"Jacquie!" Noah called after her as she was about to enter the locker room for Emily's studio. She looked over her shoulder and saw him, but continued to walk in and start putting her stuff away. She wasn't going to let up so easily and she wanted to see Noah's true colours.
He followed her and his mouth started to speak before his brain, trying not to ask her straight away about the meaning of her possible threat.
"Um... Jacquie, so how are you? Did you enjoy ballet? I did, i go every week. Wait, you do too, but we know that." He laughed but realised he wasn't acting as cool as he had intended. She side eyed him and carried on sorting out her dance bag.
He ran his hands through his hair, "Sorry, my brain and my mouth don't work well together when i'm around girls." This made Jacquie smile slightly but she had to try and keep a straight, stern face.
There were a few seconds of silence and with no response from Jacquie, Noah decided to just ask her. He looked around to check no one was in ear shot, "Were you threatening me and Shell?"
She closed her locker loudly and turned to face him, "Shell?"
"Richelle. Were you threatening me and Richelle?" Jacquie looked at the ground, hoping Noah wasn't thinking badly of her. He seemed to really care about this duet. He sounded desperate, "You're not going to tell Emily are you?"
Jacquie put her hands on her waist, "Emily has her studio and Michelle has studio A. If you want to dance in there, why are you even on Emily's troupe?"
This irritated Noah and he scoffed, "It's just a studio, we don't intend on leaving Emily's troupe." Like he had said earlier, the studio was special to him and Richelle. Plus, it really was just a studio! It wasn't as though they were rehearsing with Michelle or any of her troupe in there.
"Well," Jacquie looked him up and down, "Emily's been in her office since quarter to eight, with Daniel. She already knows you weren't rehearsing in there because she would have been able to see you if you had been."
Noah felt his stomach turn and his face heat up. He hoped that Richelle hadn't gotten the keys from Emily and that she hadn't told her about their plan to rehearse early. That way, Emily would be completely clueless to them even being in the building, let alone studio A.
Jacquie leaned on the lockers with her hand, "Emily wanted to talk to me about working on my technique a little more, so she told me to come in early." Noah frowned, wondering where this conversation was going.
"She told me to work on my ballet using the barres in studio A," She rolled her eyes, "Even though i'm good at ballet... I think it was only because studio A has more mirrors... That's why i came in during your rehearsal."
Noah squinted, "So you didn't come for the water bottle?"
Jacquie looked disgusted and pulled a face, "The bottle is gross, it's been there for months, i threw it in the trash as soon as i left the room." Noah felt almost ashamed at how gullible he had been, and knew Richelle probably hadn't believed Jacquie's excuse.
He changed the topic back to Emily, "So Emily doesn't know about me and Richelle being in studio A?"
"No!" Jacquie abruptly said, almost angrily. Noah figured it was because he mentioned Richelle again and had changed the topic. He licked his lips nervously as Jacquie's stern face turned into a sneaky smile, "But she might find out..."
Noah was confused, "You're threatening me again?"
She sighed, "You don't even want this duet, you texted me that you always do the same tricks with Richelle and that it's too easy. You said you wanted to switch it up and have a challenge." This made Noah look at the ground because hearing it out loud what he had said, made him sound like a jerk. He didn't feel that way anymore about the duet though, and he now really wanted Richelle as his partner. Emily had chosen them for a reason, because they complimented each other well.
"If you still want me to be in her place, I could accidentally tell Emily about seeing you both in studio A with Michelle."
Noah put his hand up, "But we weren't with Michelle."
Jacquie rolled her eyes, "But if you were, it would be treacherous. Especially seeing as Emily chose Richelle as her dance captain. There would be no way she'd keep her on the duet. You'd be safe, you're the best male dancer on Emily's team and it's a duet for a boy and girl."
Noah didn't like how well thought out Jacquie had planned this. It was even more wrong that her plan was actually fool-proof and would work. Emily's pride would be ruined if she thought her dance captain was a traitor, and she definitely would punish Richelle. He didn't want to do the duet with Jacquie any more though, he wanted to dance with Richelle!
He tried to let her down gently, "Look, Jacquie, I don't mind dancing with Richelle, we've reconnected and stuff. We're fine now."
But Jacquie was set on getting her way, "I need to prove to Emily that I have good technique or she'll kick me off the team, do you want that?"
"No, of course not."
"Emily knows Richelle is good already, that's why she's dance captain! This duet can be my chance to prove myself and stay here!" Noah shook his head slightly, he had a gut feeling that this wasn't fair on Richelle.
Jacquie knew she wasn't getting through to him. She needed to try a different tactic. "I get it, you like her, you need to impress her, but i thought you and I would have really worked well together-"
Noah's eyes widened, "Wait, I don't like Richelle. Not like that, anyway."
"Oh... So the feeling's not mutual?"
He was confused now, and didn't know what Jacquie was trying to say, "Me and Richelle are just friends, always have been."
Jacquie could see him starting to sweat. If there was one thing she had learnt about Noah, it was that he loved girls. Jacquie knew Noah had a soft spot for her and was attracted to her, so suggesting Richelle was a part of this love triangle, was threatening to him.
Noah didn't want for his flirting with Jacquie to stop just because Jacquie thought he and Richelle had a thing. He needed to sort this.
Jacquie knew she had taken Noah's mind completely off the issue of Emily finding out about his secret rehearsal in studio A. It was all going to plan.
She tried to seem sympathetic for him, "Well in that case, do you know you're just stringing Richelle along? This duet is super passionate and she's going to get the wrong idea if you don't actually like her back."
Noah thought Jacquie was right, and this really wasn't fair. He didn't want to hurt Richelle, especially not since he ruined their last rehearsal by being distracted with Jacquie. He thought that maybe that was why she got so irritated, because Jacquie was involved. It all made sense now, Richelle was jealous of Jacquie because she still liked Noah herself!
"You're right," Noah admitted, and Jacquie smiled, trying not to give it away that she was completely playing with him. "It isn't fair for me to string her along, and i mean, you need to prove yourself to Emily so... I guess it makes sense..."
"Exactly, everyone benefits!" She smiled, but could see Noah still looked unsure, and a little sad. "If you want, i'll explain everything to Richelle. It might make her feel awkward if you tell her that you know she likes you."
"Absolutely, yeah. Thank you." Noah smiled, he could tell Jacquie really cared about him and cared about Richelle's feelings too. "We have to show our duet to Emily in ten minutes though..."
Jacquie put her hands up, "I will sort it, Emily will understand! I'll see you later." She hugged him quickly and then waved as she hurried out, hoping she would find Emily as soon as possible.
Noah watched her leave and hoped he was making the right decision. He cared about both Richelle and Jacquie, and if Richelle liked Noah, it would definitely be the best thing to swap her for Jacquie, to avoid hurting her feelings...
Right?