Collide by Melanie Stanford

Author:Melanie Stanford [Stanford, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 25

MAGGIE

My arm ached. When I changed the bandage, it didn’t look too bad. I got the tetanus shot, anyway, and I didn’t go into work for a few days. Craig yelled at me over the phone. Even though he didn’t fire me, I figured I’d better get off my butt. The wound had pretty much healed aside from a scab, and I had a job to get back to and a dance routine to choreograph.

After an exhausting day of work, my arm only stinging a bit, I decided to head to the gym. Even if I couldn’t push myself, I could still stretch and work on a few more bars for my audition piece. It was only October, I had months until my audition, but I wouldn’t blow it this time.

Nico gave me a quick hello before he disappeared, mumbling something about mopping. I went upstairs and shrugged off my hoodie. Bronwyn had a small speaker shaped like a pig that she let me borrow, so I brought that along, plugging in my phone and turning on the music. I stretched for about fifteen minutes, being careful with my arm, then I got to my feet, switched the music to “Song of the Caged Bird” and got to work.

I’d already choreographed the first sixteen bars, and I went through them a couple of times, but I wasn’t happy with it. I replayed the music and paced, lost in my choreography. What I had was too sterile, emotionless. I closed my eyes and marked it again, tweaking a few steps. I was scared of moving my arm too much, so I kept it down by my side at first. Then it came to me, how to use that in the choreography, at least for a few bars.

I went over it again, added another eight bars, and repeated the steps until they felt natural. Until I didn’t have to think about what I was doing anymore. By now I was sweating, and I went to my phone to restart the music one last time. I caught something out of the corner of my eye, something that hadn’t been there when I started.

I turned and there was Jay Thornton, arms crossed, leaning against Nico’s door. He was looking at me with an unreadable expression.

“Are you here to see Nico?” I didn’t know how long he’d been watching me, but it was unnerving. When I danced, I got lost in my own world and barely noticed anything else going on around me.

“No.”

Silence stretched thin between us. I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what he wanted, if he wanted anything, or if he was just there to intimidate me. And then I realized.

“The money.” Of course it was about the money. I’d missed the deadline. But no one had come to my door. No one had followed me down the street when I went to work this morning. This was it though, he was coming to collect and I couldn’t pay. I’d missed my bank appointment convalescing.

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