Unpredictable (A Dance Story)

Chapter 29

"Ella, honey, did you sleep at all?"

Mrs. Almes flipped on the light of the guest room and I instantly threw the covers off, looking at the Inspire School of Dance sweatpants, tanktop, and jacket folded neatly on the dresser.

Ignoring her question, I asked one of my own. "Is it too early to call and see what happened to my grandpa?"

"Your mom will call when she knows anything," Mrs. Almes answered.

I sighed and grabbed the outfit, seeing myself in the mirror. Uh oh.

"Can I take a shower?" I asked.

"Be quick. We have a long drive ahead of us."

I nodded and took the outfit into the bathroom with me.

When we got to the dance studio, everyone seemed half-asleep. I was wide awake, though, even without caffeine in my system.

"Ella?" Asked a tentative voice. I turned around and barely recognized Holden before he pulled me into a big hug.

"I'm sorry about your grandpa," he mumbled into the top of my head.

I didn't say anything. He hadn't hugged me for the longest time. I held tighter with my one arm, deciding that I'd missed being so close to Holden. I was disappointed when he pulled away, but gave a half-hearted smile. That seemed to make him happy.

"We might be cutting it close," Miss Sarah said with a sigh when we were all on the bus, looking pale. "It's my fault, though. I'm feeling a little sick, and it was hard to get up."

She was quiet for a second, then continued speaking. "Girls, you might want to do your makeup on the bus, just in case."

I turned to Abbie, who had the window seat beside me. "Wake me up when we're doing makeup," she said sleepily, propping her pillow against the window and closing her eyes.

I stared at the seat in front of me, eyes wide. There was no way I was falling asleep. This would be a long ride.

***

I closed my eyes as Abbie expertly applied eyeliner. I could feel the pencil on my eyelid as she thickened the lines and extended them out in a dramatic cat-eye. The bus hit a bump, and Abbie's hand slipped. She swore under her breath and started searching for makeup remover and a Q-tip. I kept my eyes closed, dozing off.

"Hey! Let me see. Ella!"

I opened my eyes with a start, blinking. "I'm up!"

She raised her eyebrows. "Please tell me you're not tired now. You could have slept this whole time. You can NOT be tired now."

"No," I mumbled, "I'm just resting my eyes."

She pressed her hand against her forehead and groaned. "You realize that you're really dumb sometimes, right?"

"Right."

"Close your eyes."

"Okay."

We spent the rest of the ride perfecting our stage makeup, getting help for Abbie's eyes. I could do most of Abbie's makeup myself, but neither of us trusted me to do her eyeliner or mascara. We were all finished by the time we pulled into the performing center, everyone filing out of the bus and splitting up to find the dressing rooms. Miss Sarah had forgotten to reserve a private dressing room for the whole studio, so we were split up by gender.

"I need to mark my duet with Tristan!" Abbie groaned, annoyed.

"Go practice out in the lobby," I replied, stifling a yawn.

"What do you think I'm trying to do!?" She demanded.

"I never know what you're trying to do when you get all PMS-y."

She shot me a glare, tapping her phone impatiently. It suddenly lit up and she sighed. "Finally. Took him longer to get ready than I did."

I glanced at my own phone, but there was nothing. No missed calls, messages, or anything. I felt a ping of worry. Shouldn't they know something by now?

I followed Abbie into the lobby, where she chewed Tristan's ear off about how unprepared they were. I knew she was only being like this because she was nervous, but it was still pretty annoying.

"No, we can't just mark that lift!" She cried, "I need to practice it! I don't even know if you can lift me up anymore! What if I gained weight since the last time we practiced!?"

"I'm sure you gained so much weight since Thursday," Tristan replied, rolling his eyes.

"Tristan, be careful! Lift me more from my back or I'll get ticklish and fall and it'll be all your fault and - eeeeee!"

Tristan had jabbed her side while she was talking, and now he was violently tickling her.

"Stop - Tristan - You - Little - " she gasped, spouting insulting names. I couldn't help but smile, especially when Abbie let out an embarrassing snort of laughter. He finally stopped and she hit the side of his head with the heel of her palm, her face cherry-red.

"Ow," Tristan complained, shaking his head of dark curly hair.

"You kinda deserved that one," I remarked.

I went into the auditorium when their dance came on. This was the last competition before Nationals, so everyone was out to impress. I couldn't blame Abbie for being so nervous. Their duet was amazing, though, and so different from any of the other duets. They both knew how to rock a hip hop dance, and it showed in their performance. I stood and made tons of noise when it was over.

When it was my turn to be up on stage, I panicked. I usually didn't bring anything with me backstage, but I clutched my phone up until the last second, looking for any sign of my grandpa's recovery. When they called my name, that brought me back to reality. I put the phone down and stepped out of my sweatpants, then hurried to my beginning position. When they started the music, I knew not stretching and being tired and worried was about to hit me. I couldn't hold my tilt, so I came out of it and did a pencil turn.

From there on out, I relied solely on stage presence. My dancing was off, I was barely flexible enough, and I saved myself from embarrassing stumbles multiple times. I bit my lip to keep from crying on stage, but near the end of the dance, I couldn't help but shed a couple of frustrated tears. If it wasn't such a sad dance, I would have been in lots of trouble.

"What happened?" Miss Sarah asked, putting an arm around my shoulder and walking me away from the stage.

"I just choked," I replied.

She sighed. "Ella, dear. That's the second time you've 'choked' during a dance this season."

I looked down at my bare feet. I was ashamed.

Sure enough, during awards, I placed 4th with my solo. I was pretty sure half of the points were for my intense emotion, and the other half were for being a one-armed dancer. Tristan was below me in 5th place (he got nervous during his solos), some girl from another studio got 3rd, Holden placed 2nd, and Abbie won 1st overall with her solo piece. Abbie and Tristan placed 1st with their duet. The junior team won 1st overall for groups, with my choreography. Regardless, Miss Sarah was less than thrilled.

I got back to the dressing room without people stopping me or asking for pictures. I guess they knew I wasn't in the mood, plus my performance wasn't up-to-par. When I saw the message on my phone though, none of that mattered.

"Grandpa will be okay - Call when you get this."

I sighed and dialed my dad's cell number, waiting for someone to pick up.

"Ella! How'd it go?"

"Horrible, never mind that, what about Papa?"

"He'll be just fine. He has a defibrillator now, just in case anything like that happens again."

"Can I talk to him?" I asked.

Dad sighed. "Afraid not, Kiddo. He needs a bit of rest time. You'll stay with Mrs. Almes again and I'll pick you up and bring you to the hospital when you're allowed to visit."

"Okay," I said, "But when he wakes up, tell him I love him."

"Will do, girlie."

The phone disconnected and I felt a real smile tug at my lips. He'd be just fine.

***

So. I won a contest :D

I literally screamed!

And more exciting news: I've got a NEW new story idea. Forget the fairy tale thing! I'm writing the first chapter and it should be up within the week. It's not about dance, but it has a lot of music and singing. Please check it out!

<3

~HalleBallet