LITMIR.BIZ

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I’m so happy.”

      “That’s good,” said Keiko as they went downstairs. She didn’t look terribly happy herself. “I wonder what Chloe got,” she said as they walked into the washroom. “She can’t be Clara, she’s too young! But she can’t be anything else either.”

      Anna joined in, “Yeah, I know, it’s stupid. At first I thought Kaitlyn got Clara, but then they called up Chloe. Maybe they’re double cast? But Chloe would look better as Clara, her body type is better.” said Anna thoughtfully.

      “Yes, she would look better,” said Keiko. “Yes, maybe it would be good, and she would look nice with Michael as Fritz.”

      “Yes,” Anna agreed. They went to join the lineup for the washroom stalls, having reached their verdict.

      “Hey, Taylor, what did you get?” Kaitlyn asked condescendingly as they opened their lockers. Taylor deflated.

      “Um, I’m not sure…” she said unhappily. “I think probably, like, Waltz of Flowers or Snow? I’m not really sure.”

      “Oh, yeah, I liked those parts,” laughed Kaitlyn. “I was both two years ago for second cast, it was fun. But I was Clara for first cast, so I couldn’t do both. Last year I was Sugarplum, though, so I didn’t have time to do Waltz and Snow as well. You’ll like it, it’s lots of fun!” she laughed. Taylor didn’t say anything; she just went and got dressed. She felt sick.

      As Taylor walked down the hall to leave, Mrs. Demidovski stopped her. “Taylor!” she said. “Come into office, Mrs. Demidovski wants to talk to you.”

      Taylor followed her into the office apprehensively. It was empty except for Gabriel, who was doing paperwork and eating Smarties.

      “Come, come, sit down. Your mother, she phoned Mrs. Demidosvksi. She said that you want to take RAD Advanced One exam this spring.”

      “Yes,” said Taylor, wishing that she was anywhere but that office.

      “Mrs. Demidovski think you are not ready. I think maybe get stronger, need more muscle. Body good,” she grabbed Taylor’s arm and wrapped her fingers around Taylor’s wrist to check how much they crossed over. “But you need more strength. You need to work harder. If ‘push,’ push; if ‘straight,’ straight.”

      “Okay,” said Taylor, wanting to leave. Mrs. Demidovski looked at her over her glass of water.

      “So, you will take the exam next year?” she asked, her eyes amused.

      “I would … I mean, I would really like, to you know, take the exam this year.” Taylor said, pleading.

      “If you take the exam, you must take privates. Arrange it with Gabriel tomorrow, talk to your mother tomorrow.”

      “Okay!” Taylor was relieved. She got up to leave.

      “Good girl,” said Mrs. Demidovski, smiling up at her. “Much improve. Don’t worry.” Taylor smiled back and left happily.

      As she went to catch the bus to the SkyTrain, Taylor noticed that Delilah, Tristan, and Julian were already there waiting. She quickly turned back before they saw her. She decided to take the next bus and walked over to Duan’s to get a bubble tea. She waited patiently to order. Duan’s was a wonderful world of white flour, liquid sugar, and suspicious meat, and they made the sweetest all-fruit bubble tea in Vancouver. Taylor ordered the mango and papaya milk tea with pearls, and watched as Mrs. Duan ladled the liquid sugar in. She carefully selected her straw (hot pink today, I think), which was extra large to let the pearls through, and checked which cartoon character was on the plastic covering before she stuck her straw through it. It was some sort of cross between a skunk and a monkey. She drank her bubble tea slowly, feeling happier as she drank. A bubble tea always made her feel better.

      As Taylor walked slowly back to the bus stop, a druggie started calling to her. “Hey you! Hey you, you look single! Come here!” Taylor broke into a run and reached the bus stop before she had intended to. She checked her bubble tea; none had spilled. As the bus pulled up, she entered through the rear doors, just in case the bus driver decided to enforce the no-eating-or-drinking policy. Taking out her iPod, she relaxed into her seat, drowning out the sounds of the boy sitting next to her talking on his cell with “Ur So Gay” by Katy Perry. She couldn’t help it, every time she listened to the lyrics, “You’re so gay and you don’t even like boys,” she had to giggle. Getting bored, she decided to call Kaitlyn as she got off the bus. Kaitlyn probably hadn’t meant to be mean about casting, she convinced herself. It was just that she was always cast in good roles, because she was so good. She got Kaitlyn’s answering machine, and decided to leave her a message.

      “Hey.… So I’m about to get on the SkyTrain. And I decided to phone you, because I am, like, sooooo bored. Are you going to be at school tomorrow? Well, yeah, you probably will, because, like, why wouldn’t you be?” Taylor looked around her and stage whispered, “Okay, so I am feeling a little grossed out right now. There is this person, and she is like huge. I really wish you were here with me to see! So, anyway, I really hope you can come to my party on Friday. It’s going to be lots of fun. Remember to wear a dress, we are all going to take so many pictures, it’ll be awesome. So, the SkyTrain is coming in now, you can probably hear it!” Taylor giggled, “So I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye, love you!” Taylor hung up and got on the SkyTrain, having completely forgotten both Mr. Yu’s rant and that Kaitlyn had been cast ahead of her. The academy always seemed unreal to Taylor once she had left the building.

      Walking into her house, Taylor suddenly felt less exuberant. She remembered that she had hidden a tube of ready-made icing in her room. Squirting some into her mouth, she then stuffed the tube back into a pair of folded socks. She felt better. “Mom, I’m home!” she called out.

      “Oh, hi, baby. How was it?” Charlize came into her room and sat on the bed.

      “Um …” said Taylor, quickly searching her brain for what “it” was. “Oh! It was good. I think I got Waltz or Snow, I was put on the side and was one of the first called.”

      “That’s good.” Charlize sounded relieved. “What did Kaitlyn get?”

      “Um, I think Clara,” said Taylor quietly.

      Charlize just sighed.

      “Mom!” said Taylor angrily. “Look, Waltz or Snow is really good, okay? Can you just leave it, please? Why do you always have to do this?” She was trying not to cry.

      “Taylor, I’m not saying —” Charlize started, but Taylor ran out of the room and went and sat on the stairs until her mom had left her room.

      Back in her room, Taylor logged onto her laptop. There’s something I wanted to do … Oh, add that new boy! What was his name? She checked her newsfeed on Facebook. Tristan had just added a Julian Reese. Right, that’s him. She clicked on friend request. Just then, her little sister, Alison, came to the door.

      “Hey,” she said, fidgeting.

      “What are you doing?” Alison had something hidden behind her back. “Alison, if you don’t want to say anything get out of here. I’m busy.” Alison came in and sat down.

      “Look at this, “she said proudly. From behind her back she produced a test paper. She walked in and sat down on the bed next to Taylor. “See: 100 percent!”

      “Oh … good job,” Taylor said unenthusiastically. Seeing Alison’s face fall, she added, “That’s really great! I can’t believe you got perfect on a math test, that’s, like, awesome, Ali.” Alison smiled proudly.

      As Taylor got into bed and took her sleeping pill, she thought about her party. She wondered if she would get a chance to invite Julian (Jules, she remembered) to the party. He seemed really nice. I wonder if he was straight. She frowned slightly as she fell asleep, worrying about Tristan and Delilah. Maybe they won’t like Jules, she thought hopefully.

      Chapter Three

      Alexandra

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