face that doesn’t have mud on it. “Here.” She hands me and JJ each a wipe from the pack of baby wipes in her hand before going off to fuss over Hunter and Jack.
“Here, let me do it,” JJ says, taking the wipe from my hand before I’ve had a chance to do more than swipe it down one cheek. Tenderly, she cleans the mud off my face, holding my chin with one hand, her fingers burning my skin. Or maybe that’s my own blood boiling at her touch. Or maybe it’s the really, really hot weather. My eyes closed, I let myself drift in the sensation of her touching my face, my hands floating up to hold onto JJ’s waist, not caring who might be looking or what it might mean. All I know is, the butterflies in my stomach are the best kind and I don’t want her to stop.
“Fuck yeah, now that’s a finish line I’d like to see!” JJ freezes at the crude words and accompanying whistles coming from behind us. Whirling, I spot a group of twenty-something guys coming up the finishers chute behind us, fist-bumping each other and leering at us. Before I can formulate a response, I’m shoved behind the wall of my brother’s backs.
“Are you serious, asshole? They’re in high school,” Cole yells, menace lacing every word. “I dare you to say One. More. Word.” Cole punctuates each word with a menacing step towards the group of guys who throw their hands up and back away, muttering.
Embarrassment floods through me and I stumble away from JJ, retreating to the safety of my parents. The next few minutes are a jumble of awkward apologies and clearing throats while we decide what happens next. Jack saves us all by declaring he’s starving and if he doesn’t get fed soon, we’ll all be sorry. Knowing that isn’t an empty threat, we head to the car to grab the change of clothes we each packed so we can go get some brunch.
By the time we’re cleaned up, changed, and driving to the nearby diner for a big greasy breakfast, a silence has fallen between us that I don’t know how to break. Cole rides with Henry, leaving an empty seat between JJ and I in the back row. It might as well be the Grand Canyon for all I know how to reach across it.
I let the chatter in the car fill the silence between JJ and me. It’s not until we’re all sitting at the booth, menus in hand and the conversation turns that I speak up. “Hunter, did you talk to Lisa yet?”
“Not yet. They have rehearsal for another couple of hours.” It’s easy to tell from the way he’s memorized their schedule how much he misses her. I mean, I miss them too, Hannah and Lisa, but I don’t think it’s been quite the same.
“I wish I could see their workshop performance,” I tell him, as the waitress places waters in front of all of us. The sight of the ice-cold water has me reaching for it and gulping it down. All four of us are too busy chugging the water down to keep talking.
“Why can’t you see it?” Henry asks as we drink. “Are they not allowed to have an audience?”
“They’re up in Seattle,” I say, shrugging.
“Sounds like a perfect reason for a road trip, if you ask me.” Henry bumps shoulders with Cole, both of them grinning. They haven’t been more than three feet apart since we finished the race. When I managed to sneak his number out of Cole’s phone last week I’d hoped that Henry still felt the same way as Cole, but it wasn’t until he agreed to come to the race before I’d even finished my sentence that I knew I’d done the right thing.
“Another road trip?” Jack piped up from his end of the booth.
“I don’t know boys, I can’t take any more time off work…” My dad, ever the voice of reason.
“Cole and Henry are technically adults,” Hunter points out.
“How far is it to Seattle?” JJ asks, scrunching her face over the menu.
“It’s a two-day drive,” I add. “Well, eighteen hours, give ot take.”
“Please Mom?” Hunter asks, knowing who we really need to win over.
“Please?” Jack and I chime in.
“I’ll think about it.” Looking up at the waitress hovering over our table. “First we need to order.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Hannah
“Hannah you can’t dance on that.” Trevor stares down at me, arms crossed over his chest. “I can see the bruise from here. I’m worried, what’s if it’s more serious than you thought?”
I shift the ice pack a little farther over my ankle. “That’s not a bruise, it’s red from the cold.” I glare right back from the deep seat of the armchair. “I can dance on it and I will. You’re not a dancer, Trevor. You’re not a doctor either, you don’t get it.”
Trevor flinches at my words but doesn’t relent. “I don’t get it? Pretty sure I do, T.” We’ve had the same argument every night this week. I know he’s worried about me, but he doesn’t understand. I’m tough, I can handle the pain. Besides, I just have to get through this afternoon’s dress rehearsal and the performances tomorrow and then I’ll be able to rest it for at least a few weeks. But I have to dance tonight and tomorrow. This is my last chance to prove to Mr. Bethelo and the other teachers that I deserve a place here year-round.
“I’ll ice it again tonight, I promise.” Trevor drove over to have lunch with me today since I won’t see him tonight. With his camp over, we haven’t seen each other quite as much, but he’s been coming over in the evenings to hang out and have dinner with us. “It’s fine.”
The only people I’ve told about my conversation with Marco are my parents. I was worried about having the privacy to tell them without Lisa hearing, but since she didn’t come with me on Sunday morning to cheer Trevor on at his final mock meet, I had the chance to tell them without her overhearing. They’re arriving late tonight so they can watch tomorrow’s show before they drive Lisa and I home. My mom said we can talk it over once we’re home, which wasn’t a yes…but it wasn’t a no either so I’m hopeful.
Trevor drops into a squat in front of me, reaching out for my hand. “Hannah, your ankle isn’t getting better. You can’t deny it.” His thumb brushes across my knuckles, warming my skin. “I don’t want to see you hurting.” The worry in his eyes chips at the anger that’s built up around my heart.
“I know. But you have to trust me, Trev. It’s my body, I know what I’m doing. I’ll be fine, I promise.” I need him to drop it so we can stop arguing over it. He studies me for a few moments. I’m starting to squirm under his gaze when he sighs and moves to sit next to me on the chair. I scoot over to make space for him but instead of squishing me, he picks me up, turning so he’s sitting in the chair and I’m draped across his lap, my feet resting next to him on the arm of the chair. Trevor resettles the ice pack around my ankle, pressing a kiss to my shin when he’s done.
“How long do we have before you need to leave?” he asks, letting the argument go.
“About half an hour. All my stuff is packed and ready to go.” I wave to my dance bag on the floor next to me. “I was prepared.” I add with a wink.
“Good.” Trevor grins and pulls out his phone and earbuds. We each put one in and settle in. We’re in the middle of an episode of Teen Titans, one of Trevor’s favorite cartoons, when Lisa appears, her dance bag in hand.
“Ready?” A glance at the time has me swinging my legs to the ground.
Trevor doesn’t let me go right away. “You sure you’re okay?” At my nod, he peers around me to Lisa. They share a look, to my annoyance.
“Guys, I’m right here. Don’t do that.” I wave at their faces
. “I know what I’m doing, no ganging up on me.” With that I drop a kiss on Trevor’s cheek and stalk out the door, trusting Lisa to follow. I focus on walking without a limp as we head over to the theater on campus, even if my ankle is shouting at me with every step.
I’ll rest it soon, I swear.
There’s an older Asian woman we’ve never seen waiting in the lobby when we get back to the dorms. She’s peering at each group of dancers entering the building. Something about her sets my heart racing.
“Do you know Hannah O’Brian?” she says to Gloria as we follow her inside the building. My ankle is hot and achy, but not as bad as I feared it would feel after the dress rehearsal. Since there are so many groups who all have to dance, I had a long time to rest between dances, which helped. It was easier than an afternoon of rehearsals would have been.
Gloria points over her shoulder with her thumb. “That’s her, with the red hair.”
The woman looks up and meets my eyes. Panic overwhelms me. Oh my god, did something happen to my parents? I haven’t heard from them in a couple of hours, they’ve been driving through the mountains of Oregon and I haven’t looked at my phone for a while. “Hannah?”
I swallow, struggling to find my voice. Lisa grips my hand tight, picking up on my fear. “Yeah? Is something wrong?”
“Is there somewhere we can sit and talk? In private?”
I look around the lobby, full of dancers wandering into the building from the theater. “I guess the dining hall is pretty clear right now?” Lisa squeezes my hand again, forcing me to look at her.
“Do you want me to hang around?” she whispers. At my nod, she heads over to one of the couches by the elevators. I lead the way, walking slowly. I only take a few steps before I can’t take it any longer. “My parents are okay, right?”
Surprise replaces the stern look on the woman’s face. “Oh goodness, yes. This isn’t about them. I’m sorry if I scared you, that wasn’t my intention.”
We find an empty table and sit on either side, facing each other. Clasping my hands on the table, my brain goes into overdrive. What does she want? Am I in trouble? My leg jiggles under the table as I wrack my brain for some other reason she might have to be looking for me.
“Before you get any more worked up, you’re not in trouble.” The woman reassures me, reaching across the table to rest her hand on top of my own, stilling the nervous twisting I hadn’t even noticed. “I’m Dr. Alicia Lee, I’m one of the sports therapists for the PSB school.”
I sag in my chair, relief, exhaustion, and worry fighting for dominance in my chest. “Um, nice to meet you. What did you need to talk to me about?”
Dr. Lee takes the time to look me up and down, her dark eyes assessing me. I’m thankful my legs are hidden under the table so she doesn’t see the KT tape on my ankle. “Well, I’ve been asked by the staff to assess your injury and your general health. My apologies for getting to you this late, I was out of town until this morning.”
“Um, I’m good.” I draw out the words, not sure what she wants to know.
She pulls a sheaf of papers out of her bag and lays them on the table in front of me. “I’m not going to do an assessment right now, although I do have some questions about your recent injury. Mostly I need to go over these forms with you. Some of these are forms for your parents and you to fill out and there’s one your primary care doctor back home needs to sign before you come back in September.”
Come back in September?
She’s talking about…
“Oh my god!” I squeal at the top of my lungs, shooting up out of my chair. “Are they…I’m coming…are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I can’t finish the thoughts or the words tumbling out of my mouth.
Dr. Lee is taken aback for a moment at my reaction “Didn’t anyone tell you the decision had been made?” When I shake my head she snorts. “Well, I guess it’s understandable, it’s been a busy day, right?”
Taking a deep breath, I settle back into my chair, my leg jiggling under the table for an entirely different reason. “So these are medical clearance forms?” I ask, trying to sound calmer than I feel. This is it. Oh my god. This is it, everything I’ve been dreaming of. I fire off a text to Lisa, letting her know she doesn’t have to wait for me.
“Well, yes. But before I can give them to you, there have been some concerns raised about your injury. I would like to do a quick examination now, if you don’t mind.” She gestures to my ankle, hidden under the table.
“Did someone say something about my dancing tonight?” I ask as I slip my shoe off and place my ankle on the chair Dr. Lee’s pulled over. She starts running her hands along my foot and ankle. She’s a brave woman touching my foot after I’ve danced on it for the last three hours. I cringe when she bends down to look closer.
“I was told someone called the front office and left a message with the admin there.” Dr. Lee doesn’t look at me as she speaks, concentrating on my ankle instead.
It takes all my self-control not to jerk my foot out of her hands. Someone called and left an anonymous message that my ankle was hurt? Fury at whoever tried to sabotage my chances of staying rolls through me, leaving me a seething mass of rage. I bet it was that girl, the one from Trevor’s camp. She kept eyeing me when I was there to cheer Trevor on Sunday. I wouldn’t put it past her.
Or maybe it was Becky? She and the other Six girls have had it out for me from the beginning. And they were the ones who wanted me to let Min have the Black Swan pas. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am it must have been her. Who else has the most to gain from taking me out of the show at the last minute?
Lucky for me, I’m so distracted by trying to figure out who could have called in a concern about my injury that I’m tuning out the way Dr. Lee is prodding around my ankle. I almost flinch when she presses a particularly painful spot, but I manage to hold myself still. One more day, then I’ll be home to rest it for a while.
Speaking of. “When would I need to have everything signed by? I don’t know when the new year starts.”
Dr. Lee prods a few more spots before she answers. “The new fall session begins the Tuesday after Labor Day, so you would have about three weeks or so to get everything taken care of.” She looks up, patting my ankle. “You’re sure there aren’t any tender spots? It’s a little warm to the touch in places. I need you to be honest with me about how it’s feeling. We want you to be healthy and ready to dance in September.”
I nod my head. “It’s fine. It’s a little sore tonight after all the dancing this week, but it’s not bad.” I don’t lie and say it doesn’t hurt at all, but I’m not going to tell her the truth either.
“I can’t tell if that’s bruising right here.” She points to a spot above my ankle bone, halfway between the side of my calf and my Achilles tendon, around the edges of the KT tape. “Or if it’s the light in here.”
“I’m sure it’s just the light.” I say quickly. Maybe too quickly, judging by Dr. Lee’s raised eyebrow. “I haven’t noticed any bruising,” I add. I can’t meet her eyes at my outright lie. I noticed the bruising this morning as I got out of the shower and deliberately covered it with the KT tape so Lisa wouldn’t see it. Did I feel guilty while I did it? Yes, I did. But nothing is going to stop me from my goal when I’m so close.
We finish up, Dr. Lee explaining all the different kinds of paperwork and who needs to sign off on what. I force myself to pay attention, but the whole time I’m turning over in my mind who could have tried to get me out of tomorrow’s show.
“Thank you,” I say, standing up as we finish. Dr. Lee leaves me and I pull out my phone and check for messages. It’s almost ten o’clock, I’ll have to hurry to get upstairs before lights out. There’s a text from my parents letting me know they checked into the hotel and were going to sleep soon. They sent it ten minutes ago so I hit the button to call my mom’s phone, hoping they ha
ven’t gone to bed yet. I know I’m supposed to go to my room, but I won’t be able to sleep without telling my parents the news.
“Hi sweetie!” My mom’s voice has my throat closing up. “How was dress rehearsal?”
I swallow hard, confused by the overwhelming sadness and homesickness that washes over me at her words. “Um, good. It was good. So, I have some news.”
There’s a shuffling and some whispers before my mom’s voice comes through again. “I put you on speaker so Dad can hear too. What’s up?”
I have to swallow again to get the words out. “Well. Um. They offered me a spot here in the fall.”
There’s silence on the other end of the line for a long moment before my dad’s voice comes on. “Wow pumpkin, that’s amazing. How do you feel about it?”
Duh. “I’m so happy I could cry,” I say honestly. “Um, I have a bunch of paperwork and medical forms for you guys to look through. I’ll pack them in my bag tonight so it doesn’t get lost.” And also so Lisa doesn’t see it. I don’t know how I’m going to tell her. She’s going to be devastated. We’ve always dreamed of dancing together, even if deep down neither of us was sure her parents would ever agree.
We chat some more as I ride the elevator up to my room, hanging up as the door opens on my floor. It’s past lights out and I don’t want to wake anyone up, so I tiptoe down the hallway. A door at the end of my hall opens and someone peers out. I can just make out Becky’s sneering face in the dim lighting.
“Hmph. Not enough to be the flavor of the summer, now the rules don’t apply to you?” She mutters as I pass her on the way to my room. That last bit of venom is more than I can take.
“I know it was you who called the front office about my injury. Do you think I would let a little something like that stop me from performing tomorrow?” I snap at her.
“Call the office? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me Becky, I know it was you.”
Face to Face (On Pointe Book 3) Page 19