Behind the Curtain

Chapter One

My eyes shot open as I reached for my alarm, hitting it to be quite. First twisting my back, feeling the ripples of cracks down my spine, then I twist my hips making each pop twice. I bend and straighten my legs feeling my knees adjust and I roll through my foot making a perfect pointe. I feel my ankles crack, along with all ten toes, I sit up slowly, rolling my neck feeling each muscle wake up. After my neck is cracked, I roll my shoulders, each popping happily along with my fingers. I looked out my window and saw white puffy cloud filled, blue sky. I rolled out of bed with frown on my face.

I glanced at the corner of my room, where there were two suitcases packed, waiting for the day when my sister came back to get all of her old things. Today was the tenth anniversary of the day she left.  I ignored it though, and pushed through; today was my supposed to be my day. But I teared up as I saw my calendar hanging on my wall, today’s date, September 28th.  My sixteenth birthday. I ran down stairs to find my mom, dad, and brother at the kitchen table.

“Happy birthday!” My parents yelled in unison, smiling brightly. I nodded and had a soft smile that slowly slipped off.

“Awful day today, isn’t it?” I asked my family sadly.

Jonah looked out the window confused, “Awful, sister darling!” He said in his best girly voice, trying to make me laugh. Normally it would work, but today, nothing could brighten my mood. He was eighteen, and actually a really good brother. Normally people my age just complain about their older brothers, but mine’s perfect. I ran over to where he was standing and engulfed him in a huge hug, one that I needed so bad at the moment. “Happy birthday, Manda.”

“I love you Jo,” I smiled, as he squirmed of my embrace. I patted his head as he sat down.

“You’re grumpy today.” My dad said pouring my coffee into a mug. I grabbed it from him and took a big gulp. “Why’s that?” He knew what day this was. I could tell that as all he was thinking about was Nina.

I looked over at my mom, who was sadly smiling secretly at me. She knew exactly why I was so sad, out of everyone in my family, I was the closest to Nina, and took it the hardest when she left. I turned to my dad, “No reason.” At that moment I heard a knock on the door, I ran to get it. I opened it to see Collins. “By mom, bye dad. See you at school Jo Jo!” I yelled back to my family as I closed the door leaving with Collins.

We got inside his car and he leaned over for a kiss, I saw him coming and turned my head so he got my cheek. He muttered something once he pulled away and turned on the radio. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Collins, he had been my boyfriend for almost a full month now, but I wasn’t ready for that yet.

“So,” he adjusted the radio’s volume so I was able to hear him, “Have you taken your permit test yet?”

I shook my head, “No. Collins you know I don’t know how to drive yet.”

“So? You can still get your permit, and at least start to learn.” He looked over at me when we got to his parking spot at school, “Tell you what, how about after school today, I take you driving, or take you to get your permit?”

I looked over at him, “Come on, Collins. You know I can’t. I have dance.”

“That’s the thing though. Why is it so important to you?” He said semi-calmly.

“No, Collins. You don’t understand. Today is different, I just can’t.” I felt my heart throb as I thought about her, but I pushed it away.

“Then tell me why! You don’t trust me with anything! I never see you; you’re my girlfriend, Amanda! It’s like you just don’t trust me, at all. You can’t tell me why you are so strongly connected to dance in such a way that you will never miss a single day!” Collins yelled angrily at me. I looked away from him, and started to explain but he cut me off, “You know why I get so mad about this kind of stuff? It’s because almost every day I ask you to hang out, almost every weekend I ask you to hang out, but you can’t because you have dance! I get that you want to become a dancer and all but when are you going to be a teenager for once? I just need someone who tells me how they feel, someone who I can talk to. Amanda, I need someone who I can show off to all my friends at a party, a girl who will be there for me and comfort me when I need it. I need someone who will trust me enough to talk to me!”  I was silent. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.” He pleaded.