The Hit List

by Nikki Urang

  He moves his hand to my chest as slowly as I moved his other hand. My heart rate spikes as his hand comes into contact with my skin.

  “Your heart’s racing.” His brow creases.

  “I know.” I find his eyes in the mirror and take a deep breath. My heart needs to relax. I need to calm down. I don’t want to think about why my heart is racing because I know it has more to do with the boy standing behind me and less to do with my trust issues.

  “Can I try something?” he asks.

  I take a deep breath. Now or never. “Yes.”

  “Miss Tasha went through the whole dance with me after you left, so I know the choreography. I know what comes after this. You spin back under my arm so you’re behind me, but I still hold onto your hand. I pull you back in front so we’re face-toface, turn you around again, and lift you so you’re arched over my shoulder before you slide down the front of me. Do you think you’re up to that?”

  “I want to try it.” I’m not sure I’ll be able to let him lift me, but I need to do this for me.

  “We’ll take this one step at a time, okay?” He watches me closely.

  I nod. It’s surprisingly easy to have a little faith in Luke.

  His hand slides off my stomach and grips my hand. “Ready?”

  “Yes.” I’m so ready.

  He pushes me gently as he raises his arm so I can easily turn under it. I straighten my arm for a few seconds before he pulls me back to him and I crash against his chest. We’re face to face, my body pressed flat against him, his hands on my hips. But I can handle it.

  “Turn around.”

  I do as he says, every inch of me between my stomach and my back touching him as I do. I catch his eyes in the mirror again.

  He holds my gaze. “Ready for the lift?”

  I smile at him. My body shakes, but it’s not from fear. “Completely.”

  His hands tighten on my waist, my signal to jump. He lifts me up and I arch my back over his shoulder, my hands over my head in fifth position. For the briefest of moments, I worry about him losing grip and allowing me to crash to the floor, but he doesn’t. He holds me there for a few seconds before he lets me slide slowly down his body. It takes a couple of seconds for my feet to hit the floor again. He doesn’t remove his hands even after I’m on the ground.

  I turn in his hands and grin up at him. “I did it,” I say, flinging my arms around his neck and hugging him tight.

  “You did. I’m so proud of you, Sadie.” His arms circle around my waist. The warmth in his eyes disappears in an instant. “I think we should take a break. I don’t want to push you too much today. We still have a lot of work to do.”

  “Yeah, okay.” I thought we made a ton of progress, but maybe I wasn’t working hard enough or fast enough for him.

  He runs his hands up my arms and removes my hands from his neck. The action sends shivers up my spine, but they’re good shivers. I jerk my hands back so he doesn’t notice.

  Miss Tasha claps from the front of the room. “Can I please see more of that in rehearsal? Because that is exactly what I’m looking for. The steps weren’t great, but that’s the chemistry I expect.”

  It takes a lot to please Miss Tasha. I’m glad I lived to see the day when she was pleased with something I did.

  “Take a ten-minute water break and then let’s come back and learn this choreography.”

  I glance at Luke. We haven’t even done that much. I’d rather just keep going than take a break now. But he seems to have different thoughts because he grabs his water bottle and walks out of the studio.

  I slide my front leg out and lower myself into the splits to keep my muscles stretched. Halfway through the break, I switch to the other side. Luke doesn’t come back until exactly ten minutes has passed. He barely acknowledges me when he walks by. I don’t get his sudden mood swing. We were doing great.

  “All right. Let’s go.” Miss Tasha walks to the center of the room to stand next to us.

  The choreography is brutal. I’m so anxious about being close to Luke that I continuously trip over my feet. Luke isn’t any better, botching the choreography in his own ways. His goofy smile doesn’t match the mood of the dance at all. My hands shake every time I have to touch him. My heart goes crazy every time he touches me in return. I lose my center in a pirouette and fall out of it, stumbling into Luke in the process. He catches me before I fall backward.

  And it pisses off Miss Tasha.

  “What is wrong with you?” she asks after the third time we run it. “This is not what I asked for. Again.” She paces the front of the room as the music starts again. Her pacing makes me even more nervous.

  We’re just as rocky as ever, like we’ve forgotten all our previously learned technique. I refuse to practice the lifts. That’s an accident waiting to happen. It feels safer on the ground. Instead I mark everything, barely letting Luke touch me.

  “Okay, stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.” Miss Tasha pauses the music. She rubs her forehead with her fingers and points toward us without actually looking at us.

  Brandon takes the hint and walks over to us. “Let me show you how it’s supposed to look,” he says to Luke. He raises his eyebrows when Luke doesn’t move.

  Luke looks annoyed, but he steps back.

  Brandon steps behind me, ready to show Luke the lift we’d been marking for the past hour. His hands find my thighs and he slides them slowly to my hips, making me extremely uncomfortable. I want to step away, but I’m afraid Miss Tasha will yell at us again. One thing’s for sure, though. There’s no way in hell I’m letting him lift me.

  “Assistants don’t have the same rules as teachers, you know. We can date other students.” His hand brushes against my butt and he holds it there too long.

  “What the hell?” I ask, pulling away.

  But Luke saw it too. He grabs my arm and pulls me away from Brandon. The momentum makes me stumble. Luke stands chest to chest with Brandon. He breathes heavy. Brandon looks unfazed.

  “Hands off.” Luke looks furious.

  Brandon laughs and gives Luke a little shove away from him. “Or what? You’ll tell Mommy?”

  Miss Tasha pushes her way between the two of them. “I don’t care what’s going on between you two, but I can promise you I don’t have time for your bullshit. You want to fight? Take it out of the studio.”

  “Gladly.” Luke shoves Brandon’s shoulder. Brandon’s smirk drops and he looks murderous.

  I reach out and grab Luke’s wrist, surprising us both. But he doesn’t take another step. Instead, he watches me, like he’s afraid I might break. I run my hands over my hair to push back the fly-aways that keep sticking to my face.

  Miss Tasha holds her head in her hands. Brandon’s one second away from attack mode. He shifts from foot to foot and glances between Luke and me.

  “Just go. Go get some sleep, go get a brain transplant. I don’t care. But when you come back tomorrow, you better be ready to work.” Miss Tasha walks out of the studio with Brandon.

  I turn to Luke to ask what the hell happened between us in that moment, but I don’t get the chance.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Luke says. He grabs his bag off the ground and heads to the door.

  “Okay.” I frown at his back.

  Things were supposed to be better after we danced. But they’re not. At this rate, it doesn’t feel like they’ll ever be better.

  Nutrition class is the last place I want to be after everything that happened in rehearsal. I never want to see Brandon again after the way he treated me. But I need to talk to Luke. I need to know what’s going on between us.

  Class doesn’t start for another couple minutes. I watch the students around me. Kate, another freshman in the dance department, waves at me from across the room. I smile at her.

  A group of girls sit up in the front of the classroom. They’re a combination of theater and music students. I don’t really know any of them, but their conversation gets louder until they’re yelling at each other.r />
  “I can’t believe you. How could you sleep with my boyfriend?” Jessie stands up, moving closer to the girl she’s talking to.

  World War Three is about to break out in nutrition class over a boy.

  Rebecca holds her ground. She stands up and pushes her chair out of the way. “It’s not my fault. He came onto me. Maybe if you were nicer to him, he wouldn’t be hanging around other girls.”

  How can they not see this is all because of The Hit List? They shouldn’t be mad at each other, they should be mad at the boy that’s causing the issues between them.

  Miss Taylor walks into the room. “Ladies, break it up or I’ll break it up for you.”

  The girls separate, but continue to throw hateful glances at each other from their seats.

  I keep my head down for the duration of class. I don’t want to get involved in anyone else’s drama. I have enough of my own to worry about. When it’s finally over, I rush back to my dorm room without making eye contact with anyone. I’m not in the mood for conversation.

  Brielle sits on her bed and listens intently as I run through the events of the day with her.

  “That’s nothing. I heard there’s a girl giving it up to the highest bidder so she can pay off her student loans,” Brielle says.

  “You’re joking. Is she aware that’s prostitution? And how much does she think she’s going to get?”

  Unbelievable.

  “The girls in this school are crazy.” Brielle flips through a gossip magazine.

  I frown. “They wouldn’t be so crazy if they didn’t have to deal with this game. Maybe I should talk to Miss Catherine about it.”

  She bites her lip. “I don’t think you really want to do that. You’d pretty much blacklist yourself in the community. Your best bet is to just let it go and don’t get involved yourself. Just don’t sleep with someone from the school. Problem solved.”

  “How many guys do you think are involved?” I ask. She has to have a better idea than I do. She’s flirted with half the guys on campus.

  She takes her eyes off the magazine for a couple seconds to look at me. “Who cares?”

  “I do, considering everyone I talk to seems to have some sort of involvement. Luke and Brandon almost got into a fight after Brandon felt me up in rehearsal.”

  Brielle stares at me with her mouth open, like I’ve forgotten basic math. “I’m pretty sure that had nothing to do with the game on Luke’s part and everything to do with the fact that he likes you and he was trying to protect you from Brandon.”

  “Whatever.”

  “I’ve seen the look he gives you. He thinks you’re hot. And because of that, you should avoid him at every opportunity,” she says.

  I can’t hide my smile from her. “He does not. And how am I supposed to avoid him when he’s my partner?”

  I’m not sure whether or not I want the words to be true. I think part of me is hoping it is. The other part is terrified of what that means. Things could get really complicated really fast if I start to care about him as more than a partner.

  Brielle’s eyes widen. “Sadie Bryant, you like him, don’t you?”

  I do my best to relax my face and look as indifferent as possible. “Okay, so maybe I don’t really hate him, but that doesn’t mean I like him.”

  She raises an eyebrow at me. “I want you to remember that I told you from the beginning that he was a jackass because this can only end badly. But if you really want to go for it, then you should. Maybe he’s only a jackass to ninety-nine percent of the female population.”

  “Thanks?” I’m not sure how to answer that. It sounds like she’s giving me her permission to date him, but that’s not what I want. I just want to be able to dance.

  I don’t even know if I like him yet, let alone trust him.

  “It doesn’t really matter. Everyone I end up liking has a tendency to leave for better things. So what’s the point?” I stare at my pillow so I don’t have to make eye contact.

  Her voice is quiet when she speaks again. “Not everyone leaves in the end. Sometimes you just have to give people a chance. Give them a reason to stay.”

  THE HIT LIST UPDATE

  September 30

  It’s time for another update post. Our Hitters are starting to get into the swing of things and two of our lovely ladies have fallen from the game. You’ll see their names crossed out along with their point values. The rest of the ladies are still available for votes. As for our guys, their standings are listed below.

  #10 16 points

  #1 11 points

  #3 9 points

  #4 8 points

  #16 8 points

  #5 7 points

  #2 7 points

  #14 6 points

  #13 6 points

  #6 4 points

  #7 3 points

  #9 3 points

  #15 1 point

  #11 1 point

  #12 1 point

  #8 ----------

  Brielle Watkins 25%

  Sadie Bryant 19%

  Rachel Barrons 14%

  Rebecca Hemsworth 12 points

  Samantha Jameson 11%

  Noelle Sanstrohm 10%

  Courtney Turner 9 points

  Ashlynn Jenkins 9%

  Jessie Freeman 7%

  Kate Williams 5%

  As always, have fun and happy hitting!

  THE HIT MAN

  9

  “Get it together, Sadie,” Miss Tasha yells for the third time in less than fifteen minutes as I mark another lift with Luke. “You can’t keep marking things if you ever hope to get it right for tryouts.”

  I want to flip her off, but that won’t go over well.

  It’s been two weeks since we learned the choreography. Tension has only increased since Luke and Brandon’s standoff. Brandon makes me uncomfortable and I’d prefer if he weren’t in class, but I don’t have a choice. He’s assigned to us and I can’t change him any more than I can change Luke.

  I don’t trust Luke any more than I did then and we’re nowhere near as polished as we should be by now. I always chicken out after a few seconds of Luke touching me, so I mark most of the lifts. I know it annoys all of them, but there’s nothing I can do about that.

  “Glare at me all you want. Tryouts are in twenty-five days. And if it were up to me, I’d cut you both in a heartbeat. Stop marking shit and dance full out. We have one more shot before practice is over. Make it count. Let’s take it from right before the lift.” She rewinds the music a couple of eight counts.

  I count it out in my head. I don’t need to worry about this. We’ve done it before, we can do it again.

  Right on cue, I launch into Luke’s arms, turning in the air so I face away from him when he catches me. My feet find his thighs as my body curls in and I straighten my legs to stand on his thighs. His hands close around my hips. I focus on calming my breathing. We can’t fail. I can’t fall.

  The lift isn’t new. We’ve done it a hundred times and I don’t expect this time to be any different.

  That’s my first mistake.

  My foot slips against the fabric of Patrick’s shorts. He corrects it quickly, but the damage is done. I overcompensate for the change in balance and my upper body sways.

  Patrick isn’t fast enough. When I lean forward to protect myself, he grabs whatever he can. My hip shreds before I hit the floor.

  My second mistake was believing he would stick around for my recovery.

  Breathing is the least of my worries when Luke shifts slightly underneath me. Fear closes in around me.

  He’s going to drop me.

  My mind goes into overdrive as I plan an escape route from the lift with the least amount of damage to myself. I lean back slightly so I’m angled to drop right to the floor on my feet instead of on my face. My feet slide off Luke’s thighs before I’m ready. His hands slip from my hips and he catches me around the waist before I hit the floor. Disappointment shoots through me and every failure in the last few weeks weighs heavy on my heart.


  Luke releases me immediately and takes a step back. “You were fine. I was just getting into a better position. There was no chance I was going to drop you.”

  Miss Tasha throws her hands up in the air. “I give up. You two are useless.” She stalks out of the studio.

  “Well, that was rude.” Luke stares at the door as it bangs shut behind her.

  I sit down in a straddle, letting my muscles cool down in a stretch so they don’t tense up. “She’s right. I’m useless. I’m never going to be able to do this.” Tears form in my eyes and I press the heels of my hands against them. I’m tired and I’m stressed.

  “You just need to have more faith.”

  “And how do you propose I do that?” I ask, waiting for his miracle solution that I know he doesn’t have. If he did, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

  He smiles and holds out his hand. “Let’s go for a ride.”

  “I’m not in the mood. I want to stay here and practice.” I stand up without taking his hand and brush the dust off my butt.

  He walks toward the door. “You’re going to be practicing by yourself then. I need a break.”

  I shouldn’t go. We need to practice more, but practicing without Luke is pointless. I already know I’m good without him. If I go, I’m stuck wherever he decides to take me. But the break sounds nice and it’s been a while since I’ve gotten off this campus. “Fine, but I need to change first.”

  I change quickly because I’m excited to get out of the school for a while. It has nothing to do with the fact that I’ll be spending the day with Luke outside the studio. Absolutely not.

  He isn’t back when I’m done getting ready so I walk to his room. I’m almost there when I hear the soft sounds of someone crying. A girl sits on a bench in the hallway. Her tears fall onto her shirt. A collection of darker dots has formed where they fall. She glances up at me and starts to wipe frantically at her tears, as if she can erase the evidence of the mascara rivers on her cheeks.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I sit down on the bench next to her.

  She continues to wipe at the tears that don’t seem to be stopping. “I’m fine.”