Pas de Trois

Chapter 1: "You two are best friends, huh?"

"San Francisco, School of American Ballet, and of course, we at Ballet Chicago would be delighted."

Chloe's heart stopped as those magic words ran through her mind. She'd done it. She'd gotten in.

"You have until next week to decide," the program director smiled. "Please, go think it over and talk about it with your parents. And enjoy tonight, you've earned it."

Chloe didn't realize that was her cue until her father, Brent, stood up and leaned over the table to shake hands with everyone.

"Thank you," Chloe squeaked the words out. "Thank you so much," she said. Her other father, Maddox, almost had to push her toward the door. "Oh my gosh," Chloe repeated as they left the room.

"Congratulations," Brent gave her another big hug when they were in the hall outside. "We're so proud, Chloe, so excited for you."

"You are?" Chloe didn't think she could handle any other surprises. "You're not mad? You would let me go?"

"Why would we be mad?" Brent asked. "If this is what you want, then we want you to go."

"Really?" Chloe asked. "I thought you would say no."

"Monkey, we knew when you asked to audition for this program that you might get invited to a ballet school afterward," Maddox said. "We thought that was why you wanted to do this."

"Oh shit," Chloe felt like screaming. Her face already hurt from smiling. "This is really happening."

"Yes, it is," Maddox smiled. He and Brent smiled at each other.

"I have to tell Slade," Chloe said. "And Danny. Oh, about Danny," Chloe remembered. "He's going to fangirl really hard, and he has this crazy southern accent so-"

"Don't worry," Brent interrupted. "Your father is used to southern boys fangirling over him," he gave Maddox a look. Chloe decide to ignore it and rushed them down the hall to the lobby where she hoped Slade and Danny were waiting.

6 weeks earlier...

Chloe took a seat near the middle of the auditorium. It was filling up with other dancers who'd come to The Summer Dance Institute at Ballet Chicago. She really wanted to be in the back but she'd learned early on that sitting in the back was pretty awkward when you were someone the other kids liked to stare at.

She was used to the stares by now. That was just part of coming from a family of celebrities. Chloe and her 5 siblings were famous by association which, other than padding her Instagram account with a few million extra followers, was basically not famous at all. As far as Chloe was concerned, that was perfectly fine with her.

"Fair warning," a voice with a thick southern drawl interrupted her thoughts. "If you take your eyes off that Betsey Johnson bag for 5 seconds I'm stealing it."

"I'd like to see you try," Chloe said as she looked up into a guy's face. He was tall and thin, built like most of the male dancers she knew.

"Wait and see," the guy grinned. He plopped into the seat next to her. "I'm Danny."

"Chloe," she shook his hand.

"Is it wrong if I say I knew that?" Danny asked. "I'm kind of obsessed with your dads. And the rest of your family."

"Okay," Chloe started looking around. There were a lot of people close by, maybe she could pretend to see a friend and escape.

"No, wait, not in a creepy way," Danny said. "I promise. I have my moments but I'm normal like 99% of the time."