“Is your mom still okay to take me?” Lisa asks.
“Of course,” I say. Truthfully I forgot to ask my mom, but Lisa is practically a permanent plus one for us whenever we have competitions or auditions. Pacific Sound Ballet, or PSB, has one of the best summer intensives in the country. Unfortunately, Lisa’s parents think spending the summer doing ballet all day is a waste of time, no matter how prestigious the school.
Katy looks up from her phone. “I wasn’t going to go to the audition but if it means a night away from my idiot brothers, count me in.”
Lisa already has her phone out and is typing. “I’m just checking right now but it should be fine. I was going to carpool with you anyway.” She looks up, biting her bottom lip. “Han, can your mom text my mom…” Lisa trails off, but I understand. Lisa has never broken a rule in her life, yet Mrs. Hamasaki always believes she’s up to something. I tap out another text to my mom. She still hasn’t seen the first two.
Lisa’s version of fine and my version of fine are very different. With Mrs. Hamasaki involved, it will likely take three phone calls from my mother just to convince her that Lisa isn’t imposing on us or sneaking off to get into trouble with boys.
“Does anyone have an extra granola bar? I’m starving.” Katy looks hopefully around the dressing room.
“I don’t think so,” I shrug. “But you can hunt through my bag.”
“I think there’s another bag of M&M’s in mine, you can have it if you want it,” Olivia calls from her spot on the floor.
“Do you know how many calories are in a bag of M&M’s?” Lisa asks from the other end of the narrow space. She is—somehow—already doing homework, proving why she gets straight A’s.
“Don’t know, don’t care. Chocolate calories don’t count!” Olivia laughs. “We’re sixteen Lisa, we’re supposed to eat crappy food and make dumb choices.”
“And how many dumb choices have you made today?” Katy asks, her words muffled as she searches in my dance bag.
“Hmmmm…” Olivia plays along, counting on her fingers. “Let’s see. I chose to hit snooze too many times, so I chose to run late for school, which made me choose to park in the way back of the parking lot. Which made me choose to not look where I was going while I ran to class, so of course I chose to run headfirst into Tyler Stanley.” Olivia pauses dramatically and sighs. My breath catches in my throat at the mention of his name. “Tyler chose to help me pick up all my stuff, and while he was helping me, he chose to ask me out to a movie this weekend. And I chose to say yes.” Olivia finishes with a smirk. “So…none,” she adds, sticking out her tongue at Katy.
“Tyler Stanley asked you out?” Katy’s voice cracks. Tyler Stanley is gorgeous. Like, perfect-sandy-blonde-hair-that-never-quite-gets-in-his-hazel-eyes, perfect. If our life were a movie, he would be the cool, super popular guy with a secret heart of gold that the dorky girl has a crush on. And yes, I would be that dorky girl. And yes, I have had a crush on Tyler since sixth grade, I suppose Olivia forgot.
“I guess it’s true, cheerleaders always win.” Katy mumbles.
“You know half the school is in love with him, right?” Lisa adds, still working on her homework. “Good luck with that.”
I take a big bite of my granola bar, filling my mouth so I have an excuse not to join the conversation.
“I’m aware,” Olivia deadpans, glancing at me. Maybe she does remember my crush on Tyler after all. “The girls have already threatened to kick me off the squad for taking him off the market.”
Of course, Tyler would pick Olivia. If Tyler was the cool guy in a movie, then Olivia was the “popular girl” who ruled the school. Okay, to be fair she doesn’t really run the school, but she is pretty, popular, and on the cheerleading squad. She’s naturally blonde with blue eyes, a perfect chest-waist-hip ratio, and always looks perfectly styled. When we were kids she was always the one plotting elaborate adventures while I tagged along for the fun, piping up with the occasional suggestion so we didn’t get into too much trouble.
Hearing that Tyler asked her out sends a bolt of lightning through me. Lightning that feels a lot like jealousy. “So, what movie are you going to see?” I ask, hoping my voice doesn’t betray my feelings.
“I think that killer robot movie that’s coming out. I don’t care, I’m not planning on watching the movie anyway,” Olivia grins. “Come on, don’t want to be late for class. Ballerinas are never late,” she adds in a perfect imitation of Ms. Parker. I hang back as she scurries out with her jazz shoes.
Lisa shoves her math book in her cubby and follows. “Don’t worry about her. I’m sure she didn’t mean to rub it in. You know how she is.”
Of course I know Olivia, she’s been my best friend my whole life. She had to remember my long-time crush on Tyler.
“It’s fine,” I tell Lisa. “I just need to find my jazz shoes. I’ll be right out.”
“They’re right there,” Lisa says, pointing to the top of my open bag.
“Right.” I grab them and follow Lisa back to the studio for our last class of the night. It’s not like I have time to date anyway. Auditions for summer intensives are coming up. I don’t have time for boys.
“Sweetheart? Is that you?” I drop my dance bag and backpack to the floor just inside the kitchen.
“Yeah.” I slip the Lancer’s keys onto the Batman keyholder, already making a list of all the homework I need to finish before I go to sleep.
“Your dinner is in the fridge. Just need to heat it up.”
“Thanks,” I call through to the
