Breaking Pointe

Chapter Sixteen

When Arabella got home from dinner at the McKinney’s, it was late and the lights were off. She quietly crept through the family room so she wouldn’t wake her dad up. He was asleep on the couch again, hugging a pillow and looking almost like a little kid. It was hard to be mad at him when she saw him like that, when it was obvious that she wasn’t the only one still hurting. He barely slept in his bed anymore, she guessed it reminded him of her mom too much. Just like the apartment it was too big with not enough to fill it.

The next day was her first ballet practice for The Nutcracker. Arabella was excited but nervous. Jordin was sure to be breathing down her neck already. After warm ups Arabella expected to go straight into rehearsal. Instead, Tina pulled her aside and led her to the bathroom.

“I will be tracking your weight up through the performances. Now that you’re really in the spotlight you’ll have to look your best. Let’s see where you’re at.” Arabella nervously stepped on the scale. It read 125. She had gained two pounds since her audition. Tina shook her head. “You have two months until the first performance. I expect you to lose five pounds this month.”

“Done” said Arabella. She had done more than that before and she had been splurging quite a bit lately. The only problem would be Tyler. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice.

Practice went well All of her rehearsals were individual for the next few weeks so she really had her part down before adding in the other dancers. She definitely had a lot to work on.

She spent the rest of the day working on her essay for English and her bio lab report. It was completely uneventful except for a few funny snap chats from Tyler.

When she got to the roof on Monday Maddock had beaten her there again. He made a grand motion as he dramatically asked, “So how does it feel to be the star?”

“Like I’m carrying Tina and Jordin around on my back everywhere and they keep breathing down my neck.”

“I understand Jordin but how is Tina already on your back? You’ve barely started!”

“She wants me to lose some weight. I agree with her, though.”

“WHAT?! You’re like the skinniest girl I know!”

“You have to say that” she mumbled, immediately regretting telling him. “It’s fine, I promise. A couple of pounds won’t hurt anything.”

“Just be safe, OK?”

“Of course” she said. It only felt a little bit like lying. She forgot about it, though, when she took his last card. She exclaimed, “HA! WINNER!”

The next two weeks were basically the same. School, ballet, sleep. Arabella ate only fruits and vegetables and by the end of those two weeks she had lost three pounds. It felt good to be succeeding.

Thursday she walked out of ballet practice expecting to see Tyler’s truck, but it was nowhere in sight. She looked around one more time to double check, because he was never late but he wasn’t there. She sat down on a bench, confused. 

“Arabella!” she heard. She looked and saw a silver car parked in front of the studio and Tyler’s grandma yelling out the passenger window. She walked over to the car.

“Tyler’s lesson got pushed back, so I decided to take the opportunity to steal you for a while if that’s alright.”

“Of course!” Arabella responded, delighted. 

“Hop in!” said Tucker from the driver’s seat. 

He dropped them off at a small nail salon a few blocks from the studio. He parked the car and went around to help his grandma get out, but she shooed him away. “I ain’t that old yet, darlin’.”