One Step at a Time

Chapter 11

Sadie POV

"Aedon, Sadie, over here!" Aishini waved us over. Aedon had drove us to the boba place that Aishini sent to us after practice. The two of us had exchanged numbers with them when we had agreed to coming. We grabbed our drinks from the counter and made our way over.

They were surrounded by a small group of our team members. I recognized one of them to be Aedon's new partner, Dane. It made sense with him being Aishini's old partner. There were three other dancers, two girls and another boy.

"Guys," Aishini stood up from the table to introduce us. "This is Aedon and Sadie. The twins I told y'all about."

My lips formed a shy smile as I waved. Aedon have a small 'hey' as the two of us took the last seats.

Aishini introduced us to the others, all except Dane were classmates at St. Mary's Academy. Dane lived in Austin but was here for the summer. The two girls were both Latina, named Ashley and Demi. The other boy was a tall, Asian kid named Marc.

"Okay, can we talk about the solo for the group number?" Aishini took charge of the conversation. From the interactions I was witnessing, I could tell that they ran the friend group. But not in a mean girl way, more like they was the glue.

Aedon had no trouble fitting right in, which was typical. I mostly sipped my tea and watched. It's what I preferred to do before engaging. Getting an understanding for who I was interacting with. It made it easier for me. Gave me time to warm up to them.

"Oh the duo is so obvious." The Demi girl began, "I'm sorry, but it will definitely come to which girl, or girl coded dancer," Demi gave a knowing look to Aishini. "Not that the guy can be bad, but that's how it always decides. The girl runs the show. And if that's the case, it'll be between Brooklyn and Miss Aedon over here." The unexpected compliment caused a red hue to warm up Aedon's cheeks. She waved it off, smiling ear to ear. "No offense," Demi smiled at me.

"Oh! None taken whatsoever. Aedon is out of this world." I gave her a playful shove, knowing she hated the attention that was being thrown at her. She was too humble.

"What about me?" Aishini waved their hands around. "You're lucky I know where my talent lies. And it's definitely not contemporary. As long as Brooklyn doesn't get it, I'll be happy. Even though the girl is a great dancer, she's so insulting. And hard to work with." There was no lies there. The sound of Brooklyns name caused people to glance over at me. A lot. "Sorry, Sadie. For bringing her up."

"No, it's fine. Don't even worry about it."

"We heard about what she did," the Dane kid said. "Word got around after practice. She should be taken off the team." Mumbles of agreement came from the rest of the table.

"Like you said, she's a great dancer. The team needs her." I really didn't want to have to explain my reasoning all over again, to strangers no less.

"Sadie's got it covered." Aedon jumped in for me. She turned to Aishini, changing the subject. "Aishini, what were you saying about your best dance discipline? If not contemporary?"

"Oh, hip hop for sure," they picked up on Aedon's subtle clue. "I'm hoping one of the smaller group numbers is one. That would be perfect for me."

"I'm sure they will. It can't be all contemporary or jazz," Demi chimed in. We continued small conversation and I began to feel more comfortable. An hour went by fast before we parted ways for the afternoon. They were all great at including everyone, whether by asking you directly or just sparing a glance your way. It was nice. Usually when I hung out with people, they only cared about Aedon. The change of pace was refreshing.