I'm with the Band

I'm with the band chapter six

Chapter 6

" Five, six, seven, eight," Caroline called out. I moved around the dance floor, following the steps that Caroline had provided me with. " More emotion, Sophia!" she called out sharply. I didn't answer but tryed harder to let my face morph to the words and the music. " Faster, faster, move more gracefully, flow more like a river instead of a square rock attempting to roll down a hill!" Caroline screeched. I attepted to combine more things to make the moves look connected, sweat beading onto my bright red forehead. " Where's the emotion? Extend your arms more!" I'm sorry but it's a little hard trying to do all of this at once plus add emotions that I don't feel because the only thing that I'm feeling right now is frustration.

Charlie is watching from the sidelines, grimacing with every choppy turn and blundering leap. " Stop, stop, stop," Caroline groaned for the hundredth time tonight. " Honestly Sophia, what is wrong with you today, we only have one dress rehearsal tomorrow and at this rate your going to screw the whole dang thing up. Why FL promoted you is a mystery!" Ouchy. While Caroline may be like a second mother, she doesn't let us forget that she's one of the best choreographers in the country.

" I'm sorry," I mutter, exhaused and wanting to take a break.

" Sorry doesn't cut it when you have hundreds of expecting faces peering up at you during a show," Caroline snapped. " Now, tell me what you are doing wrong in your own words and then maybe we can figure this out before the day is up," she sighed harshly.

" Well, I'm not showing any emotions because the only thing I'm feeling is frustration, I'm not pointing my toes good enough or extending my arms tightly because they feel like a pile of jello, I haven't perfected any of the moves yet because there hasn't been enough time so everything is a bit short and choppy. Not to mention I'm starving and exhausted and want to quit and I keep messing up everything because I mix up my old routines with these new ones," I say, angry and out of breath.

All I wanted to do was curl up in a hole and go into a comatose state. I had been working on five new, different routines for the last six hours straight, in additon to the regualr team practice I had to attend since there wasn't a lead in every song. My tired brain keeps on mixing up my old dances with my new moves. I haven't even started practicing with music or with any of the band members yet. I thought this was going to be easy. Boy, was I wrong.

Caroline gaze softened a bit. " Alright, go get something to eat and drink, rest your body for a bit okay? But you only have a half an hour, I'll try to think of something by then."

" I'm sorry Caroline, I just don't know if I can do this," I say sadly.

" Nonsense, these are difficult dances. These moves that you've done thousands of times are just messing with your head, but in the end, you always end up doing great." I nod and leave to the dressing room, grabbing the sandwich I packed, a Gatorade, my phone, and what I call my sweat towel before finding a quiet corner and slumping down, taking a deep, calming breath. You can do this, Sophia, I think to myself.

Taking my sweat towel, I wipe off all the sweat that collected on my face, chest, and armpits before taking a long swig from the Gatorade and scarfing up my sandwich in record time. Taking my phone, I shoot out a quick text to Maddi.

Crawford is killing me! If I don't return by morning please come to my funeral, lol :). Although honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I will survive the rest of practice. At the rate I'm going, we might actually have to be here all night. I take a thoughtful sip of my drink when Charlie plops down next to me, giving me a serious look. Time for the infamous Charlie pep talk.

" Listen, Sophia, back there.... well, let's just say you could do some improving, and you're in for some major motivating. Here's something that's always helped me when I was having trouble learning a new dance," (like that ever happened), " I would picture myself in slow motion, doing every move correctly, every flourish, expression, everything. Then I would go through it again, in fast motion and pretend to watch myself getting a perfect score by some make-believe judge. I don't know if it would work for you, but it helped me, and I think you should try it," Charlie advised, standing up and giving me a quick smile. " Just think about, okay?"

I do exactly that, thinking about every move in my routine, performed perfectly, one step at a time. Then, I imagine a judge, watching my every step as I move across the stage to music that isn't really there, getting a perfect score. Now, all that's left is to go out and do it for real this time.

" Ready to try again?" Caroline asks, only a little bit smugly. I nod and get in my staring pose. " Five, six, seeeevuhn, eight," Caroline calls out, her voice echoing around the now almost empty stage. Suddenly, as if something had finally started working in my brain, I was dancing to each routine flawlessly, twirling, leaping, jumping, spinning and rolling across the dance floor, every emotion I could feel written clearly across my face. I remembered everything. I did it. When I was done with the fifth and final dance number, Caroline and Charlie, stood up clapping.

Charlie came over to me and gave me a great big hug, spinning me around. " You did it Soph, you really did it! I knew it would work!" She cried out gleefully.

" I knew you had it in you, well done Sophia! That was exactly what I was looking for," Caroline said proudly. I grinned ear to ear.

The night continued on as I practiced with the music, finally feeling the dances deep in my bones.  "Alright, that was very good, but now you need to practice with the band member that you'll be sharing some stage time with. Zack." I sigh in relief. At least it wasn't Jake, the biggest hot head and arrogant person that you'll ever meet. I could never work with him. Zack on the other hand was funny, easy to get along with, and all in all a likable person.

" Isn't it a bit late?" Charlie wondered.

" Nonsense. A real member of a band will get up at any hour of the day to become the best he can be. And right now, he needs to learn his onstage moves with Sophia." Caroline made the call, and a few minutes later, Zack walked into the room.

Zack was on the shorter side with curly dark hair and sparkling coffee brown eyes. He was well built but still on the scrawny side, and had a perfect white smile. Add in his personality, no wonder he was a fan favorite. But I can't let his good looks get to my head. He was here to learn part of a dance he would perform with me, that was it. Sophia and Zackery. Completely professional.

" Hey, Sophia! I'm trusting your new routines have gone well?" Zack asks, genuinely interested.

" In the end, yes," I say, trying to hide all emotion from my voice and keeping my facial expression neutral. Professional banter.

" Well then, where do we begin?" he asks Caroline. She tells him what he needs to do, really he'll only be 'dancing' with me for a couple of minutes total and for only two routines out of the five.

I sit back and watch as Caroline runs through his own footwork without me, seeing Zack struggle. When it's my turn to join the catastrophe of this dance, I fluently glide over to him, spinning and taking his hand gently in mine, like the routine goes. He twirls me around a couple times and stumbles his feet around a bit with mine before pulling me close to him and dipping low to the ground.

I'm surprised by how strong and steady his arms feel around my waist. His cologne has a nice, spicy musk scent. I never realized just how quite handsome Zack was up close. Time all together stopped, if only for a moment. My mouth went dry, and the place where his hands touched my back seemed to burn. A blush slowly crept up my cheeks, and, was that a flickering of desire is his eyes? Had I just imagined it?

" Um, keep it moving people," Caroline said suspiciously. The moment was over as soon as it had began. We awkwardly finished the routine, whenever he touched my skin little bolts of electricity ran up my spine. I was all too relieved when practice ended, quickly hurrying out of the building back to the RV.

Even then I had plenty of time to analyze what had just happened. I think back to the night I was promoted, and Zack had casually draped his arm around my shoulders and I had felt the same tingling sensation that I had just experienced moments ago. What did this all mean? I didn't want some stupid crush to distract me from my dancing, but at the same time it seemed as if I couldn't get the image of Zack out of my mind. I barely knew him, why was I thinking like this? 

It then occurred to me that I had never had a boyfriend before, or even a crush. I saw the need in Zack's eyes earlier. Did, did he like me? And, more importantly, did I like him?