Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (39 page)

“Hey, I am the jester of the play. If people laugh at me, it’s a good thing.”

“I’m sure it’s going to be fine,” Elena said to Leon. The understudy playing Lady Macbeth walked in, visibly shaking.

“I don’t think I can do this,” she said.

“You don’t want to miss this big chance!” Leon said. 

“Don’t worr
y if you get some lines wrong -
no one understands Shakespeare anyway,” Sebastien said.

She
grimaced before
she left to
continue pacing
around backstage.

Elena scratched her head and wrinkled her nose. “Hmm, good luck. You’re going to need it.”

“Thanks!”

“See you soon!” Sebastien said.

Elena left to join the audience, curious as to how it would go.

“How’s Leon?” Veronika asked as Elena sat beside her.

“Stressed.”

“Don’t blame him.”

“This will be interesting.”

The curtains went up and the play began.
There were a few moments of awkwardness as Leon waited for his co-actors to appear on stage. And Elena noticed that Sebastien extended some of his scenes while the understudy had her lines whispered to her. But o
verall, Elena thought it wasn’t too bad. There were a few
cringe
moments but generally, Elena thought Leon and Sebastien survived intact.

Backstage,
Leon was not happy. He ripped off his costume and wiped off
his
make-up aggressively.

“Damn those women,” he muttered to himself.

“It was fine, Leon. No one noticed anything,” Sebastien said to him, squeezing his shoulder. “Let’s go see the girls.” They walked out into the
theatre
to face the critics.

“How did you feel?” Elena asked.

“I felt like I was improvising half the time. Ever tried to improvise in old English?” Leon said.

“Well, as an audience member, I got to admit there were some pretty special moments in there,” Veronika said.

“You mean like the Queen fainting into Leon’s arms?” Elena asked. “Your acting was great. You looked totally surprised!”

“I was!” They all started laughing. “Thank God it’s over! I’m glad my dad wasn’t here to see it. That would have definitely put a dent in my acting career as far as he’s concerned.”

“It’s a shame about Frankie,” Elena said.

“I know. I’ve tried calling her to see if she’s
all right
. I still care about her, you know. But I think her parents have her stowed away in some private rehab center. I hope it works
this time
.”

Elena wrapped her arms around his waist. “You did everything you could, Leon.”

“I feel bad about the break-up. I think that was the final blow to send her over the edge.”

“
She’d
been going down for a long time,” Veronika said. “You can’t be responsible for her choices.”

Leon was about to say something but stopped. Stan and some of the other musical
theatre
students joined them.

“Great job, Leon!” they said as they congratulated him.
“You too, Sebastien.”

Elena and Veronika moved away, letting the boys bask in the attention.

“They’re such a quirky bunch,” Elena said to Veronika as they watched the boys chat amongst themselves.

“That’s because most of them are gay,” Anya said as she appeared next to them.

“Where did you come from?”

“I was late
,
so I snuck in at the back.”

“So how do you know these guys are gay?” Veronika said.

“
P
uh
-
lease.
I’m a ballet dancer. I have an instinct for these things.”

“Surely, Leon’s not. He was dating Frankie for a year.
And Seb, no way!”
Elena said.

“Ask them. All I said was that the guys talking to Leon and Sebastien are gay.”

Elena and Veronika looked at each other. Elena knew that Sebastien was not gay. Not the way he kissed her
,
though he was amazingly intuitive for a guy and couldn’t keep a girlfriend
for long
.
And Leon?
It wasn’t possible. He was having sex with Frankie and he
had
kissed her too
, tenderly.

“Anya, there you are,” Darius said, appearing momentarily. Without speaking, they held hands and went on their way.

“Nice to see you too, Darius,” Elena said to his back. He turned to smile at her without stopping.

“Who would have thought those two would have become so snug?” Veronika said.

“I did,” Elena said as she beamed with pride.

Fifty

A few days later and Sebastien, Leon and Elena were back on stage to perform Veronika’s
Love in the Cafeteria.

“Now this I
’ve been
looking forward to,” Leon said in the change rooms.

“Me too!”
Elena said.

She finished applying her make-up and turned to the cast of eight around her.

“O
K
everyone, let’s make Veronika look good! Hands in,” she said. “On three, Love in the Cafeteria.”

“One, two, three.
Love in the Cafeteria,” they cheered.

Sebastien looked at Elena and smiled before running on stage.

The play was flawless
and the slapstick scene went on without a hitch, getting
instant
reactions from the audience. By the end of it,
the audience cheered loudly, many giving a standing ovation.

The cast bowed three times before Mrs. Radford, the principal, came on stage. “As you all know, this was a new work written by one of our own students, Veronika McLeod.
Would you come on stage please, Veronika?”

Veronika looked at her dad sitting next to her and rose from her seat to come to the stage. She bowed shyly as Elena and Sebastien each grabbed a hand and lifted her arms for her as the audience went crazy.

Elena knew that Veronika would be happy to shine for once. God knew she deserved it.

Backstage, everyone hugged each other, proud of the work they had done and pleased with the performance.

Elena walked out to the front of house with Veronika. Mr. McCleod was there to meet her, standing and clapping for her. She ran into his arms and hugged him tightly. “I’m so proud of you Veronika. Your mother would have been thrilled to see your success. I’m sure she’s watching you.” That made Veronika start
s
obbing uncontrollably.

Sebastien came and stood beside Elena “What’s wrong?”

“We’re just happy,” Mr. McCleod said. Sebastien and Elena looked at each other and then decided to join in on the group hug, so that Veronika was caught between laughing and crying. The other cast members trickled out and witnessed the emotional tangle.

“Hey! This was a team effort. You can’t have a group hug without us!” So the remaining six cast members joined in, clinging to each other in one massive group hug with Veronika in the middle. 

It was the last day of showcases and dance was on the agenda.

“It’s almost over,” Elena said to Sebastien backstage.

“You’ve got this. This is your domain.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty confident. I know my routines and thanks to Anya and Darius, I’m confident.”

“What’s up first?”

“Contemporary
-
you
know
,
the pieces we were doing on Fear and Love. Then it’s hip hop. Did I tell you that Darius asked me perform with the crew tonight just in case someone is injured?”

“No, you didn’t. Does that mean you’re the finale?”

“Actually, Anya and Darius
are
the finale this time. You have to see their routine.”

“Contemporary
.
P
laces please!”

“That’s me! Later.”

Elena flew through the choreography. As she interpreted her
F
ear piece, she let her body contort with all the ugly emotions that came with it. As the piece changed to
L
ove, the class integrated to form a dance filled with joy and passion. Elena was lifted in the air and leaped with
happiness
and power. This was why she danced.

Following on from Elena’s contemporary class routine was Sebastien and his intermediate hip hop group. Elena stayed to watch from the wings.

“He’s so adorable,” Elena said to Anya.

“Don’t tell me that, tell
yourself
.”

What was that for? She didn’t have time to think about as she changed for her hip hop choreographies.

“Darius, are you sure you want me to do the crew routine? It’s the last performance before the competition.”

“Exactly, and I want to make sure you have it in case we need you.”

“
All right
then.”

Elena jumped for joy inside. She had been dying to perform with the crew and even though it wasn’t as part of the competition, at least it was getting closer. She ran on stage with the crew and flipped and danced with aggression and power. She couldn’t believe she was finally doing this.

“Nice job
,
everyone,” Darius said. “We still need to make a few little tweaks, but otherwise, we are ready for the Hip Hop Nationals! Woo
hoo
!”

Elena joined in the cheering, happy to share in their excitement. Maybe it would be her turn next year.

Last on stage were Anya and Darius. No matter how many times Elena watched it, she was always entranced. The song and the movement were so beautiful and they moved in perfect synchronization. Who would ever have thought such connection was possible?

When the song ended, the audience erupted. Elena could see and hear them cheering and clapping, many with tears in their eyes. As the audience gave them a standing ovation, Darius hugged Anya and kissed her intimately right there on the stage, bringing the house down. 

Elena watched them with nostalgia. She thought of Jay again and some of their special times, writing songs, kissing all over the school grounds. It seemed a lifetime ago. She wanted to feel that magic again, even briefly so she could store it away forever. Time was running out. Her terrible premonition kept haunting her every time she thought about him.

Anya and Darius ran backstage and looked at her expectantly. “We have some news,” Darius said. Elena looked at him blankly.

“We’re going to use our routine to compete at the
N
ational
D
ance
C
hampionships next week!” Anya said.

“That’s great news! It’s so close.”

“Yes it is,” Darius said raising his eyebrow. “It also clashes with the heats of the hip hop competition.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

Darius tilted his head to the side. “You did great out there!”

She looked at him confused when the penny dropped.

“You want me to compete with the crew
instead
of you? That’s insane!”

“You’re doing better than you think and it would mean that I can concentrate on the competition with Anya.”

“You’re going to miss the hip hop nationals?”

“Only the heats of the Nationals
,
which are on the Friday.
If the crew makes it to the finals on Saturday, I’ll be there, since we finish up contemporary by then.”

“Wow, well, I guess so. We’re going to need a lot more rehearsals though,” Elena said. 

“Come on
,
Elena,” Sebastien said as he approached them. “Since when did you
turn down
a challenge?”

“Yeah Elena,” Anya and Darius said in unison.

Elena glanced at her friends grinning
expectantly at her and sighed.
“Fine!
But don’t blame me if you don’t make it through to the finals, I’m just the reserve, okay?”

“Whatever,” they all said, laughing at her.

Fifty-one

Elena crossed off the day on her calendar. May 27. Exams were over. Showcases were over. All that was left was the sophomore party, the hip hop competition and, of course, Jay.  Four days
’
til she saw him again. Would she feel the same when she saw him? She sighed as she put her calendar away.