Chapter 169

"Miss Venditti, please focus."

Her eyes snapped back to Ms. Blanchet, who held a look of silent frustration on her poker face; as far as Gia could tell, she had never smiled or even frowned, but her tone held her emotions.

To be sincere, Gia was a little terrified of her, especially since she had made it a habit to be distracted from her class to stare at Jane, who was red-faced and practicing the pirouettes Ms. Blanchet had ordered.

She was never alone climbing up the stairs to the studio; she always had Jane next to her, excited and still complaining about how harsh Ms. Blanchet was, and though it had been just a week, with them beginning lessons the day after Jane came back, Jane had wowed her and perfected the art.

Ms. Blanchet was saying, "Your Italian fouetté has gotten rusty; we're going to perfect it before I let you off."

Let her off to Paris, two weeks away from now.

"Hips up, Miss Venditti."

And she did, making the problematic tur