Dancing with the Badboy

Chapter 3

Mila's POV

"Drück mir die Daumen," Lena repeated, slower this time. 

"Drook mi dee dowmen?" I sounded, cringing at how awful my pronunciation was. 

"Close enough," Lena giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. 

"What does it mean?" I asked, gulping down my water. 

"Basically wish me luck," she replied, handing me a hairtie without a second thought as mine snapped. 

"Danke," I grinned, taking the bright yellow hairtie. 

"Bitte," she smiled with a nod of her head. 

"Ok, break time over," Adam called, clapping his hand. I didn't really understand Adam most of the time when he addressed the class in a completely different language. But as time went on, I was able to memorize the phrases and their meanings that he repeated often. I usually got visual clues from his body language of what he wanted me to do. 

"Anna show us your solo," Adam said as we all took a seat on the floor by the walls. 

"Of course," she nodded, flipping her hair over her shoulder. We were both in the far corner of the room getting water when I noticed something stuck to Anna's shoe. There was a flat piece of something stuck to her left shoe. But she didn't seem to be bothered by it. 

I looked closer and noticed she was wearing ballet flats and the ribbon had gotten stuck under the sole.  

"Anna, your ribbon is untied. It migh-," 

"I know, it's fine Mila," she interrupted, her tone standoffish. I shut my mouth watching her feet move to the center of the room. I sighed, joining the group sitting in the back of the room. 

"Here we go," Lena mumbled, rolling her eyes at the blonde. 

"Music," she called and Adam pressed play. 

I watched her movements as the song began. She was good, I wasn't going to deny that. But her movements held almost too much precision. It was too exact leaving little fluid in her motions as she danced. But everything was clean and to perfection. I watched as she began the part of her dance where there was a series of turns, 15 I think. It was a hard move to perfect, 15 rapid turns in a row. 

In the split second that I looked away to the clock, I heard a gasp followed by another collective gasp. 

"Scheisse," Adam muttered, springing up from the floor and running over to Anna. She let out a yelp of pain as she tried to get up. 

"Hold still," I said to her softly as she squirmed. She growled out something in German which I unfortunately knew to mean fuck you. 

"Anna relax," Gabby said, putting her hand on Anna's shoulder. 

You could already tell from the immediate redness and swelling that it was at least sprained, if not fractured. 

"Does it hurt when you turn it?" Gabby asked, as Adam gently pressed on her ankle. 

"Yes of course it does you di-"

"It's sprained for sure but it could also be a hairline fracture," Adam muttered, getting up. 

"No, I'm fine. I can dance. I can compete," she muttered under her breath. 

"Ajax help me up," she commanded, earning a not so discrete eyeroll from the tall brunette. 

"Mila, call Nora please," Adam instructed and I nodded, running out of the room to get the assistant manager who also happened to be the medic. 

- -  -- -- - - - - - -- - - - -- - - 

"She's out for 8 weeks," Gabby sighed, coming to sit beside Lotte as we ate lunch. 

"Damn that's long," I mumbled, taking a sip of my Gatorade. 

"She was so excited to dance her duet at regional," Lotte said, looking up from her phone. 

"Yeah, now Ajax is going to need a new partner which sucks. Having a new partner right before regionals is going to be really tough."

"Yeah the chemistry will be so off. Ajax hates Anna but they have chemistry for sure," Lena sighed. 

"What type of duet was it?" I spoke up curiously. 

"Contemporary," Lotte replied. 

After a moments silence Gabby spoke up. 

"Look Mila, we don't actually hate you. It's just, Anna is our friend and we go with what she says. You're a really good dancer," she mumbled. I stopped chewing my granola bar and looked up at her. I smiled and thanked her, tilting my head slightly in wonder. Good to know. 

"Yeah you're amazing," Lotte chimed in, nodding her head. "hey how come I can't find your Instagram account?"

I nearly choked when she asked me that question. It took a lot of effort to act casual as I searched for a response. 

"Oh um, I think I made it private," I replied nonchalantly. 

"Private accounts huh?" a voice spoke from behind me. I didn't have to turn to recognize Ajax's teasing voice. "Got something to hide?"

You have no idea. 

"A lot from stalkers actually," I retorted, narrowing my eyes at him as he pulled a chair. He sat to the my right as Dean and Max took the other empty seats. He watched me carefully, sitting facing the back post of the chair, arms on the top rail. 

"What's your username?" Gabby piped up, unlocking her phone. 

"MilaxViolet," I replied. 

"Violet?" Ajax snorted, shaking his head at me. 

"Got a problem with it?" I asked. 

"Couldn't come up with a better one?" he asked, nudging Dean who chuckled with the rest of them. 

"I think it's cute," Lena shrugged and I sent her a grateful look for trying to be supportive. 

If only they knew where that nickname came from. 

-  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"Ugh we've done this 3 times, I'm tired," Ajax complained, falling back onto the floor. 

"It's not my fault none of the girls are fitting in with your motions," Adam huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

I sat in the corner of the room munching on carrots, taking notes for my world history class. 

"Mila, you go," Adam said suddenly making my head shoot up. 

"Excuse me?" I asked at the same time Ajax made a sound of protest. 

"Not her," he stated, crossing his arms. 

"I just want to see how it works out," Adam dismissed, waving his hand. 

Ajax rolled his eyes but muttered a fine under his breath. 

"Do you know the routine?" Adam asked. 

"Um, only till the first chorus," I replied, shuffling my feet nervously. 

I hated duets. Absolutely hated them. After what had happened to him. I could never have a partner. 

"That's fine, get in position."

Fuck. Ok, it's only 1 minute. You can do it.

I could feel Ajax's glare on me as I shrugged off my sweater and pulled my hair into a ponytail.  I stood in the starting position, forcing myself to relax. This was the first time I was so close to another dancer. So close that I could feel his breaths on my neck. 

"Ready, 5, 6, 7, 8!"

I didn't focus on anything. Not the pace, the feel of the floor beneath my feet, or the warmth Ajax's hand emit onto my cold skin. I just focused on the steps. It felt like a blink of an eye when Adam stopped the music, a grin on his face. 

"That's it. Mila you're going to be Ajax's partner."

Fuck.