Shooting Star

Chapter 13

"From the top," Ms. Ellis said. "Natalie, I want a DEEPER plie, do you hear? You'll get around faster and you'll stay up longer. Of course, only if you keep a tight core."

"Yes Ms. Ellis," Natalie murmured.

The weeks following my hockey tournament have been absolutely awful. No joke. Janelle refused to talk to me, and I got so behind on my homework I had to skip a few hockey practices to finish it all. Needless to say, Coach Hiller was not happy.

"Our first competition is in two weeks," Ms. Ellis continued. "You all have over 10 competitive numbers. So I expect you all to be prepared."

"Positions," Ms. Ellis called.

The juniors scrambled off stage, as did the seniors. The intermediates (us) would hit the stage first.

This was the first year of our studio doing an extended line, which was basically all the full-time competitive dancers in one number. It was actually a lot of fun.

Our song was Oath by Cher Lloyd, ft. Becky G. We always had a ton of fun dancing to this song, particularly because it was a fun and catchy tune, and the choreography was absolutely phenomenal. Ms. Ellis was a great teacher. She seemed so strict these days though that it was hard to believe she was only 23.

We danced for the entire song, and once we had all hit the final ending position, I was dripping sweat.

"That's it, ladies, excellent job today!" Ms. Ellis clapped. "I just need to speak to the seniors before you go."

I grabbed my bag from the changeroom and dashed out the building before anyone had even left the studio, wanting to avoid Janelle at all costs.

I pulled my sweatpants on outside and slipped on a sweater. Now that it was almost December, it was starting to get really cold outside.

"You waiting for a ride? Natalie asked me.

"Yeah," I said.

"You wanna ride with Aly-G and I?" she asked brightly.

I thought for a moment. "Is Janelle coming with?"

“Not if you don’t want her to. Besides, she’s mad at us for siding with you,” Aly-G said, rolling her eyes.

"Cool," I said. "I'll come."

When I got into Natalie's mom's car, I dialed my mom.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's Bree," I replied.

"Bree, I may be a little late, Adrian decided to break the living room lamp today," Mom sounded exhausted.

"Mom, I'm catching a ride from Natalie's mom," I told her.

"Really? Great. Thanks Bree."

"No problem," I said. "I'll see you at home."

"Bye." The phone clicked.

"So," Aly-G began. "I was talking to Janelle today."

"About?" Natalie asked.

"I told her she was being really stupid for avoiding her best friend for over two months," Aly-G replied. "And you know what she said back?"

"That she'd forgive me?" I asked hopefully.

Aly-G snorted. "Far from it. She said, and I quote-" Aly-G made quotations with her fingers. "'I don't recall ever saying that Brianna and I were ever best friends. People made references to it, sure, but it was never said out loud. Besides, even if she were my best friend, best friends don’t abandon each other.'"

I gaped at her. "Is that for real?"

"I'm afraid so," Aly-G said sadly.

I turned pink and looked down. Natalie put her arm on my shoulder. "It'll be okay," she whispered.

I blinked hard, trying to stop the tears from leaking out. "You know, we had our Hip Hop duet rehearsal on Tuesday before the trio-" I had a Hip-Hop duet with Janelle and then a Hip Hop trio with Natalie and Aly-G. "and Janelle didn't talk to me at all. For the entire fifteen minutes, it was torture."

Natalie and Aly-G looked at me sympathetically. "I'm so sorry," Aly-G said quietly.

"I just wish I knew what was going on inside her head," I whispered. "I feel like this is my entire fault."

If Janelle were here, she'd probably say, "Because it IS your fault, moron."

I felt the world crashing down on me. "Does Janelle really think that we were never best friends?" My voice caught slightly.

"I'm sure she's just mad and she just said that to blow off steam," Natalie reassured me.

"So that means she's been blowing off steam for two months," I sighed. "Does she normally hold grudges for this long?"

"Not unless she has a legitimate reason to be pissed off," Aly-G replied. "But in this case, I don't see a legit reason."

"I think it's just jealousy," Natalie sighed. "She's feeling jealous that her friend left her for someone obviously cooler than she is, and she got mad at you for being swayed so easily."

"That's ridiculous," I bit my lip. "It was either dance and never play hockey again, or not dance and still be able to juggle the two sports!"

"We know," Aly-G said. "Just give her a little more time."

I stared out the window, bitter thoughts entering my head.