Toe to Toe (On Pointe Book 1) by Penelope Freed (read with me TXT) 📕

“What?!” I cough and try again. “I mean, huh? No? I don’t think so, pretty sure he’s @footballstudStanLey.” I pretend not to know, like I haven’t stalked him on Instagram for ages and know all of his social media handles by heart. Or that he mostly posts pictures of his abs, pictures at the gym, or lately pictures of him and Olivia. Nope, I don’t know that at all.

Lisa stares at me for a second over her phone, one eyebrow suspiciously raised. I smile weakly and pretend to watch the movie. “Um, why?” I ask. Be cool, Hannah. Wait. “Seriously, why?” I ask, curious.

“Cause he just said you’re cute!” squealed Katy, throwing a pillow at my head. What?! Katy shoves her phone in my face, “See, right there!” I look and there it is, right in the comments:

marvelousStanLey: Hey @hannahbananaballerina, nice pj’s. No babysitting tonight?

Oh, that must be Trevor. “He did not say I was cute, Katy. He’s teasing me about my lame pajamas.” I say, tossing the phone back to her. I try to laugh, hoping to hide my disappointment that it wasn’t Tyler. Tyler is probably making out with Olivia at this exact moment, why would he be commenting on her post? I cringe.

“Who’s Trevor?” Katy asks, grinning at me. “Wait, is that Tyler’s cousin, the one you went on the accidental date with?”

“Yeah. But whatever, he thinks I’m a nutcase,” I shrug and grab my phone, hoping to stop some of the notifications so I can concentrate on the movie. “Oh!” I gasp, almost dropping it when I see a follow request from @marvelousStanLey.

“What?” Katy and Lisa both ask, as I throw my phone across the couch in panic. Katy picks it up and looks to see what spooked me. “Oooooo, he wants to follow you? Yeah Hannah!”

“Gonna slide into your DM’s, huh?” Lisa laughs.

“Oh my god, Lisa, who says that?” Katy laughs, almost falling off the couch.

“What? No! I mean. What?” I stutter, not sure what to do. Okay Hannah, stop being an idiot. “He’s just being nice. I bet he follows, like, thousands of people, it doesn’t mean anything.” Lisa just looks at me, one eyebrow raised. “What?” I ask, slouching down into the couch. “It’s nothing.” I add, for emphasis.

“Uh, yeah, no.” Katy says looking at her phone. “He follows, like, fifty people. You are special,” she adds, with a ludicrous wiggle of her eyebrows. “Hannah has an admirer!” she sings, tossing a throw pillow at my head. I shriek and roll off the couch onto the floor, covering my head with my arms, my phone clutched in the air above my head. Lisa snatches it from my hand before I can protest and starts tapping at it.

“What are you doing!” I cry and try to grab it back, but Lisa holds it out of my reach and Katy grabs my arms, preventing me from taking it. “Please tell me you aren’t writing to him?” I beg.

“All I did was accept his follow request and sent him one back, calm down.” Lisa says, handing back my phone. “You know you would have done it eventually, I was just saving you time and a panic attack over it,” Lisa added, sticking her tongue out at me.

Oh.

Well. Okay. I guess that’s true. And I guess Lisa is right, I probably would have done it eventually. And she’s right that I would have had a panic attack over deciding if I should or not. Whatever. It’s still rude. I stick my tongue out at Lisa and Katy, cross my arms over my chest and ignore them, pretending to watch the movie.

Of course, we’ve missed most of it and I’m only just in time to see the final scene, my favorite scene. “As a boyfriend…you kinda suck!” Lisa, Katy and I all say in sync with the movie a minute later, laughing. I love these girls, even if they’re a pain in the butt. I guess I’ll miss them when I’m gone.

We clean up our mess and tiptoe up the stairs to my room. It’s past midnight and we need to get some sleep for tomorrow. Lisa and Katy grab some blankets and pillows and sprawl out on my floor. I check my phone anxiously one more time, hoping to see a text from Olivia. What I see instead is another Instagram notification.

(hannahbananaballerina): marvelousStanLey sent you a post by royaloperahouse

What? I mean, I follow @royaloperahouse, that’s the Royal Ballet in London’s account, of course I follow it. I click on the DM and see he’s sent me a clip they posted back in December with some of their principals rehearsing a section of the Nutcracker pas de deux. I remember this one but watch again anyway, enjoying the gorgeous dancing. I don’t bother to turn the sound on, I can hear the classic Tchaikovsky music playing in my head. When it finishes, I look back at the message he sent with it and frown.

marvelousStanLey: Looks pretty superhuman to me, are you sure you aren’t a superhero?

I don’t understand, I thought I was pretty rude to Trevor on our “date.” I mean, I ran away and ditched him. See, this is why I’m not even going to think about boys. I should be sleeping right now, I need to be ready for tomorrow. The audition tomorrow is way more important than wondering why a boy is messaging me.

I mean, he’s a cute boy. And he was nice.

No. Stop it Hannah. No boys. Go to sleep.

I lay on my back and stare at the ceiling, but I’m too wound up to sleep. What is Oliva doing? Should I have let her go? I glance at the time on my phone.

12:31. Why is my left foot itchy? I try to rub it against my shin to sooth the itch without being loud. Lisa and Katy are already asleep. How can they sleep so easily? I close my eyes and picture myself relaxing against the mattress. My comforter is