Kat: Breaking Pointe by Sebastian Scott Page B

it’s going to be a – ’
    â€˜Strange year?’ I ask. ‘Yeah.’
    The sky begins to dim and I light the lanterns. Tara rocks up late, looking flustered, muttering something about Ethan – so some things don’t change at least. She keeps exchanging glances with Christian, and eventually they nick off together to go for a swim. I sit with Sammy.
    â€˜There are three hundred girls in my year,’ I say. ‘I need to do something to make an impression.’
    â€˜You’ll stand out Kat,’ Sammy assures me.
    But Sammy doesn’t get it. In Crazyballetworld, I’m a celebrity by association. There isn’t a friendship I can’t buy with front-row tickets to a preview performance at the Opera House. But I’ve never been to regular school before. None of them will have a clue about the Karamakov surname. And besides, ballet isn’t who I am anymore. And what if where ballet was, there’s just a big, empty, black hole? Girls don’t want to be friends with a hole, do they?
    Sammy watches me. ‘So what really happened with Myles?’
    I try to fob him off. ‘You get to know someone way too well when you’re stuck in a van.’
    Sammy isn’t fooled. ‘And?’
    â€˜And … it was incredible. We did little mini trips to Byron. Swam with dolphins in Hastings.’
    Abigail’s voice drifts down. ‘That’d be so spiritually transcendent.’ Sammy and I turn to look at her. She is seriously creeping me out.
    â€˜Yeah. Well.’ I gesture at Tara and Christian, swimming and splashing each other. ‘We weren’t like that.’
    â€˜Who is?’ Sammy says and I hear a wistful note in his voice. ‘Come on,’ he says suddenly. He stands up. ‘This is supposed to be a celebration.’
    He strips down to his shorts and runs into the sea and Abigail and I follow him. The water is cool and cleansing and I feel everything – Mum, Myles, boarding school – wash away.
    Â 
    For Christian’s sake, I don’t get my hair shaved off.
    No, I get my tongue pierced instead.
    As I sit in the beautician’s chair I can’t stop my nervous prattle.
    â€˜Cat got your tongue,’ I joke. ‘Get it? Cause my name’s Kat and …’
    The beautician doesn’t think I’m cute in the least. She clamps my tongue firmly enough to make my eyes water. All it takes is fifteen minutes and seventy bucks, and I am out on the street with a mouthful of bling.
    The pain starts almost immediately and within a few hours it’s bringing tears to my eyes. That night Tash drags me out to the Opera House to see the National Academy of Dance performance. I’m not even sure I want to go, even if it is to see Sammy and Tara, but I can’t say no because I don’t want to open my mouth. I don’t want her to see what I’vedone and go all Tash about it, roll her eyes, tell me how stupid I am.
    As we walk up the stairs, Tash carries on her one-sided conversation. ‘After this we can go stationery shopping. Do you want a new pencil case?’
    I shake my head. Where do you buy pencil cases at night? The 7-11? Jeez. Tash is so reality challenged. I guess when she’s on tour she can demand a pencil case at midnight if she wants one and it will magically appear.
    â€˜The silent treatment?’ Tash says. ‘How long is it going to last this time?’
    Okay, so keeping my mouth shut is not my strong point. ‘I start school on Monday,’ I say, my head turned away so she can’t see my tongue. ‘So no time at all.’
    â€˜Actually,’ Tash informs me briskly, ‘I’ve cancelled my tour commitments. You’ll go to school as a day girl.’
    â€˜I’m going to be living at home? With you?’
    â€˜It’s obvious someone needs to keep an eye on you,’ Natasha says. ‘We’re all going to have to get used to being a