It won't keep us apart

Chapter 24: Clean slate

Jacquie's POV

Today is one of the last few rehearsals before Regionals. The main focus is the ten person dance. Getting the hang of using these ropes didn't come easy at first. I nearly bowled Summer over one time. I had swung from one corner of the room and let myself go across until I saw her come into view. That was when the panic kicked in. 

Was I going to run into her? Was she going to move? Right before I closed in on her, Summer sprinted out of the way, her screams matching mine. If I injured her, then it'd be my fault for losing a dancer.

"Jacquie, where's the connection? You need to look at him when you're dancing together," Emily calls out.

I can tell Emily's getting more frustrated with me, but I still can't bear a simple glance at his face. It'll just remind me of everything we've been through; the time when we were actually together. We called it off and I just want to have mutual feelings for him. Except it's a bit difficult for me, having to constantly be close to his gorgeous face whilst we're partnering.

"Everyone take five," Michelle claps her hands together.

Finally, a break from this awkwardness.

"Jacquie? My office, now."

I pause and clench my fists tightly. Just when I get the chance to escape, Emily tells me to get in her office. It seriously can't be about the Noah situation. 

Without a word, I stomp my way over to the office. Great, he's here as well. I keep my eyes on the wall, hoping that Noah won't talk to me.

Michelle remarks, "I thought this was our office."

"Mich, now's not the time for this."

She rolls her eyes and retreats into the office after Emily.

Emily starts off our 'meeting' by asking us what's going on. There's no chance I'm saying anything. I cross my arms over my chest and wait.

Noah begins to recount what happened between us not long ago. He continues on about how we haven't really spoken much since we broke up. 

Wrong. We haven't said a single word to each other at all.

Michelle and Emily sit there thoughtfully.

This is the part I'm not looking forward to. The final decision. Fear creeps into my mind as each painstaking second ticks by. I really don't want this to affect anything related to Regionals. 

Noah's POV

After a lot of discussion, Michelle and Emily decided that Jacquie and I were to work together on an abstract art piece to put up in Studio A. Now that was something that Jacquie wasn't very pleased about. Neither was Emily at first, because she didn't expect to host an arts and craft session for two of her dancers. 

We were required to finish our art piece by the end of the day, otherwise we'd both be facing serious consequences. Knowing them, I wouldn't want to know what could happen if we didn't complete our task.

"Okay Noah, let's just get this over and done with so I can go home," Jacquie huffs impatiently.

I look up and notice that her hair is done up in a messy bun and she has a smock over her dance clothes. Something around her shoes catch my eyes. Jacquie had wrapped her shoes in plastic bags.

"Uh, why did you put plastic bags on your shoes, Jacquie?" I point to her shoes.

"I don't wanna get paint on my sneakers, so I had to do something about it. These were the only option."

I nod and then I get up onto my feet to put my smock on.

Across the floor, there's a canvas for us to paint on, a selection of paint buckets and a small collection of brushes ranging from small to large. I grab the paint roller and Jacquie took a big brush. 

"Why would you choose a paint roller for this?"

"Who said I couldn't?" I retort.

"I did. Now, go put that roller back and get another brush," she demands with a fierce glare.

I raise my hands up in surrender and swap the offending roller with another brush.

"What are we going to paint?" 

Jacquie sighs, "It's abstract, so we can do anything."

"Oh, so I can just splatter paint everywhere?" I lift a bottle of purple paint and start squeezing it onto the canvas.

"What- ugh, nevermind I get what you're doing," she grumbles.

We continue splotching paint across the board in silence. I don't think Jacquie expected for this to turn out this way, but that's fine by me. We're not exactly on speaking terms at the moment, neither are we friends. At least we aren't avoiding each other's eyes.

I flick paint off the brush and it misses the board, landing on Jacquie's nose. She flinches in surprise. Her eyes meet mine. What have I done?

"I'm so sorry, it was an ac-" and she quickly smears yellow paint along the side of my face.

"Oh no you didn't do that," I reach out towards her, but she darts away, giggling hysterically. 

It's on. Jacquie is not getting away with this. She better not touch my hair. Not one bit of paint is going to end up in my hair.

We grab some of the other paint brushes and dip them into more paint as more ammunition. I dodge one of her incoming brushes and another hits me on the back. I charge over to her, shaking my paintbrushes and splatter drops of paint all over her.

"What on earth is happening here?" a stern voice breaks our craze.

We freeze and I turn to see Emily watching us with an unreadable expression. We're in big trouble aren't we? Emily is someone that you shouldn't mess with. Especially when she makes that face. Yep, the one that you can't tell what she's really feeling.

"Well... What can I say?" I chuckle nervously, glancing sideways at Jacquie.

Jacquie probably understood the look I gave her and she said, "Noah and I got the job done."

"Seems like it's not only on the canvas, but it's on your faces too."

I share another look with Jacquie and she's feeling the same as I am right now. Utter confusion. 

"Let me tell you two something. Especially you, Noah. Don't let personal get mixed with dance because I don't want to host another bonding session involving paint. You two can go clean off the paint on your faces," Emily waves a hand in the direction of the door.

"Thanks Emily," we chorus.

"No, don't thank me. Go thank Michelle for this," she smiled proudly.

A/N: I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but we'll let it slide for now ;)