How much longer can she stay hidden?

 

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Image Credit: Image frame from the Dutch Documentary film Zonder Spitzen.

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Chapter 2
 
"Are they always this way?" I asked Meg as a mass of humanity huddled around the bulliten board that contained the cast list.

There were girls wanting to know what roles they got. There were dance moms armed with smart phones taking pictures of the cast list.

"Oh yeah, always for Nutcracker," Meg said as we eased our way to the front.

"Oh my God!" Meg said as she went through the cast list. "I'm a snow demi and a flower demi!"

"A snow demi and a flower demi?" I asked.

Meg explained there were three levels in the Dance of the Snow Flakes and Waltz of the Flowers. There was the corps, of which Meg thought she would be in. There were the demis, who were the rising stars. Then there were the leads, who danced solo portions of both dances.

Meg was the only junior company member dancing demi roles. The others were company dancers, the ones in Ballet VI.

"Big score, Meg," said a company member named Piper, who would be alternating between Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen. She was one of the big stars of the company.

I tried to scan the cast list. We were crowded, so I tried to rush.

Immediately, I knew Jack was wrong.

Party boy? Nope.

Mouse, nada.

I still couldn't find my name. Just when I was about to be upset, a company girl found one of my roles.

"Good for you! Harlequin!" the girl said. Meg later told me her name was Jessica, although she went by Jessi.

"Harle-what?" I asked.

"You're one of the dolls in the party scene," Meg said.

"It's supposed to be a boy doll, but you're the first boy we've ever cast in the role," Miss Jana said.

"That's a pretty big score, Collin," Meg said. "I danced it a couple of years ago. Going to take a lot of work."

"Yes, it is!" Miss Jana said. "I'm going to work his butt off."

"He's going to have to learn how to be a quick change artist," said Lucy, who pointed out that like most of the rest of the Ballet IIIs, I was cast as a toy soldier.

That, I found out, was also a first. Like Harlequin, it was technically a boys part. But no boy had ever played a toy soldier.

"Marching around with guns during the audition," I told Lucy. "It all makes sense, now."

The part required a little dancing, unlike the mice.

Lucy was picked to be one of the Claras. And one of the Columbines, a doll I would be dancing with. Three girls were going to dance the Columbine roles.

Our Ballet III class was almost equally divided when it came to Act II. Some were Arabians, some were Russians, some were Spanish and some were Chinese.

I wasn't originally cast in any of those roles. They were girls roles.

The choreography was already decided before I started taking class at the school.

"We didn't know if we'd have you," Miss Jana said at the start of class. "We sure didn't expect you'd jump from Ballet II to Ballet III."

It was OK with me. Harlequin was a plumb role. Lucy and the other two girls cast as Columbine were pretty cool.

"I've got to warn you Collin." Miss Jana said. "We're going to be working on the Act II parts during centre work. Be prepared to dance like an Arabian, Spanish, Russian or Chinese girl."

The girls in the class giggled, but not in a bad way.

I promised I'd be a model citizen, although I still wasn't too thrilled about having to get my hair cut like Madame Kathryn said.

"Well, we'll just have to put it in a bun then," Miss Jana said.

Again, I really couldn't tell if she were kidding, or not.

I actually found learning the steps of the dances pretty fun. But we also got to work on our usual combinations.

Miss Jana taught a combination that required double pirouettes.

"Some of you can try for triples if you'd like," she said.

Mine turns were as good as they'd been since I started. I didn't know what came over me. I'd never tried going for three pirouettes before, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I was in the last group to go, so going unnoticed was out of the question.

To my surprise. To everyone's surprise, I did a triple.

The room erupted with applause.

Only two of us did triples. It was expected from Lucy. She was the best.

The other was me.

"Some of the dance moms of my Ballet IIs were pissed off when I promoted him to Ballet III after only a month," Miss Jana whispered to Piper, the company dancer who was helping the class. "They thought it was because he was a boy. Oh no. I think you just saw why I promoted him."

"Yeah," Piper said. "He's another Meg."

"Meg Jr." Miss Jana said.
 

 
"Wow, a triple, good for you!" my Aunt Amy said.

"All of the company girls were talking about it, mom," Meg said. "Collin's really impressed them."

"I don't know what the big deal is," Jack said. "It's just girly dancing."

"Jack!" Aunt Amy said. "Apologize to your cousin."

"Oh, it's OK Aunt Amy," I said.

Seriously, his picking on me about ballet had gotten a little old. But it really no longer bothered me.

"It's harder than you think, Jerk," Meg said. "It's like you hitting three home runs in a game."

"Meg, please," Aunt Amy said. "Why can't you two get along."

"Because that isn't really fun," Jack said with a laugh.

Meg and I actually found that funny.

Mom was out on a date, so I would be staying with them for the night, which was cool with me.

I was actually looking forward to actually doing a little gaming with Jack, but he was invited over to a friends house.

"Well, I wish I could hang with you ballerinas," Jack said. "But I think I'll do some guy stuff tonight."

"Well, we'll have a little fun with or without you," Meg said.

We went to eat pizza. I talked to Mom before her date. She was really proud of my triple.

"Aunt Amy said she'll bring me home after church," I told her. "I miss you, too."

After we dropped Jack off, we walked into the house. Aunt Amy asked me if I was cool that Mom was dating again.

"I guess so," I said, even though I sort of liked it with just Mom and me. My Dad didn't care a whole lot about us after he'd left. I knew Mom deserved her happiness, though.

"So how do you really feel?" Meg asked when we got to her room.

I told her what I really thought.

"I understand," Meg said. "I feel the same way with Mom dating again, even though Dad's been dead for almost three years. I do think it's cool that they're going through the dating thing about the same time as sisters."

"You think my Mom and your Mom are as close as we are?" I asked Meg.

"Yeah, they are," Meg said. "Mom says there's no one closer to her on this earth. I think that's what bothers Jack about us ever since the summer. I mean, I don't think boys understand bonds between sisters."

I smiled. "You do think of me as your sister?"

"I do," Meg said. "I hope with what your dealing with, that doesn't bother you."

"No," I said. "I was going to ask if you would consider me a girl."

"Ever since our talk in the shed, I've considered you a girl," Meg said. "I've just been afraid of mentioning it to you."

I smiled. A tear rolled down my cheek.

"I still like doing boys things sometimes," I said.

I didn't finish the sentence. But I remembered Mauve's words: "But that don't make me a stinking boy!"

"I do, too," Meg said. "That's why I thought we might do some gaming tonight with Jack's X-Box.

Aunt Amy brought us some popcorn.

"Is it OK if Collin hangs in here tonight?" Meg asked her Mom. "We're going to spread the blankets out on the floor, watch a couple of movies and play video games."

"Sure, that's fine," Aunt Amy said. "Just don't stay up too late. We've got church in the morning."
 
 

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To Be Continued...