you must take care of your feet, your body. The choreographer is the artist, you are the brush, and your body, it is your paper. The feeling, the artistry is the paint, but you need the paper for the paint to be beautiful. Good, high-quality brush. And must be thin, strong paper. If you want to be the dancer, and have fat, you are fooling yourself. I don’t care if you lie to your friends, your boyfriend, that is okay. But don’t lie to yourself, don’t cheat yourself, that is very stupid, eh? Do you understand me, Delilah? You know, if you don’t drink water, lose maybe three pounds. Okay, finish!”
As everyone got changed, Taylor phoned her mom. “Mom, am I going home before I go out tonight? Or are we, like, going to dinner or something first? I need to know if I should get changed into my costume here.”
Her mom sighed. “Taylor, I’m not even sure if I should let you go tonight. I can’t believe you skipped that math test.”
“Mom, I have to go. Everyone’s going tonight.”
“I know you have to go. I’m just not sure that I should be letting you. Taylor, you need to at least graduate from high school. Your counsellor has been unbelievably understanding by letting you stay in the super achievers program despite your grades, but you have to try. He wanted me to get you a tutor, but …”
“Mom, I don’t have time for a tutor.”
“I know, that’s what I told him. I’ll let you go tonight, but you really have to try harder, okay? I’ve got to go.”
Taylor hung up, trying not to cry. And I still don’t know whether I should get changed into my costume or not! she thought. She sat there for a minute and listened to everyone talk about Halloween. She forced herself to stand and opened her locker, taking out a ROCKSTAR and a packet of sour gummy worms. Biting the top off of a worm, she sat back down, avoiding the pile of used toe tape beside her. Gross! She sneezed. The academy always had a weird smell from a mixture of tea tree oil, Tiger Balm, Chinese medicine, mould, and old costumes. Taylor had the feeling that she was allergic to it. She sneezed again and reached for a Kleenex.
“Bless you!” Keiko said. She sat down beside Taylor. “What are you dressing as tonight?”
“Same as for class. A Barbie princess. But I have a dress and stuff, too.”
“I am dressing as butterfly.”
“Cool!” said Taylor, gulping some of her ROCKSTAR.
“Quick, quick!” Kageki said, as he came thundering down the stairs. “Come upstairs! The third floor toilet is overflowing. It’s coming through the ceiling!” Everybody ran upstairs.
The water was coming through the ceiling and pouring down the sliding door at the academy’s side entrance, creating a waterfall. An enormous waterfall. “I didn’t know the upstairs toilet had so much water!” Taylor shouted over the water.
“It was the one that just kept flushing. You know, the one that the little kids thought Moaning Myrtle lived in?” Kageki said. “So now they can’t stop it from flooding!”
Outside, passersby stopped to look through the sliding doors, gazing at the waterfall in amazement. Julian grinned and waved at them.
Gabriel came bustling along, saying “Go, go! The plumber is coming, don’t worry.” He waved the people in the street away from the sliding door and shooed the students back downstairs.
“Alison, turn down that music!” Charlize said. She turned into Grandview Park. “Do you see your friends, Taylor?”
“No, but they’re taking the bus. I’ll call Keiko, though.” Taylor hung up almost as soon as the phone connected. “Mom, they’re right behind us!”
“Is Keiko the one in the butterfly costume?”
“Yes! Bye!” Taylor called over her shoulder as she ran out to meet them.
“Hey, Taylor!” said Keiko. “Are we going to go trick or treating first?”
“Nah, why don’t we skip it?” Taylor said, seeing the expression on Delilah’s face.
“Oh, yeah sure,” Keiko said.
“Oh, look!” Delilah said excitedly as they heard music starting up. “The parade is starting.” They pushed to the front of the crowd, murmuring apologies.
“There’s the boys and the rest,” Taylor said, looking across the street. Delilah waved at them, but they either didn’t see her or didn’t want to acknowledge that they had seen her. The drums started, and the crowd got quieter. People came running into the clear area and then stopped, gyrating fire rings around their hips.
“Cool!” Taylor exclaimed as one of the dancers tossed her hoop into the air, still burning, and then caught it. They stayed there watching the parade until most of the stilt walkers had gone by.
“Let’s move over there,” Keiko said, pointing to a clear place in the park with some benches, just a little ways away. “I really want to sit down.”
“Me too,” Taylor said, so they all drifted over to the benches.
“Want some?” a man on a blanket asked, holding up a bag.
Taylor jumped. She hadn’t noticed him in the darkness. “No, thank you,” she answered, giggling. He shrugged and they kept walking.
They sat down on the benches just as the fireworks began to start.
“Where did that guy on the blanket go?” Delilah asked. “He’s disappeared.”
Taylor scanned the crowd. “Oh, there he is,” she said, looking across the street. “He’s just getting into his car.”
“Oh,” Delilah said, bored.
They went back watching the fireworks, until Taylor said, “Hey, look! I guess that wasn’t blanket guy’s car.”
Two policemen had come over, and the man was walking backwards. They could hear the police calling him back, but instead he picked up a plastic sword that someone had lost, and began running for the street — right behind Taylor!
“Go, go,” Delilah yelled, laughing.
Taylor giggled. He made such a funny sight running towards them carrying that ridiculous sword. “Look, that guy over there is filming it,” Taylor said.
The police came running after the man. One of them took a gadget out of his belt. Suddenly, the man fell right in front of them, twitching spastically. Taylor screamed. Delilah and Jessica ran to the man, along with the rest of the crowd. Taylor followed the girls. They were standing by the man, who was no longer moving. It looked like half the crowd was dialling 911. The police tried to get through, but the crowd kept pushing them back. Taylor started crying hysterically.
“Why won’t anyone let the police through?” she shouted. “He needs help!”
“Honey, that’s why we aren’t letting those bastards at him,” a woman said. “They tasered him.”
“No, it’s an overdose or something!” Taylor sobbed. “The police wouldn’t do that!”
“Then
