“I wake up around this time, but I’m not going to actually leave my bed at this hour.”
“Hang on for a second,” I told him so I could put my earbuds in.
I wanted to keep moving as we talked so my muscles didn’t get cold.
Ryan yawned. “You’re in that fancy ballet studio, aren’t you?”
My body tensed at the sound of jealousy in his voice. “Yeah, but I’d rather be there with you.”
Ryan was quiet for a second. “KitKat, I’m starting to think this might be a good opportunity for you.”
“What?” I asked in disbelief. “My mother hates me, and I was ripped out of one of the best ballet schools in the country. A school that we worked hard to get into.”
“You don’t need to work hard anymore,” Ryan said tensely.
I was blown away by his words.
“I don’t know what you imagine my new life is like, but I promise you, it’s not what you think.”
Ryan scoffed. “I think you just like complaining. I saw your closet.”
“You know I don’t care about stuff like that,” I said angrily.
Ryan took a deep breath and then let it out. “I know, KitKat,” he said quietly. “It’s just hard for me to be left behind when you were handed luxury beyond the Kardashian level.”
“I’d give it all up in a second if things could go back to the way they were,” I whispered.
“I…I think that almost makes it worse, KitKat. You don’t appreciate it like you should.”
“You’re being stupid right now, Ryan,” I said in exasperation. “You don’t know what it’s like to be trapped here with the two brothers from hell. They actually kidnapped me and carried me out to the woods to scare the shit out of me the other night.”
Ryan chuckled. “And you thought you were going to be murdered by the mafia?”
“That’s not funny,” I insisted, but a little smile started to surface when I thought about the pending revenge pranks I’d set up for the guys.
My stuff wasn’t scary as much as annoying, but I was betting it would get under their vain skin. My only disappointment was that I wouldn’t get to see their reactions in real-time. I gulped when picturing those guys in the shower – naked – abruptly took a turn in the wrong direction.
“What are you thinking about?” Ryan asked curiously. “It’s not like you to be so quiet.”
I explained the pranks in a delighted whisper, but Ryan didn’t seem as excited as I was.
“It sounds like you’re getting along better with them,” Ryan said with a hint of jealousy.
I rolled my eyes. “I tell you that I’m in the middle of a prank war with two guys who hate me, and that makes you think we’re friends? They kidnapped me, Ryan.”
Ryan made a noncommittal sound. “If you were truly scared of them, you wouldn’t be poking at them like this. And didn’t you say that they stood up for you against your mom? I think the lady doth protest too much.”
I snorted. “As if.”
Ryan yawned again. “I’m going back to sleep, KitKat.”
“Don’t you have to get up for school?” I asked in confusion. “The summer session already started.”
There was silence on the other line for a moment before Ryan spoke. “I’m taking the day off.”
“Ryan,” I scolded. “Taking one day off can turn into two, and before you know it, it’s a week. You’ll feel like crap when you finally go back to the studio.”
“You sound like your grandmother,” Ryan said quietly.
A sense of loss stabbed me right in the heart. “Yeah, I guess I do,” I said slowly.
“You have to learn to take a day off every once in a while, KitKat,” Ryan told me. “Do normal teenager things like going to a party, having a few drinks, and letting loose.”
“Partying won’t get us to the top,” I insisted.
“No,” Ryan agreed. “But it will help you keep your sanity. If you’re obsessed with ballet every single second of your life, you miss out on everything else. You’re going to wake up one day and regret it.”
I swallowed when I realized Ryan had a point. I literally had nothing else in my life. The only time I ever took off was to be with Babulya or Ryan. Now, I didn’t have either of them, and I regretted that I didn’t treasure every moment I had with them. If I knew I would lose Babulya so soon, I might have skipped a practice or two to be with her. I trained three hundred and sixty-five days a year, so missing one or two days wouldn’t set me back that much.
“I gotta go, Katya,” Ryan said firmly.
My eyebrows raised. He never called me by my real name unless he was serious.
“To school?” I teased him, hoping he’d lighten up a bit.
He just sighed. “Bye, Katya.”
“I love you,” I whispered back to him.
“Love you, too.”
Ryan disconnected the call, and my levity vanished. While I was on the phone with him and hearing his voice, I could pretend that everything was normal. Once I was alone in a silent studio, yet again, it was back to my depressing new life.
Unable to take the silence for another moment, I walked over to the sound system. My first instinct was to put on something sad to match my mood, but I shouldn’t let myself sink deeper into this depressing mood. After flicking through my playlist, l decided to go with the Charles Matthew Pop Hits for Ballet Class to give myself a range.
I just got into the medium allegro section when the door to the fitness center slammed open. I glanced at the clock, surprised that it wasn’t later in the day.
Just as I expected, Kingston and Maverik stomped
