HeartBLOOD

Introduction

So, you probably found the title resemblance to the books HeartBEAT and HeartBREAK- those are the prequels of this book. I will give you a quick summary of the previous books in this chapter, for those who haven't read them or for those who have forgotten some parts. The next chapter will be the actual start of the story.

The story is set in New York City, at the New York Academy of Ballet and Modern, short NYABM. This is a world-wide known, prominent dance school which offers three years of dance education. Alec and his friends are now in their third year, but let me give you an overview over the first two years:

HeartBEAT/Year one:

Alec gets to NYABM where he meets his roommate Magnus who he eventually starts dating. As there is a big competition at the end of the year, Alec is eager to prove himself in this school and secure himself a spot on the competitive team. Feeling threatened, fellow dancer Jonathan bullies Alec. Still, he manages to get a spot in a trio with Jonathan and Maia. As they rehearse and Jonathan wants Alec out of the team, he sabotages the dance and fakes an accident in which Alec injures his knee quite badly. Not wanting to give up the dance, Alec goes against all professional advice and keeps on dancing, covering the injury with the help of his boyfriend Magnus and his best friends Simon, Raphael and Maia as well as pain medication. During that phase, some of his boyfriends' Magnus' past secrets come to the surface in form of second-year dancer Camille Belcourt which is Magnus' ex-girlfriend and has wanted a child from him the previous year, as she was about to be infertile. As she had material to blackmail Magnus and he had no idea how to get out of the situation, he manages to give her the pill behind her back, which resulted in her thinking she has already gone infertile. Whilst cleaning up that mess of misunderstandings, the competition approaches and Alec needs to perform. Despite the injury, the performance goes well. After then finally quitting the painkillers, the stress of the past months crash down on him which results in him being hospitalized and finally realizing he has to take care of himself and listen to his body.

HeartBREAK/ Year two:

The next year, after a summer intensive in Paris with his boyfriend, Alec and Magnus come back to NYABM. As Magnus is already a senior, he is allowed to go to auditions and become active outside of the Academy. When it is announced that all students in their second year need to tutor a student in their first year, Alec faces the challenge of helping out a student that is neither talented nor ambitious, but got into the academy by favoritism as the head is his older sister. On top of their own schedule, now Alec and his dance partner Maia are forced to spend even more hours in the studio with their partner- students. Meanwhile, Magnus suffers from the little time with his boyfriend and feels ignored and not cherished. Trying to do as well as Lorenzo, a dancer he meets at an audition, he accepts a doping-drug which secures him the job. Some time later at the job, him and Lorenzo kiss as a result of the drug's influence on Magnus and his frustration over the distance between him and his boyfriend. Feeling guilty and not being able to hold that secret in for longer, he opens up to Alec about the whole situation who is upset because of the mistrust and his own past with substances. While they successfully work out their issues, Alec's best friend Raphael faces a whole other problem- for the approaching open house all male dancers are assigned a fix female partner. Whilst Alec and Maia are a well-functioning team, Maureen and Raphael struggle. Throughout summer break, in the process of leaving her eating disorder behind and finally enjoying food again, Maureen has gained a lot of weight which makes partnering with her very hard for Raphael. Scared to push her off her bettering-path, Raphael doesn't feel comfortable addressing the issue, especially because in the mean time he has developed feelings for her. As he tears a muscle in his back during practice, they realize they need to talk about he problem if they want to make it work for the open house. That results in them becoming a couple. After the open house, Magnus has to deal with an agent named Asmodeus who seems to have a lot of interest for him but brings him good jobs. Meanwhile, Alec painfully feels the permanent damage he has done to his knee last year. Being smarter this time, he treats the inflammation as recommended and is on top of his game as their coaches announce year two and three are going to get outside of the studio and get divided into two groups, of which one is going to do poledancing and the other one is going to breakdance in order to widen their horizon in the dance world as they all are classically trained. The coach of the Breakdance group chooses both Alec and Magnus for her team. Being grateful for the opportunity to finally spend some more time with his boyfriend and to overcome their previous drama, Alec choses to ignore the restriction set by the coach, saying only dancers without recent injuries can be allowed into the team as there can be no replacements for the little show at the end. It all works out fine for him, until some time after the show Jonathan, his enemy since year one approaches him saying he will snitch on him if Alec will refuse to owe him, three favors. Scared for his final grade, Alec agrees to the conditions and gives Jonathan information about Camille and helps him study. Concerning is only the fact that there still is a third favor Jonathan hasn't called in yet. Meanwhile Maureen makes her choice between dance and her recovery and chooses to leave NYABM for a job at an ED clinic. Due to his grandmothers' death Raphael needs all the support he can get which makes Maureens decision a bit harder. Giving him all the support he needs and staying in a relationship with him, she still choses to leave NYABM. Whilst Maureen decides to go, Magnus and Camille stay for another year.

So, that was the summary. Next chapter will the the first chapter of the actual story, so catch you in year three which ill hold challenges of a sort none of them have ever dealt with.