Chapter 12:
The doorbell rang.
Andi jumped up and ran to the door, smiling in a way Ororo had never seen before. The door opened, and there stood a rather handsome young man on the front step, smiling at her. "Hey, Andi," he said.
Andi had this funny smile plastered all over her face. "Come on in," she said. "Mom, this is Ryan; Ryan, this is my Mom." She turned to Emma. "This is my teacher, Emma."
If Ryan was surprised by Ororo's appearance, he did a wonderful job hiding it. "Hi, Mrs. Munroe," he said, extending a hand. Ororo took it, feeling the firm clasp of his hand. She liked him, suddenly. "Miss," she corrected him with a smile. "I am not married."
He smiled, and flushed charmingly; Ororo liked him even more. He turned to Emma.
Emma had disappeared into her room to change out of her casual white jeans and shirt when she heard that Andi's boyfriend was coming over. She was sitting on the couch now in full 'White Queen' regalia, looking coolly at the boy. Ryan gulped almost audibly and held out a hand, which Emma took with an icy smile and dropped it immediately. He nodded to her briefly. "Miss Emma." They stood there in awkward silence for a moment; Ororo and Andi both trying not to laugh and Emma enjoying the boy's discomfort. Ororo finally broke the silence. "Why don't you take Ryan out to your studio, Andi? Show him around. Lunch will be ready in about an hour." She gave them a friendly smile as they exited the room. Once the kids were gone, she fell on the sofa laughing. "Emma!"
Emma looked at her in mock anger. "I did it for you, Ororo," she said. "He won't try anything with Andi now."
"Not now," Ororo agreed. "Not with the way you look! You looked like you were about to do the same thing to him that you did to poor Remy." She grinned. "Remy wished me to tell you that he will find a way of 'getting back' at you for what you did last night. He was not pleased at being used as an object lesson for Andi."
"Let him come," Emma grinned cheerfully. "I can handle him."
Ororo smiled and got up, heading to the kitchen to make lunch.
* * *
Ryan gave a huge sigh as Andi closed the heavy glass door that closed off her 'studio' from the rest of the house. "That's your teacher?" he gave a dramatic shudder. "Wow. How do you live with her? Does she always dress like that?"
Andi collapsed on the bench in front of her piano, laughing. "No," she said finally, wiping her eyes. "No, Emma doesn't usually dress like that. She did that deliberately to intimidate you."
"Oh, I'm intimidated, all right," Ryan shook his head. "Gosh. She looks like she'd just as soon take a paddle to my butt than look at me." And Andi started laughing again.
"She just wants to make sure no one 'takes advantage' of me," Andi said, turning on the boombox she played her dancing music on and reaching for the cabinet she kept her CD's on. "Mom and Emma both are a little overprotective."
"Well, after the trial, I don't blame them." Andi turned in disbelief, and Ryan nodded. "I know. I remembered last night where I'd seen your face before. It was on TV, during that trial."
Andi dropped the stack of CD's she was holding, looking pale. "I was hoping you wouldn't put it together," she said faintly. "I didn't want anyone to know it was me. I even cut my hair so I'd look different." She dropped her eyes to her lap, twisting her fingers nervously. "I'll understand if you don't want to stay--"
Ryan caught her wrist. "Wait. I never said I wanted to leave. What you went through doesn't have any bearing on how I feel about you. I think you're a strong, beautiful girl who didn't deserve to have all those awful things happen to you. It also makes me even more determined to help you get what you want; namely, that scholarship. So come on. Let's get practicing." He bent to gather up the scattered discs, and after a moment Andi did too.
He looked through the music. "Have you been thinking about which song you want to put together a routine to?"
Andi sighed. "I actually have no idea," she said. "What would be appropriate? Do they want to see a set combination of steps, or do they want to see something original? I've never been to an audition before; I've never danced in front of anyone. I don't know what to do. How do they do auditions?"
Ryan sat down. "Well, when you walk in, they'll pin a number on your leotard. They'll never call you by name; it's always by number, at least till they've made a decision. I honestly don't think they'll recognize you from the news; the name the press used was Alexandra Sanderson, and you're using Andi Munroe now. I wasn't even sure; I didn't realize it was you until I saw the scar on your lower back when we were dancing and figured where I'd seen you before. At the audition, your hair should be up in a bun, and you'll be wearing the black leotard and regulation tights, so they won't see that.
"They'll put you in a group of about twelve other girls, and then a teacher will line all of you up by the barre and have all of you do exercises. They'll be looking for style, personality, and technique; you won't have a problem. Then they'll get all of you out in the center and have you do center exercises; then you'll all be called up one at a time to perform a piece. The time limit's five minutes; and they do look at everything, so you have to work really hard on that. Here." He dug around in his duffel bag and brought out a sheet of paper. "I took the liberty of picking up an audition requirement sheet; it tells you what to wear and all that stuff." He waited till Andi had skimmed the paper, and then said, "The performance piece can be any style, any technique; they don't want to see just ballet. I saw a girl get up and do an Irish step piece at my audition; they like that. Do you do anything besides ballet?"
"I play piano," Andi said. "But I'm better at playing my own pieces than other stuff."
Ryan looked at her curiously. "You compose?"
Andi nodded, turning pink.
Ryan grinned. 'Wow. Hey, want to impress the judges? Play your own piece on tape, then dance to your own music. I guarantee they'll give you more attention than anyone else."
"But isn't that kind of…cheating?" Andi said timidly.
Ryan shook his head. "The whole point to an audition is to make yourself so memorable that the judges automatically think of you when the time comes to vote. Whatever you can do to get their attention is fair. I guarantee you that there will be at least one or two girls there at the audition that will try to take the front center position, and will wear the flashiest costumes in order to get attention. You don't want to be the flashiest, gaudiest dressed person there; you want to be the best in style and technique. And personality; personality is really important. Yow know, when I auditioned, there was a girl there, Sophie, who danced really well. She didn't make any mistakes at all, and she had the technique and style. But her personality was horrible; she was shoving around this other girl Emily and making awful remarks about her mistakes. The judges picked Emily for the scholarship; because even though she did make mistakes she had style and technique, and more importantly she had a better personality. They choose scholarship students with an eye toward eventually tapping them for the company; and being able to get along with others is a big part of being part of a touring company." Ryan shrugged. "Not that you'll have any problems in the personality category. Now come on; do you have any pieces of music that you wrote?"
Andi dug her sheet music out of the pile, and played it for Ryan. When she was done, he whistled. "I could have sworn that was a published piece," he said. "Do you have any others?"
So Andi played several more pieces of her self-composed music, and Ryan listened, making suggestions. At the end of that time, they had chosen to use two short pieces that Andi had composed, one classical and one contemporary. Ryan took her place at the piano bench and played both pieces together, then he and Andi worked out steps. They were so engrossed in what they were doing it was something of a shock when Ororo opened the door and announced lunch. After lunch they went back to the studio to practice. Ororo peeked through the glass door several times to check on them, but she didn't have to worry; Andi was concentrating on her dancing, not on the boy.
* * *
"Name?"
Andi was so nervous she could barely get her name out. "A-A-Andi Munroe," she finally managed.
The officious-looking, slightly paunchy woman at the registration table crossed Andi's name off her list and handed her a piece of paper with the number '12' on it and two small safety pins. "On your leotard, in front, loose enough that it won't rip while you're dancing," she instructed. Andi stepped aside, and the woman barked at the girl in line behind Andi, "Name?"
Andi was so nervous she could barely get the safety pin fastened to her leotard. She sat down on a nearby chair, slid her feet into her pointe shoes, and tied them up. Then she started to warm up, swinging her legs and rotating her hips, concentrating on trying not to show how nervous she was.
There were three girls in a group right in front of her, chattering while they pinned the numbers on each other's leotards. "Oh, this will be a breeze," said one girl, a pretty blond in a black velvet leotard. "There's no one here who's even close to us. They'll pick one of us for sure." Andi's eyes widened at the arrogant assumption, and looked up quickly. The other girl was looking right at her with a sneer on her face. Andi suddenly knew what Ryan was talking about when he mentioned bad personalities; this girl was a walking example of it.
"Dancers one through 12, stand up please," said a slim, black-clad teacher at the front of the class. Andi stood up. The blond girl, Candace, scooted to the front of the group, standing right behind the teacher, with her two friends, Hilary and Jenny, behind her. Andi ended up somewhat toward the end of the girls at the barre.
"Plie in first, open to second, close to third, then open to fourth and arabesque…" The teacher rattled off a list of instructions, and Andi tried to remember them all, closing her eyes and trying to relax as her body flowed into the familiar positions. The music helped; the cool blue and green patterns she saw behind her closed eyelids calmed her. After a bit, she opened her eyes, watching the girls in front of her with interest as she did what was asked of her.
Candace, she saw immediately, had a reason to brag. Andi's heart sank as she studied the blond girl. Candace had mile-high extensions, perfect alignment, and, what Andi wanted more than anything else, the perfect body. She was petite and slender, something that would help her as a dancer, while Andi had just barely made it under the maximum height requirement. She was one of the tallest girls there, and while she had a slim, willowy body that rivaled Candace's, she also had a height disadvantage. Candace had to have been only five-three; Andi was five-six. The height maximum was five-seven.
The music stopped, and the teacher clapped his hands. "Group one, center, three lines of four each, arms-length apart," he said, and there was a scramble for the coveted front-and-center position, which was claimed by Candace, of course. Andi ended up at the right of the last row, beside a nervous, mousy-haired girl called Rose. She gave the other girl a reassuring smile, and the girl smiled back. Andi suddenly felt a bit more relaxed. They both went through the rest of the center exercises much more relaxed, and Andi noted the other girl had a lot more technique than she herself did. She knew Rose was going to get the scholarship; and she was surprised she didn't mind. Her father had already told her that if she didn't get the scholarship he would still pay her tuition for her; so she was in whether she won it or not. Still, Andi would have liked to get that scholarship…
The instructor stopped the class, and the short, slim woman sitting between the two men at the judges' table called out several numbers. "Number 5, number 6, number 8, number 12, take your seats. The rest of you, come with me." Andi, Candace, Rose, and Jenny sat down in the hard chairs as the other eight girls whose names hadn't been called filed out of the room after the woman. Andi's heart was jumping in her chest; were they still in the competition, or were they out? She was still nervous when the woman came back in, without the girls, and sat back down behind the table without a comment. The instructor clapped his hands, summoning the next batch of dancers, and the audition went on.
At the conclusion of the center exercises four other dancers were picked out and the rest sent out of the room. This time Andi realized that the ones called were the ones who had made the first round; the ones who left were out of the running.
There were two more groups called up; when they were all gone there were sixteen dancers waiting; slightly more girls than boys. The instructor had them all come out to the barre again, and put them through another, more difficult combination of steps; Andi found herself having to concentrate harder to do what was asked, so she was slightly surprised to feel a tap on her shoulder. It was the instructor. "Number 12, center, first position," he said, jerking a thumb toward the center. She scooted out of line at the barre and stood in first in the center of the room, wondering why she was there by herself. She was soon joined by Rose, Candace, and five others. Candace's friend Jenny was left standing at the barre, and when the woman again stood and gestured to the barre student, Andi realized she'd passed the next round. She breathed a sigh of relief, mirrored by Rose, and the two girls smiled at each other quickly before facing forward again.
The instructor called Rose, Candace, and two boys named Tom and Mike to the center, motioning the others back. Andi's heart jumped into her throat, but it turned out they only wanted to see combinations of students doing steps together and individually. Andi was paired with a boy named Justin when her turn came; he was good, but not as good as Ryan.
"Girls, come forward," said the instructor, and the four girls went to the center. He had them do steps together, in complex combinations. Andi had to concentrate, but not so much that she didn't see Candace fling a foot out in an arabesque and strike Rose in the face with her shoe. Rose cried out, stumbled, then lost her balance en pointe and fell. Andi stopped immediately, going to the fallen girl and helping her up as the instructor said, "Number eight, out."
Andi stood aghast as rose got up and started to walk out of the studio. "Wait!" she said loudly. "Wait, it's not fair, it wasn't her fault--"
"Number twelve. You will not challenge a decision unless you wish to be disqualified." Andi clamped her mouth shut, stepping back into line as she watched Rose walk off toward the bathrooms to change into regular clothes, crying bitterly. Her heart went out to the girl. She'd seen the worn, faded condition of her leotard; the audition must have been a last-ditch attempt to get into a good school. She didn't have the money, or her parents didn't, to send her here. Her only chance was a scholarship.
She was still smarting as Mike and two other students were eliminated. Now Andi, Candace, Tom, and Justin were the only ones left. There was a break for the four student hopefuls to rest, and Andi shot out of the line and ran to the door. She caught Rose just about to leave. "Rose!" she said.
The girl turned. "Hi," she said, her eyes still red from crying. "Hey, congratulations. I hope you get it."
Andi said to her, "I saw what Candace did. I'm sorry the instructor didn't see it. Where are you going?"
"I have to catch the bus to go home," Rose said quietly.
Andi looked at the wall clock. "If you wait until the audition's over, I'll drive you home. The bus doesn't come for another hour." Rose looked about to decline, but Andi insisted. There was snow on the ground, and she knew the cold wasn't good for a dancer's bones.
She led the girl back into the studio and sat her down in a chair. Candace walked back in from using the restroom, wearing her costume for performance. "You were out there, with her," she said snidely, "So you missed the announcement. We're about to do our performance pieces; you have to go change--"
The instructor walked in, and Candace smiled. "Too late. Hope your parents are rich enough to afford Julliard, Andi, cause you're not getting the scholarship." She walked off toward her seat, and Rose gasped.
"Oh, she's so hateful! Oh, Andi, I'm sorry, you haven't got time to change…"
Andi shook her head. "That's all right," she said, "I'll dance in my leotard." As she watched Candace take a position in the middle of the floor, she thought wistfully of the pretty blue dress she'd chosen for her performance piece. Oh, well She'd have to do it in her leotard. She warmed up at the barre, watching Candace out the corner of her eye and the judges out the other. Candace was a good classical dancer; Andi's heart sank. She wasn't going to get it; she just knew it. Oh well.
Justin went next, doing some street-style dancing Andi had seen at Nightlight. He was good. Tom looked at her, making a 'who goes next' gesture. She indicated the floor, and he went on while she dug her sheet music out of her duffel bag and handed it to the pianist in the corner.
Tom finished, and Andi sighed. It was going to be Candace and Tom. She set her lips in a firm line, and relaxed. Well, she'd just go out there and have fun with her routine, then. She wasn't going to worry about winning or not.
She took her place, waiting for the music to start, but the pianist didn't start playing. Instead, he gestured to the instructor, then to the female judge. Both adults went over to the piano; then they called Andi over. "The pianist hasn't seen this music before," said the female judge.
"I know," Andi said quietly, still upset with them for their unfair elimination of Rose. "I wrote it myself."
"You write music?" The female judge sounded intrigued. She turned to the pianist. "Can you play it, Joe?" Joe started to pick out some of the notes, then as he got into the rhythm, he started to play. Andi listened; he was playing what she'd written. The judge allowed him to play it once, through, then said, "Number twelve, take your place."
Smiling inwardly, Andi returned to the center of the studio. She flashed Candace a bright smile, gave the judges one, then started to dance. She knew the music by heart; when the pianist faltered she still kept dancing, till she reached the end of her music.
The female judge rose from her place at the table. "The decision this year was especially difficult," she said, "But we made it. The recipients of this year's scholarships are Thomas Drew and Alexandra Munroe." She smiled at them. 'Congratulations."
Andi sat there, stunned. Rose jumped up from her chair and ran over to her. 'You got it! Andi, you got it!" Andi, still stunned, looked at the girl, who, despite her excitement for Andi's sake, was still crying for herself. She turned to the judges. "I refuse."
Jaws dropped all over the room. "What?" said one judge. "You can't—Why on earth--"
"Rose was unfairly eliminated," Andi said firmly. "She didn't fall because of a mistake; Candace kicked her. The results are biased."
The instructor started to speak, but the judges hushed him. 'What did happen, Miss Munroe?" he asked Andi. Andi recounted what had happened briefly.
"Miss, will you take your coat off?" he said to rose. "We will give you five minutes to change, and then all three of you will dance again. We regret the decision to eliminate you was based on faulty information."
Rose, elated, ran off to change back, and Andi and Candace both danced again. Rose danced too. The judges conferred with each other, whispering, then the female judge stood up. "Number eight, you do dance well. Number twelve, we regret to inform you that we have reversed our decision; the scholarship will be awarded to Rose Dawson. Candace Hawkins;" the judge turned to her, 'because of your unfair actions, you disqualified yourself. If you choose to attend our school anyway, be aware that the teachers will be keeping an eye on you. The smallest infraction and you will be asked to leave." She turned to Andi. "That was an incredible thing you did, giving your friend a chance. Because of your good sportsmanship, we will award you a fifty percent discount on your tuition, as well as any financial help you might need, in order to attend."
Andi squealed in excitement, hugging Rose frantically.