Page 75 of Just a Little White Lie

“I’m glad you’re up.” He takes another sip of his coffee. “I wanted to wish you good luck today.”

“Thanks.”

“You nervous?”

“Oh yeah,” I admit with a soft giggle. “You’ve worked so hard for me. I don’t want to screw up.”

“Hey,” he whispers, brushing the tip of his nose across mine. “You won’t. You’re amazing.”

I scoff and shake my head. “I’m no dancer like you.”

“No, but you’re a good teacher who cares about her students. You can do this, Happy Feet.”

I snicker and lean in for another kiss before his phone alarm starts singing.

“You better go,” I murmur against his mouth.

“I better go,” he murmurs back, then stays put to give my lips a thorough workout.

* * *

For the first time ever, I can’t wait for the dance crew to arrive in the studio. I pace the wooden floor, practicing a few steps as I go and making sure I have them down pat. I really want to make Jack’s work shine. He helped me write out each sequence so I won’t forget any moves. We practiced them enough times that I shouldn’t, but I can’t discount what kisses are capable of doing. Especially sizzling Jack Akana kisses that can scramble any coherent thought and turn my brain to putty.

The bell rings, and a few minutes later, the misfits start dribbling in.

The Misfits. I do kind of like it.

A smile curls my lips as I watch the motley bunch huddle in front of me.

“What’s so funny?” Trixi frowns.

“Nothing.” I shake my head. “I just like you guys.”

They look at me like I’m crazy, and I suddenly wish I hadn’t said anything. I can’t lose them this early in the day.

Clapping my hands, I run through the world’s fastest roll call and skip the whole “getting to know you” question. They seem disappointed, so I make a mental note to pull it out again tomorrow.

“Okay, guys. Jack and I spent the weekend choreographing the dance for this upcoming competition.” I hope I’m not blushing as thoughts of what else we did this weekend fire through me. Clearing my throat, I force my brain back to the business at hand. “Now, I’m super excited to show it to you today. We’ll work through it one bar at a time. I know perfection is a really high standard to aim for, but if we want to place… if we want that prize money… then we have to be as close to perfect as possible. If that means going over one sequence of moves a hundred times, then that’s what we’re gonna do.”

I wait for the catcalls and complaints, but they just stare up at me from the floor, not saying anything. I take it as a win.

“Great!” I smile. “Thank you to those of you who wore your PE gear like I asked you to. I think you’ll be way more comfortable. Tomorrow, if you could all do this, I’d really appreciate it.”

“We’re not going to be performing in our sad-ass uniforms, are we?” Alexia asks.

Trixi grips her hands together. “Please, God, no!” Her wail has a Spanish soap-opera quality to it, and I can’t help laughing.

“Of course not. I haven’t even thought about costume design yet, but maybe we can get some T-shirts printed or something. I’ll have to see if I can squeeze some money out of the music department budget.” The thought of speaking to the head of music, who I have yet to meet, still terrifies me, and I start to wonder if I can go to Erik instead. He’s the least scary person of authority in the school. “Maybe we can—”

“Oh, me, me, me!” Trixi shoots her hand into the air.

“And me!” Tobias joins her, then turns scarlet red when a couple guys in the front turn to frown at him.

I narrow my eyes at them when they start to snicker, then beam a smile at Tobias and Trixi. “You guys want to design the team costumes?”

Their heads are bobbing in unison, and it’s kind of adorable, so I forget about securing the money and just say, “Of course. You two are in charge of costume design. You’ll have to think about how the school is being represented, though, so it needs to say ‘Haven Academy’ with some major misfit vibes going on.”

“I love it.” Trixi claps her hands and butt-shuffles back so she can sit closer to Tobias. They immediately start whispering, and I let them have a moment before calling the group to attention.

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