A Wright Christmas - K.A. Linde Page 0,46

single person would know it was the case. The younger kids filed out first and then the professional company members, who hugged me as they left. Which just left the high schoolers, who always dawdled longer than the rest.

My feet were planted, and the shoe was in my hand when the group of them came out of the dressing room. Bebe among them this time.

I held my hand up. “Bebe, I believe this belongs to you.”

Bebe gasped. “You found my shoe! Where was it?”

“It was in my wing,” I told her, handing it back.

“What?” she asked in utter confusion. “Why would it be in your wing?”

“That’s an excellent question,” I said firmly, eyeing the rest of the company. “Does anyone else know why Bebe’s shoe would have been in my closing wing?”

Half of the girls looked at each other or down. The other half looked confused. Katelyn held my gaze. Not saying a word.

“Do you know anything about Bebe’s shoe, Katelyn?”

She shrugged. “If she can’t keep up with her things, that’s not my fault.”

“Katelyn, did you put Bebe’s shoe in Peyton’s final wing?” Cassidy asked in horror.

“No!” she gasped. “How dare you accuse me!”

A few of the other girls bit their lips.

“She could have been seriously injured,” Cassidy said in her motherly, disappointed tone.

“We know you did it,” I said.

“You have no proof,” Katelyn spat at me.

I smiled. Gotcha. “But I don’t need proof, Katelyn. We’re not in a court of law. And judging by your friends’ discomfort, they knew full well what you were doing with Bebe’s shoe. You’re out.”

“Excuse me?” she gasped.

“You’re out of the company.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Actually, she can,” Nick said. “The consequence for harming a fellow company member, let alone one that we have on loan from the New York City Ballet, is expulsion. If the artistic director says you’re gone for your behavior, then I agree with her.”

Katelyn’s mouth dropped open.

But I stepped forward. “Unless…you want to apologize to me and Bebe for what you did.”

Katelyn snapped her mouth shut, and then said, “I didn’t do anything.”

“If you apologize, then we could put you on probation. You would still dance the last three shows of The Nutcracker. You’d still perform in the spring.” I leaned in. “No one would have to notify Joffrey that their summer intensive student tried to harm a principal dancer.”

Her jaw was set. For a moment, I really thought she was going to tell us all to fuck off and storm out. Such was her picture-perfect life that she never, ever thought there would be consequences for her actions. That she could get away with everything because her parents were high-powered attorneys and life had always gone her way.

Then, she burst into tears, shocking all of us.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken Bebe’s shoe, and I didn’t want to hurt you, Peyton. I just…I just…I’m sorry. I felt it all slipping away, and I lashed out.” She swiped at the big tears running down her cheeks. And Lord help us all, she was even pretty when she cried. “I won’t do it again. I swear. Please don’t kick me out. Please don’t tell Joffrey. Ballet is all I have.” She looked so young and vulnerable. Like a kid and not the entitled brat she’d been acting like since I got here. “Ballet is all I have,” she repeated.

I nodded. “I accept your apology. So long as your actions prove it, going forward.” I looked to Bebe. “Do you accept?”

Bebe nodded. “Yeah. Ballet is all I have, too.”

Katelyn looked up at the girl she’d been harassing all season. “I really am sorry.”

Bebe shrugged and put an arm around Katelyn. “Maybe we could try to be friends from now on?”

“Yeah,” Katelyn said, wiping at her eyes. “I think that’d be good.”

I let them all pass and then slumped back against the wall.

“You did excellent, Peyton,” Cassidy said warmly.

“Truly,” Nick agreed. “You handled that like a professional.”

“Thank you. I’m just…glad she apologized. For a second, I thought she’d dig her feet in.”

Cassidy nodded. “Me too.”

“Hopefully, that’s the last we hear from the Lawsons,” Nick said, patting me on the back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Cassidy asked.

“Fine,” I said quickly. “I’m just going to change. I’ll be out later.”

They nodded, melting back into the roles for the company while I hobbled into the now-empty backstage and collapsed onto a chaise, letting the tears finally roll free down my cheeks.

21

Isaac

I paced back and forth outside of the studio exit. Peyton hadn’t left