Friday Night Stage Lights

by Rachele Alpine

  “We’ll stop on the way home and stock up on the important stuff; ice cream, candy, chips,” Tanner promised him and gave him a little salute with his hand.

  And that’s exactly what we did. I waited in the truck while Tanner ran into the grocery store and came out with two big bags. When we got home, he brought a bunch of blankets and pillows into the family room, spread them out on the couch, propped my foot up on the table with a bag of ice over it, and proceeded to spread out everything he’d bought. Which, by the way, was pretty much any piece of junk food one could imagine.

  “This isn’t exactly the best pre-Showcase diet,” I told Tanner. “And I’m pretty sure that if I finish all of this, I won’t be able to dance ever again because my stomach will explode.”

  “Oh, it’s not all for you,” he said as he settled down on the couch and picked up a pint of ice cream. “I’m going to help you out. I figure it’s my brother duty.”

  “It’s your duty to eat all of this?”

  “It’s our duty to eat all of this. So what do you think? Chocolate chip or cookie dough?” He offered two pints of Blue Bell ice cream, and when I took one, he raised the other as if proposing a toast. “Here’s to getting better in the best way possible.”

  The two of us hit our containers together and settled into our spots on the couch. I dove my spoon into the ice cream and took a giant bite, because chocolate made everything better, and I was most definitely in need of it right now.

  Chapter 37

  Three hours later, we had binge-watched way too much mindless television and made a serious dent in the food on the table.

  And had a ton of fun.

  I never thought I’d say this, but I had a blast hanging out with Tanner. And I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t made it a point to do it before this.

  The two of us yelled at the TV together when the characters did something stupid, and we laughed so hard that at one point, we had tears coming out of our eyes. I’d always thought Tanner was into nothing but football and we could never find anything in common, but I guessed I was wrong. Because right then, he was pretty great.

  And as much as I loved ballet, I thought about Tanner’s words again, about not letting one thing take over your life. It was kind of nice to have a break from it without all the pressure and guilt, and just relax.

  “I could get used to this,” I told Tanner as I settled deep into the cushions. I thought about the afternoons I’d been spending with Jayden too and how much fun they were. “Maybe I’ll give up ballet and become a professional couch potato.”

  “You could. It’s okay to like more than one thing,” Tanner said with a wink.

  “Forget TSOTA. I’m going to spend my high school years on the couch binge-watching TV,” I declared.

  “Hey, there are worse things you could do,” Tanner said. And maybe it was the sugar high, but for once, I didn’t think it was so awful to have him as my stepbrother. In fact, I was thinking that I was pretty darn lucky to have him.

  Chapter 38

  It turned out that a weekend of junk food and television could do wonders for recovery. The swelling in my ankle went down within a few days, although I had to use crutches to keep any pressure off of it. Adeline begged me to let her carry my bag so she had another excuse to be late for class, and Jayden shared tips with me on how to walk with the crutches so my arms wouldn’t hurt too much. Mary Rose advised me to stay off of it for the week to avoid making the injury worse, so instead of leading conditioning and taking dance class, I watched them.

  Randy was the first to notice me when I entered the studio.

  “What happened to you?” he asked in his usual blunt way.

  “Football injury,” I told him and smirked.

  “Yeah right, and I got drafted into the NFL,” he said.

  “What team?” I asked. “Wait, let me guess. I bet it was the Cleveland Browns, because they’re the only team desperate enough to take you,” I said, remembering Logan’s comments about how bad the team was.

  Randy scowled and I gave myself an invisible high five for my comeback.

  Logan came over and apologized again for what had happened, which was totally unnecessary.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” I told him. “Besides, I loved playing football with those kids. And I plan to come back for a rematch. I just need to study some of your plays. I’m going to stop Charlie from getting the ball past me if it’s the last thing I do.”

  “I’m sure they’d love to see you again too,” Logan said. “And by the sound of it, I’m pretty sure a certain someone is starting to understand how much work football is.”

  “There is a lot that goes into the sport,” I admitted.

  “Wait, so you really did hurt yourself playing football?” Randy interrupted.

  “I guess dancing isn’t the only thing I’m good at. And if I were you, I’d hope you never have to play against me,” I told him. “You don’t know what you’re up against.”

  I could tell Randy wanted to say more, but before he could, Mary Rose began class. The boys worked through all of her stretches and exercises, but when I wasn’t dancing with them, it was pretty boring, so I hobbled outside to the waiting area.

  Adeline and Elliana were already there, peering through the one-way window into the studio. I should’ve known they’d come early to watch the boys.

  “How is your ankle doing? Is it feeling any better?” Elliana asked.

  “A bit. But I’ve learned it’s really hard to use crutches and carry a big heavy book bag on your back. My armpits are killing me. These crutches were not made for comfort.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want us to carry your book bag around?” Adeline asked. “Because I’m telling you, I will.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “You’re going to have to find some other excuse to get yourself out of class.”

  “That’s not why I’m doing it.” Adeline pouted. “I’m offering out of the goodness of my heart.”

  “Sure,” I said. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “Speaking of the goodness of my heart,” Elliana said, “I think I have an offer for you that you won’t want to refuse. My sister got two tickets to the Thursday Evening of Art at TSOTA this week, and we can’t use them. I asked my mom if I could pass them on to you, and she was cool with it. Do you think you’d want to go?”

  “Yes! Of course!” I shouted without even giving it a second’s thought. I couldn’t believe Elliana was offering her sister’s tickets to me. I had always wanted to go to their Thursday Evening of Art. It was held once a month, and tickets were by invitation only. Instead of tests and projects in the art portions of their classes, students presented their work for the month during Thursday Evening of Art. Each student got two tickets, and unless you knew someone who could hook you up, there was no other way to get them.

  “I figured you’d say that. That’s why I brought them with me.”

  She pulled out an envelope, and I clutched it to my heart. There was no way to begin to express to her how much it meant to me that she’d give me these. I hadn’t been to a live dance show since that weekend with Mom. The familiar tug of sadness appeared, but before I could lose myself in it, I had a flash of inspiration. I’d ask Mom to go see this show with me. Maybe she didn’t get to see me dance, but this show would kind of be the same. We could go out to dinner beforehand, and when we watched it, she’d remember that weekend we’d spent together. This might be the key to bringing Mom back to me. To making her remember how great it used to be with the two of us.

  Chapter 39

  I asked Mom about Thursday Evening of Art on the ride home. I was so excited that I couldn’t wait.

  “What do you think?” I asked. “You’ll get to see the school in action, and we can go to dinner first. A girls’ night!”

  “I love the idea, honey,” Mom said, and she smiled at me. “We could dress up all fancy and splurge on dessert.”

  “I like the way you think!” I told her, and it all so
unded so amazing. I leaned my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes, picturing all the fun we’d have that night.

  My good mood was evident; both Stephen and Tanner noticed it, and while I told them it was because we had tickets to Thursday Evening of Art, the real reason is because only Mom and I had tickets. We would get a night to ourselves, and I was so excited about it that I was pretty sure I’d burst.

  The rest of the week raced by in a blur, and nothing could get me down. Not even the thought of another rehearsal with Logan where he wouldn’t be able to get the steps right.

  “You seem especially happy today,” Logan said when I showed up for rehearsal on Wednesday. Mary Rose had rescheduled it, since I had been hurt. It was my first time dancing again, and while Mary Rose had said we’d go easy, it still made me nervous.

  “I am,” I told him. “I’m very, very happy.”

  “Well, I’m about to make you feel even better,” he said. He turned to Mary Rose, who was over by the music system. “Okay, let’s show her the magic.”

  “The magic?” I asked, one eyebrow raised.

  “Just you wait,” Logan said. He grabbed a chair and pulled it up for me. “You may want to sit down for this. I’m just saying. It’s probably going to shock you.”

  “Okaaaaay,” I said, a bit concerned about what exactly it was I was going to see.

  Logan walked to the middle of the floor and Mary Rose played with the sound system until the familiar sound of our pas de deux music filled the studio. Logan counted the beats with his fingers against his hip, and when he got to the sixteenth count, he began to move across the floor.

  “Wait a minute,” I said when I realized what was going on. “That’s our dance!”

  And it was. Logan was doing the footwork we’d tried to practice so many times. But unlike those earlier rehearsals, where he’d fumbled and tripped and messed things up, he wasn’t doing any of that. In fact, he had every single step down.

  About halfway through the dance, he gestured toward me.

  “What do you think?” he asked, without missing a beat. “Want to give it a shot?”

  I glanced at Mary Rose, who nodded. “You can mark it,” she said. “Don’t worry about dancing on pointe yet.”

  So I ran over to him, grabbed his hand, and we moved to the music. We mirrored each other step for step, and the only things we didn’t do the complete moves for were the jumps. Instead, Logan counted the beats and would then pick right back up again with the steps. When the song ended, instead of standing next to him, I stepped aside and clapped as hard as I could.

  “Bravo!” I yelled to Logan and Mary Rose did the same. “That was amazing! Where did that come from?”

  “It was nothing,” he said as if it were no big deal, when, in fact, it was a very big deal. “I’ve been practicing a little with Mary Rose.”

  I looked from him to her. “You two have been working together without me?”

  Mary Rose nodded toward Logan. “He’s the one who’s been doing all the work. He’s really been putting some time in to get the dance down.”

  I couldn’t believe Logan had done this, especially when he was so busy with football. A wave of emotion welled up inside of me, and for a second I was afraid I was going to cry.

  “Thank you,” I said, even though those words didn’t begin to express how thankful I truly was. He’d done this for me. Not because he’d had to, but because he’d wanted to. I remembered Mia’s words when I hadn’t wanted to dance with him. How she’d told me that he was a really nice person when you got to know him. She’d been right, and I was so glad that I’d listened to her, because if I had simply judged him based off of what I saw when he was with his friends, I would’ve never gotten to know him, and I would’ve missed out on so much. That idea made me think about Tanner, too, and how maybe, when you give people a chance, they can end up surprising you.

  Chapter 40

  If you would’ve asked me a month ago how life was going, I would’ve told you terrible. I’d lost my dance partner, my family was obsessed with Tanner and football, and I had to help with conditioning classes for a group of boys who acted more like animals than people.

  But that was a month ago.

  Now if you asked me how things were going, I’d tell you wonderful. Incredible. Stupendous.

  “What’s up with that goofy smile on your face?” Tanner asked as he drove me home from practice that night.

  “Things are just going really good right now,” I told him.

  “Here’s to awesome days,” he said and held up his hand for a high five.

  I slapped his hand and then reached out and turned up the radio. It was one of those roll-down-the-window-and-crank-up-the-radio type of nights. The kind where you didn’t care if the wind messed up your hair, or if you couldn’t sing one note on key. Tanner and I belted out the songs on the oldies station the entire way home.

  The giddy mood from rehearsal still had me all amped up when we walked into the house. I waved at Mom and Stephen, who were in the family room watching TV.

  “What’s up?” I asked as I plopped myself onto the couch next to Mom. I peeked at the screen of her laptop, which she had balanced on her knees. “What are you doing? Online shopping again?”

  “I wish,” Mom said, and her voice held a sad note to it. One that most definitely did not match my good mood.

  “Everything okay?” I asked her.

  “Not really,” she said and closed her laptop. “I wish I didn’t have to say this to you, honey, because I know how much you were looking forward to tomorrow, but I’m not going to be able to go to Thursday Evening of Art with you.”

  And with that one sentence, my good mood vanished.

  It was as if someone had whisked the carpet out from under me, and I’d crashed to the ground.

  “Are you serious?”

  “I’m sorry, sweetie, but tomorrow is parent-teacher conferences, and the other secretary is sick with strep throat. The school needs someone to run the front office, and unfortunately, I’m the only other secretary. I feel awful. Believe me, if I could get out of it, I would.” She reached out and touched my shoulder, but I pulled away.

  “Figure out a way,” I told her. “Tell them that you already have plans. With your daughter.”

  “I tried,” Mom softly said. “There isn’t anyone who can do it. But we could find someone else to go with you. What about Mia?”

  “Mia and I aren’t talking,” I reminded her.

  “Isn’t it time you two made up?”

  “Not after what she did. I’m never going to forgive her,” I said in a tone that made it clear there was no use arguing about it.

  “Okay, what about one of your other friends? Or maybe Stephen could go.”

  “Never mind,” I said. It was bad enough that she couldn’t go with me; there was no way I wanted her to rattle off a list of my friends in hopes that one of them might have pity on me and go. It was pathetic and made things even worse. “I’ll skip it. I’m sure someone else would love to go and take my tickets.”

  “Honey, you could find someone else,” Mom said.

  But why should I have to find someone else? I wanted to say. I was supposed to go with Mom.

  “Forget it,” I told her, even though there was no way I’d forget it. Not when Mom had once again chosen something else over me.

  “I can go,” Tanner said. I’d been so wrapped up in our argument that I’d forgotten he was in the room. “I have practice right after school tomorrow, so I’m free in the evening. What if I took you, Brooklyn?”

  “Um, I don’t think you’d really enjoy it,” I said. “It’s all dance and music.”

  “Hey, I may not act like it, but I can be cultured too. Admit it: You take all of your etiquette tips from me,” he joked.

  “You mean the tips about leaving the toilet seat up and your wet towels on the bathroom floor?” I shot back.

  “I’m simply showing you what not to do,” he said. “But
really, I don’t mind going. You’ve gone to so many of my football games, I should see what this dance thing is all about too.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, still skeptical.

  “Positive. It will be fun.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Mom chimed in, and simply because I didn’t want to hear about anything else she thought, I nodded at Tanner.

  “Okay, sure. You can come,” I told Tanner. “But you’d better not fall asleep like Malik did when he was at our recital this summer.”

  “What are you talking about? I love nothing more than hours of a classical concert or a night at the opera.”

  “Okay, you’re pushing it a little too far now,” I said, and if I had been feeling a bit better, I probably would’ve laughed. Tanner was trying hard to make me feel better, and I was thankful for it. “The show is at seven, so we’ll have to leave here tomorrow by six thirty. And make sure to take a shower.”

  “I’ll be ready,” Tanner promised. “And I’ll take two showers. I’ll be so squeaky clean that they’ll have to tell me to quiet down.”

  “You’re nuts,” I told him, but I meant it in a good way. I was glad that I was still going to the show, but it was hard to be excited about something when the person I really wanted to spend time with couldn’t make time for me.

  Chapter 41

  Tanner came downstairs shortly after six the following evening dressed as if he were going to some fancy, swanky event. He had on a suit, dress shirt, tie, and shined-up black shoes.

  “Um, you do realize this is at a high school and not opening night at Lincoln Center, right?” I asked him.

  “You can never look too good,” he said and winked at his image in the hallway mirror.

  “I guess it’s better than your smelly warm-up jerseys,” I told him.

  “We both clean up well,” he told me, gesturing to my own outfit.

  “We do, don’t we?” I said and grinned. I touched the sleeve of my dress. It was a pale pink, the color of my toe shoes. The top had a scooped neck and long sleeves, and the bottom was made of tulle and fell all the way to my ankles. It made me think of something a ballerina would wear onstage. I’d paired it with my white satin shoes that had tiny heels and a pearl bracelet Mom had given me for my tenth birthday.