Leading Ladies

V. When Stars Collide

Ileen covers a yawn.

She glances down at the documents pertaining to her sophomore students, sprawled across the mahogany desk in her office. Her laptop lay open; its screen, in contrast to the physical documents on the wooden surface of the desk, displayed the percent grade for each student.

She grimaced at the sight of them before yawning again; this time, she let it out. She leans back against her chair and sighs when large hands rub her temples, ridding her of the dull ache emanating from between her eyes.

"It's late," Marko whispers.

She quints at the time icon at the bottom of her laptop screen, blinking in surprised at the numbers two fifteen popped up. "I didn't realize it was this late."

Turning her chin up, he brushes his lips against hers. "You're tense."

"Yesterday was tense," she admits. "Christi lost it after awards, and before that, I got in a dispute with Kelly."

"Again?"

"Again. I truly wish to know what her issue is with me."

"Jealousy?"

"Maybe," she replies, but she didn't think that was it.

Markos sighs. "You already know how I feel about all this."

"I know, but you saw the smile on their face as they discussed the competition."

"Yes, I did. But is there momentary joy worth their long-term mental health?"

She rubs her eyes. "I don't know anymore."
________________________________________________________________________________

The following afternoon Ileen stood to the side, waiting for Abby to begin blackboard.

"First, I wanna talk about last weekend," Abby began. "The only ones that I thought did well at the competition are Bianca, Sabrina, and Elsa. The rest of you, I was very disappointed in you; you could have done better."

Ileen fights the urge to rub her temple. That was going to go down like a lead balloon with the rest of the moms.

"Moving on, I want to forget about last weekend?" Abby turns the blackboard around. "What's going on this weekend?"

Paige points at the board. "It's the ALDC Showcase!"

"Yes, thank you," Abby continues. "Now moving onto the pyramid. We're gonna do a new routine, 'Sugar Daddies' at the showcase. Maddie and Sabrina, you won the overall routine in your respective divisions, boom; you're top. Elsa, I challenged you to emote, and you emoted. Great job. Bianca, you looked beautiful, and I thought your turns were almost perfect.

"Nia forgot the solo, kept dancing, made it up, went on and finished with the music. Chloe did a great job; there were some other situations. You're here; I want to see that attitude improve on stage. Yes? You never know who's watching you. Alright, I have a few surprises during the showcase" Abby turns slightly to the Moms, "I don't wanna pressure you, but in the audience at the showcase, there is going to be an agent coming to seek new talent and looking for new clients to sign. Yes?"

As the girls gasp in excitement, Ileen's lips parts to reveal a pleased grin. This is why she signed up for the show; this is why she put up with the nonsense with the moms.

The smile slips slightly when Abby turns a mischief look at the moms."Moms, you are gonna be performing in the show as well. Cathy, you're gonna be the choreographer."

"Yes!" Bianca cheers. "This is going to be great."

Her sisters looked just as excited.

Ileen shakes her head, arms crossing over her chest. "No," she glowers at Abby. "Abby, that's not happening."