“Who choreographed that dance for you?”

Claire shook her head, folding her own arms across her stomach.

“No one.”

Shocked, Reese asked, “So it’s your piece?”

Claire only nodded as she flexed her toes against the floor.

“Do you do that a lot?”

She looked up at Reese.

“All the time.”

Reese smiled, hoping Claire would smile back, but she didn’t. Holding her gaze, Reese asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

She asked the question of all her probation kids. She loved the answers she got. One would think that it would always be a dancer, but it wasn’t. One time a girl told her that she wanted to be a princess. That had Reese laughing her butt off, but she wrote it on her file. When the kid graduated from her studio, she gave them the file so they could keep it forever. She wrote little notes of encouragement and, last year, when one of her seniors graduated, she said that her favorite thing was the file from Reese.

With a smile still on her face, she looked back over at Claire.

Claire said, “It doesn’t matter what I want.”

Reese’s brows came together as she took a step closer.

“Why?”

“Because it won’t happen. I’ll more than likely end up a drug addict like my mom.”

The f**k she would!

Shocked, Reese shook her head before saying, “No, that’s not true at all. You can change that; you can be what you want.”

She slowly shook her head, defiantly, but Reese saw her eyes filling with tears. Never had she felt for a child more than at that moment. Usually the kids she worked with were rich kids, ones with good parents that worked hard to give their children everything they wanted. Even in New York, she worked with seriously gifted children. She loved those children, still talked to their parents, but her heart went out to the redhead that stood in front of her. The girl that was scared she would be like her mother. Reese was very passionate about her work and always strived for excellence but, looking at Claire, she not only wanted to make her the best dancer in the world, she wanted to give her the confidence that she was going to be something more than a drug addict.

“What do you want to be?” Reese asked again, her eyes set on Claire’s light blue eyes.

Claire shook her head, looking away as she shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know.”

Reese smiled and said, “Well, I’ll be here until you figure it out and then, when you do, we’ll work to get you there.”

Claire looked up and said, “You don’t even know me.”

Reese smiled as she said, “I know, but we will get to know each other, and I will help you.”

“What if I don’t want that?” she asked, her voice a tad sharper than it was before.

Reese’s eyes narrowed as she looked up at her with defiance in her eyes. The scared girl from before was gone, and now was the angry one that Reese was warned about. Pointing to the door, Reese said sharply, “There is the door. Don’t let it hit you on the ass.”

But Claire didn’t move, and Reese went on, saying, “But if you want to stay, then we can work together to make you an even better dancer than you already are. You are spectacular, Claire, but I can make you ten times better.”

Claire looked at the door and then back to Reese before shrugging her shoulders.

“Fine, what are we doing next?”

Reese rocked back on her heels, knowing she had won as she said, “Let’s practice your turns.”

Chapter 5

“CAN I show you something?”

Reese looked up from the iHome and nodded. After three classes together, Claire still didn’t say much. The only thing she really wanted to do was dance, which was good, but Reese felt like she needed more from her. She didn’t know what it was, but she honestly wanted to help this girl. She felt like if Claire let go, trusted her, it would not only help her as a person, but she would be a thousand times better dancer.

Reese loved that she liked to show her different dances she thought up, and Reese was blown away by her talent. Claire was amazing, a sight to behold. They had been working a lot of strength training and cleaning up her technique, because it was part of the probation process. Since Reese did it with every child that came through her doors, she was going to do it with Claire, even if she didn’t need it.

“Sure, but don’t think you can keep me from making you stretch that leg today. I want a straight line, Claire. I know you can do it.”

Claire came towards Reese, her iPod in hand.

“I know, I’ve been practicing. I even put it in this dance.”

“Awesome, let’s see it then.”

After setting up the iPod, grungy music filled the studio. As Claire moved her body to it, Reese took her in while listening to the music. The lyrics were as hard hitting as the music was and soon took Reese back to a time that she usually tried to ignore.

"I have ADHD," Kevin said with a cheeky grin.

"No you don’t, you're a spaz." Reese laughed as she stretched her leg up into the air.

“No, really,” he said, bumping his shoulder into hers. “I really do, that’s why I’m always bouncing.”

“Whatever,” she said offhandedly, as she tried to control her breathing even though her shoulder was tingling from the carefree touch.

Since coming to Thomas Merry Dance Company, Reese had been on the fast track to the top—the only thing standing in her way was Kevin Eads. Director Merry had paired them to see if Reese meshed well with Kevin since most girls didn’t last long with him. His partner had graduated the month before Reese had come to TMDC, and Director Merry was convinced that Reese was the dancer to withstand him, since Kevin was a hard person to partner. From the moment she was told this, she knew she could handle him. She was ready for the challenge, but then she met him and her confidence went to hell, especially when she saw him dance. She knew she was in love.