Foundation of Dance

Chapter 21

Olivia

I yawned as the car rumbled underneath me. Alexandra sipped on a cup of coffee as she drove the car down the sunlit streets. Leaning my head against the car window I shut my eyes for a second. 'Why does Illinois have to be so far away?' I thought in annoyance. It was currently 4:30am, and we were driving to Jazmine's house. According to Alexandra her parent's had work in the morning and couldn't get her to dance so early, there was also the issue of Jazmine's little sister being left unattended. Of course, Alexandra is happy to drive her.

"She said she'll be outside with her things," Alexandra said, traces of sleep still evident in her voice. She held out her coffee and I took it gratefully, taking a few sips, I despised mornings.

Soon, we pulled up to a quaint, single story house. The house was redbrick with large windows and a little concrete porch, sitting on the porch was Jazmine, beside her was a small girl wrapped up in a soft pink blanket, leaning on Jazmine. Alexandra and I left the car and walked up the driveway. "Hey," Alexandra greeted with a yawn. Jazmine nodded her greeting and the girl beside her shifted, opening her wide eyes and peered up at us.

"Aliyah, why don't you go back to bed? It's still early," Jazmine said and Aliyah shook her head. Shrugging the blanket off and stretching her arms out, under her dressing gown I could see the blue flannel pyjamas peeking through.

"I wanted to say bye," she protested weakly. Jazmine rolled her eyes but a smile quirked at her lips, standing up and grabbing Aliyah's arm she gently pulled her to her feet.

"So say bye and go inside, I'll be home soon anyways," she said. Aliyah grumbled to herself but muttered a 'bye' and stumbled inside, shutting the heavy door behind her. Jazmine sighed, crossing her arms and shaking her head. I felt a smile quirk at my lips however, her eyes were full of adoration for her sister.

"Seems like early morning is the only time you guys get along," Alexandra jokes. Jazmine chuckled.

"Nah, more like sleep deprivation, she was up late because she was trying to dance in one of my old costumes," Jazmine then groaned. "She wouldn't give it back! You try having one of those!" She suddenly said, pointing at me. I blinked stupidly.

"A child?" I asked, Alexandra snorted.

"No, a sister, the devil incarnate."

Alexandra laughed, it sounded like a twinkling bell and then grabbed Jazmine's suitcase. "In any case, we should get going, it's going to take a while to get to the hotel and Mrs Reynolds wants us at the studio as soon as possible."

With that, we all clambered into her car and drove off. As we arrived at the studio, the sun was starting to peek through the trees, giving off a warm glow and shining beams onto random spots on the ground, a sharp contrast to the chilly air. I looked over the other dancers in the studio, Evie was on a call with someone and the others were sitting comfortably on the floor, conversing about something. However when I noticed Carolina look over to Ashlyn who was standing by herself, I knew.

Her gaze flicked to mine and I quickly looked away to the side, leaning my head on Alexandra's shoulder. 'I wonder how rooms will work,' I wondered. They had never been a problem before since we had even numbers. Hell, it had been so long since there was a new dancer that picking who we roomed with was never an issue. 'Minus me,' I thought, and with Ashlyn's first impression during the week I had no doubt there will be a little bit of difficulty.

I looked up from my thoughts as a red car pulled into the studio parking lot. A plump woman then got out of the car, her short red hair was pulled into a bun, and she trotted up to Mrs Reynolds, Ashlyn was quick to move by her side. 'That must be her mother,' I realised. Jazmine leaned her head over to whisper. "She's the backstage lady from the last competition," she whispered, seeing her waddle up to Ashlyn and kiss her cheek. She shook hands with Mrs Reynolds who politely smiled.