Page 15 of Dancing on Air

“You’re sure about this?” JT said as he grabbed the boxes from the trunk of the cab.

“Yes.” She practically squealed it.

It had been almost two months since her mother’s attack. Two long months.

Now that they knew who was behind breaking onto the island, attacking Emma, and trying to kill JT, things had settled down.

Now she could focus on her excitement about her future, which far outweighed the horrors she’d had to endure in the past few months.

It had taken some time to get her mother settled in the hospital again. This time, she wouldn’t ever leave, thanks to the charges against her. There would be something of a trial once all the evidence was collected.

JT and Emma were overseeing all of that mess. Honestly, Cora was pretty much in denial about her mother being a full-blown murderer.

Cora had never known her full sister Lori Elizabeth Thomas. Over the past few months, JT and Kayla had shown her plenty of pictures of the girl who had been killed at sixteen by her mother.

Cora thought of all the times she’d been in dance class when her mother had been ‘away.’ Depression threatened to surface when she thought back to the day her mother had shown up at her dance class claiming to have fixed everything. The following week, her father had returned full time, due to Lori’s gruesome murder.

Since that scary evening on the island, her father had been calling JT’s phone nonstop. Everyone agreed that it would be best if JT was the one to tell him that Cora wouldn’t be returning home. Ever. That she had a new home now. A new family. One that loved her unconditionally.

JT and Emma had traveled to her old home with her so that she could pick up some of her things, what little there had been.

Now she was officially moved into JT’s place, or the studio building on his island, at any rate.

A week later, she, JT, and Emma had celebrated her nineteenth birthday with the rest of her new family at the fancy resort JT drove the ferry boat for.

She’d never imagined anyplace like East Haven Resort before. The entire day had been magical.

Now, finally, she was mentally and physically ready to start her professional training at Broadway Art Center. She couldn’t believe that Julie King had personally called her the day after her mother’s attack. She had also received a huge bundle of flowers from the school with a note.

Julie had extended her invitation to join the school on her own timeline. That had taken longer than Cora would have wished. But now she was all signed in and helping her brother haul her few boxes up to the dorm.

Her classes would start in the morning. Just thinking about that fact, she had to hold in a squeal of delight.

Her brother had two large boxes in his arms, and she carried the heaviest of the three, along with her backpack stuffed with most of her clothes.

“We could have shipped these,” JT said with a groan as he shifted until he could hit the button on the elevator.

“I shipped what I could. These required a more delicate touch,” she said as she stepped into the elevator. “My room is on the eighth floor,” she said, hitting the button herself.

The BAC was a glass ten-story building that sat directly off Broadway. The building had a basement for storage, and five floors with dance rehearsal space and locker rooms. The top three floors were private dorm rooms for the live-in students, with at least two students in each room. Most of them were separated by age and gender to keep everyone happy.

On the lobby level of the building was a massive auditorium where the BAC artists showcased their talent. They drew massive crowds, and it was a huge source of income for the BAC each year.

At the end of every year, during the holiday season, the Nutcracker ran on the stage for months. Other classical ballets ran at various other times during the rest of the year. There were shows for every level of student, to include all ages.

Cora was hoping she’d be picked as the prima dancer, or primary dancer, for one of the shows within her first year here.

When the elevator doors opened, she and JT made their way down the hallway and stopped just outside of the door marked 808.

“This is me.” She smiled, seeing her name printed in bold letters next to her roommate’s, Robin Lesra.

When she opened the door, she was sad to see it was empty. She’d hoped to meet her roommate right away. But, of course, she was probably in classes already. After all, Cora was coming in mid-season.

Then again, the BAC wasn’t like a real school. They only taught dance, and Madame King had explained that students came and went on their own timelines. The school was open year-round without any real entrance dates set.

This is what set the BAC apart from all the other New York dance academies. That and the fact that they were one of the oldest in the city.

“Where do you want these?” JT asked.