Chapter 4
After she got dressed, Hannah headed down the hall to talk to Coach Erica in her office. “Coach?” she said tentatively from the doorway. “Do you have a minute?”
“Of course I do. Come in, Hannah,” the coach said, smiling. “What’s on your mind?”
Hannah came in and sat down at the desk. She fidgeted with her skirt a bit, not sure how to begin.
“I’m really excited to be a part of the dance squad,” Hannah finally said. “But I’m worried that I’m going to mess everyone else up. I was having some trouble with the routine today.”
“You’re doing fine, Hannah,” the coach assured her. “It was your first day! You just need to spend some time practicing. Once you get used to the moves they’ll come more naturally.”
“Can you give me some things I can practice at home?” Hannah said.
The coach gave her a couple of videos and an exercise notebook.
“I think you’ll feel much more confident once we go through the routine and you get more comfortable with the steps,” Coach Erica told her.
* * *
Hannah called Caitlin when she got home and told her about meeting with the coach. “Want to come over and practice with me?” Hannah asked.
“Okay, I guess,” Caitlin said. “I’ll be there in an hour.”
Hannah changed into her workout clothes and waited for Caitlin to arrive. When the doorbell rang, she hurried to the door to open it. Caitlin stood on the porch, wearing her normal clothes.
“Hey,” Hannah said. “You’re going to dance in that?”
“Well, Becca texted me, and she’s going to see a movie tonight,” Caitlin explained. “I thought maybe we could do that instead. I mean, we just had practice today.”
“Yeah, but I really need more practice,” Hannah said. She led Caitlin to her bedroom. “Did you see me trying to do the spin sequence? It was so embarrassing! I need to get it right before Thursday. You had it perfect. Can you help me?”
“Sure,” Caitlin said. “It’s simple. Here, watch.” She quickly ran through the steps.
But when Hannah tried to do the spin, she almost fell over.
“Try it again, and when you spin, look at one spot so you don’t get dizzy,” Caitlin said. “That’s what they do in ballet.”
Hannah tried again, fixing her eyes on the window as she spun. This time she hit the next step right on target.
“Hey!” she said. “Thanks! That helped a lot!” She ran through the steps again.
“Awesome,” Caitlin said. “You look way better. Now can we go to the movies?”
“Well, I just figured this out,” Hannah said. “I want to run through it some more and really get it down. Plus I have these tapes Coach Erica gave me. I wanted to watch them.”
Caitlin sighed and stood up. “Well, I told Becca that I’d go to the movies with her,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“No,” Hannah said. “I really want to get this perfect.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, then, I guess,” Caitlin said. She shrugged as she walked out the door.