Harlequin School for the Performing Arts

Chapter Three

Will's POV

 Back home it was always hard being a male ballet dancer. Coming from a state school where your image meant everything, I did all I could to hide it. it was in year ten, when I was fifteen that everyone found out. I was off of school one afternoon, telling everyone - aside from the school - I was going to the dentist, when really I was doing my Grade Seven ballet exam. On the register, they asked what the letter meant, an M was for medical, I had a V. So my Chemistry teacher read out the reason I wasn't in. I aced my exam, but when I got to school the next day, I felt thousands of pairs of eyes staring at me. "Is he gay?" "Oh my god, that's him, that's the gay one!" Everywhere I went there were murmurs of my sexual orientation. It came to the spring auditions for Harlequin, and I'd decided that I couldn't deal with the months of bullying I'd had for the rest of my school life. So, I auditioned for Harlequin for year eleven.

I got in.

I left the small town I was from - one of those ghastly places where you know everyone, and everyone knows you - and boarded at Harlequin for a year. Life at Harlequin has really made my life easier than it would have been staying home. They didn't even audition me for sixth form here. They offered me a place straight up, along with four other people.

It was a month into the term, and audition time. There weren't many male ballet dancers here, but the ones that were, are phenomenal dancers, there may be less entrants, but still competition. I'd initially thought that I'd do a piece from a ballet I already knew, but where's the challenge in that? I was going to choreograph my own. It took me three days - non stop choreography - to get a rough basis of what I was doing - it had a Matthew Bourne vibe though almost 100% classical ballet. I was set on adventurous, and it was going to be

"Dude!" Matty shouted at me as he burst into the studio, it had gone ten as he dropped his bag in the corner.

"Do you realise what time it is?" Drew quizzed as he strolled in on his phone.

"Guys, you know the audition's tomorrow. I have to be ready." I moaned.

"Yeah, and if you don't get to sleep, you'll be asleep in the middle." Drew countered.

"Fine. One more run through."

I'd met Matty on my first day here, he was possibly the most talented musician I knew - he could sing and play six different instruments - and one of the most talented actors in the school. He joined when he was eleven, and has been the 'Popular Guy' ever since (though now it was the most popular guy in the school, not just the year). You'd expect it, he was your typical popular kid, he was clean shaven, with his hair in a perfect spiral, sharp green eyes, and talent that ran on for miles. Drew however, was the newest member to our group, he joined this term, he was a contemporary dancer, but could also sing. Drew's what you'd call the 'Player' of the group, with his dark brown messy hair and smouldering eyes, he could get any girl he wanted. I, was the 'Sporty Guy.' Though the three of us were on the football team, I was also on the field hockey team, the swim team and the rugby team. At Harlequin we were the guys people wanted to be, or the ones they wanted to be with - though we were strict bachelors, 'ain't nobody got time for that.'

I ran through the piece a final time, and got a clap from Matty as I ended in an arabesque. I nodded to them as I hoisted my bag onto my shoulder. I bunked in with Matty, and Drew was across the corridor from us. We strolled out across the grounds to our dorm, and I collapsed into my room, passing out on my bed.

Audition time.

Pas des chat, pas des chat, assemble. Jete and detournee. I finish with my right extended to the judges, directly in the centre of stage. I bowed to them and dashed off to the side. I met Matty at the side of stage, and he patted my back and gave me a smile, I grabbed some water and my bag and took a seat in the auditorium to watch some more auditions. The ballet auditions were always first, which every single ballet student seemed to hate, they had less prep time and started to panic as we neared the deadline. I, on the other hand, embraced this, I could do my audition, and just chill out for the week, there was no classes throughout audition week due to the teachers being so occupied, and that meant extra free time for me.

"Miss Katherine Metcalfe." Miss Dubois called out. My eyes instantly flashed up, she is the reason I stayed in the auditorium instead of going to the rehearsal studio with Drew. I watched as she walked out onto the stage dressed in red, her long legs extending confidently as she walked to the centre point. "What will you be dancing for us Katherine?"

"I'll be dancing Esmeralda." She smiled as she walked off stage to pick up her tambourine.

I was impressed. Katherine was usually strictly prim and proper, without a strand of sassiness in her bones. This was bound to get us the pas de deux in the show. I leaned as she took to the corner of the stage. She smirked as the music started, and moved gracefully around the stage, hitting the tambourine on precisely the right beat every time. I sensed the performance ending, and as I relaxed into my seat a little more, satisfied with her performance, she began to fouette en pointe, staying straight in the central finishing with her leg at a full 180 degree angle hitting the tambourine. Her finishing position as slightly off centre, but I don't think anyone noticed through their astonishment. She took to her feet and curtsied at the the audience, twittering off stage.

"Your girl's a talent." Matty nudged me and winked, chuckling to himself.

"I don't have a girl man, come on, let's get out of here." I rolled my eyes and led him out of the auditorium.

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Shoutout to Sinderellah for my cover (-:-)