Juilliard or Else (18 page)

"Yes, Madame Ava!" we all called out to her and she nodded her head in approval.

I knew there would be a lot of rules. Ramón warned me before I even tried out for the Juilliard program.

"Jasmine," Madame Ava called out and we all watched as the beauty stepped forward to stand at her side. This girl was gorgeous, with her piercing brown eyes as she stared each one of us down. When her eyes landed on mine, she stared me down like something a popular girl would do in high school. This studio was hers and she wasn't going to let anyone take it. And I wasn't going to take her staring at me. I made it here; I deserve this just as much as she did.

"Jasmine here is a second year and one of my top students. If I am not here, I expect you to listen to her as if she were me. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Madame Ava!" we all announced together.

"Very good. Jasmine, you may return to the leading line." Madame Ava held out her hand, guiding her back to the front of the line. Jasmine strode with grace as she walked back to the barre. "I expect you all to line up at the barre. Same place as the day before. Jasmine is the head of the line. You do something wrong, and you can expect to be at the end of the line like poor Miss Bethany."

As a class, we all turned our heads in time in Bethany's direction. I shifted on my feet, but tried my best to keep my back straight and eyes forward.

"Let's begin," Madame Ava clapped at us.

We started with stretching–first with our left legs, placing them on the barre and then bending forward, touching our toes for a deep stretch. Holding that position for thirty seconds, we then switched to the other leg. Then we all squatted down on the tips of our toes, holding onto the barre with our hands, finishing with lunges on both legs.

Madame Ava made it to each one of us as we stretched and warmed up our muscles. When she made it to me, she pulled on my shoulders, straightened my spine, and lightly tugged on my bun to line my head up with my spine as straight as I could go.

"Now, all face me." And just like we are her little puppets, we all turned. "The first ballet we are going to practice for is
Swan Lake
. I expect all girls to try out for the part of Odette and Odile. It's going to be a tough part to play, with being beautiful one scene then evil the next."

My insides jumped up and down. I had been practicing my soul out for this dance. I worked on it just a couple of weeks ago with Ramón. Madame Ava started the music and gave us instructions to complete these turns with leaps.

Of course, Jasmine went first. Her position for a start of pirouette was perfect, her back perfectly straight with her stomach was tucked in. Her front arm opened with grace as she propelled her turn for a one single pirouette up on her toes, ending flawlessly with a quad pirouette.

The rest of the team did their turns of a pirouette, some losing their balance and stumbling. Madame Ava didn't even give them a second chance as she just moved onto the next person.

The closer Madame Ava got to me, the more I wanted to run out the door. I was afraid I would fall. I knew how to spin
en pointe
during a pirouette, but it was being under the pressure that had me so nervous. I started to breathe heavily, shutting my eyes and focusing on the sound that filled the room. The classical music of
Swan Lake
was very soothing as the violins played.

Madame Ava then chose that moment to clear her throat at me. I opened my eyes and she was standing in front of me. I held my breath. Her lips were pressed together in a hard line, her hands laced together, waiting just for me to begin. I stepped away from the barre and positioned my legs just like I was taught. My spine straight, head high and aligned with my back, my arms in a circle in front of me for balance, I turned
en pointe
to complete my quad pirouette. I ended nicely without falling and I smiled to myself for not messing up in front of class.

"Very nice. One thing, though," Madame Ava said to me while raising a brow.

"Yes, Madame Ava," I replied, slowly inhaling, trying to catch my breath.

As Madame Ava's eyes moved down my body, I sucked in my stomach and stood up as straight as I could go, locking my knees as her eyes finally rested on my feet. My toes were facing out with my heels together. That was how a ballerina was supposed to stand in line, but when I looked down, my drawstrings on both ballet shoes were sticking out and hanging off the sides. I shut my eyes and waited for the mortification to start in on me.

"Ladies and one gentleman, can anyone tell me what's wrong with her shoes?" she announced to the class.

I wanted to run and hide. This is what I was afraid of, being an embarrassment in front of my class; it's the last thing I ever wanted.

I heard Madame Ava call on the one person who I knew would want to give me the shaft.

"Jasmine."

"Her drawstrings on her ballet shoes are sticking out, which is a disgrace and not very polite to have happen while in class. The ballerina can trip and fall, hurting herself. Madame Ava, we wouldn't want that at all."

I looked up and over at Jasmine, her hand on her chest, acting like she really cared for my safety. Madame Ava's eyes rested on my face, my chest rising and falling with each passing second.

"This is a safety issue. Don't let it happen again." Then she moved on to Bethany. I peered over at Jasmine who had a smug smile on her face, like she owned this classroom, which pissed me off.

When class was over, I put my sweats back on with my flats. My feet were sore. I just wanted to go home and soak them in warm water with some bath salts. My phone chimed deep in my bag. Good thing class was over or Madame Ava would have had a huge fit. Opening my phone, I saw one new message from Tucker. I smiled at the warmness pooling in my belly and then my face flamed up at the remembrance of the dream from this morning. I opened the text:

Tucker:
Hey baby girl, hope ur day is goin good… thinkin of you

I felt all giddy as I read his message over and over. I quickly replied.

Me:
Day is great. Class just ended.

I waited for my phone to go off again, but it didn't. I stuffed it back in my bag and left the ballet room. My schedule at Juilliard was simple: one class and that was it, but the class was three hours long, Monday through Friday, so we were done by noon. I knew that Rachel's class was the same and we agreed to meet each other out in front of the building. I rounded a corner to go there, but Jasmine stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

The look that she was giving me was nothing but rotten; it was obvious she didn't like me. News flash, I wasn't a big fan of hers, either.

"You better not screw up this year's performance. Top of the line directors are coming this December and April for our biggest shows. So, next time, tuck in your stupid draw-strings before you make us all look stupid."

She then turned and left. I grumbled to myself. Yep, I didn't like her at all. I met Rachel outside, who was beaming with the biggest smile on her face. She was a very gorgeous girl with her long red hair and fair skin. I'm glad that I got to spend more time with her. Even though Jade and I get along really well, I wanted to be close with Rachel, too.

"What's with the big smile?" I asked while pulling my strap higher on my shoulder. She just linked her arm with mine and off we went in the direction of the little café across the street.

"I think I'm in love."

I pulled back to look at her. "What? With Brad?"

"Pfft, no. There's this really hot guy in my acting class, totally swoon worthy," she said as she dropped her head on my shoulder and we crossed the street. We ordered our drinks. I got a latte and Rachel ordered her hot chocolate, going outside to sit on the terrace to watch the cars passing by.

"What's his name?"

She shrugged while blowing on the hot chocolate. "I don't remember."

"Rach, how can you say you're in love if you don't even know his name?" I asked as I took another sip, waiting for her to answer me.

"Because he knows how to kiss a girl," she giggled.

"You kissed him?"

"Yeah." She acted like it wasn't a big deal. "It was part of a scene, Gabs."

Oh, yeah. Acting.

"MmHmm.."

"How are things with Tucker? I know you two are getting pretty close," she said as her brows did a little dance above her green eyes.

I tossed the idea around in my head. It was true, I wanted to get close to him, and he seemed pretty into me, too.

"It's going," was all the information I was going to give her about that. Rachel begged me to give her more details about kissing him. Plus, she saw that we snuggled and slept on the couch.

We talked about little things, mostly just getting to know one another. Rachel explained her mom and her love of shopping to me, but I already knew that. I witnessed it on Saturday. I told Rachel about Carol and went into more detail about our coffee afterward. Rachel wasn't a big fan of Carol after I told the story of her smacking me the day I moved in the apartment.

"God, no wonder you were such a mess. I honestly didn't know what to do with you being so quiet and shy. I wouldn't have suggested watching the porn if I had known."

I shrugged, "It's not a big deal."

"It kinda is; I didn't know how strict of a background you came from. I know my mom loves you – said she couldn't wait to see you again."

"Your mom is so sweet. I wished I would have known my birth mother. I wonder if I am like her."

Rachel leaned across the table to pat the top of my hand. "I think she would be proud of you for getting into Juilliard if she loved ballet, and for dealing with that rude woman you call a stepmother."

I smiled at her and laughed a little bit, "I know for a fact that she would hate Carol."

"Ain't that the truth? When do you have to see Carol again?"

"My dad has a dinner for his firm on Saturday. I should probably go get a dress or something."

"Oh can we go shopping? I know a perfect little place that has the absolute best cocktail dresses."

I nodded, "Sure." If Trish loved to shop, Rachel did, too. Like mother, like daughter.

The bell rang across the street; last class was over. We took our drinks and walked back over to the school to wait for Jade. She came out with a beaming smile as well.

"Holy shit! Is Jaiden Monroe smiling?" Rachel asked.

"Shut up. It was a good day, and Jett is coming to walk me home." Jade's face flamed up red.

"Oh, Jett is comin'!" Rachel squealed at her, in a high pitched girly voice and clapped her hands together. "Honestly Jade, I've never seen you like this with anyone. What makes him so special?"

"He just gets me. I give him attitude and he gets all mad at me. Usually people just ignore me, then don't talk to me. Not Jett. He gets all upset and calls me out on my shit. I like that." Jade looked at me and winked. "We are going to go get some coffee so you guys can go home."

Rachel gripped my arm. "Gabs, let's go to that little store I was telling you about."

"Ha-ha. You get to go shopping with Rachel again. Do you need more cigarettes?" Jade started going through her bag.

"Let's go, Rach." I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her long legs behind me. Rachel blew a kiss to Jade.

The little shop Rachel was telling me about was actually really cute. It was very small and the walls were lined with dresses in every color you could imagine. Shoes were on tables in the center of the room with a big chandelier hanging above them. The back wall was full of clutches; most of the colors were very neutral. The dresses in the shop were black, brown, gold, and silver.

I looked at the racks of dresses, pulling a couple of yellow ones with a very open back. I really liked the soft yellow color, as it could go with a black clutch and black shoes. Or would that look too bumble beeish?

"Gabs!" Rachel called out to me and I turned to see her approach with her arms covered in dresses. I barely had two dresses in mind and she had a crap load.

"Wow Rach. You buying all those?"

She stopped, looked at her arms and said in a serious tone, "Ah, no. These are for you, dummy."

I giggled at her. I knew they were for me. Rachel had a blonde moment and didn't even realize it.

"Do you like the yellow?"

"Yeah, it's pretty."

"It's very
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
type of dress.'" Rachel pulled it from the rack.

I raised a brow. "It's what?"

"Nothing, it's just a movie. We should watch it when we get home. It's not porn, though. Promise."

Rachel held up her fingers in the Scout's Honor sign. I laughed again and put the other yellow dresses back on the rack while Rachel walked up to the sales associate.

I don't know how many dresses I ended up trying on before they all started to blur together as one. Every time I came out of the dressing room, they started to look more and more the same. I finally chose an elegant, deep purple, silk gown. Rachel told me how skinny I looked in the silk material. It had thin straps with a deep V in the front and the back. I loved it.