School for the Arts II Chloe Lukasiak

Chapter 8 {Nutcracker Days}

The Nutcracker cast list was about to be posted. Paige and I along with all the other dancers were crowded around the school bulletin board while all of the other students gave them odd looks. Nobody understood what a dancer goes through before a cast list is posted.... the torture, and when it finally is posted the joy, or the heartbreak.

Ms. Abby walked out of the dance studios hurrying toward all of us. She pushed through the crowd of eager girls and boys and pinned the freshly printed list to the large board.

"I hope you'll all be pleased with your parts. Remember there are no small parts, only small dancers!" Abby reminded us.

Everyone laughed on her bad play on "there are no small parts, only small actors," because frankly there were small parts and everyone knew it.

Kalani made it through the crowd first and put her finger on the list of roles. 

"OMG!!!!!! I'm not Clara!!!" She cried. "It's a tragedy!"

"Oh my gosh, she was a shoe in for Clara. If Kalani's not Clara, then who is?" Paige puzzled. All of a sudden, she turned to look at me with a ear-to-ear grin on her face.

"No -- there's no possible way that I'm.... Clara." I stated in disbelief.

Paige and I began to push through the crowd and after about 5 minutes we made it to the cast list.

'Look's like it's you, kid." stated Paige in a fatherly tone. "You've got it."

~     ~     ~     ~     ~

That night was absolutely horrible. It seemed like I was the center of attention throughout the whole entire campus. Non-dancers, who I didn't even know asked me to dance for them or do some "weird flexible person trick."

After dinner and study hall, I headed to the dorm, by myself. Paige was off with some boy at the coffee shop. In the week and a half since at been at The American School for the Arts, I'd learned that Paige was a bit boys crazy, to say the least. 

As I crossed the quad I ran in to the cute boy from my first day of classes. He was sitting at one of the many park benches surronding the fountain. He looked sad.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked as I walked toward him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He looked up at me. "Just being silly."

"Sure..." I said back, as I sat down next to him.

"So, what's up with you Clara?" He questioned me.

"It's um... Chloe actually. Chloe Lukasiak."

"Ben. Ben Washer."

"Nice to meet you Ben Washer." I said. "Wait -- aren't you playing the Nutcracker?"

"Yup."

"I guess will be seeing a lot of each other then...."

"You bet. See you later... Clara!" He got up and walked towards the boys' dorm, never looking back.

Authors' Note: Next update is Wednesday! Hope you all are enjoying it so far!!!