Backstage

Chapter 5

****Erin****

During the entire weekend, I find it hard to find myself calm. What will be Victoria's decision?
On Monday morning I head to school as always and attend my classes normally even if I can't help but wonder what it is that they decided. Luke and I decided that we would meet each other outside the cafeteria during recess so that we could both head to the auditorium from there. When the bell rings, I head to the cafeteria as if I was programmed to. And at the sight of Luke, I also begin to realize what we're going to do at the auditorium and I start to get nervous.
"You ready?" Luke says with a smile on his face.
"Yeah," I hold both of my thumbs up and smile back at him nervously.
We start walking in the same direction.
"You're nervous," Luke says.
"Does it show much?" I ask.
"Erin, you're almost pale."
"More than usual?"
Luke nods.
I giggle.
"Look," he says. "I may not have seen you at the audition, but I know you did it really well."
"Thanks," I smile at him. "I'm sure you did too."
He smiles back.
"And... That made me feel a lot better."
"I'm glad it did," he replies.
We arrive at the auditorium and Luke opens the door for me to get in. He closes the door behind him and we go behind the stage.
"Hello?" I call when we're going up to the stairs before reaching the curtain.
I see the familiar room with the mirror and the red walls and Victoria sitting in the chair with the Twins, Henry, and Aiden standing behind her. I also see another boy, whose eyes are fixed on me. He has brown hair and green eyes, a bit darker than mine, and is also tall.
"Ah!" Victoria stands up and let's her golden locks fall behind her back in a perfect way. "We were expecting you."
She has a smile on her face, so that's a good sign.
"Adam," she turns to him. "Do you mind joining them?"
"Sure," he says.
Adam walks next to both of us and stands still. Then Victoria takes a few steps closer to us and claps her hands together.
"Who wants to go first?" She asks with a rather sly smile on her face.
"How about the ladies?" Henry says smiling towards me.
"Fair enough," Victoria says. "Erin, please step up."
I take a few steps forward until Victoria gives a slight nod with her head and holds a paper in front of her.
"In rhythm you got 10/10, same as in voice, beat, and synchronization. For security, you got a 9/10. In other words, you made the club."
"Really?" I say between a sigh of relief.
"Yeah!" The twins say.
"Congratulations, sweetie," Henry says when he walks toward me.
"Thank you so much!" I say happily. Haley hugs me after that.
"Welcome to the club," she says.
"Thanks!" I say.
I see Victoria smiling at me until she switches the papers in her hand.
"Alright," she says. "Adam, please come up here."
He takes a step forward and then my eyes drift over to Luke. He smiles sweetly and mouths the word "congratulations" to me. I mouth back the words "thank you" and then we focus back on Victoria.
"You also made the club," Victoria says and immediately the twins start to celebrate.
"Your scores were all 9/10," Victoria continues, "so that just guarantees that you have enough talent to be in our beloved dance club."
Right then, Adam's facial expression turns into a smirk and the Twins go up to him to congratulate him the way they did to me.
"And finally Luke!" Riley says.
"Yeah, he's the only one left." Victoria says. "Luke, please."
Luke does so a bit nervously. I smile at him to reassure him and instantly he becomes a bit more calm.
"Well, Luke," Victoria begins. "Your scores were--"
"Forget the scores!" Haley yells out.
"You also made the club!" Riley continues.
Luke lets out a relieved laugh. I run up to him and hug him.
"You made it!" I say.
He starts to spin me around. "Thanks!"
We both laugh a bit and then we break the hug.
"Okay," Victoria says. "Congratulations to the three of you. I must admit, you really amazed me. I'm sure that the members of this team are just as happy as I am to have you be a part of our dance club."
I smile at her while she makes a slight pause between her speech.
"Now, tomorrow we're going to have to meet here again after school," she continues. "I'm sure all of you can make it."
"Yeah," I say. "We'll be here."
"Alright," she replies. "Tomorrow when we're all together, I'll tell you some up coming events we'll work on, okay?"
I nod along with Luke and Adam.
"Okay," Victoria says. "You're free to spend the recess however you like. I'll see you back here tomorrow after school."
"And don't you forget it!" The twins say together.
Before I know it, Victoria and the twins have disappeared behind the walls. They probably already left the whole auditorium.
Luke comes up to me with a hand placed at the back of his neck.
"Hey," he says. "Thanks for... Uh... Congratulating me the way you did."
He has a slight shade of red spread across his cheeks and his nose.
"Don't get too excited, rook," Henry's voice invades the room. "It was happiness. It doesn't mean you two have anything going on."
"W-What?" Luke says with the shade of red turning into a deeper scarlet.
Henry starts to chuckle. "Hey, calm down, man. It was just a joke!"
Luke giggles nervously.
"It's nice that the three of you made it," Henry says.
"Thanks, Henry," I say.
He puts his left arm around my shoulders. "Do you mind if we get together some time tonight?"
"What?" Luke says at exactly the same time as I do.
Henry smirks. "What do you say?"
"I gotta say no," I say with a smile. "I got some studies to catch up on."
"Alright," Henry says. "I'll see you tomorrow, sweetie."
He leaves the room leaving me alone with Adam and Luke.
"What was that about?" Luke asks.
"Oh, it's nothing," I say. "He behaves like that since we met."
"Don't you think he has a thing for you?" Adam says.
"Well, that's obvious," Luke says.
"Guys," I say. "He might, but I have no interest in him. By the way, nice to meet you, Adam."
"Nice to meet you," he replies.
"So..." Luke says. "There's nothing between the two of you?"
"No," I reply.
Luke sighs. "Cool."
The bell rings signaling that recess is over.
"See you," Adam says.
"Yeah," Luke replies. "See you guys later."
"Yeah," I reply.
The rest of that day, I keep thinking that I didn't react well enough. Luke was hinting that he likes me and that he's jealous of Henry.
It's just weird... I don't know how K feel for any of them.