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• AMALIA •

At three o'clock, the door to the office opens again, but it isn't Xander who walks in this time, nor is it his friend Leo. It's Elijah.

He smiles at me. "Hi, angel."

I wave hello.

He walks over to me and looks over my shoulder at the movie playing, then back down at me.

     "Are you ready to go?"

     I return his gaze and furrow my eyebrows.

     "Xander didn't tell you?"

     I shake my head. Xander hasn't come in since he left after Leo.

     "Oh." There's an emotion I can't quite place in his eyes before he's smiling brightly again. "Well, I got off of work early, so I can take you home."

     Part of me doesn't want to leave, but the other part of me is grateful. My back is beginning to hurt from sitting in this chair for most of the day. Is this how Xander feels?

     I shove my phone into my backpack and stand, flinging it over my shoulder. He smiles and motions to the door. I follow him out of the room and into the main part of the restaurant. Xander is in the open kitchen, and he looks at me for a second.

     I wave goodbye. He looks away. I frown and continue to follow Elijah out of the restaurant and into the packed car park, over to his car. He opens the passenger door for me, and I smile gratefully before climbing in and fastening my seatbelt. He gets into the drivers seat.

     "I have a surprise for you." Elijah says after a few minutes of driving, interrupting the comfortable silence.

     I tilt my head.

     "You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but when we got some of your school files, they said that you like to do dance, and that you're good at it, too."

     He glances at me as he says that, a small look of pride in his expression, and I blush. No one really ever compliments me.

     "There's a dance studio a few blocks away from our house, and I signed you up for it. Well, I paid for the first ten sessions, because that's required, but that doesn't mean you have to. I just thought it'd be nice. And a lot of the people who go there go to the school dad's sending you to, I think, so maybe you can make some friends beforehand."

     He must see the reluctance in my expression, because he adds: "they already know about how you don't talk. And you don't need to speak to dance." He suddenly looks nervous. "So, what do you think?"

     I bite my lip and, after a second, nod. He grins.

     "That's good, because I already bought you a load of stuff, and your first class is in an hour and a half."

     I smile.

     "Grab the bag from the backseat. I guessed your size, so if it's not right we can go back and change it. We have more than enough time."

     I look in the backseat and grab the large plastic bag. How much stuff did he buy?

     I pull out a white hoodie that has the words ALL STARS written on the back in bold black.

     "That's from the company. It's supposed to be a little big, I think."

     I smile gratefully at him and set it on my lap, pulling out next a pair of pink ballet slippers.

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