𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 ~ 𝙝𝙨𝙢𝙩𝙢𝙩𝙨 (𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞)

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒.

A week later Nini found herself auditioning for Grease along with the rest of her classmates. Nini hated auditioning. She hated how nervous she felt. She hated the way that her palms would sweat and her voice would shake all day leading up to it. She hated being judged. She hated having choreography thrown at her. The pressure at auditions for the Youth Actors Conservatory was one hundred percent worse than any other audition she'd ever had before.

They had color-coded numbers, yellow for the upperclassmen, blue for the lowerclassmen. All of them gathered on the stage for about thirty minutes to learn a dance combo, then they were sent backstage so that they could continue to practice the dance while they waited to be brought back in groups to read lines and sing.

Nini was a good dancer, but she wasn't a great dancer. There was just something about her arms that never looked quite right, no matter what she did. All week leading up to auditions she had FaceTimed with Gina in an attempt to make some kind of improvement before the auditions. It wasn't necessarily successful, but Gina was patient with her and it was nice to have a reason to catch up.

---

"No, No, Nini!" Gina said both yelling and laughing, "Gentler with the elbows, try to move like you're swimming, not like you're boxing!" Nini had signed up for studio space so that she and Gina could work on her extensions and a few combos without having to worry that she might destroy her room, but so far the only thing being destroyed was her.

Nini laughed at her own ineptitude, clutching her stomach. "Gina, what the hell does that mean?"

"It means do it all again and do the same moves, but do all of them differently. Preferably better!"

"Has anyone ever told you that your constructive criticism could use some work?" Nini asked, mostly joking as she came closer to her phone to grab her water and get a drink.

"No, cause people don't often ask for my opinion." Gina said softening a bit, "But you did, and I figured if you wanted my help then things must be pretty dire."

Nini set down her water bottle and looked at the girl on the other end. Her heart broke a little bit for Gina, "Hey, no. I asked for your help because you are by far the best dancer I know, and I knew I could trust you to tell me if I looked terrible." Nini hesitated before adding, "and because I missed you."

Gina looked surprised to hear her admission, but Nini gave her a sincere smile. "Really, it's good to see any friendly face these days."

Gina blushed a little and looked away before she refocused, "Okay, stop stalling already, SalRobs. Again from the top."

---

Nini couldn't help but think of the last auditions she was at. Gina had been such intimidating competition and all Nini wanted then was to avoid standing next to her so that she wouldn't be directly compared with someone who was clearly a better dancer. Now, as she stood in a crowd with all of the upperclassmen, practicing their audition combo one more time before being sent away, Nini wished Gina could be by her side.

As the music cut, Faith turned around, "That's not so bad this year, ya know?" Nini nodded her head and tried not to let her eyes go wide, but she was dying a little bit inside. Out in the hall, Layla and Gwen caught up with them. Nini was relieved that she could finally keep them straight.

Gwen was shorter, had freckles, and green eyes. While Layla had pure, porcelain skin, and deep brown eyes. Also, Gwen was typically quieter then Layla or Faith, which was just fine by Nini. The girls all practiced together in the hall, and just as Nini was starting to feel a bit better the first group of students was called to audition. Faith and Layla were among them, leaving Nini and Gwen awkwardly waiting together in the hall.