Grace

Chapter 9| Getting There

The air was nippy outside as I hugged a sobbing Claire and exchanged a slightly awkward goodbye from David. " I will text you once we reach Washington." I promised Claire as I hug her one last time.

I then slide in the limo, which was parked right outside of the school. As George drove off, I watch my best friend, and ex-boyfriend slowly disappear in the distance.

"Hey Alice." A voice startles me. I looked over at Gavin, as a grin appears on his face. I furrow my eyebrows. How did he get in here?

As if he heard my thoughts. "I snuck in your limo, last night."

"You did what?!" I exclaimed as my eyes widened.

"It was no biggy." He shrugged it off and handed me a rose from him inside his coat. I half expected him to say, "Alison, will you accept this rose." And yes, I do watch The Bachelor, but obviously not when my mom is around.

"Here, I thought you might like it." He says instead as I gently take hold of the rose. I take a whiff of it and smile. I love the smell of roses.

"You didn't have to." I quickly say as I snap out of my thoughts about roses. "You didn't have to go through this trouble. It's just auditioning, um, really...."

"I figure," He pauses as he scoots closer to me. "That, you need support, and whose better to give support than your boyfriend?"

"My family," I mumble, but so he didn't hear. My family wasn't even going to the auditions, they just sent me off with George and Mrs. Sankford. Well, and now with Gavin.

"So are you nervous?" He asks all of a sudden as he wraps an arm around me.

"No," I answer honestly as I lean onto his shoulder. I wasn't nervous now, but I definitely knew I would be nervous later.

"So auditions are tomorrow, right?" He questions.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "It's not going to take us long to get to Washington."

"We will see." He says and kisses me on top of my head.

As expected, it only took us about 8 hours.

Yeah, the limo ride uncomfortably stiffened our legs, but I didn't want to leave the limo. It was peaceful to be in the limo with my boyfriend. We talked, and I got to know him a little more. The thing was, that the more I had gotten to know him, the more I love him.

We settle into our hotel room and after a small pillow fight, I left George and Gavin at the pool to meet up with Mrs. Sankford.

She told me all about the auditions, nationals, and what was required. It was a lot, so I had to write it all down.

At the end, she said, "I know I don't tell you this often, but you are a remarkable and talented girl. And it has been my pleasure teaching you for these past 11 years."

"Wow," I say breathlessly. "I don't kn-" She cut me off. "Don't say anything and practice."

"Here?" I question as I look around the disgusting alleyway she brought me to.

"Pretend this is a stage." She says in her strict voice. "1-2-3-4." She repeated. I struggled to jump in the rhythm since it was unexpected. I start with the plié, then tendu, dégagé, ronde de jambe, and ended with stretching. I repeated some of these steps, but then went onto some more difficult steps.

At the end, I attempted to do a twirl right after I let go of the cardboard box I had been gripping on for balance.

"Ew! Ew!" I yelped as I landed in a pile of soiled food wrappers, which were mixed with the snow. Mrs. Sankford watched me as I got up. My bottom was wet from the melted snow. I bit my lip as I search for disappointment in Mrs. Sankford's dark brown eyes.

"This is no place for me doing twirls." I shiver as I hug my coat tighter. I cannot believe she made me dress in my ballet outfit and do this, in an alleyway! I swear she is a Japanese psycho of some sort.

"I have something for you." She finally says and leads me back to her car. She lifts up the trunk and shows me a box. My eyes widen as I gently lift the lid to the brown box open. I was amazed at what I found.

A pink ballet lyrical contemporary dance competition costume.

I gingerly lifted the outfit and touched the shiny accessories. I looked up to see Mrs. Sankford giving me a small smile. I felt like doing cartwheels and running around the whole block to jog off my excitement.

"It may not be the nicest and the prettiest thing in the world, but it will attract positive attention that you will need if you do fail the twirls." She says softly and closes the trunk.

"Pirouettes, are definitely are going to be a challenge," I say as I used the actual term for a ballet twirl. She smiled at me as we climbed into her car and drove off.

A/N: Hey! I decided to end it here due to me killing myself to finish this book. I have been working on this chapter for two hours and it has only given me a bad chapter and a massive headache. What I'd do to finish this book in a flash.

The book should be ended tomorrow. I will see to that. Thanks for sticking with me.

Stay Graceful~K

Edited on October 21st, 2017