Dancing for the Lord: The Academy by Goodman Emily

Author:Goodman, Emily [Goodman, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Create Space
Published: 2012-05-26T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter SevenNicholas 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.

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