Read Online Abigail: Nice Girls Finish Last by Bruno Bouchet - Free Book Online Page B

life if I get into the Company, but not for life if I don’t.’
    Miss Raine is not passing round the sympathy today. ‘Abigail, occasionally students with uncommon natural ability can afford to give less than one hundred per cent. You are not one of them. You either have to give ballet everything. Every day. Or you give it up completely.’
    She’s right. I’ve been kidding myself. Ballet is all or nothing. I text Finn to say I can’t make our date. My possessive boyfriend’s back, he demands I focus on the end of year ballet.
    In rehearsals for Peter Pan , I’m fighting with Ollie, who’s playing Captain Hook. He’s meant to be kidnapping me and I’m resisting, obviously.
    â€˜Abigail, Wendy is in battle but she’s still Wendy. I want to see some sweetness, some vulnerability.’ Sweetness? This part is so not me.
    Sammy comes in. He’s meant to be resting for the Prix, but he feels lost so Zach gets him to film ourrehearsal so we can go over the footage later and spot where I can add some more wimpy sweetness.
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    In the common room later, I’m sewing a pair of my pointe shoes, minding my own business when Tara comes in, ranting about Grace. She’s back from England. I knew there was more to her sudden departure and I was right. She made a move on Zach, our teacher and then accused him of doing it to her. Why am I not surprised? It was Tara who exposed her scheme to Miss Raine and now Grace is out for revenge.
    In her non-competitive ‘oh did I really win that?’ way she’s representing England in the Prix de Fonteyn. Not only that but she’s going to dance The Red Shoes . With so much natural talent, and her own revenge subplot, she’ll be almost impossible to beat.
    â€˜Grace has manipulated me this whole year. And now she expects me to lie down and …’ Tara’s ready to explode.
    â€˜Hang on …’ says Ben. He’s clearly not read the status update. ‘You and Grace are friends.’
    â€˜Grace doesn’t have friends,’ says Tara.
    â€˜Only roadkill,’ I add. It’s war.
    War is where my natural talents lie, but I have to go in the opposite direction – Wendy. I head to the rehearsal space only to find Sammy taking up half the room with a laptop and some DVDs.
    â€˜Can you take whatever that is somewhere else? I have to find Wendy’s “sweet side”.’
    He’s working on something for his Prix final performance. He’d told us all that he wanted his friends on stage with him. It sounds pure gimmick to me.
    â€˜You’re trying to distract the judges because you don’t think you deserve to be there,’ I tell him, but he’s got his smiley determination thing going. He can be incredibly stubborn when he’s happy.
    â€˜No. This is my chance to be on the world stage. I’m showing them who I am. That’s the only way I’ll be good enough to win.’ He grins and closes up the laptop. ‘Watch my tech rehearsal and if you still think I’m sabotaging, I won’t do it.’ If there’s one person he can rely on for brutal honesty, it’s me.
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    At the Opera House, I’m alone in the auditorium while Sammy stands on the empty stage in the dark. Then his voice comes over the speakers. ‘Everydancer knows that being technically perfect isn’t enough. We need to know why we dance.’ Video footage appears behind him, filling the back stage. It’s Tara dancing Clara from The Nutcracker , the end of year performance last year. Sammy starts dancing, like he’s dancing with her. ‘For me it’s to be connected. I’m inspired by my friends,’ his voice continues. Then I’m on the screen doing my solo from the Showcase this year and he’s dancing with me. One by one, all his friends appear and he dances with each one of us, responding to us, changing with us but still