The next day, Natalia was running a little bit behind. She had overslept and was now rushing down the street to the studios. She groaned out loud as she caught a glimpse of the clock, it was five minutes after 10. She was late. She opened the door to the studio and snuck in as quietly as she could, past Fatima and the five guys she guessed were the Backstreet Boys.
She threw her things in the locker room and ran to take her place near Michelle...hopefully before Fatima noticed she had been missing. Oh, but Fatima did notice.
"Natalia, so nice of you to join us.," Fatima said loudly.
Natalia's eyes widened and she blushed, "Sorry..I overslept and was running behind schedule."
Fatima nodded, "Don't let it happen again."
Natalia nodded, "Sorry."
Fatima went on with whatever she had been talking about. Natalia sat there, her head hanging a little lower than usual. She felt like such an idiot! She had been called out in front of everyone; including five HUGE celebrities.
Rehearsal dragged on and on, with Natalia making as many mistakes as she could. She had never made that many mistakes in her life. She wanted to crawl in a hole and rot. And she really didn't want to face the guy she would be dancing with....whoever it was probably thought she was a complete dork and couldn't tell her right foot from her left. Fatima gave the five girls a ten minute break to cool off and do whatever before they danced with the guys.
Nick watched as she made mistake after mistake. They weren't anything big, but for some reason, Fatima was picking her out on everything she did. He watched, out of the corner of his eye, as she picked herself up off the floor and walked to the water fountain. She looked a little dejected and he could almost see the thoughts running through her head. She probably thought she was a total loser and didn't deserve to be where she was. He had seen some of the girls that hadn't been chosen as one of 'their' dancers giving her dirty looks and had heard some whispering some things behind her back. He shook his head to clear the thoughts as he tried his damnest to pay attention to Fatima. He needed Ritalin or something..and needed it bad. He smiled a little at that thought. He watched as a brunette walked up to her and began talking to her. He thought he remembered her name...Michelle or something. Nick couldn't remember.
Michelle walked up to Natalia as she turned from the water fountain. "Hey..you okay?"
"Uh huh...I just feel a little stupid."
"It's okay..we all make mistakes. Although, maybe not as many as you have today."
An alarm rang in Natalia's mind...she should have known. Natalia put a smile on her face, "Yeah well, I'll get over my little rough streak here in a while."
"You know, you can REALLY tell this is your first tour. Maybe you just weren't ready."
Natalia kept the smile, but inside, she wanted to throw a left hook and deck the girl. She knew this girl was being too nice for her own good. "That's nice Michelle, thanks for the constructive criticism. But we'll just see who chokes and who doesn't when the first concert comes along, ok?"
Michelle just glared at her as she walked away.
Nick had watched (and heard) the whole conversation between her and Michelle. One thing about it, she could stand up for herself. He smiled as she sauntered by him and looked back at Michelle, she was spitting fire from her eyes.
He smiled, he liked a woman that was feisty.
AJ elbowed him in the ribs, "Dude, have you been paying the LEAST bit of attention? Or are you too busy staring at the brunette?"
Nick nodded, "Too busy staring at the brunette."
AJ smiled, "Figured as much. She's cute."
"Yep."
"Know her name?"
"Nope."
"Guess that doesn't matter, huh?"
"Not at the moment."
AJ smiled, "You're so weird, dude."
"I know.."
AJ just shook his head and went to go find Howie.
Nick went back to watching her.
Fatima came out of her office and clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. "Ok..let's get back to work. Let's work on some one-on-one dancing now. Michelle with Howie, Jasmine with Brian, Natalia with Nick, Mary with Kevin, and Carolina with AJ."
Natalia watched as the other girls went to 'their' guys, laughing and joking. She finally figured out the tall, blonde one was Nick, and walked over to him.
Nick smiled at her as she walked over, he could tell she was going to be kind of shy. "Hey..," He said.
She smiled, "Hi..I'm Natalia."
"So I gathered, I'm Nick."
She shook his hand, "It's nice to meet you..finally."
He smiled,"You too..."
"You're going to have to excuse me today, I seem to have two left feet today."
"Not a problem, I think that's why she put us together."
"Huh?"
He smiled, "I have alot of trouble dancing..about half the time I do have two left feet so..I think that's why she put you with me."
Natalia fought not to laugh. "Lord..this day is just getting better and better."
Nick laughed, "I'm tellin' the truth!"
"I believe you...I'm just having the worst day. I'm sure Fatima would like to kick me out right now.."
"I think you'll be okay.."
"I hope so."
They both quieted down as Fatima began talking them through the dances.
Nick was beginning to make Natalia nervous. Not only was she super embarrassed over having THE worst day in her entire life, but having to dance with a huge pop star standing behind her was making her crazy. And she had an inkling that he was enjoying it.
Fatima finally called it quits around 8:30 that night. The girls dragged themselves into the locker room to change and get their things. All of them ignored Natalia. She sat on the bench and began to put her dance clothes and shoes into her bag. She was left all alone again. Standing up and throwing the bag over her shoulder, she sighed and left the empty room, wondering to herself if it was really worth it to be put through this kind of hell. She walked out of the studio and towards the front door where the janitor was getting ready to lock up. She smiled at him and thanked him for holding the door open for her and continued through the empty parking lot. "Natalia??"
She turned, recognizing Nick's voice. "Yeah?"
"Where are you going?"
"To my hotel...where did you think I was going?"
He smiled, "Well..everyone's supposed to get together at this really hot club downtown..I thought you knew?"
"In case you haven't noticed Nick, I'm not exactly the most liked girl..so no, I didn't know. And I wouldn't have gone anyways...being around alot of people isn't really my thing.."
"Come on..it'll be fun...and I know the girls don't like you but...it'll be fun Natalia...you may get to know some other people.."
She sighed and shifted her bag to her other shoulder, "Maybe some other time, but not tonight. I'm going to go to my room and drown my sorrows with some candy bars and sodas and plan on pigging out majorly."
"You sure?"
She nodded, "Yeah..maybe some other time though, ok?"
Nick nodded, "Sure..see you tomorrow?"
"I'll be there."
"Have a good night Natalia."
She smiled, "You too Nick..and thanks for asking."
"No problem."
She watched as he reached his car and got inside before she began to walk towards the sidewalk.
Once in her room, she popped in her favorite movie, changed into her pajamas, and reached for the phone to call her brother. She knew Michael would still be at home, well she hoped he would be.
Sure enough, he picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Hey big bro."
"Hey you..I was wondering when you'd find time to call me...how's it going?"
"I kinda wish I never made it."
"Why? I thought you said this was it..."
"I did...but now I'm not so sure."
"Explain sister."
She sighed and got comfortable, "I got chosen to be one of the guys' dancer partners, and I'm with Nick. He's the youngest one, tall, blonde hair, blue eyes. Extremely hot. Anyways, so my day even starts out bad, I was late, which Fatima pointed out, and then I messed up so much I'm sure she's wanting to change her mind. Some of the girls have been giving me shit...and I'm just so close to just packing up and coming home it's not funny.."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. First of all Natalia, you are NOT coming home. It took me almost a week to convince dad to let you go, I am not going to hear his 'I told you so..' speech so you can just cut that shit out. You are staying there and you are going to prove yourself. You're going to show those other girls that you are as good or better than them..."
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Make me feel better.."
"I'm your big brother, I'm supposed to."
She sighed, "How's daddy?"
"Good..misses you."
"Yeah..I bet."
"Natalia, he does."
"I know...look, I'm gonna get off here and get to bed..."
"Ok...call me at the end of the week and let me know how things are going?"
"I will..love you."
"Love you too..night Natalia."
"Night Michael."
Natalia sighed, and hung up the phone. It was true, her brother DID make her feel better but she was still having those little doubts in the back of her mind that kept creeping up in her head.
Nick drove home instead of going to the club with everyone else. He truly wasn't in the mood now. He had wanted Natalia to come, in hopes of getting to know her better. She seemed like a really cool girl, but she also seemed really shy. He knew she was feeling dejected because of her earlier performance. But Nick knew that Fatima wouldn't cut Natalia; she apparently had seen her talent and knew what she was capable of. Nick sighed and ran a hand over his face tiredly, he couldn't stop thinking about her all of a sudden. He groaned; this wasn't good....he didn't think.
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