My colorful world was slowly turning gray until Mia, my best friend who lives two blocks over and the only person who knows about my obsession with Jake, came up with an amazing plan.
Dance my way to New York.
Her cousin, who had been training since she was three, got accepted to one of the top performing arts school in New York, so why couldn’t I do the same?
All I had to do was convince my parents to sign me up for a couple dance classes. Done. Then, while I was at one of the classes, Kasey, one of the students who became one of my closest friends, introduced me to the instructor who agreed to work with me privately. It cost a pretty penny, but my parents didn’t seem to mind since I apparently was a natural. Who knew?
I spent all my free time taking classes, competing, and figuring out my next move to get Jake Morgan to notice me. Kind of pathetic in a genius way.
I prayed every day and night to get into one of those schools. In fact, I was almost certain the big guy upstairs heard me when Jake had a career-ending injury his sophomore year. Instead of coming home, he transferred to Baruch College in New York and moved in with my brother.
It’s not like I wanted him to lose his scholarship, but what if that was part of God’s plan? What if all this happened for a reason? The scholarship, me taking up dance, his injury—maybe the series of events was supposed to take place so it could bring us to today—to a time in our lives where being together is acceptable. It’s as if Jake was finally put in my path instead of me creating a shortcut for him to get there.
2
Chloe
I can’t believe I’m finally in New York! It’s been a long time coming, but I’m here, on a girl’s trip for my eighteenth birthday, with two of my closest friends.
“Chloe!” Kasey, my friend from dance, shouts. “This place is freaking amazing!” She twirls around with her arms stretched out by her side. “And they said the apartments in New York were tiny.”
“It’s a condo.” Mia, my best friend and the only person who knows why I’m really here, rolls her eyes.
I pick up a remote laying on the island and press a button to retract the blinds.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kacey runs over to the wall of windows. “You can see the whole city from here.”
“Yeah, her mom said this is the tallest condominium building in Long Island City.” Mia walks over to stand by Kasey and waves me over. “You’ve got to see this.”
“I can see the view from here.” My smile is tight.
“You really need to get over that,” Kasey chimes in.
Mia nudges her. “Fear of heights is a real thing, Kasey.”
“Whatever.” Kasey turns back to the view. “I wonder if you can see Juilliard from here.” Kasey nonchalantly reminds me she got into the best performing arts school in the country, while I got into New York University.
“I don’t think so.” Mia narrows her eyes. “But I’m willing to bet you can see Chloe’s school.” She winks at me.
God, I love these two girls, but I don’t know what I was thinking bringing them both on this trip. They love me, but only tolerate each other.
“Hey!” Mia spins around and skips over to me. “Facetime your parents so we can thank them.”
“Yeah!” Kasey cabrioles her way over to where we stand. “It’s like they paid for us both to check out our schools before we start in September.”
“Hello.” Mia waves her hand in front of Kasey’s face. “Thank Chloe. They let her pick and she chose New York to check out her school. You just lucked out.”
“Guys, please.” I hold up my hand. “It’s ringing.”
“Hey girls!” My dad pops onto the screen.
“Hi, Dad.” I wave. “We just wanted to thank you guys for scoring us these digs.”
“Thank you!” Kasey pipes up.
“Yes, thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Prescott. This was a really generous gift.” Mia smiles sweetly.
“You’ve got to see this.” I flip the camera around and scan the room before turning it back to us.