Love, Loathing, and Limelight

Chapter Twelve

At the end of the day, Chris and I were called into Mr. Lee's office. He told us we did an excellent job running things and asked us our opinions on who should represent the freshman class. The next day, it was Hallie and I running things. I had told Noah about her, and he said she sounds like the bad guy in a movie.

"Sara," Mr. Lee said when I walked in. "Why don't you run Hallie through the warm-ups you prepared," he instructed with a wink. I took a deep breath. I walked over to Hallie and asked her if she would come with me so I could show her the warm-ups. She stared me up and down before rolling her eyes and following me to the practice room. I showed her the warm-ups and had her do it for me to make sure she had them down.

"Yeah, that was good, except it's a side grand battement, not back," I corrected her.

"We have a lot of side stretches already. It should be a back grand battement," she said matter-of-factly. I tried to keep my cool.

"Well, it's not," I said. She stared at me like I should change it. "And I'm in charge. So it's my call," I added. She rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the day. The freshmen were already there, sitting like they were the day before.

"Okay, guys," I said with a smile. They stopped talking and sat up eagerly. "So this is Hallie, uh, do you want to introduce yourself?" I asked her. She ignored me entirely and stepped in front of me.

"I'm Hallie. I'm your assistant ballet captain, and I'm from South Korea." I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure you already know we'll be choosing a freshman captain at the end of the week. I'm looking for somebody who doesn't need my assistance. If you don't need me to help you, that shows that you can represent your class." Hallie was right about the skill part, but she never realized that you need to show potential. I could tell Hallie would go on talking, so I quickly interfered.

"But that's not all we're looking for," I said, jumping in. "Skill is important, but you also need to show potential and a good attitude. Okay, I think it's time to stretch."

I led them through the same warm-ups as the day before. I noticed Hallie was doing them wrong. Luckily most of the freshmen picked up on her toxicity. After lunch, Mr. Lee called me into his office.

"Is everything ok?" I pondered. I was nervous. Was I doing a bad job? Did something bad happen? When I asked that, he hesitated and looked confused before answering. I knew why. It was because that's not something I would have said a month ago. I had changed, and I was starting to realize it. The fact that I assumed the worst when he said he had to talk to me was strange. The old Sara would have assumed the best. But I guess I was learning that I always have something to learn.

"Everything 's great," he reassured me. Once again, the word "great" tells me how I'm doing, coming from him especially. He hesitated for a moment before talking again. "I want you to teach them The Dying Swan," he said. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that.

"On day two?" I asked forcefully. "Of freshman camp?" I reinforced.

"What? I know you know the dance," he said, smiling. "You only performed it a hundred times last year."

"But are they ready to learn it?" I asked. He chuckled and smiled at me. He walked over to the door and opened it.

"Definitely not," he said. "But I make it a rule that everyone learns something in my program, Miss Connor. And you're ready to teach it." I stood in silence, a little frustrated that he had put something like that on me. "Get to it," he said, laughing as he left the room.

"Okay," I said as I walked into a room full of students eager to start the second half of the day. I took our CD for Swan Lake off the shelf. "Everybody, go sit down on the wall." I put the CD into the CD player and set it to the right piece. I took my position on the dance floor. When the music came on, I began dancing.