###Chapter 110: A Leader
What she meant was that they had to practice overtime tonight.
Nina Wainwright had no objections. She already practiced until ten every night and got up at five-thirty in the morning to keep practicing.
Everyone was dead silent.
Seeing them all panting and exhausted, Sandra Walsh softened her tone. "This time is indeed a bit rushed, and I know it’s been hard on you. But once you get through this, everything will be fine. Touring everywhere, appearing on local television—those are all great honors. As the saying goes, ’One minute on stage takes ten years of practice off stage.’ Dancing is hard work. Everyone, let’s push through it."
After she left, everyone sat down on the mats at the side, sighing.
"Doesn’t this just mean we have to practice even more at night?" someone said.
"There’s no other way. The higher-ups are counting on our dance to be a breakout hit. The troupe is short on talent, and if we can use a viral dance to attract new people, wouldn’t that be a good thing?"
"Forget it. I just feel like this dance isn’t as good as the last one."
Everyone was chattering amongst themselves.
Nina Wainwright sat to one side, wiping away her sweat. After taking a sip of water, she let out a long breath.
Cecilia Young walked over to her and asked, "Why didn’t you tell the instructor what Gia Jennings said? Be careful she doesn’t put a tack in your dance shoes."
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Nina Wainwright put down her water bottle and glanced at her. "There’s no need. Maybe she was just talking."
"She’s already thinking it, and you still believe she’s just talking? They say you shouldn’t intend to harm others, but you must guard against being harmed. She’s already said it, so you’d better watch your back. National Day is less than a month away. If anything goes wrong, Ms. Walsh will be furious," Cecilia Young said coolly.
Nina Wainwright hummed in acknowledgment. "Thanks for the warning. I’ll be sure to check."
"Who’s warning you?! I’m just telling you, in a dance troupe like this, they have all sorts of ways to sabotage each other. They don’t care about group honor, and they’re not that forward-thinking. In their minds, it would be better if you couldn’t perform at all." After saying her piece, Cecilia Young got up to go eat.
Nina Wainwright hadn’t expected that the person warning her would be the very one she had clashed with first.
After Cecilia Young left, Gia Jennings, her eyes still red, ran up to Nina Wainwright and whispered, "What I said in the restroom, I was just kidding, really... Please don’t tell the instructor."
"I wasn’t planning on it," Nina Wainwright replied calmly.
Gia was afraid Cecilia Young would stir up trouble, causing Nina to get angry and tell Sandra Walsh what she’d said.
Something like this had happened in the troupe before.
A girl had pushed a lead dancer down the stairs, and as a result, they couldn’t find a replacement lead and lost the opportunity to perform.
Ms. Walsh was harshly criticized by her superiors, who told her that if it happened again, her dance troupe would be disbanded.
That was why Sandra Walsh now hated infighting among the girls more than anything. If she caught someone, she would show absolutely no mercy.
"I was really just kidding. I never thought about hurting you... Cecilia Young is deliberately trying to cause trouble because she doesn’t want our troupe to succeed." Before leaving, Gia Jennings didn’t forget to throw Cecilia under the bus.
Nina Wainwright caught up to her in a few steps. "Actually, Cecilia really does want us to have a breakout hit. She might have a bad temper, but she genuinely wants everyone in the troupe to make something of themselves. Didn’t we all join the troupe to make a name for ourselves?"
Gia Jennings listened to her without a word.
"We’re performing a group dance. If everyone has their own agenda, the dance will never work. This routine requires all of us to work together, to come together as a single core. If there are divisions between us, that core will never form. No matter how hard we practice individually, we’ll never have a breakout hit," Nina said softly.
The two of them left the studio. Nina turned to the still-silent Gia and asked in a friendly tone, "What are you planning to eat?"
Gia Jennings’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I—I usually just eat at the Suncoast Eatery next door. I gain weight easily, so the instructor told me to diet more."
"Then I’ll try it too. Is it expensive?" Nina asked curiously.
"No, it’s not..." Gia mumbled.
"As long as it’s not expensive. I’m broke. I’m counting on the troupe having a breakout hit so I can get a little famous and make some more money," Nina said, grinning at her.
Gia Jennings stared at her, momentarily at a loss for words.
Not everyone in the dance troupe came from a well-off family like Cecilia Young.
Gia’s family was very ordinary. The only reason she was able to dance was because Sandra Walsh saw her talent and spent a long time persuading her parents. Even though she was in the troupe, her living allowance was very small.
Dancing just didn’t pay... With no tours and no events, they could go months without earning a single cent.
She had been cozying up to Cecilia Young because Cecilia often took her out for good food... She didn’t have to pay, which saved her a lot of money. But since she’d fought with Cecilia today, she could only afford to eat at Suncoast Eatery.
Suncoast Eatery was the cheapest place to eat in the area.
"Are you really poor?" Gia asked softly.
"Yeah. No job, no place to live, and my parents just passed away recently," Nina answered. ’Even though I have tens of thousands on me, I owe a lot more. I still haven’t paid back Catherine Grant’s hundred thousand, and the funeral and burial plot costs came out to over a hundred thousand more.’
’I don’t dare spend the money I have recklessly.’
Hearing this, Gia immediately said, "Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something so painful."
Girls their age tended to be a little vain; they wouldn’t show it if their families were poor.
But Nina was the first person she’d met who would admit to being poor.
The two sat down at Suncoast Eatery, and Nina studied the menu carefully.
Gia ordered a large bowl of wontons and a steamed bun. Nina ordered a bowl of mixed noodles.
"Is that all you’re eating? Dancing is exhausting. You’ll be hungry again in no time with just noodles," Gia said immediately. "Why don’t you get an order of steamed dumplings, too?"
Nina did as she suggested and ordered a basket of steamed dumplings.
"You’re the first person I’ve ever met who admits to being poor," Gia said with a smile after the owner’s wife took their menu. "The other girls all come from well-off families. I’d never dare tell them I’m poor."
"Being poor isn’t a bad thing. If you work hard, you can become rich," said Nina.
Gia’s expression relaxed slightly. "If you don’t like Suncoast Eatery, I can take you to a Lanzhou ramen place next time. It’s really good, too."
"Sounds good," Nina agreed at once.
When the two of them returned from their meal, laughing and talking together, everyone else looked at them strangely.
After all, Gia was the one who had bad-mouthed Nina the most... and she especially loved to make passive-aggressive comments about Nina in front of Cecilia Young.
When Cecilia Young saw Gia and Nina return together, an unpleasant feeling stirred inside her. She scoffed, walked over to a nearby chair, and plopped down heavily.
During practice that afternoon, Gia was clearly in the zone.
The more Cecilia Young watched, the angrier she got.
’What on earth had Nina said to Gia to make her change so drastically?’