Silent Love [Watty Awards 2013 Finalist]

Chapter 9

 The past two weeks have been a blur, between dodging Shane at school and dealing with Shawn’s persistency and annoyance. We were both working so hard to do well with our duet; we even became good at faking the love in the dance.

 Coach Libby was happy, and when she’s happy all the dancers are happy, especially our moms. 

 We were currently finishing up duet practice with Coach. I was tired as hell, and my legs felt like jelly.

 “Okay, we’ll meet at the airport tomorrow night at 6,” Coach Libby said. “We’ll get to the hotel, and just have a chill night, and then, in the morning, we'll have a marking practice before the competition begins.”

 I nodded at her absorbing the information carefully, trying to remember every detail so I could tell my mom.

 I went out into the lobby, and waited for Stephanie to finish changing.

 “Bye, Tay. See you tomorrow.” Shawn said, as he walked out the door.

 When he opened the door the hot humid air wafted into the room. Gosh, I hate Florida. It was way too hot.

 “Ready,” Stephanie stated, walking up to me. “Aren't you excited? We get to miss school tomorrow, and then we have a long weekend!”

 I nodded, not really listening to her. I was scared, this competition was serious. States was never easy, I had to place in the top 2 to automatically advance to regionals. Last year I had made it easily, given that I had a great partner, but he’s not dancing anymore.

 I wasn’t sure Shawn was my best chance to win, but I trusted Coach Libby; she has produced the most professional dancers in Miami. Hopefully, all of her critiques and coaching will be enough.

 “Hey, you okay over there?” Stephanie asked, noticing my unusually quiet mood, note the sarcasm.

 I nodded, returning back to my thoughts.

 Last year, it was so easy. I never doubted myself, I always had the end in sight. Well my partner always had the end in sight. He knew what he wanted and he went after it, dragging me along for the ride. But me? I had no idea what I wanted, but I knew for sure that I didn’t want to lose.

 Before I knew it, Stephanie was pulling into my driveway.

 “Bye, see you tomorrow Tay!” She said, waving goodbye.

 I walked up to the door, and took out my key. Unlocking the door, I noticed it was eerily quiet. I guess my mother was  asleep. Tiptoeing quietly, I went up into my room and just collapsed on the bed. 

This weekend was going to be a long one.

. . .

“You will be going with Shawn and his mother, okay?” My mother asked.

 What choice did I have? I couldn’t exactly say no. 

My mother had a big work thing that I was not interested in this weekend, meaning she wasn’t coming. I couldn’t believe she had sprung this on me last minute. I had to dance with Shawn, wasn’t that enough torture?

 The doorbell rang, and my mother went to answer it. Grabbing my bag, I walked over to the door, assuming it was Shawn and Carol.

 I wish my mother would just let me go with Stephanie, at least I’d be able to have some company I actually enjoyed.

 “Hi Taylor, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you.” Carol chirpily said.

 I gave her a small smile and turned to my mom.

 “Good Luck, Lori. You’ll do well. Love you!”

 We enveloped in a hug, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

 “Break a leg.”

 The whole ride to the airport, all forty minutes of it was spent in complete silence. I didn’t talk, Carol didn’t talk and Shawn didn’t talk. I think we were all wrapped up in our own thoughts.

 I was super nervous, I didn’t want to make a single mistake. Dancing was about perfection, and if I didn’t achieve it, I would lose this whole competition.

 It was then that Shawn turned to me and said, “Don’t be nervous. We’ll do fine.”

 I smiled gratefully at him, and sat there staring out the window the rest of the ride.

 When we finally landed in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of Elite Dance Competition, I couldn’t stop shaking. Tomorrow was the big day, and if my solo or my duet failed, I would not advance in the competition.

. . .

“You have that look,” Coach said, handing my favorite package; Swedish Fish.

 I looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. What look? I have a look?

“Your nervous look. You look like you’re having a serious conversation with yourself.” 

Oh, that look. Well, it was understandable.

 “Taylor, we need to go back stage, were up in a few,” Shawn said coming over to me.

 I followed him backstage, where we were giving our routine a final run through.

 “Lori, don’t be nervous, we can win this!”

 I looked at warily and wasn’t sure.

 “Taylor, listen to me, don’t be fearful. Dream, Believe, Achieve. That’s the motto. Always has been and always will be. I know you want a perfect routine. Believe me, I do too. But listen to me. Remember the speech that we always heard?” He asked.

 I shook my head no. What speech?

“Well I’ll remind you,” He started. “Dream, Believe, Achieve. When you dream of perfection, when you believe in perfection, you can achieve perfection. Everyone has a dream but not everyone works their ass off to make it happen. Believe in yourself; you don’t even have to believe in yourself alone.  A friend is someone who believes in you even when you have ceased to believe in yourself. That friend today is me, and I know your old dance partner would say the same.”

 I remembered now. He used to say this to the both of us, before every dance.

Dream, Believe, Achieve. That’s motto, and we just don’t live by it we dance by it.

“I bet you said the rest of it in your head.” He said, smirking.

 I nodded and smiled. I never knew Shawn could be so nice.

 “Well, this last one routine and then it’s our time to shine!” And with that, he leaned in close. “We can do this Tay, we can win.”

 I turned from him, and walked towards the stage. He pulled me back to him, hugging me tightly.

 And then, he did something I never expected him to do.

He bent his head down, and kissed me.

. . .

AN: Hope you like it! anyways, comment, fan and vote!

Thanks,

Twist