Unpredictable (A Dance Story)

Chapter 24

The week after my fever went away was pretty bad. All the energy was drained from my body at an alarming rate, so I could only walk my solo. Teaching the junior class took the most out of me, though, since I had to constantly demonstrate things. I thought about swallowing my pride and asking for Holden's help again. Then I remembered that he hated me and wouldn't agree to help, anyway. I stuck to crouching in a ball, my head between my knees, after each class.

I felt good enough to dance my solo after that week had passed. I started up my pre-accident ritual of going to my dance room every night before bed. I walked it if I was tired or did the dance full-out if possible, then sat on the floor and absorbed the music. I counted it out, marked it in my head, and imagined everything done perfectly. It helped a lot, especially when practice didn't go very well. I would be alone to mess up and correct myself, noting things in my head.

After telling Abbie about the disastrous duet and the events leading up to it, she was more protective of me than ever.

"I can't believe he would do that! And right before you went on stage!" She had exclaimed.

"Yeah," was my only response.

Just from that, I knew Abbie was hiding something from me, and I was pretty determined to find out what that was. My answer came in a pretty unexpected way.

***

I stared at the apps I had grouped together on my iPad. Social media. Things I hadn't opened since the accident, months ago. I was hesitant for a moment, but I opened up the first thing: Instagram.

Since winning Nationals, I had become a sort of dance celebrity. My pictures had received hundreds of likes and I had thousands of followers. I tapped one of the tabs at the bottom of the screen. Too many new notifications to keep track of. I decided to go slow, clicking through things. To my surprise, my favorite dance account had a picture of me. I frowned and read the description.

'Ella Ford, last year's National Champion, got into a horrible car accident! She just got out of the hospital, but her right arm is paralyzed. Keep thinking of our beautiful Ella and hope she recovers, so she can dance again. #PrayForElla'

I was surprised. In the comments, people seemed to actually care... I went under the hash tag and clicked through countless pictures of myself, all tagged #PrayForElla. One in particular caught my eye. It was a picture of me in the pink costume from Fix You. I was leaning against Holden, my eyes on the floor. After all the awkwardness that duet caused, I almost couldn't believe how the picture looked. I seemed lost, confused, and frail. Holden held me gently, my lifeline. I scrolled down to that description.

'Wow, I wish I had courage like Ella Ford. After all she's been through, she still got up on stage and danced with Holden Andersen. Her paralyzed arm was tied to her side, but it didn't seem to stop her. She's an inspiration to us all! #PrayForElla'

I gaped at the picture. No one had mentioned the part where I tumbled to the floor or didn't connect with Holden at all. How did they think I was an inspiration, when I really just made a fool of myself? Tons of pictures had similar messages, making me feel strange. Not bad, but strange.

It was when I clicked on Holden's profile that things really went downhill. He never posted dance pictures or anything, but he had a bunch of followers. I saw the most recent picture, frowning to myself. It was Madison. Her arm was extended, like she was holding a camera, and she had a big smile on her face. Holden's arm was thrown casually around her shoulder as he smiled for the picture too.

'With the beautiful and talented @Musical_Madison for our first date as a real couple!'

I blinked. Had I read that right? I frantically clicked through other pictures until I found another one of Madison doing a ridiculous pose. She was in the dance studio. My dance studio! When had that happened? I read the caption.

'Teaching this weirdo how to have insanely awesome dance skills like me.'

Madison had mentioned the fact that she couldn't dance. I didn't know her exact words, but I knew she had said something about getting help. Then she'd jumped up and I got pulled away from the table by Abbie.

Abbie.

She had known. She must have stopped Madison from saying anything, because Holden was the one helping Madison with her dancing. The puzzle pieces clicked together in my mind, and I knew I was right.

Something flared up in me, a burning anger. And for once, Holden and I felt the same way about each other.

***

"Hey!" Called a cheery voice.

I narrowed my eyes at Abbie and her pleasant mood.

"Traitor," I hissed.

She looked offended. "What did you just say?"

"Traitor. You didn't tell me about Holden and his little girlfriend."

Abbie's eyes flared.

"Why do you care?" She shot back, "He's happy with Madison."

"I don't care about him!" I exclaimed, "I care that you didn't tell me! And now I'll bet anything that you knew all about the duet before I even told you."

She stuck her nose up in the air, grinding her teeth together. "So what if I knew about your little make out session. You're not exactly subtle."

I gaped at her. "My what!?"

"Oh, please. Stop acting like a victim."

"I didn't do anything, Abbie, and you know it!"

"Save it for someone who cares," she spat back, turning on her heel and walking into the studio.

I watched her, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I felt so many things at one time. Betrayal, sadness, and anger all swirled in my head. Why hadn't she told me about any of this? Best friends told each other everything!

"She didn't mean it."

I whipped around, rage burning color into my cheeks

"When did you get here?"

Holden looked indifferent. "Somewhere around 'make out session'. Jeez, Ford, what have you been telling people?"

"I haven't been telling anyone anything," I hissed. "You, on the other hand..."

I let the words hang between us for a second.

"I'm not going to pretend like I'm your friend," he started, "Because you've made it pretty clear that I'm not. And, frankly, I don't want to be friends with you when you're acting like such a, well..."

He wouldn't call me a nasty name. Some things never changed.

He continued a second later. "I guess we can go on hating each other after this conversation. Or whatever you want to feel, I don't care. You just need to stop being so mean. Abbie's your only friend. She didn't mean what she said, but if you don't apologize, she just might."

And with that, he left the little corner of the waiting room and I was by myself. My solo song began playing in my head, lingering on a certain line:

'Could someone tell me, please...Am I all alone? Am I just out of reach?'

Never had the song seemed so true or so personal.

***

By the way, I'm not sure if I told you Ella's solo song. It's 'Out of Reach' by Matthew Perryman Jones. If anyone has an awesome idea of what her solo should look like, you can send me a video of you dancing or of a dance that reminded you of Ella's solo. Message me, kik me (HalleBallet), whatever. I'll try to figure out how to post videos! Anyways, please vote and comment! Tell me how I'm doing. I'd love your feedback!

<3

~HalleBallet