Besides, I might get lucky. Maybe he'd quit soon. Mrs. Daniels was tough to please, and flirting with a bunch of giggling dancers could only be fun for so long. One, two weeks tops and he'd be so bored he'd be begging Mrs. Daniels to let him quit.
Funny how that thought didn't make me feel relieved as I reached the third-floor landing and pushed open the hallway door. But at least the panic stopped clawing at my throat. Maybe this would turn out to be no big deal, after all. It was just another shared class with Tristan. Right? Nothing romantic. No major rules broken, really. Surely I could hide my feelings for him for a couple weeks.
The upstairs floor was dark, with just enough light coming in from the windows to prevent me from running into anything. Tristan dogged my every step, so closely that, when I stopped at the hallway light switch, he bumped into me. He grabbed my waist, I was pretty sure from reflex.
"Oomph." His chest felt like a solid wall as it thumped against the back of my head.
"Sorry," he muttered and stepped away, his fingers sliding from my sides.
I worked not to sigh and tried to think straight again. "Um, why don't you stay here? I'll be done in a minute."
My hands shook as I unlocked the dance-room and director's office doors, turning on lights in both areas as I went. I grabbed the MegaVox portable PA system, jam box and trainer bag from the office closet then rejoined him in the hallway. I was surprised to find a dark scowl on his face.
"What, afraid of the dark?" My feeble attempt at a joke.
"This is part of your daily routine?"
"Yep." I headed out of the hallway, but he stopped me to take the sound system. "And I do it all in reverse each evening. Except the foyer doors-those the janitors lock up at night."
We headed down the stairs, the heavy trainer bag thudding against my thigh suddenly making me feel about as attractive as a pack mule.
He waited until we were out of the building before speaking again. "Do the other managers usually go with you for safety?"
"You sound like me on my first day as a manager. I asked my head manager almost the same thing when she used to do this. There used to be three full-time managers plus the head manager. But then Head Manager Amber moved away, and the other two sophomore managers were needed as alternate dancers for the rest of the football season after two of our dancers got hurt. So now it's just me filling in as the head manager, and two freshmen office aides temporarily on loan."
"So you're doing it all? The unlocking in the mornings, the setup, the locking up at night?"
We headed down the cement ramp toward the road that cut through the campus, connecting the front and back parking lots.
I shrugged. "Somebody's gotta do it, and the team director's already working her butt off creating choreography, putting together music, working with the school band on music and dance routines for halftime performances, running practices..."
He grumbled something under his breath, making me wonder if maybe he had the same problem I did with being awake this early in the morning.
At the end of the cement ramp, we turned to the left, heading down the road past the back of the math building toward the practice field. In the growing morning light, dew sparkled like thousands of diamonds on the grass that bordered the woods at our right, reminding me of my dreams. Of fantasies spent sitting in the grass at night with the very boy who walked beside me now. I ducked my head to hide the rising heat in my cheeks.
At the practice field, we entered through the chain-link gate and crossed the spongy black track that circled the grass.
The Charmers were already gathering at the center of the field, though practice wouldn't officially start for another ten minutes. As they waited, they stretched individually. But even at this hour, they were anything but quiet. Someone's laugh rang out, startling birds in the thin woods that ran along the outside of the field's fence.
Ugh. Morning people. Needing fortification, I sipped my tea then used the thermos cup to hide a smile as the Charmers visibly reacted to Tristan's presence.
I watched the change among the dancers with a strange sort of fascination. Honestly, I didn't know whether to laugh or roll my eyes. Even the seniors sat up straighter and pushed out their chests.
Bethany came running over with a perky smile. "Hey, Tristan! What are you doing here?"
Tristan shot me a smile for some reason. "Everyone seems to be asking that this morning."
Why was he smiling at me? I took the sound system from Tristan then tuned them out as best I could, moving away a few yards to drop my duffel and trainer bag so I could start setting up. Unlike the dancers, my duties started as soon as I hit campus and didn't usually end until practice was over. I didn't have time to stand around and chat.
"Hey, Miss Savannah." Keisha crouched down beside me and the MegaVox at the fifty yard line. Her knees popped from the action, making me cringe. She'd need wraps for those soon. "What's he doing here?"
"It seems we have both a new escort and a new manager."
"Him?"
I nodded, keeping my gaze down on the jam box I was checking the batteries on.
He must have heard us talking about him, because he came over and squatted beside me so close our knees bumped.
"Have fun," Keisha murmured. I tried to ignore the now familiar pain at seeing her join the dancers instead of working with me.
"Miss Savannah?" he asked after she left.
"We all call each other 'Miss,' then the person's first name, except for the director. It's a team rule to help us remember to always show each other respect."
"And you have to do that all the time, or...?"
"No, just during team time. Though sometimes we forget and do it in the halls and stuff, too." I dug through my bag for the clipboard and legal pad I used to take team notes on each day. "You'll need to follow it, too, if you stick around."
He gave me a wolfish grin. "Oh, I definitely plan to stick around."
Yep, he was already checking out the Charmer buffet.
"You close with a lot of the team?" He jerked his head in Keisha's direction where she stood talking with Vicki now. They didn't try to hide the fact that they were talking about Tristan. I just hoped they weren't including me in the conversation, because I so had nothing to do with this.
I shrugged. "Most treat me like a stand-in mom or something. They know they can come to me if they need something or someone to talk to. But Keisha and I are closer than most. She's a manager, or she was till she became an alternate dancer for the season."