As the girls took it to the floor to stretch, Reese cleared her throat and said, “Hey all, as y’all know, Mallory is out with an injury, because of this the solo part needs to be filled.” They all nodded as Reese continued, “So any takers?”
When Aria Chapmen raised her hand, Reese wasn’t surprised and was glad when Claire’s hand went up too. Despite that face that Claire was the only sophomore in the class, everyone else were juniors and seniors, Claire could dance circles around these girls. She was actually Reese’s first choice, but she knew that the other girls would throw a fit if a sophomore took the lead. However, if she could prove she could do it better than the other girls, then no one could be upset. Ultimately, she knew it was her choice but still, she tried to be fair.
“Okay cool, only Aria and Claire?”
Everyone looked around, waiting for someone else to volunteer, and that was when Aria looked over at Claire and gave her the evil eye. Claire paid her no mind, and that made Reese proud. Aria was a little hard to deal with according to the other girls, but she was always nice to Reese and worked hard. That was all Reese cared about, but she sure didn’t like her looking at Claire like that. Reese knew that Claire could handle herself, but she wanted to protect her because Phillip wasn’t there to do it. Plus, she really did care for Claire.
“Okay Aria, you can go first. Everyone else in your spots for now. I’ll move everyone around once I know what we are doing.”
Everyone moved to their spots, except for Aria. She stood there with a confused look on her face.
“Aria?”
She placed her hands on her hips. “I don’t know the lead part. I mean, I know parts of it, but I don’t know it, know it.”
Before Reese could say anything like, why the hell did you say you wanted to do the lead if you didn’t know the lead’s part, Claire said, “I know it.”
Everyone’s head whipped to Claire. She stood proudly, her bright red hair in a knot on the top of her head. She was wearing a black sports bra and bright purple booty shorts with green legwarmers. She crossed her arms around her back, holding her elbows as she looked up at Reese with pure confidence shining in her eyes.
“I mean I know most of it, I just need help on some parts,” Aria protested.
Reese pointed to Aria. “Okay, you’re on, Aria.”
Aria was nervous, that was obvious, but when she went to the spot the middle of the group of girls, she posed with such fierceness that Reese was sure the girl would kill the dance and then she would only have to clean up here and there, but boy, was she wrong. Aria knew maybe fifteen percent of the solo, and that was pushing it. When the music ended, it was obvious that Aria was pissed.
Reese shook her head as she said, “Okay, Claire.”
With a huff from Aria, Claire took her spot in the middle and posed in a different way, but it worked and was ten times better than the original. She posed like a diva, and Reese was excited to watch her do this. Hitting play to “Slow Down” by Selena Gomez, Claire ripped the floor up. She moved with such intensity, hitting each move at the precise time, enhancing the song and choreography in such a way that it made Reese want to squeal. She moved with the group as the star, her body singing the song and her face never dropping out of character even though she wasn’t on the stage.
The girl was a showstopper.
When the song ended, Claire dropped her arms, her chest rising and falling with each breath as she looked at Reese for her critique. “The part is yours.”
Aria threw her hands up. “That’s not fair! I am the other senior in the dance! If Mallory is out, I should be in! I don’t know it all, but I can learn. It’s not hard.”
“If it wasn’t hard, you’d know it. If you want to ever succeed in this business, you learn everything at every moment. You never know when the chance of a lifetime comes up, but you can’t take it because you don’t know it, and the girl beside you does. Let this be a lesson to you all.”