The dancer life

Chapter 1 Shannon's POV

"Ok everyone go get a water break," announced my dance teacher dismissing us from the dance floor to over where we put our dance bags on the other side of the room.

I found my Vera Bradley bag where I left it right next to Grace's and Kaitlyn's bags and immediately gripped my water bottle and drank as if I have been trapped in a desert for years.

Tonight's four hour class was extremely tough since we had to do drills and stamina and on top of that doing all of our dances full out every chance my teacher got.

After drinking my water, my teacher started to watch us do our sets. The order for today was Michael, Kaitlyn, Christine, me, then Grace. I took off my hardshoes, revealing a big blood spot at the top of my- now dirty, poodle sock.

"Lovely," I stated as I grabbed a band aid out of my bag and stuck it on the enormous- and now oozing blister.

Michael came over to where I was sitting and sat down right next to me. This sent chills of nervousness all through out my body.

His brown hair looked messy, but in a cute way. Sweat was dripping down him from his head to his toe but that just made him look cuter.

I've liked Michael since we started dancing together when we were just 10 years old. I feel like he has liked me before, but maybe he just thinks of me as a best friend that he doesn't want to loose if something would damage our bf/gf status? Omg did he friend zone me? Maybe he secretly likes me but doesn't have the guts to say it to my face?

Stop it Shannon. I thought to myself, shaking my head trying to get the questions out of my head.

He just got done dancing his set Planxty Davis and he couldn't have done it any better.

" I just want to be good at this harsh sport," he joked making me laugh at how relatable that was.

"Pretty sure you just quoted every Irish dancer on the face of this planet," I remarked making him smile, showing off his adorable dimples.

Class went on, I danced my set dance Vanishing Lake twice and my teacher thought I looked great while dancing it as I only learned the rest last week.

I absolutely love my teacher's choreography for my set dances because the dances display everything I'm strong at in my hardshoe. I love it so much.

I kept noticing Michael watching me dance. It wasn't like a blank stare but a meaningful one. Maybe he was looking at something else? Probably I thought, as I made myself go get another drink of water.

I watched my best friend Grace dance her set, Planxty Hugh O' Donnel. Grace was such an amazing dancer. Her long dark brown hair was pulled away from her face as her long and muscular legs danced across the dance floor. Grace has been with me through thick and thin and I can't imagine my life without her really.

After 2 minutes she was done and layed on the floor in exhaustion from that dance.

"Hard night huh?" I asked as my foot lightly kicked her leg as she groaned in exhaustion.

"Tell me about it," Grace said, finding her dance bag and pulling out a big bag of pretzel chips.

Leave it to Grace for bringing food to dance class.

We all talked as a group with Michael, Kaitlyn, and Christine until my dance teacher broke it up as she made us do stamina drills for hornpipe/treble jig.

After about 20 minutes of that pure terror, my teacher announced that we were all done with class tonight and that another hour of practice was added on to tomorrow's class.

"Oireachtas is in 3 months! Do you want to world qualify? Or not even get the recall?" She remarked, which I could tell really made us think hard.

Last year at Oireachtas I came in sixteenth place, one place away from world qualifying. I just came off a foot injury and to get sixteenth made me happy. I was pleased with how I danced but dancing at the worlds was my dream and it really sucked that after all the hard work and dedication I put in, I didn't get much out of it.

But that only made me work 100 times harder to reach my goal. I started to practice every day. I pushed myself harder in class and even put myself on a healthy diet.

There's nothing more I want them to dance at worlds and I won't stop until I do.

As everyone started to leave we said our goodbyes like we wouldn't see each other for 20 years, but really we're seeing each other tomorrow at dance class. But that's just how much of a close dance family we are.

I said goodbye to Grace after teasing her about how weird she was and she gave me a big hug.

I grabbed my things and I saw my mom talking to my teacher probably about Oireachtas.

As I took my phone out of my bag and turned it on, out of no where Michael grabbed it out of my hand taking selfies of himself on it.

"Hey give it back!" I demanded chasing after him while laughing.

"You'll thank me later," he goofed, as he handed it back to me while smirking.

"You're such an idiot," I told him while I started to delete the 138 selfies he just took.

It was silent for a few seconds, minus my dance teacher and the moms talking.

"Can I ask you something Shannon?" he asked looking into my eyes.

"Go ahead," I insisted as I looked into his beautiful hazel eyes.

Our so called "moment" was ruined when Michael's mom interrupted us.

"Let's go, Michael," his mom told him, giving me a smile and telling everyone goodbye.

"Shannon, I have to go. Um I'll text you later." he said sadly, as if he wanted to stay here with me and ask me that question. But what was it?

He left me standing in the practice room alone with my crazy thoughts.

Soon enough, me and my mom left and got in the car and drove home.

Once I got home, my dad was already making me Mac and Cheese, my favorite. I thanked him and gobbled down the whole plate.

I took a long hot shower that night. When I got out, I brushed my teeth and washed my face and put my hair into a bun. I changed into a night t shirt and some loose shorts and went downstairs to tell my parents good night.

When I was done, I went upstairs, turned out my room light and hopped into bed and layed my head on my pillow. It only took a few seconds for me to drift off into a peaceful slumber.

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Hi guys! I'm so excited to start writing this story! Hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter of this!