Mila's POV

My vans tapped lightly against the floor as I walked through the dark halls of the Dance Academy. The sun had yet to come up and it was making me drowsy. 

"Mojen (Morning) Mila!"

"Mojen," I greeted, running a hand through my hair tiredly. 

"Jet lag?" she asked, a teasing look in her eyes. 

"I don't even know at this point," I sighed, closing my eyes. 

"Mila, already falling asleep before class starts," Anna's nasally voice rang in my ears. 

"Cat naps are the best you know?" I retorted, not opening my eyes. 

"Indeed they are," I heard Adam's amused voice say. I cracked one  eye open, seeing him chuckling at me. 

"She's with us?" Ajax asked, glaring at me from the other side of the hall. 

"Of course she is," Adam replied, opening the door to the studio room. It was exactly 7 as we filtered into the room. 

"Everyone start on warm ups and show Mila how we do it here."

"Does she even know what a warm up is?" I heard Anna "whisper".

"Come," Lena waved me over to the back right corner of the room. 

She explained that they always started off with joint rotations, muscle stretches, and then some jumping jacks to get the heart rate up. It was quite similar to my regular routine but in a more specific order.  

It was cold when we had entered the room but everyone's body heat brought up the temperature. I slipped off the zip jacket I was wearing leaving me in a thin knit shirt. I had slipped off my cargo pants into my dance shorts when we started stretching. 

"You don't have dance shoes?" Lena asked, looking down at my bare feet as I practiced a few turns. 

"No, I prefer dancing barefoot," I shrugged, tightening my ponytail. 

"Ok everyone continue from where you left off yesterday and Mila come with me," Adam ordered and everyone immediately got to work. I followed him out of the room to the other room. 

"I want you to show me the routine you had for the convention in LA," he said. 

I hated that routine. It reminded me of him. 

"Ok," I nodded despite every part of me not wanting to. 

"Practice it a few times, I'll be back in half an hour," Adam said, giving me a thumbs up and leaving the room. 

He left me in the silence. Only it wasn't silent. The silence itself was loud and deafening. 

I hurried to get the music playing from my phone to drown out the stillness. 

I'm waitin up, savin all my precious time.

Losin light, I'm missin my same old us. 

Same old us, before we learned out truth too late. 

This song meant so much to me that I had to stop myself from putting too much emotion into my moves. They tended to become overexaggerated when I did that. By the time I finished the 5th round, I was sweating. Glancing at the clock, 30 minutes had already gone by. 

After sitting and debating on the floor, I decided to do it one more time. But this time I would let my emotions guide me. All that pent up sadness, all the anxiety and stress from moving across the world. The loneliness after he was gone. Just letting it all out. 

I wish that I was good enough 

If only I could wake you up

My love, my love, my love, my love

I laid on the floor caching my breath. A loud clap made me jump and sit upright. My head whipped to the door to find Adam grinning at me. Just behind him was everyone else, peering through the glass windows into the room. 

Great.

"That was, wow. The emotion and power in every move, I don't even know what to say," Adam spoke, his eyebrows rising with every word. It was funny really, how no one was supposed to see that routine, yet the entire class did. 

"Thanks," I mumbled, pulling up the sleeves of my shirt. 

"Her turns were off," Anna remarked, picking at her nails as I grabbed my water bottle. 

"Hm, I didn't notice any?" Adam said thoughtfully. 

"Must've been the one's after the chorus. I tend to get sloppy at the end," I replied nonchalantly. Her head shot up to look at me, squinting her eyes. Guess she wasn't used to accepting mistakes. 

I knew I hadn't done any bad turns. I just wanted to see her reaction when I agreed with her. 

"And you seem a bit stiff," Gabby spoke up from beside her, avoiding my eyes. The gears in my brain turned as I looked between Gabby and Anna. 

"She was amazing, I don't know what you saw," Lena interrupted, pushing her way to the front of the group. My lips quirked into a small smile as she held up her hand for me and I gave her a hi-five. 

"Ever the kindest," I grinned, capping my water bottle. 

"Of course," she bowed mockingly. 

"Today is Wednesday so we half class till 11. The rest of the day is off. Would you like to come downtown with us?"

"Um, I think I'll pas-"

"Yes? Ok cool, get changed and knock at my door," Lena said, cutting me off. I rolled my eyes but nodded anyways earning an excited squeal from her. 

We drove a quick 5 minutes to the south side of campus to  the dorms. I changed quickly into a blouse and straight jeans with a pair of black block heels and hurried back to the car. I hurried down the stairs of the double story building as Lena unlocked her car. 

"Good thing I washed my hair yesterday," she joked as we drove downtown. My eyes were glued to the window, taking in the European architecture passing by. 

"Why is she here?" Anna asked, making a face as Lena and I approached. 

"I invited her. Got a problem with that?" Lena countered, glaring at her. Anna rolled her eyes and sat down beside me. 

"Welcome," a man my age smiled, pulling a seat out for me at the table. We were at a small café on the cobblestone street with outdoor seating. "You must be the new Canadian."

"That's me," I grinned after thanking him. 

"I'm Ben," he said, sticking out his hand. 

"Mila."

"You're from Quebec?"

"Spot on," I grinned, taking the menu from him. 

"Have you been to Germany before?"

"Quit the chit chat Ben, she's not that interesting," Anna interrupted, earning a glare from the brown eyed brunette. 

"Why? You jealous?" he countered, earning a huff from Anna. 

"She's my cousin," he explained. "I'm the sous-chef here, but today I'm on table duty."

"Hm, I see the similarity now," I mused, a mock thoughtful look on my face. 

"Unfortunately," he mumbled, giving a short wave before disappearing back into the café. 

"Wow, you two really hit it off," Lena grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at me. 

"He's nice," I shrugged. 

"Really nice," Gabby spoke up, a dreamy look on her face as she watched him through the window. 

Lena and I shared a look, trying hard not to laugh. 

"Just know, he's not into brunettes," Gabby added, twirling her dyed ginger-red hair as she glared at me.

"Good to know," I nodded slowly. 

"Ajax is into brunettes," Max piped up, nudging his friends shoulder. 

"Shut up," he hissed in German earning a chuckle from his friends. "I wouldn't go for her anyway."

"Good. Glad we're on the same page," I said, giving him a sweet smile. 

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CHARACTERS - this is just what I randomly came up with, I didn't add pics in case it ruined your envisions of the characters :)

Ajax as Thomas Rossier - (he's gay irl BTW but his character fit well😊)

Eiza Gonzalez as Mila 

Rudy Pankow as Max (Outer Banks fans :)))

Jordan Fischer as Dean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before)

Madelaine Petsch as Lotte (Riverdale)

Emma Roberts as Lena (Scream Queens)

Charlize Glass as Gabby 

Richard Deiss as Ben