A Christmas Walk

2.

The room phone rang loudly in my ear. I rolled over and grabbed the receiver.
"Hello?" I mumbled groggily.
"Autumn?" I heard a mans voice on the other end.
"Speaking." I was still half a sleep and didn't understand what was going on.
"It's Ryan," my eyes flung open. "I'm just calling everyone to remind them that breakfast is at 8:30, then we have practice." I sat up in bed and smacked Savannah behind me. She was spread out like a starfish on our bed, like normal. "I hope you didn't forget." He sounded slightly disappointed, I hated when he did that.
"No, no. Of course not." I assured him, but we had forgotten. Me included, which wasn't like me.
"Okay, great. See you shortly." I glanced at the clock. It was 8:12. I sighed and hung up the phone. Savannah was still dead weight in our bed. She surprisingly could get ready the fastest of all of us. Michelle took the longest by far. I grabbed her shoulder and shook her.
"Get up!" She moaned. "We have to leave for breakfast in 10 minutes." I said loudly. Her eyes shot open.
"You're lying." I shook my head.
"I just got off the phone with Ryan. If he hadn't called we'd be in some serious heat." She flung out of bed and immediately started to rifle through her suitcase. Vanessa was starting to stir. She didn't pay much attention to voices or sounds when she was asleep but the second she got cold she wakes up. I yanked the blankets from her.
"Give them back! I'm sleeping." She moaned.
"Get up, we have to be to breakfast and then to rehearsal in 10 minutes." She sighed heavily. Vanessa was never one to wake up quickly, she did better with coffee in her system. "Do you want me to pick you out and outfit?" She nodded her head and clung to her pillow. I could see the goosebumps appear on her legs. I grabbed Vanessas bag and picked out a pair of half leggings and a tank top. I threw them at her. "Hurry up before Michelle finds an outfit." Michelle was still digging in her suitcase. I grabbed my black half leggings and a t-shirt I cut the sleeves off of. The holes I made were so big you could see my bra underneath. Vanessa stumbled to the bathroom to change. I fastened my bra and slid it up so I could change my shirt without giving Michelle a free show. Not that she was paying attention or anything. After that I ducked down on the floor to change my pants. I hated wearing underwear with leggings so I never did. I threw my pajamas on the bed. Pulling Savannah's huge suitcase on our bed, I almost laid it on her. I unzipped it and looked for an outfit. Vanessa came back out and jumped back into bed with her pajamas as a blanket. I rolled my eyes. Finally Michelle popped up and when into the bathroom. I glanced back at the clock. 8:23. We had 7 minutes until we needed to be down stairs eating breakfast, but I'm sure they won't mind a minute or two of lateness. I grabbed Savannah's favorite yoga pants and shirt combo and threw them at her. "Savannah!" I yelled at her. She started to move. I pulled the covers back. "Get up and get dressed we need to be at breakfast in five." She lazily opened her eyes.
"Did you," She stopped once she noticed the outfit laying on her. She gave me a soft smile and started to change. Savannah was ridiculously comfortable with her body, I wish I could be that way too. Michelle came out of the bathroom with her hair up in a bun and her outfit on.
"How do I look?"
"Perfect!" I said quickly. She could look like a tornado just came through and I'd still tell her perfect. She took forever and we didn't have the time. We each grabbed our dance bags, phones and hotel cards. We were out the door and on our way to breakfast. We walked into the lobby at 8:31, perfect.
"Good morning girls." Ryan smiled at us.
"Morning." I answered. Vanessa went straight for the coffee.
"Lot of partying last night?" Hannah, another dancer joked.
"No, actually. We walked around Baltaver most of the day. Meet new people, saw beautiful sights. Well worth being tired today." I smiled at her. It's not that Hannah and I didn't get along, her and I were just very competitive with one another. It could be tiresome at times, but she was mostly competitive with me and I just couldn't help myself.

After breakfast and more waking up with coffee, the dance troop went on a walk to our practice studio. It wasn't far for the hotel but in shorter athletics clothes it was cold, so it felt like forever.
"I can't believe we are getting to dance in the castle." Vanessa indulged. I wrapped my hair in a bun on the top of me head.
"Me either." Michelle agreed.
"Maybe I really will get to meet the Prince." Vanessa playfully bumped into me. I smiled. I was trying to not think about Prince William today but that didn't seem to be the case. I thought about him at breakfast and I'm thinking about him now. I better get my head in that dance studio and leave my thoughts of Prince William at the door. They can resume after rehearsal. We walked into the dark studio. The only light pouring in was between the cracks of the drapes hanging in front of the windows along the store front. Ryan flicked on the lights. They buzzed and hummed for a second then shined a piercing, white light. Most of us moaned at the sight of these lights.
"Alright ladies, lets try on our outfits first to make sure everything fits properly and then rehearsal." Ryan had a huge phobia of us wearing our outfits prior to the show. He was scared one of us would bust a seam or rip off a ruffle. He also hates the thought of them getting dirty before they had the be, he was a bit of a neat freak. We kept the curtains up so we could change in the open room. None of us we wearing tights right now so it wasn't the full look. "Autumn, Hannah, can I have you two help me hand out the outfits?" We nodded.