Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,2

ballet floor, things were a bit different; but Danni had still put a great deal of time and attention into learning how to properly follow her partner. A faint change in his body language could cue her to an entirely different sequence of movements, just as the slightest change in her posture told him exactly where he needed to place his hands for the next sequence, where his feet should be resting.

A final grand jeté; a graceful port de bras; and suddenly, it was over, and the two of them were left staring at one another.

Danni dropped her gaze first, her big brown eyes welling with tears. “Hello, Michael,” she said with a grin, trying to cover up the awkward moment. “What are you doing here?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he admitted. “And I knew if I couldn’t, you would be up, staring out at nothing.”

She made a face at him. “You did not know I’d be sitting out here staring at nothing!” she protested.

“No?” Michael grinned at her. “Usually it’s you running over choreography in your head the morning before a performance, but you can’t say I haven’t seen this little routine before, Dragonfly.”

Danni walked back over the porch, tugging him down alongside her when it looked as though he might choose to hover over her instead. “All right, all right, so you know me well enough to realize I wouldn’t be sleeping,” she muttered.

“Besides, I thought I might be able to catch one last dance with my favorite partner.” He sighed, and now it was his turn to not be willing to meet her gaze. “It’s going to be a long year, Danni,” he admitted softly.

“I know.” She rested her cheek against his shoulder—a familiar position for the two of them, though precious few realized it. How many performances had ended or begun exactly this way, Danni’s head resting against Michael, his arm lifting ever so gently to slide around her shoulders?

They’d never dated—never even considered it. If asked, either of them would have said that their friendship was too important for that, and anyway, dating your dance partner was just asking for trouble. One bad fight could ruin a relationship; and especially for Danni, finding a new partner would be difficult at best and impossible at worst. Far better to remain good friends—best friends—and to maintain the close partnership that made them such wonders on the dance floor.

Besides, Michael had never looked at her that way. While Danni had never had time for boyfriends—they always wanted her to make time for dates and things, and inevitably, their desired times fell during either practices or rehearsals—Michael had very calmly made his way through both the entire cheerleading squad and the dance team over the first couple of years in high school. Now, in the middle of their junior year, he seemed to have steadied a little; but that might have been because they had decided to make the most of this year, practicing and training harder than ever before in the effort to ensure Danni a place at the Academy next year.

And then her acceptance letter had come. It always came back to that. They’d had so many plans; but when it came right down to it, this was the big one, the important one.

Danni was going—even though her heart yearned for the familiar comforts of home and the only partner she had ever known.

“I’m going to miss you,” she said huskily, her fingers instinctively finding Michael’s and lacing through them. How many times had she done this? How many times had he soothed pre-performance jitters away just by holding her hand? Had she ever really even appreciated it before?

“I’m going to miss you, too.” He leaned over, resting his cheek on top of her hair. “Make sure you take care of yourself over there, all right? I’m not going to be around to nag you about taking some time off every once in awhile.”

“Oh, as if you won’t be nagging just as much as ever!” she shot back at him with a laugh. “You’ll just have to learn to do it over the phone, that’s all.”

“You mean you’re actually going to call me?” he teased. “You won’t be too busy with all your Academy friends to remember your lowly partner back home?”

“Of course I’ll call!” Danni had to swallow down the lump in her throat. “And I’ll write, too—long letters, when I’m supposed to be paying attention in class. You’ll like those.”

“Page numbers for assignments doodled in the margins?” Michael