Backstage: Third Time's the Charm

Beckett Bradstreet

Beckett Bradstreet
Grade 11
Dance Program

Vanessa and I are back together. Carly's not mad at me anymore,  I hope. But Sasha and I still aren't speaking... which sucks. I messed up. And I'm not sure how to apologize. And he's spending more time with Jax. I miss guys night...

"Faster," Vee squealed.

I ran through the courtyard giving her a piggy-back ride. I swerved through the layout of picnic tables. Carly, who was sitting on top of one of them, giggled as I ran past. Jenna rolled her eyes. Sasha didn't even look our way.

I had no idea how to fix this. I stopped abruptly and my hands loosened, causing Vanessa to slip through them. She landed on the concrete and screamed.

"I'm so sorry!"

Carly leapt from the table and grabbed Vanessa by the arm. "Vee, are you okay? How's your ankle?"

If I'd injured Vanessa, I couldn't live with myself.

"It's fine," she gritted her teeth and twisted so that she was sitting on the concrete with her knees to her chest.

Her tights had ripped, and a nasty gash on her knee stared back at us.

"You knee, not so fine," Carly said.

Sasha walked our way and reached down to touch Vee's shoulder. "Do you want us to take you to the nurse?"

"Well, she can't dance with a bleeding knee," Jenna said.

"I'll take her," I said. I picked Vanessa up. She weighed practically nothing.

I walked her down to the nurse station where a woman cleaned Vanessa knee and bandaged it.

"I don't want you doing any physical exercise on it today," she warned. She handed Vanessa a piece of paper. "This will excuse you from your dance classes."

"Great," Vanessa's voice was laced with sarcasm. She jumped from the examining table. I grabbed her hand as we walked back into the hallway.

"I'm sorry."

"Tell that to your mo- to Ms. Helsweel," she said.

Vanessa stopped, turning to look at me. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

"I don't know how to apologize to Sasha."

"Just say 'I'm sorry'."

I snorted. "He's really mad, Vanessa."

"I can't help you. You two have to work this out on your own."

I couldn't think of how. 

We arrived at the dance studio. I headed for the barre to start stretching, while Vanessa handed her note to my mom.

Ms. Helsweel took Vanessa's note with a raised eyebrow. Her facial expression remained the same as usual, but I could tell from the slight eye twitch that she was irritated. 

"Would you care to tell me how this injury occurred?"

Dang, she was mad.

Vanessa bit her lip. "I fell."

"You fell how?"

"It was my fault." I stepped away from the barre.

The other students tried to mask their stares as I crossed the dance floor. "I was giving her a piggy back ride and accidentally dropped her.

A different look crossed my mom's face. A look I'd never seen. I'd seen angry, irritated, worried, disgusted, and occasionally, happy, but usually only at Christmas. This look was closer to concern.

She leaned in close so only I could hear. "I'm excusing you from the rest of this period."

I stepped back in surprise. "What?"

"I want you to leave my studio."

"Yeah, okay."

Even Sasha was watching as I gathered my bag and left the studio.

"It was an accident," Vanessa protested as the door clicked shut behind me.

Beyond weird. My mom just kicked me out of the only class I actually enjoyed. 

There's no stopping the conversation about it at lunch.

"Why do you think she made you leave?" Jenna asked.

"Don't know."

"It was really bizarre," Carly said. "And also sweet that you owned up to your mistake." She leaned against Vanessa's shoulder.

Thankfully, eating delayed our conversation for a while. But as I was eating the hummus and flatbread I pulled from my bag, I saw Sasha didn't have anything except a bottle of water. Weird.

As the day progressed, I quickly noticed Sasha wasn't eating anything at all, not even when Carly offered to share her snacks. Was it possible that he's relapsed? Maybe he's supplementing food with the protein bars and drinks like he did last year.

I stopped Jenna on our way out of class. "Did you notice Sasha hasn't eaten anything today?"

"Yeah, I hope he's okay. Do you think he's relapsed?"

"Don't know."

But I'm going to find out.

We catch up with the others.

"Do you want me to come with you to see your mom?" Vanessa asked.

"No thanks," I said. I'm not super worried about her. 

Besides, I've figured out how to fix my friendship with Sasha.

Hey! This chapter ended up really long so I'm splitting it in two. Hope you guys enjoy the next two chapters from Beckett's POV. What's his idea to fix his friendship with Sasha? What's up with Ms. Helsweel? Has Sasha relapsed? All will be revealed. Don't forget, my debut novel "Symbols & Signs" comes out January 2020. It will be available on Amazon!