Behind The Spotlight

Chapter 9 --True Colours--

I hear the door of the staircase open and I immediately jump up. I must have fallen asleep after I came running in here in the middle of the night. Once I sit up, I feel a sting going through my head. I look at myself in the mirror and see that my left eye is all black and blue, it's all thick and bruised. And it's only three days until we leave for Regionals. It better be healed by then. How am I going to explain this?

"You're here early", I hear Davis say as she enters studio A. I quickly stand up and turn around. I just give her a little smile before she notices my bruised-up eye. "What happened this time?", she asks me annoyed but still worried as she walks up to me. "I... Uhm... I fell out of my bed last night and I hit my eye on my nightstand", I tell her hesitantly. "It looks pretty serious. Maybe we should get some ice for it", she tells me calmly. That was definitely not the reaction I expected. I don't understand how after yesterday, she's not fed up with me right now. "No, I don't need ice. I'm fine", I tell her and try my best to put a smile on my face. "Okay, let just start rehearsing then", she says and I nod my head, which I regret immediately because it really hurts.

We start warming up and stretch for a good half an hour. Then, we run through our duet a few times before we decide that we shouldn't have to over-rehearse it. We want it to be easy going and natural-looking on stage. "This is a killer duet if I do say so myself", Davis tells me as I take a sip of water. I nod my head in agreement before we start packing up our stuff. "You want to go and get juice?", Davis asks me sweetly. "I would love to but I still have to finish my solo routines so I think I'm just going to stay here and rehearse", I say back to her and she nods her head before grabbing her dance bag and walking out of studio A. I don't know why I just lied to Davis but I really didn't feel like getting a juice, but I also don't really feel like choreographing my solos right now. I am way too tired. I've had a terrible night, I didn't sleep at all. So I just grab my dance bag and walk over to our green room, or some of us call it the TNS-lounge. There are a few couches and tables with chairs, it's very cosy. This is where most of us hang out during our breaks or when we have to do homework and stuff. Well, at least if we aren't hanging out at Shakes and Ladders.

I enter the TNS-lounge and to my surprise, no-one else is here. Not that I mind because I can really use the rest. I throw my dance bag onto one of the couches as I let myself fall onto another one. And as soon as my head hits the pillow, I fall asleep.

"Sleeping beauty", I hear someone whisper in my ear, but I just shrug it off and turn myself around. "Blakely!", I now hear someone scream before I jump up and fall off the couch. "Wow easy, I didn't mean to scare you", I hear a male voice say. "Noah?", I ask confused and blurry, as I sit up and see Noah staring at me. "You fell asleep", he says kind of shocked as he puts his hand out for me to grab so he can help me up. I grab it and stand up before we both sit down on the couch I've just been sleeping on. "Is that so shocking then?", I ask him. "Yeah, you're Blakely. You never sleep. You always stay at the studio until it's dark outside and you're back first thing in the morning", he answers me. "And that means I don't sleep?", I ask him, slightly laughing. "I don't know... I guess the great Blakely isn't invincible after all", he tells me, laughing as well. All of sudden, he stops laughing his face turns very serious. "What happened to your eye?" "My eye?", I ask him confused. I totally forgot about that for a second. "Oh, my eye. I fell out of bed this morning and I hit my eye on the corner of my desk", I tell him. "Oh that sounds painful", he tells me. "It's okay. It's not as bad as it looks", I tell him right before our eyes meet. "I think it's even worse then it looks", he says as he puts a lock of hair behind my ear. "What does that mean?", I ask him confused, not able to pull my eyes away from his. "It means that I think there is a lot more going on in your world then you lead on. It means that I think you have a pretty mask on to please people. It means that I think you're afraid of something. Something so bad that you can't talk about it with anyone. But maybe you should consider it. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to drop the mask", he tells me sweetly, putting one of his hands on my cheek. I smile at him, at how he reads me so well, at how sweet he's being.