Page 138 of Meet Me at the Metro

I reach the halfway mark of the routine and jut out my knee for the next sequence, but the moment I start to take my next move, my eyes snag onto John’s in the mirror.

He licks his lips mockingly as I turn to shimmy into the final steps of the dance, and my poise crumbles. I trip along the moves, one heel catching onto the other, and fly toward the floor. My palms and thighs make an embarrassing smack as they collide with the hardwood, and everyone in the room gasps.

Amanda hurries toward me. “Oh, sweetie, are you okay?”

My cheeks are burning with humiliation as I quickly gather myself off the floor. “I’m f-fine. I can,umm—I can start over if you want me to. I—”

“No worries. We’ve seen plenty.”

Those words hit me like a freight train. They’re all I need to hear to know that I’ve royally fucked up this audition.

I don’t waste any time pleading for another chance at the routine. I mutter a quick “Thank you” and hurry to get my belongings at the back of the studio.

I’m too riddled with humiliation to spare Harvey or Connor a glance as I reach them and snatch my bookbag off the floor. “Break a leg, you guys.”

Connor reaches for my wrist as I turn for the doors. “Ellie, wait. Are you okay? Let us come with you.”

“I’m fine.”

Harvey tilts my chin up to look at him. “Don’t be discouraged, Ellie.”

“I totally fucked it up, Harv.”

“You didn’t. You looked mesmerizing up there. Don’t let that one misstep convince you otherwise.”

I force my eyes back down to the floor, feeling the wave of my emotions beginning to crest. “I’ll see you at the flat, alright?”

I hurry off for the doors, but Connor stops me again. “Don’t go alone. It’s not safe. I can walk you home.”

“You still have your audition. I’m fine. Theo’s still on campus. I can get him to come meet me,” I promise.

The weight of the room’s attention on me and that uninviting presence lingering somewhere behind me has my chest growing heavy, and I can’t bear another second of it. So, I don’t explain that John’s the reason for my mishap or stay back to ask whether or not they noticed him in the room.I would confess all that to them later when my mind wasn’t bombarded with a million different worries.

I bound out of the studio and send Theo a quick text.

I’m finished. Can you meet me at the dance studio?

The staccato of my footsteps echoes down the barren, quiet corridor as I walk. Moonlight pours through the glass pane rooftop looming above me, shining bright enough for me to make out the path ahead. I glance down as a text comes through on my phone.

Coming. How’d it go, darling?

The message provokes a rush of disappointment—no,frustration—through my veins as I recall just how awful my audition went, and it’s all thanks to John.

I am so exhausted by the influence he still manages to have over me. He’s become a leech in my life, one set on draining me of all the enjoyment, love, and possibilities of my life here in London.

I fully intend to rid myself of him completely.

For now, I ignore Theo’s question, thinking it would be better to explain everything in person rather than over text. I find the girls’bathroom ahead and hurry inside as my rising anger bubbles to the surface.

“Ugh!”I cry out, consumed with rage. “Fuck him! Fuck him! Fuck him!”

The sound of the door opening startles me.

“That’s harsh, Eleanor.”

John closes the door behind himself, and every muscle in my body coils tightly, preparing to defend itself—to fight.

“Get out,” I growl. “Get out, now!”

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