A MEETING AT THE BARRE

CHAPTER 6.

"Yeah," Tyler says as another ding from his phone echoes throughout the studio. "This is actually him right now."

 "Cool," Trevante responds dismissively, looking away.

"Just cool, huh?"

Trevante looks back over, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing," Tyler responds coyly. 

"Nah, bruh, say what you gotta say."

"I mean, it's just funny how you perked up when I mentioned his name. That's all. You like him or something?" Tyler pries.

Trevante hesitates, "Nah, man."

"Well good, because I do. And I'm gonna ask him out," provoking him even further.

"No you're not."

"Says who?"

"Your captain, you should know better than anybody we shouldn't be dating each other after what happened with Derrick."

"That wasn't my fault though."

"It was and you know it," Trevante presses as his volume gets louder. 

"Aye son, watch your tone," Tyler insists.

"Or what," Trevante asks immediately as he gets closer to Tyler.

Before the two got any closer, they both turned their attention to the door opening and backed away from each other. On the other side of the door was the petite dancer that had the two men in a pre-scuffle just moments prior.

"Oh, hey guys," Rodney said with an air of sweetness to calm the tension.

"Hey," Tyler and Trevante both say in unison.

"Hey Tyler, did you bring that stuff?" Rodney asked.

"I got you," Tyler says as he goes into his bag. Trevante's eyes follows Tyler's hands as they go into his bag and pull out some roll-on medicine. 

"This right here is gonna work magic, just watch."

"Thank you so much Tyler," Rodney says giving Tyler a side hug.

The side hug low key irritated Trevante but he had to keep his cool. After all, he hadn't made any type of move on Rodney yet, but that still doesn't negate the feelings that were undoubtedly growing inside him.

Dancers trickle in one by one anxiously waiting to begin class. Everyone is present and now they are just waiting on LeFue, who eventually makes his way in for the morning huddle.

"Gather 'round, we have to go over a few things for the competition tomorrow," LeFue shouts to the class. The dancers go over to their teacher who has a clipboard in hand and is ready to begin picking dancers to compete in the competition tomorrow. 

"Alright, each of you, take a number and pin it to your pants. These are the final cuts for the competition tomorrow, so make today count. I will also be taking your performance today into account for the Winter Revue."

There was a lot of pressure for the dancers today. LeFue is hyper critical for competition numbers, even more so than the Revue sometimes. This is because competitions were a grand showcase to dancers all over the country as well as a way to bring new students into the conservatory. He could only put the best dancers on the floor to properly promote his program. 

Rodney gets the number 2 which means he will be the second person in the lineup and in the first group of 5 that will do the combination first. This particular competition routine will only have 5 dancers and there are about 20 of them in the company, so if any of the dancers want a principle role, this was the best way to get noticed by the instructor.