Nothing I Can Say

Chapter Three

"Isabella? Isabella, can you hear me? It's Rosanne. Uh... nod if you can hear me? Flutter your eyelids?" A sigh. "It's... it's all my fault."

"Of course it isn't your fault, love." This voice is tired, weak. A familiar voice.

A sob. The first voice again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come."

Footsteps pounding in my head. Banging on the walls of my brain. Wallops punching in my mind.

Sound fades again.

I walked into dance the next day still in a daze. I had hardly slept the night before. Part of me was relieved that my parents were splitting up, but another part of me was worried. Anxious. Confused.

"Are you okay?" Jess asked as I put down my bag.

Seb set down his water. "Oh, honey. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I... My parents are splitting up."

Seb gasped. Jess took my hand, and Emily tackled me in a hug.

"Alright, everyone. Line up please," Miss Eliza called.

"Are you okay to be here?" Emily questioned as we walked to the middle of the room.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. I can distract myself in dance." I took my place in the front row.

"Okay everyone, we will jump straight into some choreography. Rosanne, why don't you just watch for the first time we do this dance, and then you can join in and pick it up as we go," Miss Eliza said, facing us at the front of the room.

"Oh most definitely, Miss Eliza." Rosanne sat down on the benches, near the mirrors. I didn't even have to glance at Seb to know he was rolling his eyes.

"Right everyone" Miss Eliza called from the CD player. "5, 6, 7, and..."

I leapt into the dance, getting lost in the turning, the jumping, the moves. At one point, I was right in front of Rosanne. I could feel her eyes burning into my skin, watching my every move. I smiled at her and continued dancing. After about a minute, the class stopped, as that was where we had got to with our group dance so far.

"Good," Miss Eliza said. "Rosanne, do you want to watch again, or-"

"Don't worry, I've got it." Rosanne stood up confidently.

"Okay... how about you go in the back row for now, and we'll just see what happens."

Rosanne rolled her eyes, and Emily raised her eyebrows. But sure enough, when we went through the dance again, Rosanne seemed okay.

"Well done!" Miss Eliza smiled when we finished. Now, on to the next bit of choreography."

We gathered in a group in the middle of the room to hear what was going to happen next. We could continue with a group section, or a solo, or... anything.

"I want to give you a chance to have your input in this dance. So you are going to work together and come up with duets!"

I grinned. I loved duets. The chemistry between partners could be sizzling or non-existent, and I liked how it was so uncertain until you actually started dancing together.

"I have already decided on your partners, so please find each other and create a wonderful dance!" Miss Eliza continued. She started listing off duet partners. Emily was with a boy called Noah, which could be cool because they could combine Emily's style, which was more hip hop, with Noah's style, which was more contemporary. Jess was paired with Josh, which would hopefully be good as well because they could combine ballet and breakdancing together. Seb was with Rosanne. I bit back a smile and exchanged a glance with Jess. That would be interesting. I wasn't looking forward to hearing Seb complain after rehearsal was finished. But maybe they could come up with something great. They were both amazing at technique. 

Suddenly Luke was standing in front of me, grinning. I blinked.

"Sorry?"

"You're my duet partner!" He nudged me. "Bella, were you daydreaming again?"

Oh gosh. I had been too wrapped up in my own thoughts to pay attention to what was happening. People were pairing up and going off to work on their routines.

I smiled. "You know me too well! Come on, let's find a place to start brainstorming."

Luke and I were good friends, so working with him should be good. We got along well, so hopefully, we should have good chemistry. As friends. Whatever, Seb!