Page 4 of Text Me A Kiss

Chapter Two

Kady

“Stop!”

Ellen’s authoritative voice stopped all five of us in our tracks, and for just a brief second, we looked like mannequins in a ballet store.Was it me?

“Lucy, your form still isn’t correct in that last combination. Try it again and tighten your core this time.”

No, not me—Lucy again. Ellen had called Lucy out for bad form on this particular combination twice today already, and I could practically feel the displeasure radiating from the set of her perfectly-groomed brows and iciness in her blue eyes.

We took up our positions and waited. The music started, and we threw ourselves into the movements.

“Stop,” Ellen said again, shaking her head as the music cut off. “Kady, your form is excellent. Please demonstrate the combination for Lucy.”

I took up the correct starting position immediately, but internally, I winced at the veiled glare I received from Lucy. As during the last four times we’d gone through these steps, I executed them flawlessly, my body perfectly in tune with the classical piece that soared from the hidden sound system.

“See the difference between you and Kady?” Ellen asked, taking up the starting position herself. “You’re doing well up until—”

I followed Ellen intently with my eyes, but my mind shut out her comparison of my good form to Lucy’s poor one. Lucy nodded intermittently, her expression unreadable beneath her immaculate makeup, and she ignored the apologetic gaze I tried to give her once or twice.

Oh well. Lucy had never liked me, but this was the first time I’d been asked to demonstrate anything for her. She’d probably hate me now, but that wasn’t my problem.

We went through that last routine one more time, then the practice ended as the large clock on the wall struck 3:45. Lucy immediately disappeared into the dressing room, clearly determined to escape both my presence and Ellen’s critical talks that could last for half an hour after practices.

Sighing, I winced at the slight soreness in my abdomen as I sat on one of the benches around the walls.

“Practice was a killer today.” My best friend Olivia plopped down beside me, working at the laces of her pointe shoes.

“At least we have a break for the rest of today. I need to clean… everything,” I admitted.

“At least it’s all your mess,” Olivia muttered, brushing a tiny strand of out-of-place hair behind her ear.

“Lindsey still giving you problems?” My newly freed toes wiggled comfortably in the cool air of the studio and I set my pointe shoes beside me on the padded bench.

“She’s not too bad, she’s just kind of a slob. And she wakes me up every night coming back late. And she plays music loudly in our room. And—”

“But ‘she’s not too bad’,” I echoed playfully.

“Okay, she’s kind of bad. Can we change now that Lucy’s gone?” Olivia pointed at the mane of blonde hair that had just swept out of the dressing room and out of the studio.

“Yup,” I said, popping the ‘p’. “I’m glad that Ellen decided to make Thursday rehearsals even more awkward.” My wavy chocolate-brown hair tickled my shoulders as I let it down from the tight ballet bun.

“No one who goes to this school got here by being afraid of criticism,” Olivia pointed out. “Lucy’s just jealous. Or stressed, maybe. She’ll get over it.”

“I guess.”

Sensing my mood, my friend changed the subject. “So, is your dad still coming to visit?”

“Yeah, in about three weeks.”

“Well, don’t sound so excited.”

“I am excited. It’s just—well, I wish I could visit him instead, you know?”

“Oh.”

Olivia knew better than anyone the homesickness I had struggled with during my first semester at The Juilliard School. The change hadn’t been a massive one; I’d only moved from Chicago, Illinois—a big city—to New York City, which was still a big city. I still danced every day, my best friend and I could still hang out at a moment’s notice, and my own two legs could still take me almost everywhere I needed to go. But…