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Chapter One: Act Three

Since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to be invisible Not in a cool, ical kind of way, but in that way of please don’t look at me too hard Ballet has always been a coot serious about because I had to, despite the traued and laree off center That stuff will drive you nuts, but it’s always been worth it toupstrea

That’s why I really didn’t want to dance center stage with The Great Rubio in our co coy I’ I didn’t want to when secretly I would have killed for the chance No I really didn’t want to, and it never should have happened in the first place There was a clause in his contract with the London City Ballet to prevent such a farce Mr Rubio will dance with prima-level ballerinas only In the event a prima dancer is not available, Mr Rubio shall not be compelled to perform and a substitution shall be made

But in this case, Princess Aurora pulled a e before her Act Three entrance and I was the only other dancer available with her shade of jet black hair A stagehand yanked own

“What are you doing?” I asked, pulling it froers

“Do you know it?” His words didn’tBeauty, sobbing a few yards away as a swarm of helpers stripped off her rhinestone-embroidered tutu

“Do you know it?” He shookGuest” costuirl knew the part of Sleeping Beauty fro arabesque Every one of us had watched Mariel dance it in practice over and over while i ourselves in The Great Rubio’s arms Fernando Rubio was a God to us—capital letter He was a celebrity recognized by people eren’t even into ballet, a superstar we’d all been warned not to look at or talk to backstage

“Yes, I know it,” I said automatically, before I processed what that meant

Four pairs of hands stripped off -armed me into Mariel’s ornate white tutu Oh, okay Oh No I couldn’t dance with Rubio, not center stage in front of a packed theater

“I can’t,” I said in a panic “I won’t be able to do it My shoes are too soft”

They twisted knots in the stretchy clear shoulder straps of the costuain “Uh, really, I can’t do this My shoes aren’t up to it”

See, the boxes, or tips, of pointe shoes are constructed of layers of fabric, lue hardened into a molded point If they’re not broken in, those boxes sound obnoxious on stage, like the clopping of a horse If they’re very broken in, like mine, they’re nice and quiet but it’s i pointe work—and Princess Aurora required de pointe work

“My shoes are too soft, you guys” I think I said it twoto er

A vein throbbed in his teot to dance, shoes or not”

“Then I need to go grab a better pair”

“You’re on in eight minutes” He looked around for someone to send but they wouldn’t knohich pair I needed Hell, I didn’t knohich pair I needed I didn’t have a single pair of shoes that would h to dance with The Great Rubio “I’ll be back,” I said, darting away

He trailed me for a second but then he stopped and hissed, “Seven minutes, or else!”

Shit Shit Shit I banged through the door into the backstage corridor and barreled toward the dressing rooms I took the corner so fast I almost slid into the opposite wall I couldn’t fall down in this five-thousand-dollar tutu, and I definitely couldn’t dance Princess Aurora in these fli rooms and yanked the doorknob to the women’s door No Oh God, no Locked

“No, no, no, no,” I pleaded with the universe “Oh, no No, no, no” Every time I said no, I yanked down on the doorknob, like ht miraculously open I turned in a panic So would it take to find that person? Oh God, I was fucked I was going to have to dance the third act of Sleeping Beauty with my idol in the world’s shittiest pointe shoes

I ran back down the corridor and collided full speed into what felt like a brick wall but was actually a very solidme “Where’s the fire?”

“Key” I shook my hands at him “Key, key, key, key Key!”

“I’ you need a key” His lips tilted into a half save myself a second—no, half a second—to appreciate how handso around his shoulders, wide, carved cheekbones and striking amber eyes He looked thirty-ish or thereabouts, a few years older than olden-tan complexion like Rubio, but based on his accent, he was a fellow Aave uy probably didn’t have a key

“I need to get into the dressing room,?

?? I cried “It’s locked”

“Show me I’ll open it for you”

“I need a key”

“Show ain

I took hi room and rattled the doorknob “I only have about…I don’t know…five s”

He eyed my rhinestone-encrusted tutu “Okay Stand back”

For one wild h the door He looked strong enough to do it, but what he actually did was bop the doorknob with a quick, s sound He turned it and held the door open for me

“Oh my God, oh my God,” I babbled “How did you do that?”

“It doesn’t alork It depends on the make of the knob With this kind of door—”

“No,” I said, cutting him off “I don’t have time”

“What can I do to help?”

“I need shoes New shoes” I ran over to my carrel, crouched down and pulled outthe toes on the floor, trying to find a pair that was adequately broken in, but they were all too loud and stiff “I’ to me These are all too hard”