CENTER FOR THE ARTS
THEATER OF DIONYSUS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 4TH
5:27 P.M.
Still smiling after Syd’s fart-fleeing exit, Skye finished her cool-down routine and began to pack up for another long soak in the spa. She shoved her toe shoes and hoodie into her metallic red tote and slid a pair of shimmery gray yoga pants on over her dance shorts.
“Let’s bounce,” Tweety suggested, yanking her long black hair out of its tight bun and high-kicking in the direction of the elevator. “I scream for steam.”
“Be right there,” Skye murmured. She glanced at Mimi making notes on a touch-screen tablet before she bent down to strap on her clear gladiator sandals. After her cringe-inducing blunder during the final routine, Skye wanted to keep a low profile and get as far away from Mimi as possible.
Sandals secured, Skye shot a look at Triple in her gold dance skirt and plunging gold leo. She was still in cool-down mode, doggedly folding her body over one outstretched leg and then the other. Triple treated her stretching routine with the same militaristic fervor she had for dance practice. “Try not to stink up the joint,” Triple muttered as Skye glided past.
Skye shot her eyes toward the ceiling and groped for a quick comeback. “The only way it would stink is if you joined us.” She kept her voice low so Mimi wouldn’t hear. She quickened her pace and cut a path to the elevator, her aquamarine eyes sliding away from the dancing diva like water on a windshield.
Walking fast, Skye almost ran headlong into Mimi, who wielded her tablet like a shield. “Skye, can you stay a moment? You too, Andrea.”
“I wish I could—” Skye started, but her voice dissolved faster than Splenda in the face of Mimi’s disapproving frown.
Skye shot a pained look at Tweety and Ophie, who stood waiting by the elevator with their brows knitted in sympathy. “I’ll meet you in the steam room,” she called, and suddenly she was alone in the studio with Mimi and Mini-Mimi. Her heart thundered in her ears as she tried to remain calm.
Mimi cleared her throat and tapped on her tablet with two ringed fingers. “I thought you were finally making progress, but it’s not enough.”
Of course, I’ve been distracted, Skye wanted to yell. I’ve been dragging a wet blanket around all week! But she just nodded and looked at the clear floor and the palm fronds scraping the underside of the glass studio from below.
“I’m going to give you one more chance,” Mimi continued, her bangled wrists jingling ominously. “You need to prove to me that you belong at Alpha Academy. That what I saw in your application video is something you can recapture.”
“Um, Mimi?” Triple piped up, her almond-shaped eyes aimed at the EXIT sign even as her mouth formed a butt-kissy smile. “Do I need to be here? I was hoping to get to the Pilates Reformer at the gym before—”
“I’m getting to that,” Mimi said, putting one graceful hand on Skye’s shoulder and one on Triple’s. Skye wished Mimi would just get on with it. “For the next week, Andrea,” Mimi continued, smiling proudly like she’d just come up with a road map for world peace, “Skye belongs to you.”
“What?!” both girls said at once.
“She will follow your dance regimen to the letter. NO social activities. One hundred percent focus. If she doesn’t improve,” Mimi paused for dramatic effect, pursing her lipsticked mouth, “you will both be kicked out.”
“What?!” they said again. For once, Skye and Triple were in complete agreement. This was crazy!
“Why should I be responsible for her?” Triple whined, her eyes filling with frustrated tears. “That’s insane!”
“What about the Muse Cruise?” Skye yelled, her voice strangled and panicked. It was next weekend, and the whole school would be there! How could Mimi deprive them of a reward like that?
“Definitely not in your future, Skye. This is about showing restraint and discipline. And Andrea, we are not soloists. We are a troupe. When one person falters, we all falter. I think you’ll both grow from this challenge.”
Grow!? You mean grow to hate you, each other, and our lives? Skye clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking with fury. She was so humiliated, insulted, and horrified by Mimi’s plan that she couldn’t speak. A wad of anger had plugged up her throat like a cotton ball on a bottle of polish remover.
Triple spun around, hiding her freely falling tears from the woman who had caused them. “But Mimi—” she said quietly, already defeated.
Mimi headed toward her office, a small room off the main cube. She paused in the doorway and added one more nail in the coffin. “This isn’t up for discussion, ladies. Do it, or leave the Academy.”
The two dancers grabbed their things and stepped silently into the elevator. As the doors began to close, Skye’s eyes darted wildly around the room she’d once considered a haven. Now, it just looked like a cage.
“I cannot believe this!” Triple wailed as they made their way to ground level.
“How do you think I feel? It’s like she’s put me into special ed!” Skye hissed hatefully. Her throat and chest were hot with shame. “Let’s just pretend to go along with it while we practice on our own,” she said. The only way to get through the next week was to hope Mimi would forget about it.
“No way,” Triple said firmly, her voice hard as tempered steel. “This is not special ed. This is boot camp.”
The doors whooshed open and they stepped out into the hot afternoon, the smell of jasmine and wild grapefruit crowding their senses. Skye felt beaten. Trapped. And she didn’t have any fight left in her. There was nothing she could do now but accept Mimi’s challenge.
She shut her tear-filled eyes for a moment, wishing Triple would disappear into thin air. But when she opened them again, the sight of Triple standing there was exponentially worse. Behind Triple, Syd’s Vans kicked up dust as he ran toward her clutching a paper bag.
“Hello, my darling,” Syd panted, looking deliriously proud of himself. “I’m so glad I caught you! I thought you might need this.”
Unless Syd had brought her a magic lamp with three wishes inside, Skye wasn’t interested. She opened the bag and pulled out a box of Gas-X.
“It wasn’t easy to find this on the island. But lucky for you, I have connections. It should help with your, uh, problem.” Syd blushed deeply, grinning shyly at Skye.
Ugh! Syd was like the postal service: Not rain, nor sleet, nor deadly farts could keep him from delivering his sickly adoration. “Thanks, Sydney.”
“I don’t think so.” Triple swooped in like a romantic wrecking ball, wedging her tall frame between Skye and Syd. She grabbed the box and crushed it in her angry fist. “The only thing that’s going to help Skye now is me. Syd, consider yourself back on the market.”
Triple grabbed Skye’s arm and started pulling her down the path toward the gym. “Time for Pilates,” she grunted, and while the last thing Skye wanted was to be stuck in the gym with Sergeant Triple, she sensed an opportunity.
“Nooo!” Skye moaned theatrically, stretching her other arm back toward Syd and channeling her inner Bella Swan. “I need him, Triple!”
“Too bad!” Triple winked, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. “Remember what Mimi said? If you don’t do what I say, we’ll both get expelled. And then you’ll never see Syd again!”
Syd’s eyes filled with tears as he waved at Skye. “I’ll wait for you forever!”
“Don’t bother,” Triple yelled, rushing farther and farther down the path with Skye in tow.
Syd began to back away, his face pained and heart-broken.
Skye called after him one last time. “Just remember, Triple broke your heart, not me!”
Syd nodded, overcome with emotion. He turned to sob-run in the opposite direction.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Skye may have to be chained to Triple for the rest of the week, but at least her Syd-shackles had been cut. “Triple, that was ah-mazing! He’s really gone!”
Triple elbowed Skye’s arms away and glared at her, already back in drill-sergeant mode. “Being done with boys doesn’t mean you can hit on me!”
“I’m just trying to thank you.” Skye backed off and studied Triple’s high cheekbones and determined eyes, wondering if maybe she’d misjudged her roommate’s self-absorption. “How did you know I wanted to ditch Syd, anyway?”
“I’m not an idiot,” muttered Triple, rolling her eyes and spinning around to lead the way down the path to the gym. “I have ears. Besides, he was going to get in the way of our workout regimen. Now march—we’re five minutes behind schedule.”
Skye nodded, already annoyed by Triple again. Was it that the girl didn’t know how to make friends, or that she just didn’t want any? Triple was harder to read than a first-generation Kindle.
As Skye trudged behind Triple toward the gym, staring at her perfect dancer’s calves, she sigh-fretted in anticipation of what was sure to be an excruciating week. Now that she’d said sayonara to Syd, she needed to figure out how to get out from under Triple’s perfectly manicured thumb. As she scurried to keep up with her new taskmaster, Skye began to brainstorm ways to give boot camp the boot.
HAD No. 12: Ditch Triple. On the double.