We Awaken by Calista Lynne Page A

completely terrified.
    “Why don’t you tell me about some challenges you’ve faced so far in life.”
    Wow. They really hit you with the big questions early on. I had expected this to just be a conversation about financial aid and extracurriculars. Closing my eyes as if I were about to perform yet again, I took a deep breath and prepared to bare my soul. Anything to get out of suburbia.
    “I can start with the fact that my father died a year ago in a car accident. He used to plant red flowers and bring me to all my dance lessons.”
    Neil began blandly apologizing for my loss, but I held up my hand and interrupted his pitying words. He didn’t know me; how could any sentiments of his be more than a farce? If he spoke, the tears would begin. They needed proof I knew the show must go on.
    “He would cut those red flowers and wrap them in newspapers to give me after performances. Other girls would get nice grocery-store bouquets but mine had been cared for from the start by my father. Like me. That same day, the one I lost him, my brother Reeves became comatose.”
    Neil was nodding. He must get to hear a fair share of sob stories on a daily basis when that’s one of the interview questions. I ignored his movements and continued.
    “And I’ve just kept dancing. I don’t know if I’ve overcome these things, but the music never stopped, so neither did I. It’s not like I have much else.”
    That was all I had to say, but it didn’t feel like the right note to end on. Life was becoming less cynical. He was a bobble head and opened his mouth to begin asking the next question, when I interrupted yet again.
    “Actually, that last bit’s a lie. I have this dishy girlfriend now, and she is the best thing that has come out of all this shit.”
    My eyes widened in fear of having allowed the swear to slip out, but his cool-guy demeanor just seemed to brush it off.
    “I’m very happy you have someone. That’s important, especially when dealing with such tough circumstances.”
    He conducted the rest of the interview a bit more formally, not bringing up the first question again, and what remained was more or less what I had expected going in. Without seeming too desperate, I told of my need to get into this school and how I had zero desire to study abroad. I defended my lack of extracurriculars other than dance, and he let at least the last year slide. More than anything, it was like a conversation with an upperclassman I wanted badly to impress.
    The interview ended around the time I had actually begun to compose myself. He walked me to the door where I displayed my impeccable manners by shaking his hand and thanking him. Then I went into the glass lobby where I stood in the corner and removed my pointe shoes. That drove home how much pain they had truly caused, and I cringed with my mouth wide open, probably to the amusement of the sour-faced woman sitting behind her table. On top of it all, I forgot to bring socks. This wasn’t going to be a painless day. Still, I got them off and crossed through the lobby with torn tights and an upturned chin and found my way into the city. Now all that was left was to wait. It was almost a relief to have the matter in the hands of someone else.
    The bustle of the streets nearly swept me along the second I hit the sidewalk, but I managed to flatten myself to the building and avoided being run over. I didn’t have time to wonder where Ashlinn had gone before getting an armful of my girlfriend out of nowhere. I nearly had a heart attack when she flung herself around me, chanting “How did it go?” several times, blocking my attempts to actually tell her.
    When she finally calmed down to the point where she was merely squeezing me like a black-haired boa constrictor, I answered.
    “Shockingly okay, considering I felt the opposite of prepared.”
    I didn’t have it in me to spoil her ecstatic mood with my doubts, and I succeeded, judging by the way she grinned. Looking over her