On the Line

Chapter 1

Maddie's POV

I sat down and adjusted my ballet shoe so it fit comfortably on my foot. Everything had to be perfect for today of all days. Today my mom had pushed everything aside so I could fulfill my dream of being a professional dancer by auditioning for The Joffery School of Ballet. Not everybody could easily get into Joffery, the only took the best of the best.

I grabbed my hair kit sitting in my mother's lap and pulled out a fan of bobby pins to secure my bun, so that it wouldn't fall in the middle of my audition. That would be unprofessional and embarrassing.

A tall lady in a pantsuit walked out through the doors with her face twisted sourly at the crowd in front of her. She held a black clipboard in her hands full of papers and gripped it tightly. "Welcome all of you ballerinas to the audition for the prestigious Jofferey Ballet School." She said tensely leaning slightly against the plain white wall behind her. "I'm sorry of today your dreams are crushed, but only the best can make it here." She said as I glanced nervously back towards my mother. "We will begin with the ballet auditions, numbers 1-39 please follow me." She turned around as a few girls scrambled to place their numbers across their stomach.

I glanced down at the number on my tummy, 63, I'd probably go with the next batch. I handed my mom the hair kit and sat down next to a cluster of girls stretching. I opened my legs into a strattle and reached to the side to stretch out. While stretching I overheard the private conversation of two arrogant dancers from here in New York City.

"I feel bad that everybody on my group will have to be compared to a prima ballerina like me," the first girl conceitedly babbled on while sitting carelessly in a left split. "I know right Elise, when everybody else in this second batch fails, we will look fabulous," she second grinned making me angry with the arrogance and certainty. I turned around into my split as Elise had been sitting a moment before, now she had turned to face me and seeing my angry face. "Sorry to overhear, but FYI the director said it's anybody's chance," I glared at their smirks.

"Well sweetie, you may be the best at your hometown dance studio in the middle of nowhere, but I'm the best at any dance studio you've ever heard of and Grace here is a close second," she smiled smugly. I reminded myself rudeness before the audition would lead to bad karma and decided to roll my eyes and ignore her.

Suddenly a girl burst through the doors in tears, limping across the room. I quickly pulled out of my split and ran to the scene. She looked hurt and I was worried that the auditions might be cancelled. "M-my back mama, I heard a c-crack and it burns," the girl who looked to be around 13 stuttered as a few parents helped her stretch out the injured muscle. "You're ok it's not broken just sore," her mother soothed her and I felt a pang of guilt that not only was she injured, but she was most likely out of the audition. "I-I have a heating pad, if that would help," I spoke up shyly as the girl stopped breathing heavily to listen to me.

"That would really help!" She said as I heard the swing of a door behind me. The director we had seen earlier had come to check on the injured girl. I grabbed my heating pad and handed it to the mother to plug in and ease the girl onto. "Thank you," the director turned around and left back into the studio. I pondered on whether she was thanking me, or somebody else and shrugged it off.

The girl graciously thanked me and I turned around to finish stretching but Elise and Grace were behind me with dirty looks on their faces. "The best dancer, is the kindest dancer." I mumbled under my breath and pushed past them.

"At this time we need all numbers 40-79 please to report to the ballet bars," the director said peeking through the door after a flood of girls stampeded through. I popped my toes quickly by pointing into the ground, feeling the ballet slipper fold through my arch. I quickly hugged my mom for luck and walked gracefully into the audition room. They lined us up by number and I ended up at Elise's barre across from her, facing the wall.

She gave me a smug glanced as I smiled lightly back, I knew to never make yourself look bad in an audition. We began with a simple pleà combination and eventually worked our way into the more difficult combination. I leaned my portebré into the bar and heard Elise whisper, "Sloppy.." I pretended I hadn't heard her and retreated back to the fifth position we were standing in. "Thank you ladies that was lovely, please line up for the individual assessment, by number. Elise was number 67 so I wouldn't be able to see her preform, but I could psych her out with mine.

I watched the girl before me do a simple combination of leaps and turns, but no dancing. "Number 63," the director called as I stepped in front of the judges tables. The music began and I did a lyrical/ballet piece knowing lyrical was usually frowned upon in the Joffrey world, with a combination of the two I was sure to wow the judges. Once finishing my piece in a lovely pecaé balance I heard their applause and landed in fifth with a small smile on my face.

Hundreds of girls waited impatiently as the judges were confiding on their final decisions. 10 girls were to be accepted as ballerinas into Joffrey, but only to train not to preform. Finally the director entered the waiting room with the clipboard, the clipboard that could make or break my career. "We need to see numbers 23, 47, 63, 67, 139" she said puzzled which concerned me. "However we are not having callbacks, but will contact your ballerinas you're excused." She said to the others as I waited at the door. I was afraid of what lie ahead, this couldn't be good.

Authors note- Hi I'm Acelynn, but you guys can call me Ace, I'm new to wattpad so some feedback would be great! 3 stars for more :)