Eva De Miranda checked her watch as she stood in front of the sign posted on the wall. Nine fifty.

Adjusting her bag on her shoulder, she began to walk down the hallway. Each dance audition over the past week had been in a different studio and she tried to recall where she had seen studio nine.

She spotted a girl that she recognized from past auditions and she went in her direction. She smiled a bit when she saw the girl go through a door labeled ‘Studio 9’.

Eva went inside the room and found about fifteen guys and girls milling around the room. A couple smiled in her direction and she gave a small, brief smile in return before going over to an empty corner and setting her things on the floor. She sat down beside her bag and stretched out her legs in front of her. She had five minutes before the auditions started she took the time to stretch her body.

It was the third and final audition for the seven dancing spots available on Justin Timberlake’s tour. She really hadn’t thought she would get to the final audition, considering so many people had tried out. But the two choreographers, Michelle and Cody, had apparently seen something in her and she was still there.

“Alright, let’s get this started!” Michelle yelled through the room, standing up from the chair she had been sitting on. “The plan for today is you’re gonna run through the dance you’ve been taught. Then we’re gonna do individual evaluations and you guys are each gonna do your own dance you created. Me and Eric are of course going to be judging you guys and since it’s the final audition, Justin’s here as well. So you guys gotta impress all three of us today.”

Eva moved her eyes off of Michelle and noticed for the first time that Justin Timberlake was sitting beside Eric.

Well there’s some added pressure, she sighed to herself, unzipping her jacket and pulling it off, leaving her in her yoga style tank top and dance pants. She stood up as Michelle called them all into position for the group dance that they had been learning in the past two auditions. It wasn’t complicated and easy enough to learn. Although in the first two auditions there had been people who had messed it up, now at the final callback, everyone left were good dancers and knew it. Eva knew her work was cut out.

The music started and Michelle counted them in. The dance flowed naturally from Eva and she hit every step perfectly, at least in her mind. Michelle and Eric were each nodding by the end of it, both looking pleased. They gave the dancers a second to catch their breath and then the music and dance was starting again.

The dance was run through four times in total and by time it was over, Eva was grateful to take a five minute break. She went back to her corner of the room and mentally ran over the steps of her individual dance that she had choreographed. A few butterflies were beginning to take flight in her stomach. It was one thing to do a dance within a group where all the attention wasn’t focused on you but it was very different to do it all by yourself. She desperately needed the job and that wasn’t helping out the butterfly situation any.

The five minutes passed too fast and Eva’s heart beat sped up a bit as Eric began to call out order of the individual dances.

Of course I’m second.

With a sigh, she stood up and leaned against the wall, preparing herself to go impress.

* * *

Justin Timberlake picked up the picture of one of the female dancers later that day as he listened to Eric talk.

“What was her name again?”

“Larissa Montgomary. She did the dance to the Cher song.”

“Oh right,” he said, recalling the girl.

“She’s been good through the whole audition process,” Michelle said. “Had a bit of trouble learning the dance at the beginning, but she figured it out with a bit of help. She’s really nice. What did you think of her?”

“She was good. I thought she was a little jerky at some points in her dance though.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Eric said. “Might have just been nerves.”

“Put her on the maybe list,” Justin said, putting down the picture. He leaned back in his chair and popped his neck. He had been in this studio for too long. First an hour and a half with the audition and now the past hour with Michelle and Eric, trying to pick out seven dancers. He was ready to get out of there. “Is that all of them?”

“Um…” Michelle shifted through her papers. “No, one more. Eva De Miranda.” She handed him the picture. “She was the first one to do the individual dance.”

He stared at the picture and remembered the girl. “Yeah, I liked her. What’s she like?”

“Really good. Picked up all the dances we taught really fast. She’s had some background in ballet so that hasn’t hurt her any. She’s never done anything like dancing on a tour, but I don’t think it would be a problem considering she’s done some ballet performances. I doubt she’d have a problem with nerves or anything.”

“Wait, is she the one who was sitting over there the whole time?” Justin asked, pointing across the empty dance studio to the back corner.

“Uh…yeah, I think so,” Eric said.

“She like didn’t talk to anyone the whole time.”

“She seems pretty quiet,” Michelle said. “I talked to her once after the first audition and she seemed pretty nice. Just shy I guess.”

“What do you want to do about her?”

“I liked her. She’s a good dancer. Put her on the yes list.”

“So you have five definite yeses and four maybes. Which of the maybes do you want?”

Justin pushed back his chair and stood up. “You guys have seen them more than me. You pick the two that you like the best. Just make sure those other five yeses are there.”

With that said, he left the studio and went outside into the sun. Getting into his car, he left the building, relieved that the morning was finally over with.