Today we moved into the theater.
It was about 30 minutes from our town since it was in St. Paul.
Once we got there Sophie and I walked onstage.
I looked out to the house in amazment.
It wasn't a big theater, but it was still beautiful.
"I'm just saying, shouldn't my costume have some sort of sparkle?" Kendal asks, chasing Mrs. Hanna onstage.
"You're costume is perfect, it's the exact same as Avas Clara costume" Mrs. Hanna states.
"I don't care! Ava isn't Clara, and never will be! I am!" Kendal screetches.
"Okay ouch" I say, turning around.
"Kendal! Drop the attitude otherwise I'm cutting you and Ava will be Clara!" Mrs. Hanna snaps.
Kendal takes a deep breath "Fine. I'll be in my dressing room warming up"
And with that, Kendal walks away.
"What a diva" Sophie mumbles.
"Okay, Sugarplum and snow, you two are in dressing room 2" Mrs. Hanna says, handing us each a key "Don't lose those"
"Yes Ma'am" We smile.
We dash off backstage and up the stairs.
We open the door to our dressing room and smile.
Turning on the lights to reveal two mirrors that light up and our costumes.
"This is awesome!" Sophie smiles.
It was the second week of rehearsals and we had moved into the theater.
Our sets were still being built and we wouldn't have full tech, but we would be marking everything today.
Sophie and I had to be dropped off two hours before our call time because my brother and Paige had wedding stuff to do and our parents were working.
So we are her 3-9.
Might as well make the best of it.
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"So raise you- So raise you glass if you are..."
Sophie and I were in our dressing room coming up with stupid dances to random songs.
"Would you turn that garbage down!" Kendal yells, banging on the wall from her dressing room.
We sigh, turning our music down.
"Whatever you say princess" Sophie mutters.
She may be the princess but I'm the queen" I laugh.
"Oh, Mrs. Hanna" We hear Kendal call "I was just wondering were the posters with me are"
The posters Mrs. Hanna decided on had Jordan and I on them, that probably didn't go well with Kendal.
"Jordan and Ava are on them" Mrs. Hanna explains.
"But shouldn't I be on them, I'm Clara" Kendal states.
"We didn't get good photos of you, so we went with Jordan and Ava" Mrs. Hanna explains "Besides, you're in the whole show, let them have some spotlight"
"Pft-" I cover my mouth to keep myself from laughing.
"Ava! Can we go and mark your part of waltz of the snowflakes, I'm thinking of changing something but I'm not sure" Mrs. Hanna says, appearing in our doorway.
I grab my pointe shoes and we walk down to the stage.
I sit down and put my shoes on, then standing up.
"Okay so I was thinking maybe an attitude instead of and arabesque, I think we gave you to many arabesques in the show and just need to change it up" Mrs. Hanna explains.
I nod, going into an attitude, holding it for a few counts then starting my grand jeté.
"Perfect, go on please"
I finish off the solo, running offstage.
"Okay, come back and run Claras solo please" Mrs. Hanna says.
I run it with counts, catching Kendal glaring at me from the wings.
I ignore it and continue the solo.
Imagining all the seats in the theater filled and me in the Clara night gown.
When I end I'm snapped back to reality.
"Beautiful!" Mrs. Hanna smiles.
"Thank you" I nod "I do have one question though"
"What is it?" She asks.
"Well, whenever I rehearse as Clara you say it's perfect and beautiful" I say "So why am I just the understudy and not the part?"
Mrs. Hanna sighs and walks over to me "Well, I wanted to challenge you, and I knew what Ryan did for the snow pas de deux choreography, And I knew Jordan and you could execute it, Claras choreography wouldn't be challenging to you so I gave it to Kendal and had you be the snow queen"
I nod "Oh"
"And I know Kendal gives you a hard time, I'm not blind" She laughs "But just ignore it"
"How? She's always in my face" I scoff.
"Well who's the one with a boyfriend?" Mrs. Hanna smiles.
"You know about that?" I ask.
"Like I said, I'm not blind" She laughs.
I nod.
"Go back to your dressing room and send Sophie down please" She says, hugging me.
"Okay" I run off, up to my dressing room and send Sophie down to the stage.
At least I finally knew the truth.
"So, you're not Clara because you're better than me, Good to know" Kendal says behind me.
"That's really not the case" I state.
"I heard Mrs. Hanna explain it!" Kendal cries.
"I spent the whole year in advanced pointe" I state "Of course I have more experience!"
Kendal looks at the ground "I guess I just really wanted this win"
"And you have it, So stop messing it up by being a dive" I say "You're talented, so stop comparing yourself to others and just dance!"
She smiles "You really think I'm talented?"
"Of course I do! You're Clara!" I laugh.
She nods "Yeah, My mom has been really hard on me this season, mostly for this moment, she's played Clara three times in productions of the nutcracker"
"That's cool" I smile.
"She's played the snow queen once too" Kendal smiles.
We go on to talk about how brutal rehearsals will be getting this week and other things.
This was a side we never really saw from Kendal.
The sweet, nice side.
Her parents have been strict on her for eyars now.
Her mom is a principal dancer and her father danced as well.
Therefore she has to dance.
It's how it is for her.
And yes, she can be a brat and completely rude.
Especially to me.
But I've learned to brush it off.
Sometimes.
I still got irritated at some points.
But that's just me.