Centre Stage: A Novel

the praise. ‘Now you need to think a little more about character. Remember, Lucy isn’t a trained ballet dancer. You need to try and evoke the feeling of a young girl dancing for sheer happiness. We need a real exuberance to shine through.’
    Justine nodded.
    Dizzy turned to me. ‘OK, Sophie.’
    I walked slowly out to the middle of the floor and took up the first position. As I waited for Dizzy to rewind the tape, I felt myself tensing. I had to be good. By tomorrow I had to perform this for Claire and Stefan. My stomach swirled like a washing machine. Dizzy pressed play and the music started.
    I moved forwards but as I began the first spin I stumbled. Recovering, I tried to carry on but my body felt stiff and tense, and the harder I tried the worse I seemed to get. I could feel my face turning into one huge blush as I stumbled again.
    Suddenly the music stopped. ‘OK, stop there,’ Dizzy said abruptly.
    Straightening up, she walked over to me. All my muscles tensed. What was she going to say? I looked at the floor waiting for her to explode.
    But when she spoke, her voice was soft. ‘Sophie, what’s going on?’ she said quietly. ‘You can dance better than that.’
    I looked at her.
    ‘Well?’ she said. ‘Why are you making this dance into such a big deal?’
    I didn’t know what to say.
    Dizzy frowned. ‘OK, we’ll leave it for now but I want to see you at the end of rehearsal today.’ She clapped her hands. ‘Right, guys, on your feet. Let’s go through Aslan’s dance.’
    Everyone trooped on to the floor. I could feel people giving me curious looks but I kept my eyes on the ground.
    ‘Ooh,’ Samantha said mockingly as she passed me. ‘See the teacher at the end of class. That can’t be good.’
    I ignored her but inside I was feeling sick to the pit of my stomach. What was Dizzy going to say to me? One thing was for sure, it wasn’t going to be anything I wanted to hear.
    To my relief, Dizzy kept us busy for the rest of the afternoon and everyone quickly forgot about the mess I’d made of the ballet solo.
    Everyone, that is, apart from Samantha. ‘Enjoy your talk with Dizzy,’ she smirked as the rehearsal finished and everyone fetched their bags and coats.
    I looked across the room to where Dizzy was talking to Velda. Taking a deep breath, I slowly walked over. They were deep in discussion about the set. I hung around for a few moments but Dizzy didn’t come over to me. Maybe she had forgotten about talking to me. A wild thought grabbed me. There was always tomorrow. Maybe if I practised really hard at home I could get the dance right and come in and surprise her. I began to back away. Guilt gnawed at me but I ignored it. Yes, I’d practise, that’s what I’d do. I turned and hurried to the door.

Chapter Fifteen
    Mum was waiting in the foyer. ‘I thought you were never coming out.’ She smiled. ‘I’d begun to think you’d been kept back for bad behaviour!’
    Her joke was far too close to the truth for me to smile at it. I walked quickly out of the door.
    ‘So how was today?’ she asked as she followed me to the car.
    ‘OK,’ I muttered. I felt awful. I knew I should have stayed and spoken to Dizzy. She was going to be really mad with me. I almost wanted to turn back but I couldn’t bring myself to.
    I got into the car feeling sick. What was Dizzy going to say tomorrow? And it was the day the decision was going to be made. I groaned inwardly. Had I just totally messed everything up?
    Mum started the car. ‘It’s amazing to think that you’re starting proper rehearsals on Monday. The time seems to have flown by. It only seems a few weeks since you were auditioning.’
    It seemed ages ago to me — a lifetime ago. Had I once really been so delighted about doing the play?
    ‘I can’t believe the first performance is going to be in three weeks,’ Mum went on. She looked at me. ‘It’s so exciting.’
    I forced a smile and nodded.
    ‘It’s really wonderful to see you doing something like this,’ Mum said. ‘I know it’s hard work but it’s such a great experience.’
    Suddenly I wanted to tell her everything. ‘Mum…’
    She didn’t hear. ‘As soon as you know which days you’re going to be performing on I’m going to book tickets. I’m going to be so proud when I see you on that stage, Sophie. So very proud.’
    The words I’d been going to say died on my tongue. I swallowed. How could I tell her how dreadful everything was now? How could I say that