Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Sadie leapt across the porch and raced for the grass.
I closed the screen door quietly, then settled onto the outdoor love seat and twisted the bottle open. Hydrate, that was always the first order of the morning. I chugged half the bottle down despite the morning chill and checked on Sadie, who was happily sniffing around the bushes. She hadn’t run yet, and always came back when I called her, but our relationship was only a week old, so I wasn’t exactly counting on her to be a paragon of puppyhood.
It was beautiful out here, the clouds reflecting the pink of sunrise from the storm that had passed yesterday. Only when I’d nearly finished the water did I open my phone and take it off Do Not Disturb. Three text messages popped up: two from Eva and one from Kenna.
Kenna: If you don’t call me back I’m going to send out a search party.
It was too early for the guilt that came along with that one, so I opened the next.
Eva: You should def shoot some rehab content tomorrow. People need to see you’re still alive.
Eva: Might be good to correct some misinformation too.
I sighed and clicked on the Seconds video she’d sent accompanying the message. The app opened on my phone, and a video from a popular dancer started playing.
“So let’s talk about the four reasons dancers are injured. First, physique.” The video transitioned to a dancer I was mildly acquainted with falling after he’d come back too soon after his third knee replacement. “Second, technique.” I winced as a dancer inappropriately distributed her weight in an arabesque and rolled her ankle. “Third, mishap.” A pas de deux went incredibly wrong and the man dropped his partner. “And fourth, overuse.”
My stomach dropped to the porch as I appeared on the screen, going into the eighteen turns in the Giselle variation. Turn it off. Scroll. Now. It didn’t matter that my brain threw out every warning—I couldn’t look away, my gaze locked on the train wreck that ended my season . . . and maybe my career. There it was, the second I’d faltered, lost my focus when I’d thought I’d seen him in the empty seat. The video didn’t catch the sound of my tendon popping, but my brain filled in the audio just fine as I screamed and my castmates rushed to carry me offstage.
“Principal dancer Alessandra Rousseau had already had one Achilles repair, and rumor around the Company is she knew she was injured and went on anyway. That decision may have cost her a dream career.” The video transitioned back to the original poster. “So what do you think? Was this mishap? Technique? Physique? Or overuse? Let me know in the comments.”
The little witch tagged us.
Like a masochist, I opened the comments.
Ballet4Life97: Definitely overuse. So stupid of her.
Ryandnzx: Could be physique. She looks a little out of shape.
Ballet4Life97: Good point, those costume seams are screaming
Dancegrl6701: A second achilles tear? May as well fill her spot. She’s not coming back.
OnPointe34: No shit right? Get out of the way for a corps member
CassidyFairchilde1: She could make it back.
Dancegrl6701: Sure, if she wants to teach. But dance? No way. Not as principal.
NYFouette92: From what I hear, they’re already replacing her.
Bway11te: how do you throw a career away like that?
ReeseOnToe: Shame. She’s ballet royalty. Hope she heals
Tutucutex20: Fucking idi*t Play stupid games and all that.
Bright2Lit: Even if she comes back, she’ll never be 100
WestCoastPointe: Met her once. Pretentious and arrogant
OnPointe34: Really? Figures. Most nepo babies are
WestCoastPointe: Company’s better off without her. Trust me. Diva.
I closed out the app and fought to breathe through the crushing, sharp pain blooming in my chest. Formal reviews in the Times had nothing on the casual viciousness of the internet.
Sadie plodded up the steps and climbed into the chair, her paw barely missing my thigh as she completely consumed my personal space and made herself at home, turning in the tight space and collapsing across my lap.
I sank my fingers into her fur and drew one breath, then another.
May as well fill her spot. She’s not coming back. As hard as I tried to let the comments go, that one stuck an ice pick in my soul and left a mark. Why would Eva send me something like that? Didn’t she realize I was already well aware of what people were saying?
“I can’t even escape myself out here,” I muttered as my heart rate slowed. Wouldn’t matter where I went, the internet could follow. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t wanted a damn Seconds account.
May as well fill her spot. She’s not coming back.
Yes, I was. It was as simple and as impossible as that. “Let’s get some breakfast.”
I took Sadie inside and fed us both, then hit the gym. The only person telling me what I could and couldn’t do was me.