To Belong | Protector 5.25

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

       I had to take a break from dancing ever since I nearly passed out the last time I was there for the lack of nutrients. That was almost three months ago, and I was worried I wouldn't have a spot on the team for the long break but Ryder assured me that I still would.

       After all, he was very understanding when it came to both mental and physical health. I just didn't have the energy, both mentally and physically, to dance but he was okay with that. 

       If he wasn't, Nolan and Jerome probably would have gotten mad at him.

       A few days after the trial, I was feeling more than capable to get back into dancing. I was still have trouble sleeping, and I doubt that was going to go away any time soon, but at least I felt well enough to go to dance rehearsals.

       I was so glad to be back. I never really got to be on a team before because of all the times I was moved from foster home to group home to foster home. I didn't have a place to stay but now that I was adopted, I did.

       Even before I was adopted, I finally felt like I had a place I belonged.

       Since I had missed a lot of practice, I basically knew none of the choreography. Instead of everyone on the team going over it again, Ryder asked Rhys if he could teach me what I missed. Rhys was the best at picking up choreography so whatever he missed today, he could easily learn it from watching it. Then he would teach me what we both missed. It would just be a cycle until we had nothing else to learn and only had to focus on cleaning.

       Rhys was a great teacher. He didn't go too fast and made sure I understood even the smallest details before moving on to the next move. Sometimes, I've had people completely ignoring the small details, which only made it harder for me to change it later on because I was so used to doing it a different way.

       We ended up getting through most of the dance before Ryder told everyone to take a fifteen minute break. I went to my backpack and pulled out my water bottle, desperately needing to hydrate. After I finished, I put my water bottle back before grabbing my phone to check the time. Our breaks were the only time Ryder allowed us to be on our phones, so I didn't have to worry about hiding my phone so he wouldn't see it.

       Kingsley sat down beside me on the bench. "So, little brother," he said. 

       "I'm only two years younger," I said.

       "You're still my little brother. Anyway, want to tell Rhys that he's a horrible teacher?"

       Rhys was standing nearby and heard Kingsley. "What? What did I do?"

       "You told me that I'm ugly," Kingsley said.

       "No, Zayden said you were ugly," Rhys said.

       "It's true," Zayden said. "You are. And I thought you could tell the difference between me and Rhys."

       "Okay, but in my defence, I was also eating when you said that, so I wasn't really paying attention to which one called me ugly," Kingsley said.

       I looked at my phone, seeing a bunch of missed calls from Webster. I furrowed my eyebrows. That definitely wasn't a good thing. Normally if he was bored or something, he would spam me with texts, not calls.

       I got up from the bench, walking over to a space that didn't have anyone near it. I called Webster back, holding my phone up to my ear. It took a while, but Webster soon picked up. "What do you want?" he asked.