Toe to Toe (On Pointe Book 1) by Penelope Freed (comprehension books txt) 📗

go out on any dates while visiting my family for Christmas. So, how come you’re so tired from dance?” he asks, changing tactics.

“Well, normally on Saturdays I have about six hours of class and rehearsals, plus I had an extra hour of coaching after everyone else. I have a really important ballet competition in a couple of weeks, plus auditions for summer intensives. I have to be ready for them,” I relax a bit, relieved to have a safe topic presented to me. “Olivia is competing too, but I don’t know if she’s going to any auditions.” I add.

“So, you basically worked out for seven hours today? Damn, that’s a pretty good reason to be tired.” I glance at Trevor. He eyes me with a mix of disbelief and respect. “What’s a summer intensive? Is it like ballet summer school?” Trevor asks.

I don’t answer until I’ve gotten onto the freeway. I’ve had my license for about six months and I’m a pretty good driver, but the freeway still makes me a little nervous. “Yeah, it’s pretty much like ballet summer school. Most of the really major companies and schools run three- to six-week programs. The really good ones make you audition to get in. A couple of the best schools around the country have year-round programs. Getting into the summer program is the best way to get invited to stay for the year-round program. But they only take the best of the best year-round,” I explain.

“And that’s what you want? To stay instead of coming back here in September?” Trevor asks.

“Yeah. If you can get into a year-round school, then you have a good chance of getting into a company. The best schools in the United States feed into the best ballet companies. Same with the competition, you can win scholarships to some of the summer intensives and sometimes they even offer people a spot in a year-round program just from the competition. That’s why the next few weeks are so important to me,” I add.

“You think you’re good enough to get in?” I can’t tell for a second if Trevor is being sarcastic or asking me a genuine question. I decide to assume he’s serious.

“Maybe.” I shrug, “I think if I have a good day, I might. I won the top prize for my age division at the same competition when I was ten. Plus, I’ve been working my butt off all year for this. I mean, I’m not bad, my teacher thinks I might get into one of the top schools.” As long as my nerves don’t get the best of me, and my shoes aren’t ruined. And I have a good bun, and the right leotard, and the right tights. As long as everything goes perfectly, I’ll be fine.

Winning that award six years ago was still one of the best moments of my life. Of course, not winning it again the next year had been crushing, feeding the anxious thoughts in my brain. It’s hard to live up to your potential on a daily basis, especially when you aren’t the same adorable red-head you were at age ten.

“You don’t think she’s just telling you that to make you feel better?”

Why is Trevor such a buzz kill? “Maybe, but I don’t think Ms. Parker would do that to me. She’s pretty brutally honest with us. Besides, she knows what she’s talking about—she used to be a principal dancer at the Classical Ballet Company and she went to their school. CBC is one of the best ballet companies in the world, she was a big deal in her day. She told some of the other girls in my class they could go for the experience, but she didn’t think they should plan on getting in. She makes us all go to a bunch of auditions every year, for the experience. Last year was the first time she told me I should think about going, if I got in anywhere,” I add.

“Did you?”

“Get in? Yeah, I got waitlisted for CBS, and I got into San Francisco Ballet School, and State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara. Ms. Parker talked me into going to the State Street Ballet intensive. It’s a much smaller school and Santa Barbara is only a two hour drive from Camarillo, plus their intensive was only three weeks long.” Ms. Parker thought it was a good place to go for my first intensive, not too far and not too long. I couldn’t seem to get her or my parents to understand that I was fully prepared to move to New York the day I turned thirteen, but they insisted I go somewhere smaller for my first time. I explain all this to Trevor as we drive to the movie theater. I park the car and start to climb out.

“Hey,” Trevor grabs my arm, stopping me from climbing out of the car. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“Um, yeah. Why?” I ask, surprised.

“Well…you seem a little nervous or something,” Trevor replies. Oh. I guess I have been talking a lot. A lot. I do that when I’m nervous. Why am I nervous? I don’t even like Trevor, I like Tyler. Tyler, what will he think of this, think of me? I need to be charming and funny and put together. Yeah right.

I pull my arm free and climb out of the car. “I’m fine, really. Like I said, I wasn’t expecting to be going out on a date tonight. I’m just a bit frazzled, I guess.”

Trevor smiles. He has a pretty nice smile. “Well, don’t think of this as a date, okay? We’re just hanging out, seeing a movie. I’m not interested in a date either.” Well fine then, maybe his smile isn’t so nice. I glance up at him. Yeah, it is. “You don’t know me from Adam, I don’t know anyone here at all. I’m going home to Seattle tomorrow and you’re off to New York to be a prima ballerina, we’ll probably never see each other again.