Just dance with me

Chapter 1

“Saved by the PO” I heard Josh laugh to Jamie; her reaction was quick as she caught his shin with the toe of her boot, he groaned in pain as the steel connected with his shin at her sharp kick; she sent him a sweet grin before muttering a quick: ‘I will find out’ and skipping off.

“That’s the problem, I think she will” Jamie sighed as she watched her face light up as Connor walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug- I took every inch of his strength to restrain himself as he saw who he had just walked in with.

“Calm down, she’ll find out eventually, and if she realises you knew, then you’ll lose your chance with her” Sarah spoke quietly as they fell into a squad, he shot her a look. “I know more than most about the things that go on around here, I just don’t gossip” He sighed, she knew his feelings and he felt sure she wouldn’t say anything but he still made her feel uneasy; she was, like most of the others, waiting for him to tell her- no one else wanted to.

****

Her smile gleamed brighter than any of the number of medals that hung around her neck as she bounced down the pathway towards the minivan, the medals like chimes in the wind as they hit each other in a musical pattern; he looked down at two medals hung around his own neck- one silver, one gold.

Clambering onto the minibus, he took the last available seat, right next to Mia and Connor, he sighed in frustration.

“Hey, Jamie, will you swap seats with me, I want to talk to my little Amelia” Amelia rolled her eyes, but Jamie quietly thanked her in passing, she nodded knowing that even the short journey back to the unit would be enough to drive him to his wits-end. Unfortunately, after Sarah and Amelia had finished chatting, could still see her leaning against him, her head resting gently on his shoulder- he didn’t deserve to have her love him like that; though, neither did he himself, he had a duty as her best friend to inform her of his recent misgivings and he hadn’t, he kept it quiet- admittedly mostly because he hadn’t wanted to hurt her but Sarah did have a point, by not saying anything he was betraying her as she continued on with their relationship, none the wiser to the things that had been going on.

“Alright guys and girls” Grab your stuff from the trailer, then up to your rooms to change and shower; everyone needs to be down here with all their stuff for next week at 6, so that gives you an hour and a half; we will be leaving after you’ve all been fed, so that will be about half 7ish” PO instructed them before they were allowed to leave the stench of the slightly mouldy bus.

“Katy!” Jamie followed behind the other cadets making their way off of the minibus and to the trailer as he saw Mia bounce over to were Katy stood with some other cadets who hadn’t come with them to the competition, seeing him watching, she nodding and raised her hand to wave before she was almost knock off her feet by little Katie who was quickly accompanied by Mia as they pulled her into a hug.

“Williams, would you please take this over to Smithy so she can catch up with Reynolds, I know they were good friends” Chief smiled slightly as he tapped him on the back- most though there chief was a heartless creature often oblivious to what was going on in the private lives of the cadets- but I truth he knew more, and cared more than most adult ever would.

“Chief told me to bring this over” He handed Mia her things before heading towards the boys mess, desperately racking his brains for a way to tell her.

****

Somehow she’d managed to grab a quick shower before the others, and so was dressed and ready and had even straightened her hair; which meant that, having packed earlier that morning, she was ready to go with three-quarters of an hour to spare.

Having made her way down and outside of the building, she headed over towards the mess deck to see if anyone else was ready. On arriving in the mess deck she found that it was empty, and so decided to head to the galley to grab a glass of water; hearing odd noises from inside the room, she stopped for a minute listening before she poked her head around the old wooden door.

Her jaw dropped at the sight she saw before her.

Connor and the new girl were leant against the worktop having a full on make-out session.

Her eyes burned and her heart dropped like a stone into a bottomless abyss of water.

Without a word, she ran back up the corridor, needing to find comfort in someone- she moved back up to the girls mess.

Stopping at the door, she felt her legs turn into lead weights, stopping her from taking another step; she sunk to the floor by the wall, her head buried in her hands as she desperately blinked away the tears that pooled in her eyes- she couldn’t cry, not here anyway. Taking a deep breath she stood up and moved inside.

Sarah was first to see her as she stepped out of the bathroom, she spotted her face and immediately knew what had happened.

“Mia” She spoke quietly, lifting her arms up in silent offer of comfort; she accepted the offer and they hugged silently for a moment. “What happened?” She wanted to clarify exactly why she was upset, if it was something else and she mentioned what she knew, it could only make things worse.

“I think you know” Amelia’s response was quiet but confirmed her suspicions, in that moment she could quite happily kill that boy for breaking her best friends heart- she’d started out so happily today and things had quickly spiralled.

“Was it Jamie who told you” She shook her head, Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Nobody” Sarah’s eyes widened in the realisation, she hadn’t been told by anyone that must have meant that she had seen for herself what was going on.

“I’m so sorry, we wanted to tell you, but we had no idea how to do it without upsetting you” She shook her head, blinking away the tears that were now pouring down her face. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” Sarah, lead her back into the bathroom, where she wet the flannel from the wash bag she had been carrying and handed it to her to wipe her face of the tears and other substances that had poured out of her face. She smiled in thanks as she cleaned her face- looking at herself in the mirror, she saw that she looked awful, her face was so pale but her eyes and cheeks were red and puffy.