Behind The Spotlight

Chapter 6 --What Is This Feeling?--

I enter studio A, I put my dance bag down and I start warming up. In the morning, I have my hiphop small group rehearsal, and then in the afternoon, I have my first rehearsal with Noah.

"Good morning", I hear someone say. I turn my head around and see Kenzie entering the studio. "Hi", I say back to her before she looks around confused. "Aren't the boys here yet?", she asks me in disbelief. I shake my head no. "Normally, I'm always the last one to arrive", she says as we both start laughing. Kenzie puts her dance bag down and comes walking over to me. Right on the moment we both sit down to stretch, the boys walk through the door. "Good morning everyone!", Kingston screams a little bit too excited. "Good morning", both me and Kenzie greet the boys. "Oh great, you're all here", we hear Emily say as she walks out of her office. The boys quickly put their dance bags down and we all walk up to Emily. "As Michelle and I already told you, there will be a former A-Trouper coming in to choreograph your hiphop small group", Emily tells us and we all look around at each other very excited. "And who better to bring in for a hiphop routine, then the one and only West!", Emily screams as West comes running through the door and does a backflip of off the wall. This is amazing! West is so incredibly talented and he's an amazing hiphop dancer. "You think you can handle them?", Emily asks West once he's standing beside her. He looks us up and down very serious before a smile appears on his face. "Of course. This is going to be a blast!", he answers and we all smile. Emily leaves us to it and West starts choreographing our hiphop routine.

After about three and a half hours of choreographing and rehearsing, West calls it a day. We all walk over to our dance bags and take our water bottles out. "You guys have another rehearsal today?", Ozzy asks all of us. "Nope", Henry and Kenzie answer in unison. "I have duet practice with Summer after lunch break", Kingston tells us. "Yeah and I have duet rehearsal with Noah", I say and everyone starts making kissy faces. "What's that supposed to mean?", I ask them. "Weren't you the reason he broke up with Jacquie?", Kenzie says as the boys all nod their heads. "No. I'm sure he had his reasons but I wasn't one of them", I say back to all of them. "Uhu", they say in a sassy tone before we say our goodbyes and we all go our separate ways. I walk downstairs to Shakes and Ladders to get a smoothie. I'm not a big eater so I never really pack lunch our snacks in my dance bag. So, whenever I do feel hungry, I just get a smoothie or something.

I enter Shakes and Ladders and decide to actually look at the menu this time, instead of just ordering the same watermelon-coconut smoothie I always order. I take the colourful hard-wooden paper in my heads and start reading all the different shakes and smoothies. As you know, I really love watermelon and coconut. They are absolutely my favourite fruits ever! But I also really like apples and cinnamon. I'm very picky when it comes to food and drinks, so as I expected there is nothing else I really like. "Maybe I can just ask the waitress to put it all together for me?", I think to myself before I put the menu down and walk over to the counter. "Welcome to Shakes and Ladders! How can I help you?", the waitress asks me. She looks quite young. Maybe just a little bit older than me. She has long brown hair and she is very beautiful. "Hi... Uhm Heather?", I ask her making sure I read her name tag correctly. "Yes that's me", she says back to me kind of laughing at my stupidity, but giving me a smile as well. I return her smile before opening my mouth to speak. "Can I have the watermelon and coconut smoothie, but can you maybe put some apple juice in it and some cinnamon on top, please?", I ask her politely. "That sounds like a weird but tasty combination. Maybe I have to tell my boss to put it on the menu here", Heather says as she gives me a sweet smile, before blending up my smoothie. "Here you go", she says as she puts a straw in my cup and hands it to me. But before I can take it, she pulls it back again. "You know my name, obviously, but what's yours?", Heather asks me sweetly. "I'm Blakely", I answer her. "Blakely...", she repeats. "That's a pretty name. You don't hear that too often", she says as I just nod my head. "Are you a dancer from upstairs? You definitely look like a dancer", she says before I can even answer her question. "Yes, I'm a TNS dancer", I say back to her trying to get a hold of my smoothie. "That's so cool", is all she says back to me before handing me my drink. "Guess I'll see you here more often then." "You bet!", I say excitingly thinking about how crazy it is to actually be talking to people and making friends. I've never really experienced that before. I exit Shakes and Ladders and make my way over to studio A again for my duet practice with Noah.