Consider Me

Chapter Twenty Five: Lily

"What's wrong?" Sabina asks as I  attempt to do a split in the empty dancing studio. It's been a while since I've been here. Two weeks but who's counting. I had a bit of situation adjusting to the beginning of the term with everything to pay any attention to my dance. Now, that I have handled things...maybe, sort of, it's still a mess, I'm resuming to my practices once again. 

"Nothing," I manage to pull a smile hoping she'll stop asking me about my arse every ten minutes. I can't possibly tell her why I am having trouble doing splits or why a particular butt cheek (Left) is aching. It's embarrassing. "I'm fine,"

"Lily please. It's the fourth time in a row I've heard you groan while you try to stretch to the floor. What is wrong?" She walks up to me in a similar fashion of workout pants and a sports bra like me. "Are you hurt? Did your muscles forgot what a split is after only two weeks of gap?"

"No, mom. I am simply having jitters," I pull my ponytail and tighten it's grip. "Turn the music off please,"

"The music will stay," she says as one of the student from our batch goes to the speaker side. "And bestie, I've known you long enough to smell out your lies. Either tell me what happened or I'm going to ask your boyfriend,"

"He is not my boyfriend," I attempt to move past her but she grabs my elbow and pulls me back so I'm facing her. 

"Oh but he is and I know you did sort of nasty with him," Heat rushes to my cheek at the flashback of Lucas spanking me. Oh god. This is so embarrassing. What the hell was he thinking? 

"That's my business Sab. You don't see me asking you why every fourth period you snuck out of class to go to the library, do I?" 

She let's go of my arm and huffs, "That was rude."

"Exactly. You didn't like it when I asked you something you meant to hide," 

"I didn't mean to hide. It just private."

"Again, exactly," I poke on her cheek and go to the back where other dancers are taking a break. I join them on the floor, cross my legs and snatch a water bottle from the cooler. Sabina comes to my side a second later. "The stretching besides the split was good," I tell her, resisting the urge to wince as I settle completely on my butt. 

"Yes but we need to practice more. The two week gap has tightened most of our muscles. Stretching and body movement isn't fluid," She says and takes the bottle of water from me. "Besides, if we both plan to win against Gloria at the dance competition, we need to be better,"

Hearing her name immediately sours my mood. I clench my jaw as a bout of uneasy spreads inside me. I want to tell Sabina. She should be aware of all the behind the scenes of the event now that she has decided to participate in one. I don't want to keep her in dark. Kevin knows, Lucas does too, not the entire thing but a part that I didn't mean to spill. It's only time she finds out through one of them. 

It's better I tell her myself and ask her to help me unravel whatever background ploy was cooked against me or Gloria for the matter considering that bitch stole my award. 

"Sab," I shift closer to her. "I need to tell you something," 

She leans in, excitedly, "Oh, I smell drama,"

Sure if you sit on the audience's seat and look at it. "I found something at the auditorium yesterday,"

"Please tell me you found the treasure map planted by one of the Hawthorne ancestors? I don't think I want to do part time in this fine age anymore,"

"I am doing part time in this fine age," 

"Yeah but you also think like a grandma,"

I shake my head, "Just let me do the talking." For the next few minutes I update her about everything I learned about Gloria and a probable benefit she got from one of the professors in the competition last year. I explain to her the audition lists I found, how her name wasn't there yet she still participated and somehow won.