Free Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) by Melanie Shawn Page A

with a little gleam in her eye.
    Lily felt her chest constrict, her mouth go dry, and her stomach start doing flip-flops like it was Mary
    Lou Retton in the ’84 Olympics. She swallowed to get some moisture back in her mouth, and she placed
    her hands over her waist and chest to try and calm herself down.
    It didn’t really work.
    “You want me to dance with you on stage?” Lily’s forced speech came out sounding hoarse.
    “Yep,” Karina said as if it weren’t a big deal.
    Lily thought she was going to pass out. So many conflicting thoughts were flying through her brain like
    they were fighter pilots in a battle.
    She was scared. Really, truly scared. What she needed to sort out was whether or not that fear had any
    kind of reasonable basis. She thought that it might just be rooted in the fact that she had had to keep a low profile for so long, basically trying to be invisible, that the thought of being in the spotlight literally , well, just terrified her.
    Because of all of the time she had spent in incognito-mode, she wasn’t sure how she would react to
    having all of those eyes focused on her. Of course logically she knew that they would really all be staring at Karina, but still.
    Over the last two years, when her Zumba classes had really started growing, it had been hard for her to
    deal with at first. In a class of eighty people, that meant that one hundred and sixty eyes were staring
    directly at her . She had picked up a trick that had helped her deal with the overwhelming sensation of being the central focus of so many people. She hadn’t pictured them in their underwear or anything like that.
    Nope. Her trick was much simpler than that. In a nutshell, she just never looked at people’s faces while she was teaching. She looked above their heads or at their feet. Lily didn’t know why it worked, but it did.
    Her anxiety and fear about being the center of attention, although somewhat justified considering her
    past, was not really a great reason to pass up on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Still, she needed to sort through the thoughts zooming around inside her head and make sure that if she accepted the offer she
    would be able to deliver. That she wouldn’t get up on the stage and freeze.
    “Can I think about it and get back to you?” Lily hoped that by not giving Karina an answer right away
    she wasn’t blowing her chances of working with her. She figured that someone with Karina’s status was
    used to people saying yes. In fact, she was pretty certain that there was even a name for that. They called them ‘yes people.’
    To Lily’s surprise and great relief, Karina just smiled, shrugged, and said, “Sure, no worries. Let me
    know by the end of the month.”
    Lily let out a breath of relief just as the alarm on Karina’s phone beeped. Karina pulled the device from
    her bag and huge smile crossed her face. “Grab your stuff. Rehearsal’s over.”
    Lily had no idea why the rehearsal had ended so abruptly but did as Karina instructed. She pulled her
    iPod out of the base and gathered up her water and towels. She put away the two chairs they had been
    incorporating in a couple of the routines and picked up the wide strap of her dance bag, pulling it up on her shoulder.
    Karina was just finishing pulling on some sweats over her shorts and sports bra when Lily said, “Okay,
    well, see you tomorrow. Same time work for you?”
    “Yes, but we’re not done for the day yet,” Karina said, her eyes twinkling with delight.
    Lily was confused. “We’re not? I thought you said—”
    “I said rehearsal is over. Come with me.” Karina linked her arm through Lily’s as they exited the room.
    “We’ve worked hard. Now we deserve a treat.”
    Lily really hoped that Karina wasn’t talking about ice cream or even a coffee. She was really trying to stick to her clean eating, but she also knew herself well enough to know that her resolve would inevitably
    crumble when faced with peer