The Punk and the Ballerina

Lowlife

Ari's point of view. November 2005.

My sisters weren't the only ones to put two and two together. The way Sebastian looked at me during "Serendipity", Mom shot daggers through me the rest of the event. I kept pretending I didn't know, let her think she was paranoid about nothing. But mothers truly do know their children.

Mom was uncharacteristically silent during the car ride home. Dad, Lily, and Bianca were raving about the fundraiser, mostly talking about Sinful Joy.

"That band was so cool! They need to get signed!" Bianca danced in her seat.

"I think the drummer is super cute," Lily said with hearts in her eyes. I smiled, I would have to tell Jeremy that, heal his wounded ego.

When we got to the house, Mom told Bianca and Lily to go upstairs. Dad and I exchanged a confused look. Mom pointed to the kitchen chair. I slowly sat down, I was in for a lecture.

"You're dating that singer, aren't you?" Mom asked already knowing the answer.

I looked away. My heart was beating violently in my chest, knowing Sebastian and I were about to be exposed. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him.

"Ariana Amaryllis Townsend," Mom's voice dangerously low.

"I like him a lot, Mom," my tone soft.

She paused before she answered. "And what about your dancing?"

Her concern once again was about my dancing, not if I was happy. "I'm still dancing, he's actually inspired me to dance better than ever."

Dad gently nodded but Mom's face never changed. "How long has this been going on?"

I took a ragged sigh. "Since Halloween. I really like him."

Mom's eyes lowered in fury. "No."

"No?" My heart threatened to split in two. I was worried I was going to vomit my shattered heart.

"This can't happen. You're too young for a boyfriend and you need to concentrate on school and dancing."

My worst fear was realized. I couldn't be with Sebastian. Tears pricked in my eyes, I didn't want to lose the best thing in my life. I had worked and sacrificed for my entire childhood. Why couldn't Mom let me have this one thing?

"I think that's a bit harsh, she's doing well in school and dancing—" Dad tried to defend me. It gave me a small piece of hope.

Mom wasn't hearing it. "You're too young to have a boyfriend ruin your life, especially a lowlife that's only going to drag you down with him."

Lowlife. She never spoke one word to Sebastian and thought she had him all figured out.

"Sebastian is not a lowlife. He's smart, kind, and has big dreams he's going to achieve!" I found myself shouting. I never raised my voice at my parents before, it scared me. But it felt empowering in a strange way.

But Mom was better than me at yelling. "My little girl is not going to get wrapped up by a scummy poverty case!"

Her poisonous words hung heavily in the house. I prayed my sisters were asleep, but I knew they heard every word. I stood there seething, I couldn't believe she would hit so low. I couldn't even look at her. I stomped upstairs despite her calling my name. I slammed the door to my room. I buried my face in my pillow as I sobbed angry tears.

A soft knocking was at my door. "Go away," I muffled in my tear-soaked pillow.

The door opened anyway. I never got privacy in this freaking house, I was a prisoner in this lush jail. Fortunately, it wasn't my mother, it was Bianca and Lily. They sat next to me on the bed. They said nothing as they held me. Mom and Dad were now arguing. They were yelling over each other so much it was hard to translate what they were saying.

"What are you gonna do?" Lily finally asked.

I wiped the snot on my sleeve. "I have to breakup with him. He doesn't deserve this." My revelation caused me to get worked up again. I didn't want to let Sebastian go. He made me the happiest I had ever been, I felt like I could be normal around him. But being with him would be impossible now, Mom was never going to let me out of her sight. I wish I could fast forward to graduation, get away from her and be thousands of miles away from her in New York.

"No you're not," Bianca said firmly.

I stared at her.

"Ari, do you love Sebastian?"

My anxious, terrified heart suddenly fluttered. "I do."

She held my hand. "Then you're going to stay with him. Our parents aren't going to control everything in our lives. They can't tell us who to love."

Bianca was right. Mom might've had authority over me, but I was still my own person with my own feelings. And my feelings wanted Sebastian.

"We're gonna help you stay together. You deserve to be happy," Bianca smiled.

"You deserve to have your happy ending," Lily added. "This is just the dramatic part of the story."

I sniffed. I loved my sisters.

***

Sebastian's point of view.

Our first show was a dream. The crowd loved us. As we were packing up our equipment to leave, a bunch of people kept asking us about where to find our music, we told them to find us on MySpace. I wish we had more to offer them, but until we got studio space or money to make our own merchandise, the only thing we had was our songs online. We barely got our song on the page, only achieving this by recording the song on Cody's laptop. We joked it was our live recording, as we had no way of pressing CDs or anything professional like that.

But an opportunity presented itself. A student from the university, Trevor, chatted us up for a few minutes. "I'm studying audio engineering, I'll let you guys use my home studio."

The band and I looked at each other. Finally someone with resources. "For real?"

Trevor nodded. "I like your sound. My father owns his own studio for independent and new artists, things could happen."

I was liking this guy more and more. I could give Ari a million kisses for getting us this gig. Ari. She was truly making my life better, she really did believe in me and my crazy dream. She really was my serendipity.

As I got ready for bed, I texted Ari the good news. I'm sure I made a bunch of typos, I really needed a better cellphone. But an unexpected response from her made my heart sink.

"We need to talk."