Dancing for the Lord: The Academy (13 page)

She waited patiently.  He would explain on his own…or not at all.  It was his choice. 

He sighed.  “I’m nursing a shoulder injury,” he informed her flatly.  “You’d need to know that anyway, if you’re going to dance with me.  I’m doing better; but I’m still a couple of weeks away from being able to practice lifts for more than a little while.  Once or twice through the routine, fine; but if I try for a third, my shoulder starts shaking on me.  A fourth run-through, and it won’t support the girl no matter what I do.”  He smiled faintly.  “Though I think you weigh about ten pounds less than Katarina.  Might make it easier.” 

Danni blinked at him, surprised.  “She claims a hundred and five,” she said slowly.

“One twenty, easy,” Nicholas retorted before he thought.  He winced.  “Though if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny ever speaking to you.”

“I won’t.”  Impulsively, Danni reached out and squeezed his shoulder.  “I’m not going to say anything to anyone.  It wouldn’t be fair.” 

“I think you really mean that.”  He offered her a smile—the most real expression she had seen from him all day. 

“So, you’re still nursing a shoulder injury,” Danni prompted. 

Nicholas nodded, and Danni almost regretted resuming the conversation as the smile dropped away again.  “I’ve been doing better,” he said quietly.  “But I still wasn’t up to much.  Katarina….”  He sighed.  “She cornered me into an extra practice session.  I agreed to it, but warned her that I could manage one, and then I was done.  We could dance all-out through the rest just as many times as she wanted, but one time through the lifts was all I felt up to.”

“She didn’t like that,” Danni guessed. 

“Well, that’s the thing.”  Nicholas’s smile now was self-deprecating.  “You can’t practice lifts without your partner.  It’s impossible.  Every new person you dance with is just a little bit different—and yeah, you can adjust, but for something like this, you really want your partner.”

Danni’s eyebrows lifted.

He grimaced.  “That, and no one else in the Academy would willingly dance with Katarina,” he admitted.  “Not just to help her get in some extra practice.”

That sounded a little bit closer to the truth. 

“Anyway, we did our one run, and….”  He sighed.  “I…pushed too hard.”  It was as close as he would come to admitting that he had been hurting, Danni thought, especially with a stranger.  “Katarina wasn’t done yet.” 

She winced sympathetically. 

“She said….”  Nicholas shook his head.  “The things she said aren’t worth repeating.  Just let it suffice to say that she goaded me into doing one more round even though I knew I couldn’t.”  He stared at the ground.  “I got her up there.  Shoulder was shaking like you wouldn’t believe, but I got her up.” 

Danni wondered if he would appreciate it if she offered him a hug.  He looked like he could use it. 

“Then she threw her weight off…just the tiniest bit.  I wasn’t expecting it, couldn’t compensate fast enough.”  Nicholas grimaced.  “I got her down again, but it was a near thing.” 

She was going to hug him.  She could already see it coming.  She just hoped it didn’t offend him too much. 

“Then…the next part of the series…that grand jeté into an arabesque that you were doing earlier.”  He sighed.  “It looks better if the girl can land en pointe.  You did it.  Kat put too much height in her jumps to pull it off.” 

Danni nodded.  She’d seen a lot of girls back home do that, and the force of impact was too great for them to land en pointe.  She wouldn’t have thought talented Katarina would have that problem, though.  When she voiced that, Nicholas laughed bitterly. 

“She doesn’t,” he said flatly.  “She can lose the height and pull the jump off perfectly.  But she’s convinced that the height is more important; so she gets me to catch her around the waist as she comes down, just for a second.” 

Danni nodded.  He would catch her weight, then lower her gently to the ground—she could see that.  That way, Katarina stayed en pointe, and she got her height on the jump, too. 

“I missed.”  Nicholas shook his head.  “No—that isn’t fair.  I caught her.  I just couldn’t support her weight for even that half-second.  My shoulder….”  He laughed again, the sound even more bitter than before.  “It gave out on me hard.  Just plain refused to support the weight.”

Danni winced along with him.  “You dropped her,” she said simply. 

“I dropped her.”  He grimaced.  “And according to Kat, knocked her so far off-balance in the process that she couldn’t have landed it on her own even if she had gone flat-footed.”

“Which she didn’t.”

“Which she didn’t.”  He closed his eyes.  “And now she has a broken ankle with enough ligaments ripped that she may never get it all back, she’s absolutely furious with me, and every friend she’s ever considered having at the Academy thinks I’m the lowest piece of dirt they’ve ever walked on.” 

“I don’t think you’re a piece of dirt.”  Danni held out a hand, instinctively easing him around a turn so that he wouldn’t walk off the path.  “It was just an accident—and if she was pushing you to keep dancing when you’d said you couldn’t, then she was an idiot.” 

He gave her a grateful smile.  “So, no regrets?” he asked cautiously.  “You’re not afraid to dance with me now?”

She looked him straight in the eye.  “I’ll make you a deal,” she suggested.  “You tell me when your shoulder starts bothering you, and we’ll quit for the day—or, if I absolutely have to have you, we’ll just walk through those parts.”

“It’s going to be hard getting the dance down when you can only do it twice a day,” he pointed out softly.

Danni shrugged.  “I’m not worried,” she said simply.  “If I have to, I’ll go grab a guy and practice the lifts for awhile.  Besides….”  She offered him a smile.  “I thought you and I did pretty well together back there, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”  Nicholas had to smile back at that—a real smile, one that actually went all the way up to his eyes.  “Yeah, we did—especially for someone who hasn’t ever danced the piece before.” He pulled his hand out of his pocket long enough to check his watch and made a face.  “Come on.  I don’t know about you, but if we’re going to run a two-hour practice, I need to grab something to eat.”

“I didn’t think the cafeteria was open,” Danni said hesitantly. 

“It’s not.”  Nicholas flashed her a grin.  “But there’s a lounge upstairs that’s always got protein bars and stuff tucked away.  Come on; I’ll show you.”

As she followed him back into the Academy, Danni couldn’t help but smile. It looked like she had made one more friend—and gained herself a partner, however temporary, in the process!

Nicholas hadn’t been exaggerating about his shoulder, Danni realized later that evening.  They’d been working on the dance for hours, one piece at a time.  Mlle Kirby—obviously aware of the injury—was taking it fairly easy on him, all things considered; but by the time they’d worked through two hours, he was sweating too heavily for it to just be exertion. 

“All right,” Mlle Kirby declared at last, clapping her hands together as she looked him over.  “Nicholas, I want you to go ice that shoulder for awhile.  Danni….” She hesitated.  “Go with him,” she said slowly.

Both of them jerked around to stare at her. 

“If you’re left to your own devices, you’ll go home and absolutely refuse to do anything about that shoulder until it falls off,” the older woman pointed out in a too-patient tone of voice that suggested they’d had that conversation before.  “Danni, due to the fact that she’s going to want a functional partner for this performance, will make you take care of yourself.”

“But—“ Danni began. 

Mlle Kirby stopped her before she could even complete the protest.  “Let me guess,” she said wryly.  “We haven’t done any of the individual work yet, and the longer you have to work on it, the better it will look.”

She nodded. 

“I think you’ve done enough for tonight,” Mlle Kirby informed her.  “In fact, I didn’t expect to get this far.  You’re a fast learner.” 

“It’s all muscle memory,” she muttered.

“Then your muscles acquire information faster than anyone else I’ve ever known,” her teacher retorted tartly.  “Now, Danni—take your partner off and be sure he ices that shoulder for at least an hour.  You know the drill?”

“Fifteen minutes on, fifteen off,” she recited by rote.  “Take an hour off and do it again if the pain doesn’t decrease.” 

“Very good.”  Mlle Kirby looked pleased.  “Now, go—and don’t give her too hard a time, Nicholas.” 

“I’m not going to give her a hard time,” he grumbled as their teacher strode out of sight.  He looked over at Danni.  “You need to change?” he asked her.

She glanced down at her sweat-soaked leotard and grimaced.  “And shower,” she admitted.  “We worked pretty hard that last half hour.” 

“Yeah.”  He massaged his right shoulder absently, grimacing as he did so. 

“You okay?”  She didn’t reach out to him.  He hadn’t indicated that the advance would be welcome, and if he was hurting, he might prefer to be alone for a little while. 

“I will be.”  Nicholas forced his expression to relax, but from the tension around his eyes, she could tell that his shoulder was still paining him.  “You’re not nearly as hard on me as Kat.  She would have wanted at least one more round.”  His smile flashed for just a moment.  “Plus, like I said, you don’t weigh nearly what she does.  Makes my life easier.” 

“
Maybe
ten pounds difference,” Danni protested. 

“Or maybe a little more.”  He rotated his shoulder carefully, his expression studiously blank.  “Kat might have been lying about the one-twenty.”

“Oh—“ 

He laughed outright, giving up on his shoulder for a moment.  “Why are you defending her?” he demanded.  “She’s your rival, remember?  You ought to be going out of your way to convince me to keep you even when she comes back.” 

“It’s not like we get a whole lot of choice in the matter.”

“You don’t think so?  Then you haven’t been around long enough.  It’s guys’ choice around here.”  Nicholas grinned faintly.  “Though your determination not to tear Kat down is kind of refreshing.  It might get you further than I thought.”

Danni made a face at him.  “Tearing Katarina down isn’t going to get me anywhere.  Besides, she’s the better dancer.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”  Nicholas ruffled her hair gently.  “Come on.  A hot shower will do a lot for my temper, and then I’ll let you bully me into actually icing my shoulder.  We’d better hurry, though—it’s already six thirty, and my dorm mother stops serving dinner at seven.”

“Mine, too.”  Danni grimaced.  “There will be something in the kitchen, though.  She’s always really careful about it.” 

“Good for you.  Mine is of the opinion that if we aren’t home in time, we can fend for ourselves.”  He winked.  “Maybe we ought to head for your place.” 

“Katarina’s there,” she pointed out. 

He winced.  “My place it is.  I’ll make it a fast shower.

He did; and before she knew it, they were headed over to his dorm.  There was a light snow falling from the sky, Danni noticed, entranced.  She’d never seen a white Christmas before; but it looked like they might have one this year. 

It’s like a fairy tale, Lord,
she prayed silently. 
My every dream coming true in one fell swoop.  A partner I can count on…dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy…how can it possibly get any better than this?
  She stopped walking, staring for a moment at the star-filled sky. 
Thank you, Lord,
she prayed. 
Thank you so much for everything.  I didn’t deserve any of this, but you’ve arranged it for me anyway.  Thanks.

Nicholas didn’t realize that she wasn’t beside him for several steps.  When he did, he looked back at her, surprised.  “You coming?” he demanded.

“What—oh, yeah.”  She flashed him a quick smile.  “Sorry.” 

“Woolgathering?” he teased. 

“Praying,” she replied immediately, before she had a chance to think about it.

To her eternal joy, Nicholas smiled in response to that.  “You’re a Christian?  That’s awesome.”  He waited for her to catch up with him, grinning.  “There aren’t many of those around here.  You’ll have to come to church with me on Sunday.”

She grinned.  “I’d like that.  I’ve enjoyed the service at Mount Tabor these last few weeks, but I’m not sure it’s where I want to go all the time, either.”

“I really like Faith Heights,” he told her.  “We’re a little more contemporary—and the pastor actually preaches out of a Bible that wasn’t written in Elizabethan English.” 

Danni laughed.  “I was never a King James Version fan,” she admitted.  “I mean, it’s not bad and all, but I have so much more trouble understanding it.  I just don’t think God meant for it to be that way, you know?”

“When the authors wrote it, they didn’t make it confusing,” Nicholas agreed.  “It’s just that there are a lot of years separating us and them.”

“But I’m not sure I agree with this idea of a translation for every occasion, either,” she had to admit.  “At some point, they’re going too far—but I’m not sure where it is.”

“Right there with you.”  He rolled his eyes.  “But try pointing that out to some people, you know?  They just have to have six versions of the Bible, and consult them all over every little discrepancy.”