that he didn’t even apologize or anything?”
Tristan laughed. “If he had, he’d have to be sorry. And he’s not.”
“Right,” sighed Julian. “He’s a total creeper.”
Tristan laughed. “You think that’s creepy? You should see his wife.”
“His wife’s creepy, too? That’s funny.”
“No, no,” Tristan laughed. “I mean, his wife used to be a student at the academy. There’s like a twenty- or twenty–five-year age gap between them. They got married after she graduated. She was a Korean student and hardly spoke any English at all, and he sure as hell doesn’t speak any Korean.”
“Wow!” Julian whistled.
“Yeah! Come on, let’s go,”
As they walked to the bus, Julian asked, “So what is going to happen to Kaitlyn? Did he actually mean it when he kicked her out?”
“Yes, of course he meant it. But Anna can’t do both roles at once, and Mr. Moretti certainly won’t give Alexandra both casts of Arabian.” He swung his back pack to the ground and rummaged through it for his bus pass. “Mr. Demidovski will probably do something about it tomorrow. Besides, they need understudies.” They got on the bus and sat across from a highly high individual by accident.
“Do you know whatsa good about coke?” he asked them.
“Look out the window,” Tristan whispered to Julian.
“It makes you freakin’ better, everything better. Hell, this whole freakin’ city shoulda take coke.” The druggie started rubbing snot from his nose to his cheek. As the bus lurched, the druggie lurched and fell into the bus aisle. Not at all fazed, he got up again, hauling on the bus bars. He noticed his bag of garbage, which he had left on the seat during his fall. “Bag a freakin’ crap, bag a freakin’ crap-garbage,” he said angrily. Falling against the bench, again, he reached up and tried to push open the window.
“Should we move to the front?” Julian whispered while the druggie was trying to open the window.
“Nah, he’ll just get pissed at us,” said Tristan. When he had managed to pry open the window, the druggie started to push the garbage through the window. As they were at a stop sign, the garbage fell directly on the neighbouring car’s hood. The druggie began to laugh gleefully.
“Bag o’crap man, bag o’ freakin’ crap,” he chortled happily. “Waddyou think ’bout that, huh? Freakin’ hell, man.” As teetered toward their bench, Julian and Tristan moved to the front and started giggling
“Shit, that was funny,” whispered Julian.
“Bag o’freakin’ crap man,” replied Tristan. “Get it right! Oh hell, man!” They both collapsed into laughter again.
Julian got into bed and turned out his light. Oh great, he thought. I forgot to call Will and Daisy again. And now he was too tired. Sighing, he turned on his lamp and managed to reach his laptop off his desk without getting out of bed. Pleased with himself, he flipped it open. He logged onto Facebook and sent Will a message:
Having fun, sorry forgot to phone you again. Will phone you tomorrow. It’s really funny here.
Love,
Jules
He smiled at his dad’s profile pic. Will had put a picture of himself holding River, who was modelling one of Daisy’s tie-dye shirts.
He put his laptop on the floor, too lazy to put it back on his desk, and turned on his iPod. Only a few minutes, he told himself as he listened, slowly falling asleep.
Chapter Five
Kaitlyn Wardle
I am Rose and Clara for VIBA’s Nutcracker!! :)
Kaitlyn walked into the academy, waving to Gabriel on the way in.
Gabriel looked at her nervously. “Um, hello,” he said, quickly ducking his head and focusing on his paperwork. Kaitlyn shook her head as she walked over to the schedule. The staff here just keeps getting weirder. She sneezed, not quite over her cold yet. She scanned the schedule and casting lists, skipping over the corps bits to concentrate on the principal parts as she searched for her name.
First act rehearsal for Clara, then an hour break while Russian rehearsed, then Rose … Kaitlyn looked at the casting list again, and laughed. The office-staff are such idiots, she thought. They only put Anna’s name under Rose. How does that even make sense? How can Anna do both casts of Rose? Mr. Demidovski came out of the office and started slightly when he saw her.
“And how are you?” he asked, bowing slightly and putting his hand on her shoulder.
“Great, thank you, Mr. Demidovski.”
“Yes, yes, that is good….” Mr. Demidovski looked a bit pained. “Working hard, eh? Good girl.” He released her shoulder and smiled. Kaitlyn walked down the hall, rolling her eyes as she saw Tristan.
“Did you see that?” she asked. “Mr. Demidovski is so weird.” Tristan ignored her, and continued listening to Anna and Jessica. Kaitlyn stood there, puzzled, before going downstairs, slightly disturbed.
“Hey, Kaitlyn,” Taylor said as Kaitlyn came into the bathroom. She calmly continued to do her bun, not even turning around to look at Kaitlyn.
“It’s good to be back and not sick anymore,” Kaitlyn tried.
“Oh, right, you were sick. Don’t forget my party is tonight.” She frowned at her bangs and attacked them with so much hairspray, she could probably cause global warming single-handedly.
“Oh, yeah, when is it again?” Kaitlyn tried to act casual and pretend she had forgotten.
“You are so stupid, Kaitlyn,” Taylor giggled so Kaitlyn couldn’t take offense. “It’s at seven-ish. A bunch of us are going to Delilah’s house after rehearsal to get ready and then we’re meeting the boys and Anna, Aiko, Grace, and Alexandra at the academy at 6:30 and bussing, so you could meet us then if you want.” Kaitlyn stared at her. Taylor pretended she didn’t notice, selecting a sparkly pin to stick in her bun.
“Does my bun look flat?” Taylor asked as she stuck the pin in.
“Yes, It looks fine.” Kaitlyn slammed her bag down on the counter and took out her clean dance clothes.
“Oh … you’re wearing that?” Taylor eyed Kaitlyn’s bodysuit in surprise.
“Yeah. What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s just … really white. I didn’t know you liked white.”
“What do you mean? Everyone likes white, why would I hate white? I never said I didn’t like white.”
Keiko had come in, and when she saw the bodysuit Kaitlyn was holding, she looked Kaitlyn up and down, horrified. “You’re wearing that?”
“Why does nobody like
