Chapter 1- Auditions...

"Is it time yet" My little sister Julie asks me in a nervous voice, tugging lightly on my hand.
"Hopefully soon little sister" I tell her softly, ruffling her long, curly auburn tinted hair a bit as I try to smile encouragingly. She sighs impatiently and I understand how she feels. We're waiting in line for auditions, Which normally wouldn't be any problem, since we're both professional dancers. But this is the audition of a lifetime, every dancers dream. We're waiting to audition for Michael Jackson's This Is It. And we're both terrified, excited, and about a million other emotions at once. Our head's snap up as Kenny Ortega walks past us, thanking us for coming and smiling encouragingly. We both start to tremble harder, knowing the moment of truth was coming. He leads us inside the stadium, and the others around us are already emotional. I grasp my sisters hand tightly, almost in tears myself. I look down at her, and melt as I see her eyes brimming with unshed tears. I kneel down and hug her tightly.
"I know sweetie. I feel it too. We'll do this! Have faith honey" I tell her, feeling her arms tighten around me.
"I'm scared Leigh" She tells me and I sigh.
"Me too hun. Me too"
Kenny lines us up and a choreographer shows us the moves, and we are supposed to mock her. Julia and I pick up the dance quickly, moving perfectly through the steps. We are pulled forward along with 6 other girls. We are asked to then dance one by one, and my sister and I move to the back of the line, wanting to have a chance to get ourselves together.
"Theres Michael!!!" Julz hisses excitedly and I gasp and look, going warm and cold all over at the same time. Sure enough, there was the man himself, looking gorgeous as ever in a black dress shirt and tight black jeans.
"Good lord it should be illegal for that man to look that good. How I am supposed to concentrate when he's looking all gorgeous?" I complain and my sister laughs and pinches my side lightly.
"Stop thinking like me Leigh" She whispers and I laugh softly.
The other girls do very well and they are moved to the side. We are expected before we dance to tell Kenny and Michael why we are there. I look back at my sister before walking out to center stage. I shoot a warm smile at Michael, and my stomach flutters when he returns it.
"Wow…I can't even believe I'm here. This is… A complete dream come true. My name is Leigh and this.." I reach over for Julia and pull her beside me.
"Is my sister Julia. We've have been fans for years. But there is another major, and very special reason we are here." I finish, feeling myself choke up at the thought.
"6 and a half years ago, I was diagnosed with Myelogenous Leukemia. The doctors gave me six months to live. I was terrified" I felt the familiar ache of tears and I let them flow, feeling my sister squeeze my hand.
"I thought my life was over. I lost all interest in everything. Me and my sister have been dancers since we could walk. After my diagnosis, I stopped caring about all of that. My sister tried everything to get me to come out of my shell but nothing seemed to work. I started on an experimental treatment and started to get my strength back, and found I could still dance fairly well. Then my sister did something, I will never forget. She said I have a surprise for you. She contacted the Heal The World foundation, and because of them, we were both enrolled into the Juliard School of Dance. My biggest dream came true, because of you Michael. I have been in remittion for 4 years now, and I believe the biggest part of my healing was knowing that someday I might have the greatest pleasure of dancing with you." I looked right at him, and was shocked to find that he was in tears. That instantly choked me up and I dropped my head, crying softly. Julia hugged me and then stepped back as I heard footsteps coming towards me. I lifted my head to find Michael standing in front of me.
"I have never had someone come back that I have helped, and want to give something back. You have no idea how much this means to me" He whispers softly, pulling me forward into a warm loving hug. I almost melted.
I sniffled and smiled at him, almost melting again as his long fingers smoothed the tears from my cheeks. The other dancers were choked up too, and I smiled waiting for my music to start. They gave me the song You Rock My World, and I grinned. This was my favorite song, and the way I moved showed it. I moved with sheer grace and sensuality, rolling my hips and shaking my body to the beat. I grinned and pulled one of MJ's spins and almost laughed out loud when he cheered and hooted from the audience. When I was finished I stood there smiling and waiting.
"She's In!" Kenny calls and Michael nods in agreement.
"Oh yeah! Gotta have her!" He agrees.
Julia moves forward, smiling nervously. I ran up next to her and talked encouragingly to her, trying to calm her down. She hugs me tightly and I move back , smiling at her.
"Rock it out girl! Show these others how it's done!" I call and she grins.
They give her the song Billie Jean and she begins to move. She is nervous and I can tell and sigh softly, hoping she could come out of it. She finishes and I sigh and Michael and Kenny look a bit skeptical. I run out and wrap an arm around her.
"You did so well honey!" I whisper and she shakes.
"I messed it up!" She moans and I look out at them.
"I don't know" Kenny says.
"She looks nervous" Michael says and I start to cry.
"I can't do this without her! She has to be on this stage with me!" I exclaim, tears rolling down my cheeks. Michael looks up at me and he melts.
"Lets give her another chance. See if she can't calm down" Michael says and I smile brightly.
"Come on Julz. You can do this. Close your eyes and pretend we are in our front room. Show me the dance you showed me 2 weeks ago. It's the same song honey. You can do it!" I tell her and she looks at me and nods. They start her music again and she begins to move, her eyes closed and I see the beautiful dancer my sister has always been. She moves with perfect ease and grace, throwing a few of MJ's moves in with her own. When she finishes, the room erupts in applause and Michael whistles shrilly.
"I knew she had it! She's in!" He exclaims.
"You did it!!!" I scream, running out and picking her up and swinging her around. We're laughing, crying and just hysterical with happiness.
"We're gonna dance with MJ!" I exclaim and we both jump up and down with happiness.
"This is the best day of our lives" Julz says and I nod. We both turn to look back at Michael and he is smiling happily.
"Welcome to the group Ladies" He says fondly and we grab hands and bow gracefully. Its an adventure. It really is. And we're going to be part of it!