Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (19 page)

Elena could feel tears welling in her eyes. It meant so much to make her mom proud of her.

“I’ll wait for you outside.”

“Thanks
, M
om. I just have to say a few goodbyes.”

Elena scanned the room hoping to see Jay. She didn’t know why she expected to see him. It’s not like he was her boyfriend. Still, she’d hoped he would have bothered, if he was interested in her.

“Who are you looking for?” Sebastien said.

“No one.”
There was no sight of him.  “Let’s go.

Twenty-five

With her showcases and performances over, Elena could now relax and enjoy watching her friends perform. With Veronika on drums, Elena, Sebastien and Anya agreed to watch the music and composition showcase. This included all the choirs
-
gospel, show choir and choral
-
as well as performances by composers
like
Jay.

“Hey Elena, aren’t you in the show choir?” Anya asked.

“It’s only the competition show choir performing tonight. I didn’t make that cut.”

“Next time,” Sebastien said.

“Not if Letitia can help it.” Elena looked down at her feet.

The performance began with the different choirs performing in turn.

“They sound amazing! I love all those harmonies. I’m not into choral music
,
but I got chills listening to them,” she said to Sebastien.

“I did like the gospel choir
,
too. Letitia does have some serious talent.”

“Yeah, just ask her.”

Jay was up next and Elena shuffled in her seat restlessly.

“Is this
the
Jay?” Sebastien asked.

Elena looked at him sideways.

“No big deal. Got it,” he said holding his hands in surrender.

Elena closed her eyes as Letitia sang their song. With all the production work he added, it sounded better than she could have ever imagined.

“I helped write that,” Elena told Sebastien, pointing at her name on the program. There it was- Music and lyrics by Jeremiah Washington.
Additional lyrics by Elena Martinez.

“When did this happen?”

“Oh you know, randomly one afternoon. Nothing major,” Elena said. She felt Sebastien tense. She knew she should never have kept it from Sebastien, and yet it was like her own little precious world away from everything else.
Her and Jay.

Two days later, it was the final showcase performance
—
the romantic comedy
To Act is to Love,
starring Sebastien, Frankie and Letitia.

“I can’t wait to see how this turned out,” Elena whispered to Veronika.

“You and me both.
If Sebastien wasn’t in it, I would be cursing it in revenge for those bitches destroying my play.”

The curtain rose and the first scene began. Despite the fact that there were so many characters on stage initially, Elena thought Sebastien’s presence was magnetic. She knew he was destined for something great.

“Frankie doesn’t seem to be playing it up as much as she did in the auditions,” Elena said to Veronika.

“That’s because she’s a different person.” They looked at each other knowingly.

“Letitia is actually not bad,” Elena said.

“Yeah, if only she could stop panting after Sebastien so much.”

“Poor guy,” Elena said, giggling with Veronika.

“
Shhhh
,” Anya said to them.

They both put their fingers over their mouths.

“Does she realize she’s not the main character? She keeps blocking Seb and Frankie,” said Veronika, moments later.

“You mean there
are
other people on stage besides Letitia?” Elena said.

Anya glared at them again
,
and they kept silent for the rest of the play.

At the end of the performance, they cheered loudly, giving Sebastien a standing ovation when he took his bow.

Sebastien changed and met them
back
in the auditorium. “Was I awesome or what?”

Both Elena and Veronika made hand movements indicating it was average.

“Okay, not bad,” they said.

Anya looked upset. “He was great!”

They all laughed at her. “We were only joking, Anya,” Elena said. “We couldn’t let Sebastien get too big a head.”

“Oh.”

“But thank you, Anya, for appreciating my talent,” Sebastien said.

“Oh you know you were fantastic,” Elena said, rolling her eyes.

“Hmm, I believe that makes you a fan.”

That earned him a friendly cuff on the head from Elena. “Move it, George Clooney.”

Frankie walked past with Leon, ignoring them.

“Great job, Frankie,” Elena said.

Frankie sniggered.

“Thanks Elena,” Leon said. “I think she did great, too, but she won’t believe me.”

Frankie yanked Leon away, never once turning round to acknowledge them. He waved to them as he was pulled away by Frankie.

“Why does he take her crap?” Sebastien asked.

“People do all sorts of weird things for love,” Anya said. They all turned to look at her.

“What?” Anya replied.

“I think it’s time to party!” Veronika said. They all agreed and headed off for the after party in the school hall, a couple of buildings down.

As they walked down, Sebastien pulled Elena to the side. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Sure. What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry about the other day when I stormed out of your rehearsal. I had a lot of things on my mind and then seeing you kiss Leon…
I
fe
lt
very protective of you.”

“Oh Seb, I never took it the wrong way. I would have been upset if you were angry with me. I never kissed Leon. He kissed me and I didn’t know it was coming. We never rehearsed it, I swear to you.”

“Even if you did, you have the right to, you know. I don’t own you. But it’s important to me we are always honest with each other and not have secrets, so I felt I had to clear the air.”

Man, he knew how to push her buttons. She had to tell him about Jay
.
“Seb, I
—
”

“You kids going to the party?”
Veronika’s dad,
Mr. McCleod asked. He was standing at the door on chaperone duty.

“We sure are,” Elena replied. Anya nodded silently.

“So who am I giving a lift home to tonight?”

“Me,” Elena said as she raised her hand.

“My mom’s supervising as well
,
Mr. McLeod,” Sebastien said.

“I’m good too,” Anya added. Yeah, she had her own chauffeur-driven car.

“Right then, kids, I’ll see you at midnight,” he exclaimed as he rubbed his hands and headed off to where the other chaperones were chatting.

“Oh Elena,” he said, turning back abruptly, “your mom mentioned you were looking into some agent contracts. Make sure you come past my office and let me check those for you okay?”

“Thanks
,
Mr. McLeod. We appreciate it.” With that he hurried off.

“He doesn’t get out much, so he’s excited about being here,” Veronika said.

“An agent at last?”
Sebastien said, elbowing her.

“Not yet, but maybe by the end of the summer.
I can’t have you being a movie star all on your own.”

“Get inside,” he said, shoving her lightly.

“I’m so glad these showcases are over. We survived freshman year!” Elena said.

Twenty-six

The four of them walked into the hall and were greeted by glass decorations in different shapes hanging from the ceiling, reflecting the colored lights shining on them. In the center, a wooden dance floor was created with its own roving flashing lights. Chairs lined the walls and four tables were placed along each wall holding punch, water and
soda
for the guests.
Two hundred freshmen filled the room, some dancing, some drinking from plastic cups, others chatting or laughing in small groups. “This is going to be fun!” Elena said clasping her hands and smiling broadly at her friends.

Frankie stumbled over to them. “Elena, Veronika! So good to see you!” she said, as she tried to kiss them on the cheek.

Veronika and Elena looked at each other. Half an hour ago she wouldn’t even acknowledge their existence. 

“
Sebbie
, we made such a great team, didn’t we?”
S
he linked her arm through his and caressed it. She didn’t even look at Anya, who was already looking around the room, tapping her foot restlessly.

“Frankie, you’re a bit tipsy. Come with me,” Leon said gently as pulled Frankie away and smiled apologetically at them. But Frankie was talking so loud
ly
, it wasn’t hard to overhear them.

“Leon, darling, let’s go hang with our friends.” Leon rolled his eyes.

“Hey! What was that for? Don’t you like our friends?”

“First, you’re tipsy. Second, Letitia and her groupies are not your friends. She‘s a bitch who spends half the time torturing your true friend Elena for absolutely no reason.  What’s so good about her anyway?”

“Elena, Elena, Elena. That’s all I hear. I thought you were over her.” Elena cringed.

“We’ve been through this, Frankie. I was never into her to be over her. The kiss was an acting moment and she knew nothing about it. You and I both know it has nothing to do with Elena.”

Frankie changed tone abruptly, putting on her sweetest voice. “Leon, if you love me, please
be
nice to Letitia. She’s been helping me with my singing and she is
so
popular. It would mean so much to me if you at least pretended to like her.”

Elena turned to look at them. Frankie looked so sad and desperate, she wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be
all right
. Leon seemed to think the same thing as he pulled her to him and kissed her on the forehead.

“Fine
.
J
ust for tonight.”
 

She clasped his hand like an excited child and pulled him back over to Letitia’s hub.

Leon looked back at Veronika and Elena. His head was hung low as he left with Frankie.

“He looks miserable,” Elena said.

“It’s not like anyone forced him to be her slave. He is capable of making his own choices.”

“Yeah, but he’s the one good person still in her life. He loves her. He’s not going to abandon her.”

“If he loved her, he would help her get out of her hole, not follow her into it.”

Veronika had a point. Elena turned back one more time and saw Frankie take a small bottle out of her
purse
and give it to Leon. He took a few sips.
Looks like he was definitely diving into that hole with her tonight.

Elena pushed her concerns over Frankie and Leon aside to see Anya across the room, looking very bored.

“Having fun?” she asked her.

“Not really. I’m not into big crowds. Hey
,
do you want a drink?”

“Sure.
Coke
Z
ero please.”
Anya left as Darius came over to speak to Elena.

“Hey
homie
,” he said, giving her their special handshake.

“Hey bad-ass.”

“Not taking on the dance floor yet?”

“Nope, waiting for a cool partner.”

“Let’s go then.”

As they went to the already busy dance floor, Elena noticed Anya returning with her drink. She waved to her so that she knew where she was
,
only to see her wrinkle her nose.

“Who
’
s your friend?”

“You mean the blond one?” He nodded.  “Anya.”

“I don’t think she likes me very much.”

“I didn’t know you’d met.”

“We accidentally bumped into each other in the corridor one day and she thought I was trying to steal her wallet.”

Elena burst out laughing. “What do you think scared her the most? The permanent scowl on your face, the tattooed neck
,
or the fact you‘re five times her size?”

“I offered to help her up.”

“She does come from a very sheltered life.
Prima ballerina.”