Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (14 page)

“I’m pretty sure your mom would be proud of you regardless.”

Elena gripped her plastic cup. “I hope so.”

Seventeen

One month later in January, back from
winter
break, Anya and Elena stood in the studio warming up for their class.

“Thank God we are doing exercises first. I’m too nervous to perform yet,” Elena said to Anya
,
whose face was impassive as always.

“You know the drill, girls. Turns, leaps, floor work,” Ms Fontaine called out.

Elena could feel her body was strong and confident. She had practiced these
steps
so many times and with Anya’s help,
had
ironed out many of her weaknesses.

“Great improvement, Elena,” Ms. Fontaine said. Yes! 
“But still a lot of work to do.”
 
Of course.

“Time for our performance, Anya.
Ready?” Anya was totally relaxed. “Of course you are.
Stupid question.”

They both moved to the center of the room.

“Um, Ms Fontaine, this is a piece about one girl, Anya, betraying her friend, me.”

“Great, let’s see it then.”

The music played and Anya came on with three brilliant leaps. Her job was to be cold and heartless as she brings her friend
,
Elena
,
to her knees.
Anya spent most of the time circling Elena with strong moves, confident and relentless.
Elena was to be a vulnerable and tortured soul, betrayed by her friend.
She reached out for mercy but was forced back, contracting and shrinking to the floor as each betrayal brought her more pain. She eventually squirmed on the floor as her friend Anya, left her mercilessly alone, battered.

When the performance finished, the other students clapped loudly
,
though some did so reluctantly.

“That was beautiful
,
girls!” Ms. Fontaine exclaimed.
“Absolutely beautiful!
In fact, if you can perfect it in the next couple of months, I would like you two to perform it at the end of year showcase.”

They’d kicked ass!

“I’ll speak to you later about what you need to work on before I see it again.” There was hope anyway.

Some of the girls were jeering, but she didn’t care. She stood up slowly and walked to the side of the room, acting calm and professional like Anya. But as soon as they were dismissed, Elena bolted outside and held Anya’s hand as she jumped up and down. “We did it! We did it!” Anya looked around her.

“As if we wouldn’t.”

Elena rolled her eyes and laughed.  “Sorry for having doubts.”

“We still need to improve
,
though. It’s not definite.”

“For me, that’s a really good sign. I want to enjoy it for a second before I hear all the work I need to do.”

“Oh by the way, Elena, you made the performance team. You forgot to wait for that announcement,” Anya said with a hint of a smile.

“What?” she cried out. “Woo
hoo
!” She hugged Anya tightly while Anya stood there rigidly.

“Well if it’s not Tone Deaf and Ice Princess,” Letitia hissed as she approached them, her two sidekicks close by.

Elena was in too good a mood. “Oh my,” Elena said as she stepped directly in Letitia’s path and ’accidentally’ bumped into her, ensuring there was maximum body contact. “I’m a bit sweaty from class. Sorry.”

“That’s disgusting!” Letitia said as she stomped her foot. “Heard of a shower?”

“
Oopsie
.
Would you like my towel?” Elena said offering her drenched, stinky towel to Letitia.

“Gross!” Letitia screwed her face up and waved her hand in dismissal, while Anya and Elena giggled to the changing rooms.

With her small success in contemporary, Elena walked to her rehearsal with Darius with more confidence and determination than ever.

“Bring it on
,
Darius. Today, I can do anything!”

“Really?
Are you sure?”

“Yep, let’s flip, drop
,
rise, whatever you want.”

“Al
l right,
then. Let’s start with some conditioning.
One hundred push-ups and one hundred crunches.
Go!”

Elena pouted at the thought.

“You asked for it.”

She nodded and got on with it, using the theme from
Rocky
to inspire her.

“Flips?”
Elena said hopefully, gently massaging her arms.

“You got it!”

Over and over again, Elena worked with the mini-tramp and foam mats to get her flips higher, stronger and more consistent. Forward flips, backward flips and sideways flips.

At the end of the session she collapsed on the floor. “Darius, I don’t how much longer I can keep this up,” she said, lying with her back to the ground, groaning.

“You’ll live.”

Elena laughed but then stopped abruptly as she felt pain in her
stomach
from the sit-ups. “Are you excited about competing at the national hip hop championships?”

“I can’t wait!”

“I’m so jealous. Wish it were me.”

“It will be eventually, if you stop groaning. You’re getting there.”

“I like how the crew works together. It has a real team spirit. I know everyone is trying to improve as a dancer but it’s different. Everyone knows they need and respect each other.”

“How do you mean?” he said, toweling himself down.

“Well
,
Deshaw always lets us throw in our ideas to improve the choreography. While we work together, he really appreciates everyone’s uniqueness. In contemporary, I feel like we need to be clones and students are waiting for others to fail so that they can look better.”

“Yeah, true. Too many girls in contemporary class, that’s why.
All the little bitches huddling in a corner.”

“Darius!”
Elena said hitting his arm.
“By the way, did you see how Deshaw gave me that small lyrical part to choreograph and perform for the showcase?” Elena said, sitting up and staring right at Darius.

“Oh he just felt sorry for you because you weren’t in the crew.”

Elena stuck her tongue out at him.

“Go take a shower. You stink,” he said and threw his towel at her playfully.

Eighteen

Elena could see Anya in the far courtyard, holding her lunch tray. She watched as she approached them and then turned back. Eventually, she turned back
a
round again and headed for her lunch table.

“Anya!” She stood up and lightly grabbed her arm to bring her in close. “Hey everyone, this is Anya.” Pointing to each person in turn,
she said,
“This is Sebastien, Frankie, Leon and Veronika.”

“I think we’re in the same English class, Anya,” Leon said.
“Nice to see you.”

Anya glanced at them from under her eyelids and quickly sat down next to Elena.

“I heard you’ve been helping Elena get her dancing together,” Veronika said.

“Elena did all the work, I just made some suggestions,” Anya said quietly.

“I have to hear Elena’s whining every day. Trust me, you saved her ass,” Sebastien said.

Anya was blushing heavily under all the attention and compliments.

“So how is the competition
show
choir going
,
Frankie?” Elena asked. “Are you getting to sing a lead?”

“No
,
of course not.
Letitia is singing most of the songs.”

“Isn’t anyone else getting a chance?” Elena asked.

“There
’
s one other guy, a senior
,
who also has some leads, but otherwise, no.”

“Are you disappointed?” 

“No way.
Letitia is brilliant and she
’
s our best chance of winning. She‘s helping me with my singing too. Isn’t that nice of her?”

Hmm. Letitia
wa
s working hard on Frankie.

“But honey,” Leon added, “you have a fantastic voice. It’s
just
different from hers. She has the big gospel voice, and yours is perfect for musical
theatre
.”

“Yeah, that’s why you’re Dorothy. That beats show choir anytime!” Elena said.

“Thanks guys,” Frankie said
,
“but if someone like Letitia offers to help you improve your singing, you take it!
Hello! Have you noticed the attention she gets?”

“
Hard to miss
,” Elena snapped.

“People look up to her.
I look up to her. I want her to like me
,
too.”

Elena curled her lip and grunted.
Sebastien said nothing
,
but kept eating his sandwich with zest.

“Isn’t that the girl you sweated all over?” Anya asked innocently.

“What?” they all shouted at once.

“Spill,” Veronika said.

Elena simply explained their brief encounter the other day.

“Nice work
,
girl,” Veronika said, offering a high-five.

“I’m impressed,” Sebastien said.
“Couldn’t have done better myself.”

“I can’t believe you did that
,
Elena! She is not someone to mess with,” Frankie said.

“I’m not scared of her
.
I don’t want to be one of her sidekicks.”

“She’s really going to make it!” Frankie said.

“You’re scaring me. You have just as much chance of making it as she does. What happened to your dad making you a star as soon as you graduate?”

Frankie shrugged. “I’d rather I was a star because I was brilliant th
a
n because of my dad. Plus I look frumpy on film,” Frankie sulked.

“What?” Leon said.

“What?” Elena repeated. “You are brilliant and a good person and gorgeous. Letitia should want to be like you!”

“I still don’t think you should provoke her,” Frankie said, pursing her lips and standing to leave. “Leon?”

“I’ve got rehearsals with Elena now,” he said.
“Romeo and Juliet
remember?”

Frankie huffed and stomped off.

“What’s got into her?” Elena asked Leon. “
Why doesn’t she just hang out with
Letitia
already
?”

“
I think she’s waiting for the invitation
.
”
Leon said. “Every second sentence is Letitia did this or said this. I think she’s obsessed with her. I agree with you. I think Letitia is trouble, but Frankie is
starstruck
or something.” He shook his head. 
“
It probably doesn’t help that her older sister just got a modeling contract.
She’s the complete opposite to Frankie
—
tall, long legs, extremely thin,
blond
.
But
I would pick Frankie any day of the week.
”

“No w
o
nder she’s putting herself down. It’s a shame she can’t see what we see.”

“Trust me, I tried to tell her. She won’t listen.”

“If she keeps it up, it’s not going to end well,” Veronika added.

Elena and Leon rose to leave. “Sorry for the drama
,
Anya. Frankie is not usually like this.”

“Elena is though,” Sebastien said with a grin.

“That’s okay
,
”
Anya said, looking at Sebastien from beneath her eyelids.

Veronika also was in a hurry to get to her next class. Anya fidgeted with her food and looked at Elena apprehensively.

“Did you need to go
,
Anya?”

“Yes! Class.” Anya quickly tidied up her tray and rose swiftly, mumbling something about getting to class early.

“Guess that boyish charm doesn’t work on everyone,” Elena whispered as she pinched him on the cheek.

Nineteen

“Only two months to the end of year showcase
,
Seb! I am excited but nervous! Does that make sense?” Elena said to him as they walked to school.