Adlewood Academy

Jocelyn Turner always wanted to be a good dancer. Dance had always been her way of coping when anything got too hard or stressful. In the privacy of her room, or an empty studio, she was positively flawless. But when she got in front of people, it was as though no matter how hard she tried she would never be as fluid or graceful as she was when alone. She had an extremely incurable case of stage fright even in front of one person. Even in front of her own parents. She felt like she was having an out of body experience every time she danced for others because she knew that clumsy, uncoordinated version of herself was not the real her.

Despite not being able to dance wonderfully in front of others, they had allowed her into Adlewood Academy because she was able to emit such beautiful emotions in her dance. She had something that separated her from the other ballet students and that was her incredible ability to convey any emotion to the nth degree when she danced, though in a very poor fashion. Technique, they argued, could be taught and stage fright demolished. The fact that Jocelyn could dance and either make you smile or cry just with the way she carried her body was something they only wished they could teach the other students.

As a sophomore, she had started to understand the lay of the school and how things work. Things had changed a little this year, as she had new instructors and a new roommate who she had already met and thoroughly liked due to her chipper demeanor. Lana Walker, her new roommate, was studying hip hop dance which meant they had no classes together but Jocelyn was excited for some of hers nonetheless. For example, the class she was waiting in – swing.

As notes after last year, the instructors told her to take a fun class to try and loosen her up. While looking through the list, swing had jumped out at her because she had a real interest in that era but she had never attempted to learn it and she never had anyone to be her partner, anyway. She was a bit nervous as she watched people file into the room, wondering who would be assigned her partner. A few people were chatting, talking about their summers and their glamorous vacations, but she remained stretching in the corner.

“You know you don’t have to stretch so much for swing.” She looked up to the bright blue eyes of a boy she had seen a few times around campus with the other male dancers.

“Old habits, I suppose.” She answered, standing up.

“I’m Niall. Ever take swing before?”

“Jocelyn, um, no I haven’t. Am I that obvious?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, but I didn’t see you in here last year.”

“Hello, class!” Jocelyn’s head snapped to the front where a young, dark-haired woman stood with a bright smile. She was wearing a vintage dress and had flowers in her pin-up hair. Jocelyn already knew she would like her. “I’m so excited to work with you all this year! Today, we’re just going to keep it simple – pair you up and do a little loosening exercises. Swing is about having fun! Perfect technique doesn’t matter here, which is why I assume you all took this class.” She teased. Grabbing her clipboard and a pen she faced back to the room and looked around. “Mr. Horan, nice to see you back.”

“Couldn’t stay away, Mrs. Shepherd.”

“And with a new face. What’s your name, dear?”

“Jocelyn Turner.”

“Jocelyn! Yes! Welcome to swing dance. I think you and Niall here would be wonderful partners.” She said, moving on to a new group of students.

Jocelyn was actually glad she was partnered with Niall – he seemed friendly and kind and he’d been the only person in class to come and talk to her. She was only worried because he already knew swing dancing and she certainly did not. Not only was she unfamiliar with dancing in that fashion, she also couldn’t dance in front of other people and she was worried that he might get mad she was his partner when he found that out.

“You really need to loosen up.” He said, grabbing her hand and twirling her around. “This class is a lot more fun if you’re not trying so hard.”

She found herself giggling at how easily and effortlessly Niall spun her around and was shocked to find that she didn’t stumble once. He had an easy way about him – not only was he a great dancer but he also made her feel calm enough to dance herself even in a room full of people. A part of her didn’t want to leave swing class because next was jazz and she really wasn’t good at that. She had been studying ballet her whole life and still messed up constantly, whereas she had only been dancing jazz for two years so she fumbled quite a bit more. Not to mention, she heard they had a new teacher and she had finally gotten used to the last one shouting at her.

She found her way to the jazz room after class ended, slipping off the heels she danced in for swing and stretching out. She had hoped she would know someone in the class but sadly neither Prudence (her one and only ballet friend until she met Niall), Lana, or Niall were taking jazz. As the room filled up, she only recognized a few people from her classes last year. Then the surprise new teacher walked in the room and Jocelyn thought she might just faint.

Liam Payne had been a senior her first year, making him exactly three years older than her and also the most beautiful and talented dancer she had ever laid eyes on. Liam could do it all – jazz, ballet, modern … there was no style he couldn’t completely conquer. He had even won the Final Showcase two years in a row because he was just that good. Not to mention, he did different dance styles each time. Last Jocelyn had heard, he was on Broadway but had come down with mono so they had to let him go. She had no idea he had come back to the school to teach.

He clapped his hands looking around and gave them a soft smile. “Welcome to jazz, students. Let’s get started with a warm up.” For the briefest of moments, Liam’s eyes landed on the slender brunette with the creamy pale skin and tried to remember if he had ever met her last year. He assumed that they must have.

There had to be some reason his eyes kept going back to her.