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signed on to MSN she grimaced. I’m going to have to change my email before anyone at the academy adds me! [email protected] isn’t very original.

      She started her homework—“Oh, forget it,” she said out loud. How am I supposed to concentrate on my homework when all I can think about is the academy? She logged on to Facebook. Ten friend requests. Kaitlyn giggled. Obviously she had danced well today.

      Taylor’s chat box popped up, “Hey!”

      Kaitlyn groaned. She didn’t want to talk to Taylor right now, but it would probably be diplomatic if she pretended they were BFFs for now.

      The alarm started blasting, and Kaitlyn quickly turned it off. She had been awake for a couple of minutes anyway. She always did that the first week of school. As she got dressed, she felt happy and excited. She lost a pound yesterday, and she hadn’t even been that hungry. She loved adrenalin: it usually had that affect on her. Maybe I can lose two pounds today! She looked at herself in the mirror. I look pretty good. I might not be able to dress as expensively as Anna, but I do look younger. And really, she thought, isn’t that more important for dance, anyway?

      When she got downstairs, Cecilia already had her breakfast ready: a bowl of porridge and fat-free yogurt sitting on the table with her bagged lunch.

      “Your dad’s going to drive you today, Kaitlyn,” Cecilia said. “Were you talking to Taylor last night?”

      “Yes, why?”

      “Oh, I was on your Facebook, and her status said she was looking forward to her birthday party.…”

      “Yeah, she invited me to it last night. It’s going to be at a restaurant downtown on the twentieth,” said Kaitlyn, putting some sugar and milk on her porridge.

      “We’ll get you a new dress for it then. Have a good day. Remember to get to the front of the class and keep Mr. Moretti correcting you, he’s doing most of the casting for The Nutcracker this year. Mr. Demidovski told me that he’s thinking of you as Clara, but if you impress Mr. Moretti you might get Sugarplum.”

      “Okay, okay, Mom! Geez!” Kaitlyn went to find her dad, who was on the computer, finishing up an email. “Dad, we have to go, like, now.”

      “All right Kaitlyn, go wait in the car. I’ll be there in a sec,” Jeff Wardle said, still typing. Sighing, Kaitlyn went to wait.

      As they drove to McKinley, Jeff asked how her first day at the academy had been.

      “It was good.”

      “Did you like the teachers?” Jeff asked as he turned onto Granville and nearly ran over a homeless man who was racing across the street.

      “Dad!” laughed Kaitlyn. “No one likes ballet teachers, they’re all crazy.”

      “Okay, but did you learn anything?”

      “Um, the one I had yesterday was okay,” said Kaitlyn, as they pulled into the school parking lot. “He’s Italian, so he doesn’t teach Balanchine. I like that.”

      “Okay, have a good day. Good luck!” Jeff said as Kaitlyn left the car.

      “Thanks, I’ll need it!”

      After school everyone met up at the bus stop to go to the academy.

      “Hey, ’sup? How was school?” asked Julian, smiling at Kaitlyn. He seemed rather relieved to see her.

      Delilah turned to Kaitlyn; “Don’t you think he would make a good drag queen?” she pointed at Julian. “I mean, he has such awesome hair!”

      “I can see,” Kageki said, grinning.

      “How do you even know what a drag queen is?” said Anna. “Who taught you that word?”

      “Tristan,” Kageki was laughing. “He taught me so many good words I want to use, but he says I can’t use. Like …”

      “Shh!” Julian laughed as he covered Kageki’s mouth. Kaitlyn just stood there laughing at Kageki. He looked so funny with his ultra-fashionable haircut. There were different chunks of hair going every which way: some parts perfectly straight, others in corkscrew curls. The affect was accentuated by the fact that his hair was dyed red.

      “What are you laughing at?” asked Anna, suddenly turning to Kaitlyn.

      “Nothing!” said Kaitlyn, too surprised to think of a good come back. Just at that moment, the bus drove up and they got on.

      “Aren’t you kids leaving school a little early?” the bus driver asked, raising his eyebrows.

      “No, we’re in the Super Achievers Program,” said Delilah, smiling sweetly up at him.

      “What’s that?” he asked.

      “It’s for sports and arts. We get to leave at 11:30 every day to go to dance, and we get fine arts and P.E credits for it,” said Anna, looking at him as if he was an idiot.

      “Oh, all right,” he said, looking sorry he’d asked. “School’s sure different from when I was there,” he muttered to himself.

      “God, isn’t Taylor the most retarded person on the planet?’ Anna said as they sat down, staring straight at Kaitlyn.

      Kaitlyn tried to ignore her. FML, she thought.

      Everyone had sat down on the back benches, but there were no more seats there, so Kaitlyn either had to stand the whole ride and look like a desperate idiot, or sit in one of the forward-facing benches and turn around the whole ride. She picked sitting in the forward-facing benches.

      “Oh, Jonathon told me that Alexandra has made finals, and is … is going? Sorry, coming, back in two days,” said Kageki.

      “That’s awesome she made it to finals!” Kaitlyn said. “The Demidovskis must be really happy.”

      “Oh, I doubt they know,” laughed Delilah.

      “Wouldn’t Alexandra have phoned them?” Kaitlyn asked.

      “God, why?” said Delilah. “She doesn’t owe them anything.”

      “I think she should have phoned them,” said Angela, who was sitting quietly in the corner. “After all, they let her go to the Genee.”

      “Let her?” snorted Anna. “You mean they ‘let’ her go try to win something for them, so they could have more students come to the ‘globally renowned Vancouver International Ballet Academy,’ while they didn’t lift a finger to help her prepare?”

      “They did give her some privates…” Angela blushed and sank lower into her seat.

      “Yeah, for like a hundred bucks an hour after she begged. And they showed up late for them,” Delilah chimed in, probably hoping to get on Anna’s good side. Anna just looked annoyed. She didn’t need help to squash Angela.

      Kaitlyn turned on her iPod and faced front, glad that she didn’t get a seat in the back. Now she had an excuse to zone out. She daydreamed, half-listening to the conversation behind her, mostly to make sure it wasn’t about her, through the sounds of the Thriving Ivory. She could see herself winning gold at Prix de Lausanne and going to the Royal Ballet. Anna would be so jealous and would have to suck up to her, couldn’t get a job anywhere. And she was dating a boy in the company who was perfect, and so strong and nice. In her daydream, she was so happy that she just didn’t need to eat, so she had a perfect body type, she even grew a couple of inches.… Kaitlyn sighed happily and escaped reality for the rest of the ride to the academy.

      Chapter Two

      Taylor Audley

      I’m Sooooo hapy that my bff Kaitlyn has come to the acadimy, and that my b-day party is soon!!!! Exited for Nut auditshions!

      Taylor woke up feeling surprisingly rested. She tried to remember why. I’m sure it’s Wednesday, not Sunday. Am I sick and forgot? I don’t feel sick

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