Audition

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Authors: Stasia Ward Kehoe

Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Stories in Verse, #Love & Romance, #Performing Arts, #Dance

BOOK: Audition

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

When you are a dancer

SAR A ≠78

Sun blasts through

In the morning, I unpin the numbers

Big news is

My best friend, Bess, is at music camp.

When you flirt with the mirror

After the fireworks,

July dribbles into August

One last sleepover at Bess’s house,

My eyes open before Bess’s

On the way

Turning off the exit,

As if I could stop the forward momentum,

Señor Medrano waves

After a while I go downstairs,

“Got to get going.”

I make it upstairs

The call from Mom

One more week before school begins,

I am wearing leg warmers

Their eyes are not unwelcoming,

New England girls

I brush through the layers

How long can you go without

“Still with Stephen?”

I am not sure

Upton Academy sits

The trip from school to ballet

Julio is at the ballet school

It is dark when we get back

In class today, Yevgeny barks,

Near the studio door

Fondu développé

Sophomore year in Darby Station,

The October trees are near naked

Dad calls from the orchard,

Friday at the studio

I’ve begun taking Partnering class,

Saturday morning

Bonnie comes early on Saturdays, too.

I watch Bonnie stand, stretch

Audition

Fernando is twitchy,

Most of the girls have been dancing here

I should be in the studio

“Is Julio coming to the studio tonight?”

There is this tricky lift

We read great books at Upton Academy,

I should be grateful

In the smallest studio

No school on Monday

Weekends are always too short

At Señor Medrano’s door, I wave to Dad.

Inside, Julio sits,

The Upton kids sleep in on Monday,

I am awake

The floors of the ballet studio

Everyone is relieved

For once I don’t hesitate to undress

At Denardio’s I sit beside him,

There is an uncomfortable silence

How do nights like this end?

Outside Señor Medrano’s

Another kind of dancing

Ruby Rappaport’s car is in the shop

After class, Jane is sitting on Rem’s lap

We cluster around the bulletin board

That’s enough to stop me eating.

In Ruby’s car after school

Bess is going to the Darby Days dance

My head feels light as my leg

Allegro,

My part in the tour is easy.

Thanksgiving is about food,

It feels like I am always returning

I have this fantasy

Jane looks depressed,

In the locker room I hear

Simone knows all the crushes

I am light with hope

Rem and I lean against the barre

We begin the bears’ feature.

They hand out the paperwork

The first school on the tour is a dump

Afterwards, riding the bus to the motel,

The chaperones are strict,

On the last day of the trip,

Back at the studio

The tape measure

Señor Medrano puts me in the front row

At Upton it is all about

Could it be that high PSATs make me lighter?

After the barre, ballet class moves to center,

Ballerinas are often compared to butterflies.

Twenty minutes ’til the next class

Remington leans against the barre,

In Variations class,

“Tonight, Madison, Bonnie, and I Are going to the movies.”

Madison’s dad comes

I ride on the back of Rem’s motorcycle.

Rem’s giant palm

“R U coming?”

Even without smoking,

Now I hear the music

Rem’s apartment is three flights up,

“What is it, Sara?”

The buttons on my shirt

The name of the little girl

December leaves little time

The Nutcracker has stolen Christmas.

I know rows and rows of people

I have never kept a New Year’s resolution.

I lead my line of Snowflakes

In the dressing room

Will he give me another chance?

Afterwards

The second of January

At the studio on Monday,

Señor Medrano doesn’t mind

Bess emails me a picture

At Upton I am asked to talk

Instead I write a story

Despite how much I hate The Nutcracker,

I write this question down

Denardio’s is a crowd tonight.

Remington’s apartment is cold

Dancing Aurora’s Variation,

On my dresser is a postcard

“C’mon. Get up!”

I do not care about Aurora anymore

I try to write about the creation

Still, it is hard to go to the studio

Yevgeny’s eyes are black.

I don’t like being sick away from home.

Rem and I return on the same day

Yevgeny shows no mercy

It must be serious

But the conversation’s focus

I make up an excuse about a late rehearsal

“Stop

I won’t go

After two days of trying

I don’t know why the cheap novels bother me,

Professor O’Malley’s office is neater

His dance is finished

Now Julio is packing

In the bathroom at Señor Medrano’s

Alone in the house with Señor Medrano.

Shannon watches me limp

My cell phone buzzes.

Can I pretend to be sick?

I make the mistake

I find Ruby Rappaport downstairs

Simone draws me into a corner

Remington is at the far end of the barre.

Upton is buzzing with semester grades

“Let’s go,”

The envelope can wait

In center, the piano plays

After technique class

Remington turns up his stereo, grimaces,

Back at the Medranos

I wake up facedown

My report card is half good:

In English, we are on to Heartbreak House,

Katia and Anne are practicing

My body is angry

The stack of college brochures under my bed

I practice piqué turns

Jane smiles

At the Medranos’ there is a long letter

I love the Little Swans,

At Upton, Anne and Katia

A week creeps by

By Thursday, I feel a sting of desperation.

How long am I supposed to wait?

Adagio means slow,

At the Rite Aid a block from the studio

I slide into my narrow bed

I wake up lonely.

“You okay, Sara?”

Remington stands at his spot

“Good job, Sara.”

I want to celebrate with Remington.

Dad calls to celebrate the late frost

Señor Medrano gives me a serious look

“I miss you so much,” he says,

Señor Medrano doesn’t ask

Ruby Rappaport has forgiven Adnan

Yevgeny’s eyes do not breathe fire

He is standing in second position,

Still, the invitation comes

He is anxious, pacing

Has it changed,

The next night, I sit beside Barry

After the show, they invite me

College Fair Day at Upton

The college fair concludes

“I got the tattoo!”

They are sending

Everyone is thinking of being

April showers pound the road

The rehearsal schedule turns grueling

Mom texts while I’m in bed with Remington.

I stand outside the door

Easter is a feast

I remember my shock

I am in the front row

Remington invites me

At Upton I find myself

My cell phone pulses

Lisette brings

When Señor Medrano finds me in the hall

Every day is a flurry of extra practice—

“Denardio’s tonight?”

“This is different.”

My face is numb, then ice, then fire

Plié, tendu, rond de jambe, jeté

I have not called Bess

At the next stop on the tour

From the wings, Madison and I watch

The applause lingers

In the back of the bus on the way home,

In the months that she’s been driving me

He is late to dance class on Monday,

Julio is putting his guitar away

I leave my blazer in my room on Tuesday,

Rem and Jane are talking in the doorway

In Variations class, Yevgeny partners me

After, I write down for Professor O’Malley

I’ve spent a year pretending,

I try to console Julio,

May becomes all preparation

When you dance with a partner

Ruby and Adnan

I imagine my bedroom

“Thinking of coming home,”

Mom emails a long list

The Medranos are confused

School ends in early June at Upton

The sky is hazy

From the wings, I watch

VIKING

Published by Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published in 2011 by Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Ward, S. (Stasia), date-
Audition : a verse novel / by Stasia Ward Kehoe.
p. cm.

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