Unraveling Rosen | ✓

19 | devant

1 9

d e v a n t

in front

Today is the day.

The day that Rosen and me will dance in front of the whole school with the Latin-American dance of our choice. We didn't have much time to practice for it, about a week, which doesn't sound like much at all. Trust me, I'm super nervous about our performance today. All day yesterday Rosen tried to calm me down and kept reminding me that everything will be alright and I will succeed and won't mess up the dance.

I still thought I wasn't prepared enough. For our Juilliard audition dance we practiced for about 4 months and now that's perfect. Our audition will be between Christmas and New Year's which is also coming up shortly so my nerves are going crazy. Although I love dancing a lot and I'm pretty good at it, it's still kind of frightening to go on stage and dance in front of strangers.

Deep down I just kept thinking that what if people don't like the way I dance and what if I mess up something? That way Rosen and I won't get the money. Of course it's not all about the money, it's about the passion behind dancing but the money is a fact that pushes me to work harder. We've also decided that if we win, we will donate the money to cancer research. Mainly because Faith is suffering from cancer and Rosen thought that would be the best thing to do. I obviously don't have anything against that. I'll be happy to donate all the money to cancer research.

I stand behind the stage, trying to calm my nerves down. My heart is currently beating about nine times faster than usual. I look at Rosen on the other side of the stage. He's pacing back at forth, rubbing his hands together and occasionally jumping up and down on the stop. He glances at me and sees how nervous I am.

I swear my heart starts beating even faster when he blows me a kiss, sending it at my way.

You'll do great, he mouths to me and that's all it takes to calm me down a tiny bit. Knowing that Rosen believes in me is all I need right now.

"And now, let's give a warm welcome to the next performers; Rosen Creed and Hazel Stevens, dancing salsa!" our principal announces and everybody starts clapping and cheering. Rosen gives me a nod as we walk on stage, my silver skirt and bralette tight on my body, showing off my almost non-existent curves. Rosen is donned in a pair of black dressy pants and a black shirt, with silver outlining to match my attire. I shake off the final nerves before the music starts and we start moving our bodies.

All I can focus on during the entire dance is Rosen. The way he moves his body to the music is breathtaking. He's so good at dancing it's insane, I will never match up to his skills. I can't contain the grin permanent on my face. I just smile throughout the entire dance and keep my eyes fixed on Rosen.

Once we're done, I'm totally out of breath, my chest quickly heaving up and down as I try to catch my breath. Rosen looks to be in the same situation. All I can hear is everybody cheering and screaming our names, giving me a high. Dancing is my favorite kind of self-expression and seeing everybody so excited makes me try to perfect my skills even further.

"Wow," the principal says as he walks onto the stage next to us. "Just look at these two fireballs! That was amazing, I never knew we had two such talented dancers in our school. Please take a seat as the jury will figure out who's the winner. But for now, that's all of the performers. Thank you to everybody."

Rosen grabs my hand as we skip off the stage, Saskia and Imogen running up to us and congratulating both of us.

"That was amazing!" Saskia exclaims as she throws her arms around me and hugs me tightly, almost cutting off my blood circulation. She then proceeds to hug Rosen, throwing her arms around him in the same way. Rosen stiffens for a bit but then awkwardly wraps his arms around her to hug her back.