“Edward!” called Alistair. “Come into the office. Please!”
I walked into the production office. Carmen was inside,
along with Chloe. “Everything okay?” I asked, sitting down.
“Perfect, really. We’ve been offered to do another season,”
Alistair beamed. “I was wondering if you’d like to continue working with us, as
a choreographer and as an All-Star?”
“I’d be honored,” I chuckled. “This season has been awesome
and the challenge of choreographing is beyond any description.”
Carmen clapped her hands, bouncing in her chair. “Which
brings us to our next little tidbit of information. You’ve been nominated for
an Emmy.”
“Say what?” I squeaked.
“For the party salsa group routine,” Carmen nodded. “And
you’re in good company, too. Travis, Sonya and Nappy Tabs are also up for
Emmy’s as well. Congratulations!”
“Plus, Chloe is up for best host of a reality show,”
Alistair added, patting Chloe on the knee. “We’ve got a lot of things to
celebrate!”
“And So You Think You
Can Dance is up for best reality show,” Chloe smirked. “Lots of accolades.
Congratulations, Edward.”
“Thanks. You, as well,” I smiled. “Talk about surreal.”
“You’re hitting it big, kid,” Carmen squealed. “You were on
the hot tamale train when you competed and it’s transferring over to your
professional career.”
“And let’s not forget the love connection,” Alistair
snickered.
“I’m going,” I sang, getting up. “I have to warm up before
Bella and I rehearse today.” I waved, leaving the office. Inside my rehearsal
studio, I was micced up and did some quick stretches before Bella arrived. We
reviewed what we learned and then spent some time getting fitted for our
costumes. After that, we performed our foxtrot as many times as we were able
before Bella went to go rehearse with Alice on the stage with Sonya.
Alice behaved herself, but she was distant with Sonya and Bella.
Bella was happy about that, whereas Sonya wanted Alice to really get into the
piece. Alice seemed uninterested and she stomped away at the end of the
rehearsal when Jasper appeared to work with Bella on their Bollywood number. I
could tell that Bella was tired, but she muscled through. However, when we
practiced our hip hop number with Tabitha and Napoleon, Bella was favoring her
knee and not dancing full-out.
“Okay, folks, tomorrow, we’re doing camera blocking and
finalizing our choices for costumes. We’ll be spending most of our time in
here,” Alistair said. “Take care of yourselves and get a good night’s sleep.”
“If only I could walk,” Bella grumbled. She noticeably
limped and I swept her off her feet. “Really?”
“You’re getting massaged and spending time with the physical
therapists,” I argued.
“I agree and I’ve got the doctor on his way,” Alistair said,
arching a brow over his thick glasses. Bella didn’t respond as I carried her to
the backstage area with the massage tables. A small woman with sleek black hair
and funky glasses, Maureen, worked on Bella. Alistair came in with a doctor,
not the one who had worked on her before and they made the decision to give
Bella a steroid shot in her knee. However, they’d give it to her tomorrow night
since there would be no rehearsals the morning of the taping. It would give
Bella an opportunity to adjust to the steroid shot. However, Alistair insisted
on Bella coming back to my apartment with me. I didn’t argue and neither did
Bella, saying she didn’t want to spend the evening with Alice, who was acting
like queen bitch all during their rehearsal.
However, as I was carrying Bella out of the studio, I saw
Alice glaring at us and something swirling in her eyes. I didn’t know what it
was, but certainly it was something that was no good.
