Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (6 page)

“Sopranos to my right, altos to my left and tenors in the middle.”

There was some shuffling and chatter as everyone rearranged themselves.

“I’m Ms Lazowski, as I said. And I want this to be a fun choir, okay?”

Silence.
She bit her lip and continued.

“This is my first show choir, too, so together we can learn a lot. Yes, we can. We’re going
to
do modern songs, turning them around and making them even more interesting. And if we work really hard, we may even compete at the national show choir competition!
Yeah.”

“Yeah!”
Frankie whispered, mimicking the teacher’s exaggerated enthusiasm.

“It would be
kinda
cool
,
” Elena said. “I never thought about competing.
Though
I’m
not too confident about this teacher.
She seems….nice.” Elena hoped the teacher knew what she was doing. Elena needed all the help she could get.

“Of course, for those with more experience, there are plenty of solo parts available as well. We will run through these at the end of the class.”

Frankie grasped Elena’s hand anxiously.

“Go for it Frankie! I get stage fright when I sing on my own, so I’ll just support you from back here,” Elena said.

“But there are so many seniors here.”

“So what?
You
have
nothing to lose.”

“Oh, oh, one last thing before we get started,” Ms Lazowski said, “I’d like to introduce our band. Over on drums, we have Veronika McCleod.” The choir cheered.

“What?!?”
Elena hadn’t even noticed Veronika sitting behind the drums, grinning. Veronika curled her bobbed hair around her ears and waved at their shocked faces. Elena couldn’t believe the introverted person she had met in class was playing drums for the show choir
.

“Our guitarist, Raymond”
-
more cheers
-
“and our accompanist and arranger, a very talented junior, Jay Washington.”
The cheers were deafening for him. “Jay will also be writing some originals for us as part of his major project.” More whistles and cheers.

Elena joined in the cheering, trying to see the last person, hidden from her view by the heads of her peers. Once she caught a glimpse, Elena gasped. Well hello, Jay.

“Pick your mouth up, Elena. You’re
drooling
,” Frankie said as she poked her. In that moment, she noticed every detail. His honeycomb
-
colored skin was framed by short tight curls. His smile revealed perfect white teeth with a warmth that could melt ice
,
and a small silver stud in his right ear reflected the light and gave him that slightly rebellious edge. Standing, he was still mostly hidden by the piano, but Elena had seen everything she needed to. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, so as they began rehearsing Elena struggled to concentrate on her part.

“E-le-
na
, can you try and keep in tune?” a loud voice proclaimed
,
drawing Elena’s attention away from Jay as all the students stared. She looked around to see who would possibly be so rude.
Of course.
How could have she missed her?
Letitia.
Damn it!
Elena faked a cough and pointed to her throat. Frankie covered her face with her hands, cringing.

“Who would like to audition for a lead part?” A few hands went up, including Frankie’s. “Come down here with your music. Everyone else
take
a short break,” Ms Lazowski said. Letitia strolled to the front of
the line
confidently.

Elena went down to speak to Veronika.

“Having fun?” she asked her.

“You bet!”

“So drums?”

“Just one of those things I do. One of my dad’s clients at legal aid gave me his old drums as a present a couple of years back. I
haven’t stopped since.
I
t makes me
feel powerful making so much noise,” she replied, hitting the cymbals. Ms Lazowski jerked up involuntarily but said nothing.

“Everyone, please sit back down and let’s support all those auditioning!” Ms Lazowski said. Elena left Veronika and went back to her seat.

Frankie was the first one in the group of ten. Elena paid close attention while her friend gave an animated rendition of “Somebody to Love,” from the Musical
We Will Rock You
. Elena cheered loudly.

Frankie came and sat down next to Elena, trying to hide her anxiety.

“That was fantastic, Frankie! Wish I could sing like that!” Elena said, squeezing her shoulder.

One after one, singers showed their stuff.

“These people are great!” Elena said to Frankie. “But you were just as good! I’d be grateful to even make the competition group.”

Last up was Letitia. She stood in the center of the room with confidence. She held the microphone close to her mouth and glared at Elena before turning to Jay, giving him a warm smile and singing.

Elena’s jaw dropped. “Oh my God,” she whispered to Frankie. It was the most amazing voice she’d ever heard.

When Letitia finished, people stood, cheering. Elena slumped further into her seat. Letitia bowed, though Elena doubted there was any humility in it. Elena looked to the heavens. If Letitia could sing like this, what was her acting like?

“Why aren’t you standing?” Frankie said. “She was amazing!”

“Yeah, she was,” Elena said. Crap!

“We definitely have at least one soloist,” Ms. Lazowski declared to more cheers. Many of the students went down to congratulate Letitia personally. Elena stayed where she was, pouting. Veronika looked at Elena and tilted her head towards Letitia. Elena shook her head though she knew congratulating her would have been the mature thing to do.

Ms. Lazowski tried to keep order. She clapped her hands loudly. “Quiet! Quiet!” But the students ignored her, too excited b
y
what they had heard. “Um, class is dismissed,” she shouted. “See you all next week!”

The class slowly dispersed as students left or went down to congratulate Letitia.

As the crowd thinned, Elena forced herself to get out of her seat and approach Letitia. She didn’t think there was a reason they had to be enemies.
It had already gone too far.

“Not bad,” Elena said to Letitia, offering her hand in congratulations.

“Letitia slapped her hand away. “Not bad? Come on
.
But then coming from someone who can’t sing in tune, I guess it’s a compliment.”

Two students standing beside Letitia giggled.

“You know, show choir isn’t for everyone,” Letitia continued.

“Open entry,” Elena retorted.
White flag was gone.

“Lucky they audition for the competition choir.”

“You can’t stop me being in the choir.”

Letitia placed her hands in her hips and curled her lips. “I can stop you making the competition choir.”

This time, Letitia probably wasn’t talking out of her ass. Damn it. Elena gritted her teeth in her frustration. This time, she knew to keep her mouth shut.
So much for a fun choir.
  Looks like Letitia had no intentions of letting that happen.

As Elena moved away, the chatter resumed and she headed towards Veronika. Frankie glared at her.

“What?” Elena said.

“Can’t you play nice
for once?”

“I was!”

Frankie huffed and went down to speak to Letitia.

She turned to Veronika, her arms crossed. “Guess that wasn’t such a great idea.”

“Are you kidding? She sounds like she wants to be best friends.”

“Let’s get out of here!”

“Sure, just need to put my drums away. Can you give me a hand?”

Elena picked up the cymbals that Veronika gave her and squeezed past the crowd to put them away. As she did, she accidentally bumped into something solid, dropping the cymbals with a loud clatter.

“I’m so sorry,” a deep sexy voice said. She looked up, straight into Jay’s golden eyes.
Her palms were sweating and she momentarily lost her ability to speak, taking a sharp intake of breath.

“
My fault.
I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she mumbled. He smiled broadly as he handed her the cymbals, brushing her hand gently. Elena felt a jolt of electricity. He moved back towards the piano while Elena stood motionless, following him with her eyes.

“Hey! Earth to Elena,” Veronika said as she prodded Elena with the drumsticks.

Elena gulped

“Oh no.
This isn’t good. We need to go now!”

She grabbed the cymbals from Elena and put the last of her drum kit away before pulling
Elena by the shirt to drag her out.

Alone, out in the courtyard, Veronika shook Elena. “Snap out of it!”

“He’s so beautiful!”

“No, no
no
! Don’t even think about it!”

Elena shook her head. “Of course someone like that probably has a million girlfriends. What would he want with me?”

“He has a girlfriend,” Veronika told her.

“Really?
How do you know?”

Veronika simply tilted her head. 

“Forget him.”

“Right!
I have too many other things to think about. I need make sure I get lead in the play and work on my dance technique. I don’t have time for this crap!” But God she wanted to feel that tingle again.

“What’s the lowdown on that Letitia chick anyway?” Elena asked.

“Letitia Washington.
Freshman.
Runner-up in
the teen version of
The Voice
last year.
Expecting to get a record
deal
in the next year but parents want her to graduate. Also models part-time.”

“No wonder she has such an attitude. She’s practically made it already. How was she going to compete with that?

“Oh, so is she
,
um
,
Jay’s girlfriend?”

“Elena! I thought you weren’t going to think about him.”

“They seemed tight, that’s all.”

“Actually, she’s his sister.” Veronika answered. “His girlfriend actually transferred to a school in Los Angeles.” Shame he had a girlfriend, though it was long distance. Double shame he had to be related to
her.

“The show choir competition should be interesting,” Veronika said. “Think you’ll get in?”

“Um, I have no false hopes about that
,
Roni
. I might rethink this whole show choir thing! Supposedly Ms. Lazowski is the teacher, but Letitia’s clearly in charge.”

“Come on—”

“Dealing with Letitia is one thing. Dealing with Letitia and her whole
frickin
’ fan club is another! Anyway, singing isn’t really my thing,” Elena said, shuffling her feet.

“
Seriously?
You can’t let her get to you
.
Besides, don’t you want to watch me play drums?”

Or watch Jay play piano. Hmm, now that was something she definitely didn’t want to miss. Damn that bitch!

Six

It was Sunday and Elena was meeting Frankie and Leon at Sebastien’s house for their audition rehearsals. She rang the doorbell and heard footsteps quickly coming the down the hallway.

“Hey Elena.
You’re the first one,” Sebastien said. He was dressed in loose khaki cargo pants and a black linen shirt, two buttons open at the top.

Elena walked in confidently, a regular at his house. On the right, the wooden floor hallway led to a modern living room framed by two black leather sofas. A simple coffee table usually rested between them on a colorful rug but had been moved to the side. Elena’s eyes rested over her favorite artwork in his house
—
an abstract piece that was a mixture of electric blue, pink and black.

“Is your family out?” Elena asked.

“Yes! Mom took Gaby and Rachel out for the day. My dad’s lecturing in Paris.
Drink?”

“Sure.” Elena followed Sebastien into the pristine white kitchen, passing the elegant dining room on the way. A fresh bunch of flowers had been set on the timber table, blending with the green upholstery on the eight chairs around it.  Behind that, was the staircase leading to the bedrooms.

“Cranberry OK?”

“Sure
.”

As he poured the drink, the doorbell rang again.

“I’ll get that. Take a seat
,
El
. Y
ou’re making me nervous walking around the house.”