Fallen Stars and Broken Dreams - C.C. Masters Page 0,8

senior year ended.

Ryan squeezed his eyes shut as his face turned even more red. “Please tell me he was out of hearing range when you said that. I love you – but I will murder you.”

I gave his shoulder a shove. “There’s no way he heard me. He was halfway down the stairs before I said a word.”

Ryan’s had a crush on Brett for the last year, but he was too afraid to make a move. I’ve been pushing and prodding him in that direction, trying to get him to take the leap of faith. I had absolutely no prospects in my empty love life, but at least one of us had a chance to be happy. Ryan deserved it.

“Shut up and get in the zone,” Ryan told me with a mock glare. “We’ll talk boys after this.”

In comparison to the Spring Performance, not many people came to the showcase unless they were family, teachers, or companies scouting for talent. Our audience would be smaller, but more critical. The average person would watch a ballet and enjoy the music or the drama of some of our more eye-catching lifts. However, professionals would be observing our technique, watching for complex variations, and judging us on the skill we used to execute technical feats. Nothing would get past them – not the smallest twitch of a finger.

The music started, and Ryan and I met each other’s eyes as we counted down to our cue to get on stage. One of the reasons we did so well together was that we were freakishly in tune with each other. We could communicate without speaking and anticipate each other’s every move. If he was off by a quarter of a millisecond, I could correct for it. If I were two degrees off to the left, he would automatically adjust.

Once I followed Ryan onto the stage, all of my nerves disappeared completely. I wasn’t the Katya who was grieving my grandmother’s death and trying to impress the professionals in the audience. I was Princess Florine and dancing with my handsome Prince Charming, who was transformed into a bluebird.

I lost myself in the regal persona of the princess and the upbeat melody. The role I was dancing was challenging because it required rapid pirouettes and precise footwork that pushed me to excel. I gave myself completely to the performance, and my heart soared as I flew over the stage. Towards the end of our performance, Ryan and I came together for the most difficult part: a series of fleet footwork that we had to do in perfect unison. It was a true test of technical mastery and our ability to work as a pair.

Ryan and I made our final leap into the wings off the stage, and he crushed me in a hug the moment we were behind the curtain.

“We killed it!” he whisper-yelled at me.

I could hear the thunderous applause of the audience as one of our instructors waved us back towards the stage. Ryan and I went back out, hand in hand, and I was amazed by the reaction of the crowd, many of them were even standing. I performed a grand reverence out of appreciation for the crowd, and the applause almost doubled.

The clapping started to die down after Ryan bowed, so we took the opportunity to exit the stage once again. I grabbed his hand and tugged him to the back stairs, and pasted a huge grin on my face. I knew I should be feeling ecstatic in this moment, but all I felt was emptiness because my babushka wasn’t here to see me triumph. There was no way I could ruin the moment for Ryan, so I tried to match my outward enthusiasm to his.

“We made it through another year! We’re going to celebrate tonight with something deliciously fattening.”

He nodded, so he must have been so relieved to have gotten through our performance without disaster that he didn’t pick up on the hollowness of my words. After we went backstage to stretch and do our cool-down, he was distracted by our classmates giving congratulations and blowing off steam. I stayed alone in the corner, stretching in silence.

“Katya!” my pointe teacher called to me from across the room. “Excellent work, you completely stole the show!”

“Thank you, Miss White,” I said politely.

Rachael and Jenna shot me dirty looks when Miss White turned her attention to the ballerina going on stage next. They didn’t go out of their way to be mean to me, but