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 Dunstan
Genee was so much fun, I love you all!!! Never forget…
Alexandra walked out of the academy. She felt numb. She aimed for her dad’s car, trying to walk normally. She pasted a smile on her face as she passed all the other students leaving. Seeing her face, Peter Dunstan pulled out as soon as she had closed the door, leaving the academy as quickly as he could. As soon as she was sure they were out of sight, Alexandra burst into tears.
“What happened?” Peter Dunstan asked sympathetically, while trying to manoeuvre into the fast lane.
“They … they did it again!” sobbed Alexandra. “I’m double cast with Anna for Arabian! And Grace and Aiko are sharing Sugarplum and Snow Queen, and Anna’s also sharing Rose Queen with the new girl, Kaitlyn! She’s already got one cast of Clara. I can’t believe the Demidovskis did this again! I am so F-ing sick of it! And Leon and Jonathon are the slave boys!”
“How do you know what you got already? I thought they only told you on Saturday?”
“Oh, well this year we have to sign a contract.” Alexandra wiped her eyes and checked her eyeliner in the mirror. “Everybody who got a principal or solo role had to. So we all said we weren’t going to sign if they didn’t tell us what we got.” Peter Dunstan raised his eyebrows. “Okay,” Alexandra smiled slightly. “Tristan said that, and then we all sort of nodded in agreement. I mean, they can’t kick Tristan out, they don’t have enough boys in the academy to do that. And none of the boys in the company would do it for free. They’re already paying Dmitri to do Cavalier. They’re not exactly going to pay another boy.”
“Lexi, it’s actually okay that you only got Arabian. You sat out yesterday because of your stomach, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we’ll just tell everyone that you needed some rest because of Genee, so you asked the Demidovskis to give you something less demanding for The Nutcracker. We can say that
