The darkness of my room was comforting to me as I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling.

I think I had been lying here for a few hours now, my mind reeling from what happened in this very space not that long ago.

Leo has kissed me.

Not like a peck or something friendly, he genuinely kissed me as if he'd been wanting to do it for a very long time.

And what did I do? Freeze for about 5 seconds and then push him away.

"What are you doing?" I gasped, pulling away from him and turning around. I could feel the heat in my cheeks almost instantly.

Why was I blushing? Why was my heart beating at a million miles an hour?

I didn't like Leo like that. I couldn't. Not after everything he's done to me and Harvey.

I felt his arm go onto my shoulder, gently touching my bare skin and slowly pulling me back round to face him.

The fact that I was still just wearing my towel made this feel even more intimate and awkward.

I couldn't even look at him. I just stared at the floor, watching his feet as he stepped closer towards me.

"Eli." The hand went back to my cheek, edging my face up slowly and our eyes connected again "Please listen to me. When I say I'm sorry, I mean it. I wish I could take back everything wrong I did."

I couldn't help myself but let a tear slip out of my eye. Why the hell was this affecting me so much? I hated feeling this pathetic.

I just wanted Leo out of here, I needed to be alone right now.

Leo's thumb was gently stroking my cheek, a soft gesture that made me blush even more.

"I understand." I took a couple of shaky breaths before fully pulling away from him and making my way back into the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

I probably stayed in there for about 10 minutes before I checked to see if Leo had left.

So, here I was, lying down and contemplating my whole relationship with Leo Taylor.

He was just my brothers friend. My dance partner and a pain in my arse.

Did I like Leo like that?

I never focused on anything to do with boys after what happened to me and Brendon. I didn't trust my brother not to ruin things like he did before.

I couldn't deny that Leo was attractive and that I was possibly attracted to him. But I couldn't push past how dangerous he was.

A ping from my laptop pulled me out of my thought train and I slowly dragged myself off the bed.

I opened my laptop and plonked myself down on my desk chair. An email notification caught my eye and I clicked on it.

It was from Miss Lacey at the dance school. It was only sent to me and one other unknown recipient which only made me curious.

"Good Evening Miss McCoy, Mr Taylor,

I hope this reaches you well. I wanted to inform you myself that unfortunately Millie and Peter had to withdraw from the competition.

It's with great pleasure that I am now choosing you both to compete in their place.

Please contact me tomorrow regarding your entry.

Many thanks, Miss Joyce Lacey."

Holy crap.

Holy crap.

I got the performance. Sitting back on my chair, my eyes read over the words again and again.

Wait... This means I'll have to dance with Leo again. Which means we're going to have to see each other again.

God, this couldn't get any worse for me.

Ok, Eliana, you can do this. Just have to get through all of this and then Leo will be behind me and I can move a thousand miles away from him and everyone else.

I said the words you can do this to myself in my sleep. Repeating those same for words to give myself the confidence I needed as I made my way to the dance studio the next day.

School started off slow as I had the meeting with the Head Teacher.

I managed to get detention for the next 2 months. Leo got 3. I'd managed to avoid him through most of the day which was stupid as I was going to assume he was going to be at the studio at the same time as me.

Just as I made my way to the front door, the roar of a familiar engine sounded louder and louder the closer it got.

Leo's car.

I didn't hesitate before I quickly made my way into the building, heading straight to Ballet Studio 4.

Miss Lacey was alone when I got there. The music to the piece was quietly floating around the room to fill the silence.

"Ah, Eliana. Thank you for joining me. Please go and get changed into your dance clothes." Miss Lacey didn't even turn around when I opened the door and I stunned that she guessed it was me. And that I was still wearing my casual clothes.

"Um, sure I'll be back in a sec." I replied, inwardly congratulating myself for actually bringing my ballet stuff with me today.

I didn't know exactly what Miss Lacey wanted from me today, so I made sure I was prepared for every situation she may throw on me. That was kind of her thing.

A quick change of clothes in the ladies and I was back in the room.

"Right, start doing your stretches and we'll begin on today's lesson."

"Lesson? I didn't realise this was going to be an extra lesson?" I wasn't complaining. Just confused.

"To the wall, Eliana." Once again Miss Lacey didn't even look over to me as she was fiddling with the CD player.

Rolling my eyes at her, I started like I did every lesson.

I decided to face the window rather than the door since it was sunny out for once as I pulled my leg up on the bar and let my other leg slide, so I was doing the splits but in the air.

Closing my arms, I moved my arms around in a clock like sequence, the same three movements again and again until I could feel my muscles tightening.

When I'd had enough, I relaxed my body and brought my leg down from the bar, opening my eyes and instantly noticing the new person in the room.

Leo.