Amputee

Audition

The night before the audition, I went to be t 8:30 and got up at 6. I had a balanced breakfast and took it easy until the audition. 

When the time finally came, only 10 girls were auditioning, including me and McKenna. The rest of the group stood around the perimeters of the room, watching our every move. The first to go was, McKenna, then Sydeny, Meaghan, Bella, Emily, Annie, Brookelyn, Janis, Katie, me. As each dance went by, my stomach became more twisted. 

McKenna was absolutely perfect. Her moves were graceful, feet pointed, and he face pinned up for the part. Every ballerina in the room clapped; Lizzie clapped the hardest. 

When my turn came, I felt like I was going to throw up. I looked at Ms. Cheklov, and she gave me a nod as she started the music. 

As the music played, all my fear went away. I hopped up on my toes, turned, plied, spun, all the works. My facial expressions looked absolutely perfect as my muscles contracted under my white tights. My legs with straight, my toes pointed. As I looked to the corner of my eye, I could see Cheklov smiling and McKenna glaring. 

When I came into the final pose, the entire room looked in awe. There was no clapping, just silence and staring. Suddenly, slow clapping could be heard from my right. Standing up straight and turning my head, I see Sam clapping with a rare, appreciative smile. 

Within a split second of Sam, every dancer in the room was clapping with emotion, with the exception of Lizzie and McKenna. Even Cheklov applauded with a faint smile on  her wrinkle-less face.  A smile graced everyone's faces, even my own. My heart started fluttering, but not with fear but with excitement. 

"Alright, everyone! That's a wrap! We will post the roles tomorrow. All of those who auditioned, amazing job. We will definitely have a difficult decision to make," said Cheklov. 

We all flooded out of the room into the hallways. About 3 steps into the hallway, I felt a metallic hand grab my thin-but-muscular forearm. I was prepared for Lizzie or McKenna to start giving me a verbal beating. Instead, Sam was standing with a smile on her face. 

"Dude," she said with a laugh, "That was awesome!" 

She raised her metal arm up, waiting for a high five. Trying not to break my hand on her metallic appendage, I lightly slapped her hand. After the slap, Sam put her arm around my slender shoulders.

"So that's been keeping me up at night?" She jokingly asked. Since I had been staying up late doing my miscellaneous duties, the light needed to see and my grunting and thumping from my HIIT workouts kept Sam up, too. 

"Oh, yeah, I guess so. I'm sorry about that."

"Eh, I'll let it slide. You totally got the part, though, and showed up Micky K."

We walked all the way to our dorm room, still talking about my performance.