Tears of Queens

7 - Tala

The next morning, there was a knock on the door as I got ready for dance again. Nabil opened the door and I heard Wyatt's voice through my bedroom door as he asked about me. Shortly after, there was a knock on my door and Wyatt let himself in.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked, sitting at my desk as I packed my dance bag for the day.

"I'm good," I replied.

"Have you eaten?"

"I promise I have. Can we just go now?" I was feeling oddly aggravated.

"Sure." he shrugged, and we left the apartment. We took the elevator to the lobby and made our way down Main Street.

When we got to the studio, we rushed upstairs to get ready for our individual solo rehearsals. I made sure my knee brace was secure before grabbing my water and heading downstairs into another studio, Wyatt going into the upstairs one.

I entered the studio right after Emmy, who was choreographing my solo. She was connecting her laptop to the speakers as I got myself warmed up and ready. She turned around to face me.

"So, I reviewed the song options you gave me, and I think this is gonna be the best one," she played Oxytocin by Billie Eilish and we started to choreograph.

An hour and a half later, I was back up in the homework room with Wyatt, changing into my pointe shoes for our duo rehearsal.

"Bro, your shoes look amazing! When did you get them?" our friends Minseo and Sasha entered the room, the latter instantly spouting her praise for my shoes.

"I dunno, like, three weeks ago? Something like that," I had to think about it.

"Damn. They do look great." Sasha added as none other than Anna Saccone walked in. I rolled my eyes.

"What looks good?" she asked, feigning ignorance.

"Tala's shoes,"

"Eh." Anna shrugged and gave me an insufferably smug look. I groaned and left the room for my rehearsal, glad to get away from Anna. She hated me for no logical reason. I wasn't even a better dancer than her! And I always supported her, back when she was on the competitive team. But she just quit out of nowhere, went to Europe for the summer, and then she came back acting like she was better than everyone else. I hated people like her.

I waited outside the studio for Wyatt to finish his rehearsal, watching his final run-through and applauding when he finished.

"That was so good!" I exclaimed, walking into the studio and putting my water bottle on the windowsill as his choreographer, Shannon, left the room. I sat down with Wyatt as he pulled on his black ballet shoes and our next choreographer, Danielle, came in.

"Hi, guys! Tala, could you go put on one of the practice tutus?" Danielle asked me as she set her things down. I nodded and ran to the corner of the room, where all the tutus were stored. I found a white practice tutu beneath the stack of Nutcracker tutus and pulled it on before walking back to the center of the room, beaming like a kid in a candy store.

"You really like those tutus, don't you?" Wyatt chuckled and shook his head. I nodded, exaggerating my movements.

~

After dance, Wyatt and I walked to his house for dinner. His mom invited me, my brother, and our mom over. She invited our dad, too, but he was busy at work, flying planes. The plan was for Wyatt and I to walk over and then my family would come over a bit later. Wyatt unlocked the front door and we went inside, taking off our shoes as we set our bags down on the stairs.

Wyatt called out for his mom in Mandarin, and she turned the corner from the kitchen into the hallway we were standing in.

"Tala! Come in, la!" She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and ushered me inside.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Ms. Yu?" I asked her.

"Ah, no! Sit, sit! I'll cook, you two relax!"

Wyatt and I took to the couch and he asked me quietly, "Do you want to take a shower?" Very considerate of him, considering I was complaining about being sweaty on the warm and humid walk home. I nodded. He asked his mom something in Mandarin. I loved the way it sounded coming from his mouth, in his beautiful, silvery voice. She turned to me and replied in English.

"Tala, you can go shower in Wyatt's bathroom. He'll bring you some clothes." she offered.

"Oh, thanks!" I grabbed my dance bag and followed Wyatt up the stairs to his bathroom. I waited while he got me a towel, then I disappeared into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

When I emerged from my shower, wrapped in a towel, I saw a set of Wyatt's clothes laying on the counter. After I had gotten dressed and dried my hair to the best of my ability, I took my bag downstairs and sat back down on the couch, resting my head on my best friend's shoulder, reading his text messages over his shoulder.

"Who're you talking to?" I asked in a sing-song voice.

"Leo," he responded, smiling slightly to himself. My phone rang in my pocket with a call from my mom.

"Hi Mamaan!" I answered.

"Tala Joon, when do we need to be there?" she asked me.

"Hold on, let me ask," I turned toward the kitchen. "Ms. Yu, what time should my family get here?" I called out.

"Ah, dinner is ready in thirty minutes, so before then." she told me. I thanked her and put the phone back to my ear.

"Dinner's ready in half an hour, so like fifteen, twenty minutes, maybe?"

"Okay, see you soon!" my mom hung up after we said our goodbyes and, fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. Wyatt shot up and ran to the door to answer it, making me giggle.

"Hi Wyatt Jaan, it's good to see you," my mom greeted him with a smile and a hug. She took her shoes off and came further inside to greet me, and then into the kitchen to say hi to Ms. Yu as Nabil took his shoes off and joined us inside.

"Feng, call your sister." Ms. Yu told Wyatt. Feng was his Chinese name, his mom very rarely called him that. He made sure his mom couldn't see him roll his eyes, then went to the foot of the stairs.

"Hanna! They're here!" she shouted up the stairs. I heard Hanna sigh and make her way down the stairs. Once she was downstairs, however, and she saw my brother, she suddenly cheered up. She'd had a crush on my brother since their sophomore year, and she was really bad at hiding it. I'm pretty sure she even had a boyfriend.

I never understood what she saw in my brother. I mean, yeah, he's tall and has a low voice, but that's pretty much all he had going for him. His curly hair was down to his shoulders and it was always either not brushed or haphazardly thrown into a low ponytail. He had a small mustache on his top lip, but he always shaved it. He only ever wore t-shirts or hoodies, either black or the one pink hoodie he owned, and sweatpants or basketball shorts, either black or gray. Only rarely would he wear anything else. And he always wore the same pair of Air Jordans. He was not a visually appealing person. I guess some people would find him funny, and I did on occasion, but he wasn't consistently funny. And he wasn't that nice, either. He gave some really good insults. Hanna and Ella must be delusional to like him. And yes, I am saying that solely because he's my brother. No one else gets to say that.