Chapter 2
TWO
COLLETTE
Leave it to Mom to ruin my fun. I should have known she was behind the display of man meat standing in front of me.
I mean, come on, there was no way the muscles on the guy called Cooper were homegrown.
I was pretty sure whatever they were feeding the guys at Oakwood High wasn’t on the FDA’s approval list.
It had to be packed with hormones.
“Ms. Boucher, really?” Bianca whined in a pitch that hurt my ears.
She was standing next to me in all her five foot eight glory.
Her stomach was flat. Her legs, long… I blinked, forcing my thoughts to something other than the fact that I was never going to live up to my mother’s idea of the perfect ballerina.
No matter how hard I tried, I was never going to cut it.
Ugh. I’d become envious of Bianca. What was wrong with me?
“You know Coach Reynolds?” Ethan asked. He’d finally stopped staring at me long enough to glance over at Amiee Boucher, aka my mom. Aka the serpent of the school.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom. In a ‘Harry Potter loves he who shall not be named’ sort of way. You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.
Mom nodded as she folded her arms and tapped her forearm. “I do. Although he said nothing about his team members storming my studio and interrupting our practice.” I could feel the daggers Mom was shooting the other girls. The ones who were once practicing but now had gathered out in the hallway.
They all bowed their heads and murmured apologies as they disappeared back into the dance studio. The only people that remained were me—obviously—and Bianca—surprisingly. She never missed a moment of practice.
“Ms. Boucher, I really must protest. I mean, what if one of them drops us?” Bianca eyed Ryan who ran his hands through his hair and was leering at her in an obnoxious, I don’t care about the world kind of way. It was intriguing, albeit a tad cliché.
But it made Bianca balk, and I knew right then and there, we were going to be friends.
“Why don’t you come over here and we’ll test it out,” Ryan said.
Bianca’s cheeks reddened as she cast a see what I mean look in Mom’s direction.
Mom nodded. “Your objection is noted.” She waved her hand in the studio’s direction. “Now go practice. Your grand jeté needs work.”
Bianca’s lips parted and I could see how my mom’s words crushed her. For a moment, I allowed myself to feel bad for her but then I remembered her taunt a minute ago about me and my weight, and that feeling magically melted into indifference.
Once we were Bianca-less, I glanced over at the team. Mom was assessing them in a way that made my skin crawl. I knew what it was like, having Mom stare at you. Judge you.
She sighed and waggled her fingers in their direction. “Come with me. I’ll show you where you can change,” she said as she started down the hall.
Everyone began to file after her. I stayed back, hugging my notebook to my chest and watching them leave. This was a major turn of events for me. Up until now, I’d lived a pretty boring life.
My job was to clean the studio. I was my very own Cinderella. At least, that was who I became as soon as the scale rose to the upper hundreds. That’s when Mom suggested that maybe I would be happier on the sidelines. That I’d be happier if I didn’t have to climb into a leotard every day.
That’s when I was pretty sure I’d broken my own mother’s heart. Any last hope she’d had that I’d fulfill her dream of being a perfect, ballerina daughter? It was officially gone.
I leaned against the wall and tipped my face toward the ceiling. I hated the tears that formed every time I allowed myself to think about ballet or Mom. I hated that I still wanted to dance. That it filled my soul and wouldn’t leave me alone.
“Get a grip,” I growled as I angrily wiped at my cheeks.
“Um…” a familiar voice drew my gaze over.
I glowered at Ethan as he stood awkwardly in front of me. He had his hands shoved into the front pockets of his pants and his ridiculously perfect brown hair had fallen across his forehead.
Of course he was perfect. His hair, shoes, even his exercise clothes.
I hated his ridiculously perfect body he was so obviously not trying to hide underneath his white t-shirt and grey sweatpants.
He didn’t look like he even knew what “pinch an inch” meant and he most definitely did not have nightmares about it.
“What?” I asked, frustrated that I’d let my guard down. That this stranger had seen this part of me. Collette Boucher was the snarky, funny one. She wasn’t the one who cried about her relationship with her mother or her weight.
“I, um…” He furrowed his brow as he stared at me. I widened my eyes as if that would hurry him along.
“I’m just making sure you’re okay. I’ve been known to do some damage with my tackle.”
I wasn’t sure, but I felt as if he purposely flexed his pecks when he said that.
I snorted. “Seriously?” I slipped my notebook into my backpack and swung it onto my shoulder. I brushed my shoulder like I was flicking away a fly. “I barely felt you,” I said.
Truth was, I was pretty sure he’d bruised my ribs, but I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. This guy didn’t seem like he needed any help in the ego department.
“Are you sure? I mean, sometimes you don’t know you’re hurt because of the adrenaline and blood rushing to the injury.” He stepped forward and reached out to touch me.
Fear coursed through me and I flinched as I pulled away. I didn’t want to be touched. I didn’t want him to know exactly what I was hiding underneath this hoodie.
Ethan’s eyes widened as he snapped his hand back. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t going to…” He pushed his hands through his hair as regret showed on his face.
I shot him a smile. “It’s fine. I’m just not used to random guys touching me.
” I pushed the strap of my backpack higher up onto my shoulder and sidestepped him.
“I should get going. Mom’s waiting and she wouldn’t be happy if I distracted you.
” It’s a lame excuse but the only thing I can think of in a moment’s notice.
Truth was, I had every intention of hiding out in Mom’s office until this little practice was over. There was no way I wanted to spend my afternoon staring at Ethan as he bumbled his way through the different choreography.
It was a little insulting that Mom would take on these football players when she literally banned me from doing barre. That somehow, I was a disgrace to the art form that was ballet and these huge, man-hulks were just what she was looking for.
I ducked my head as I made a beeline for Mom’s office door when Ethan’s voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned to see him staring after me.
“Aren’t you going in there?” he asked, pointing toward the studio.
I shook my head. “Nope.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and forced myself to keep my emotions in check.
He looked adorably confused. “So, you’re not in this dance class or—”
“I don’t dance.” The words felt…wrong. It felt like a lie. Heck, it was a lie. I still danced on my own, I just wasn’t welcome in dance classes…that my mother taught, at a dance academy. It was like living at Hogwarts, being Dumbledore’s long-lost daughter, and not being able to practice magic.
And yes, I may have been rereading Harry Potter. Again.
“But isn’t this, like…a dance school?” he asked.
For Pete’s sake, why couldn’t he just let it go?
Mr. Perfect over here seemed intent on making me spell it out.
I let out a weary sigh. “Yes, Captain Obvious, this is a school. It’s a fully accredited high school as well…
” I stopped myself before I could rattle off the whole brochure.
He didn’t need to know how competitive this place was to get into, or how expensive.
I gestured behind me where my mother had disappeared.
“That scary lady you just met? She’s my mother. ”
“So you take classes here,” he said.
“I take academic classes, yes,” I said, beyond irritated that we were still having this conversation. “But I don’t join in on the dance classes.”
He looked so confused it was almost funny. “But you’re the ballet lady’s daughter. Isn’t following in your parent’s footsteps like the reason your parents had kids?” And then his voice dropped an octave. “Or is that just mine?”
I shrugged as I turned. I didn’t want to get into the nuances of my relationship with my mom or the fact that I have hips that disappointed her. I also didn’t want to spill my guts to this stranger who was staring at me like I had two heads.
“Nope,” I said over my shoulder and then disappeared into Mom’s office and shut the door.
Once I was alone, I settled down in her chair and tried to keep my gaze from slipping over to the window on the far wall.
It allowed Mom to be able to watch what was happening in the studios without having to leave the comfort of her Aeron office chair.
I could see Mom had paired the partners together. Ethan was with Bianca—of course. As the two leaders of the group, it only made sense that they set the standard for what was expected.
Ryan was with Tilly and Cooper was with Eve. He was towering over her like King Kong towers over Ann Darrow. It was comical to see the two of them together. I half expected him to grab her and hoist her up the tallest building.
I chuckled at my own joke as I brought my feet up to rest on the seat of the chair. But that made my belly fat squish together so I dropped them to the floor and straightened.
Needing a distraction for the exact reason why I wasn’t in the studio, fulfilling my family destiny like Ethan so delicately put it, I reached into my backpack and removed my notebook.
I’d been working on my Harry Potter fan-fic—a secret obsession that I hadn’t told anyone about, not even my best friend Olivia.
It’s a little embarrassing but it’s fun and helps pass the time when I’m stuck in the office, waiting for Mom to finish up.