Full Out

Chapter Twelve

"...and five, six, seven and eight. Penché!" Nancy snapped her fingers to the beat of the music. She still sounded a bit stuffy from her cold, but better than she had last week.

I froze in place as the music died out, clenching every muscle in my body to keep my leg in the air with my toes pointed. Keeping my back straight and arms out, I breathed in through my nose and out of my mouth.

"Beautiful! That's what I'm looking for!" Mrs. Pollen clapped. We all slowly lowered our bodies to the ground, balancing ourselves. Our instructor turned to look at the clock. I set my hands on my hips, breathing heavy. My arms were covered in sweat. I could also feel some on my back in between my skin and my light blue leotard.

"Alright, we're done for today girls. Good practice. Be sure to check your lists because I still have a lot of you who need things marked off. Practice, practice, practice! Competition is coming up and we need to be ready."

I moved to my bag, slipping out of my tan dance shoes. Slipping on a pair of Nike slides, I stood up, my bag in hand. Before I could walk out the door, my name was called.

"Millie, may I speak with you for a moment?" Mrs. Pollen asked. I halted, turning on my heels. As the rest of the girls walked out, voicing their goodbyes to our instructor, I stayed behind.

"What's up?" I asked, taking a sip from my water bottle.

"That's what I would like to know," Mrs. Pollen replied, scrutinizing me with her eyes. Her red hair was in a low ponytail and her arms crossed over her stomach. I swallowed.

"What do you mean?"

"You've seemed a little... distracted lately," she said.

"Uh..." I began, shuffling from foot to foot. I reached back and scratched at my sweaty neck, tangling the few hairs that were down. I shrugged. "Maybe a little. I just have a lot on my mind," I answered. I didn't exactly want to explain everything to her, but what I said was the truth. All throughout practice, I couldn't get Ezra out of my mind. Images of his perfect face washed through my brain with everything I looked at. I was obsessed and I couldn't stop. It was a weird feeling that was stressing me out. I didn't want to feel like this. I didn't want to think about someone twenty-four-seven. It was exhausting.

Plus, to add to the stress, I had to go to the movies with Roman tonight. Granted, Cora was going to be there, but I was still worried. I didn't want to see Roman until this weird feeling was gone. I knew it was going to be difficult since I had to see him the rest of the week, in and out of school. I couldn't give him excuses forever.

Nancy nodded, looking me up and down.

"Anything I need to know about?"

I opened my mouth to answer, wanting desperately to please her, but I couldn't. Nothing I had in mind would be a good excuse for me not staying one-hundred percent focused during practice, especially since competition was right around the corner.

I was determined to look strong for Mrs. Pollen. The last thing I wanted was to disappoint her. I had to show her that I wanted to be here and I was ready to do whatever it was necessary to win that trophy for our studio and the money for myself.

"I don't think so..." I drew out. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Is this about the competition? Millie, you'll be fantastic. I watch you grow every practice. I can tell that you've been working on your style. That twenty-five thousand dollars is there for you. Stop stressing!"

I sighed and nodded, relaxing my shoulders. The competition was one of my bigger stressors, but it wasn't the lot of it. "You're right, I don't know why I've been so tense about it."