No list. Damn.
We were just packing up to go back to the dorms when an excited cry rang out from the far end of the room. “The list!”
I limped down the aisle to join the crowd of girls all huddled around a small sheet of paper tacked to the wall. The list contained both girls’ and boys’ names, even though the particular audition we’d just completed was girls-only. The boys took class in a different studio, and their audition was less competitive since there are so many fewer of them so they were pretty much all guaranteed roles.
The crowd was six deep in front of the soloist list, so I checked out the results for the corps first.
My eyes scanned down to the S’s:
Maya Sapp
Talia Small
Alexis Sutton
Lydia Tsai
They skipped me. They skipped me! Which could only mean one thing.
I was going to be a soloist! Sweet!
“Excuse me. Pardon me,” I said, elbowing my way to the front of the other list.
OMG! My name, right there in bold font.
Sugar Plum Fairy
Hadley Taylor
Daniela Spevak (understudy)
Me – the Sugar Plum Fairy! As a freshman! I couldn’t believe it, but there it was in black and white. I couldn’t wait to share my news.
I spun around and saw Analisa and Maya. “I’m dancing Sugar Plum!”
“No, I’m dancing Sugar Plum,” Hadley sneered, behind me.
“What do you mean?”
Analisa bit her lip. “You’re the understudy, Dani.”
I turned back to the list and checked it again. She was right. I was the understudy.
Worse yet, I was Hadley’s understudy. How could I have missed that crucial piece of info?
“That’s fantastic, Dani.” Maya threw her arms around me and enveloped me in a bear hug. “You go, girl!”
I shrugged out of her grasp and scanned the list again. My name didn’t appear anywhere other than that understudy role. It had to be a mistake.
“I’m not…performing?”
Hadley laughed. “Looks that way. Sucks to be you.”
Now I knew why dancers say “merde” instead of “good luck.” This was shit. For real.
But I wasn’t going to let anyone see me cry.
I looked at the cast list again. Maya was right – Analisa was going to be the Snow Queen. I was thrilled for her. I really was.
But why didn’t I get a role? I mean, I’m just a freshman, so I guess I shouldn’t have expected a solo. I was honored to understudy such a prestigious role at just fourteen years old, but why couldn’t I also be a Snowflake or even a girl in the party scene?
“Congrats, Hadley,” I said, pasting on my happy face. “And Ana, yay!”
After the requisite round of congratulations, I sneaked out the back with the rest of the rejects while everyone else was still chattering about the upcoming rehearsals.
Hours and hours of rehearsals that I would have to attend, even though I wouldn’t get a chance to dance in the performances. Because let’s face it. Short of a tragedy, there was no way Hadley wouldn’t be dancing.
It just wasn’t fair.
Why wasn’t I good enough? Monsieur Dmilov corrected me, so I know he saw something in my dancing that he wanted to cultivate. And just last month I danced on national TV. So it couldn’t be my dancing.
Which only left one thing.
I ran to the bathroom and threw up.
My Life as the Ugly Stepsister
by
Juli Alexander
Chapter One
Do not teach your mother to use the Internet. No good can come of it. –Ally’s Brutal Teen Truths
“What do you mean we may be moving to Seattle to live with your Internet boyfriend? That’s insane.” I glared at my mother over the half-empty pizza box. “It’s all the way across the country.”
I swear it will be a miracle if I make it through my teens without a psychiatric hospitalization. I forgot to breathe for a moment. Oh my God, I started high school in less than two weeks and she wanted to move?
My mom tried to smile, but even she knew this was not the time. “Calm down, Ally. Let me explain.”
I don’t know about you, but when people tell me to calm down, it makes me really, really want to smack them.
“You aren’t coming with me.” She lifted her paper plate and stacked it on top of mine. Mom worked long hours and doing dishes was the one thing she’d cut out for New Year’s. She’d cut out home-cooked meals when Dad left two years ago.
“What!” Even worse than uprooting me, she was totally abandoning me? Then I realized the horrible truth. “I am not living with Dad and Diane. No way.” Dread unfurled in my stomach.
Mojo, my black and tan hound, came into the kitchen to check on the ruckus. He gave Mom a curious look and slipped under the table to lie at my feet.
Mom put on her “Let’s be reasonable” face. “Now, Ally. It’s just for four months. That’s it. It’s like summer vacation. It will be over before you know it.”
I hadn’t seen this coming. Not at all. All those hours Mom spent on the phone with that guy in Seattle. I’d thought it was harmless. I’d actually believed it was good for her. “Mom, I’m sure you can find somebody here in Charlotte to date. You’re not ugly or anything.”
She flinched but obviously decided to ignore my insulting compliment. “I think Donald may be my Mr. Right. I’d really like to give this relationship a chance, but long distance just isn’t practical. I don’t want to uproot you without knowing for sure.” She ran her hand through the fresh red highlights in her brown hair. Her natural color hadn’t been good enough since the divorce.
“Why can’
t he just come here?” I was barely coping with the known, no way could I handle the unknown. “What’s so great about Seattle?”
“Donald’s worked hard to build his insurance business, Ally. He can’t just leave it. But there is always work for an experienced paralegal. I’ve already got two job offers. Besides, he’s got an apartment over the garage.”
My stomach cramped at the betrayal. She’d applied for jobs before talking to me.
Mom pressed on, “Besides, if things work out between Donald and me, I know you’d be happy there. Seattle is supposed to be beautiful. The Emerald City with evergreen trees and mountains. They say it’s just spectacular.”
“We have trees and mountains around here. People move to North Carolina all the time for the spectacular,” I mimicked Mom’s emphasis on the word, “views.”
“You could learn to ski.”
“I can ski here. In North Carolina.” I crossed my arms. “Where we live now.”
“You’ll be right on the Pacific coast.”
“We can drive to the Atlantic anytime we want.” I accidentally applied too much tension and snapped my plastic fork in half, sticking my finger. “Ow.” No blood at least. Wait a minute. Back up. She was living over his garage. Right.
“Ally, I know you’re upset,” she said, ignoring my cry of pain. “That’s why I’m asking you to stay with your dad for four months. Let me see if this relationship is worth it.”
I looked into the green eyes of the woman who’d raised me, hating her calm expression. “So you’ll forget the whole thing in four months if you don’t like him?”
“Yes.” Her shoulders relaxed a little. “I just want to give it a chance.”
“Okay. So if your relationship with this guy is like a four on a scale of one to ten, you’ll come home?”
“Yes.”
“What if it’s a six?”
“Probably.” She shrugged. “Ally, I really can’t give you any probabilities. Love is not a science.”
Love. Barf! This was all Dad’s fault for leaving Mom in the first place. Now she was dating, shaving her legs regularly, coloring her hair, and leaving me.