The Last Dance by Kiki Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page B

moments with the babe on the sports commercial.
    “Hey.” I tried to push myself into a sitting position without looking clumsy. I was acutely aware of how perfect she was and how far from perfect I was.
    “I just couldn’t wait one day more before I saw you,” she cried. Behind her I saw my mom roll her eyes before she left the room. Laurel slid onto the couch and faced me, reaching for my hands. “How are you?”
    “Good.” I nodded. I kept my right hand close to my body so she couldn’t see how weak it was. My fingers curved into my palm now and my wrist was twisted in a weird way. I wondered what she really saw when she looked at me. I’d lost quite a bit of weight and I knew that my cheekbones were more pronounced than they’d been before. I had a problem with the right side of my mouth—when I smiled, my lips didn’t always match up. So I tried not to smile.
    She waited for me to say something but when I didn’t she looked down and fidgeted with the zipper on her coat. “When are you coming back to school?”
    I concentrated on making my words clear. “Maybe in a week or two.” I nodded again. I could do that much normally. I think. My fingers ached to touch her skin, to wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her hair. Just to be normal again. Do all the things I used to take for granted.
    But I didn’t move.
    “How’ve you been?” I managed to ask.
    She got a weird look on her face that I couldn’t figure out. “Fine.” An awkward silence filled the space between us making the distance seem unbridgeable.
    She asked a few more questions. Was I in pain? Had I been doing my homework? Did I know Mark Carter was starting quarterback now?
    I gave short awkward answers. My heart pounded and ached at the same time. I wanted to ask her what she’d been doing. How cheerleading was going. Anything. Everything. Mostly I wanted to ask why she hadn’t visited me in the hospital. But I didn’t.
    She looked at me for a second, then dropped her eyes.
    Another long silence stretched between us.
    “Well, I guess I better go.” She jumped to her feet.
    I nodded. “Yeah.” I couldn’t stand up without giving away how bad my right side was. I was tired enough I wasn’t sure my right leg would support me. “Thanks for coming by.” But even to my own ears my words sounded garbled and confusing.
    Her eyebrows flicked into a brief frown and then she forced a smile onto her face. “Well—” she lifted her hands up and let them drop to her sides— “take care. I’ll see you soon.” She backed away from the couch. I lifted my left hand to wave goodbye as she turned and walked out of the room. I stared at her legs as she left, long and tanned—working so effortlessly.
    When the front door snapped shut behind her I closed my eyes and let my head drop back against the couch. A long sigh slipped past my lips and I squeezed my eyes shut to try to stop the tears from escaping.
    What had happened to my life?
    Laurel sent me a text an hour later breaking up with me.

Chapter Eleven
    Ivy
    M y mother adjusted my hair and straightened the collar of my white shirt. Again. I was an odd mix of nerves and calm. I knew this piano piece inside and out. I had practiced until my fingers were raw nubs of flesh. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but it sounded good.
    As I stood in the antechamber off the main auditorium I listened to the swell of music as the violins, cellos, and flutes crashed into a crescendo. Eight more measures and they would stop and introduce me. I flexed, then wiggled my fingers to keep them limber. I wondered if anyone had ever had a heart attack and fallen face first onto the keys whilst playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in D Major?
    “Remember to smile,” my mother instructed me. “All your hard work will pay off.”
    The music came to a halt and applause echoed through the room. I began to pace, a wave of nerves trying to drown me. I heard the voice of the conductor over the