Sammy Read online

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘He’s withdrawing his financial support. If I’d known earlier we might have been able to help but all the scholarships have been given out.’

  That’s it. Without my fees being paid I can’t stay.

  ‘Is there any chance he will change his mind?’ Miss Raine asks.

  I think of the empty seat that’s been at all the showcases we’ve done. He’s never come to see me dance. I’ve always believed that once he did that he’d understand. Especially now I’ve kept my promise. My academic grades are excellent and now even my dance grades are great.

  Perhaps when he sees me onstage at the Opera House in a real production he’ll see I can have a future with dance and he’ll change his mind.

  Now I’m not avoiding his calls. I really need to speak to him – he has to see me perform. At the dress rehearsal I’m in costume but still trying to call him on my phone. Finally I get hold of Mum.

  ‘Mum, put me onto Dad … Okay, tell him I’ve got my phone on now and he can call me if he wants but he cannot make up his mind until he sees me dance tomorrow night.’

  It’s my only chance.

  The buzz on the night of the performance is incredible. The drama’s intense. Sebastian has given the role of Clara to Tara. It’s ‘the gown’ that did it. It’s supposed to have a magical quality. Many of the greats in the Company have worn it over the years and it’s never had so much as a broken thread. Tara chose it without knowing any of its history. It fitted perfectly and when she wore it for the dress rehearsal Sebastian became convinced that she should dance Clara. She believes it’s all down to the magic of the dress.

  We’re minutes away from starting. The audience are taking their places and all first-scene dancers are side stage. I’m pleased I’m in this scene so my dad doesn’t have to wait for ages to see me, working himself into a mood. Sean’s standing with me. He’s another ‘boy at the party’ and is looking just as nervous.

  As I look out to the audience I see Mum and Ari taking their seats. Dad’s probably finishing a phone call in the lobby.

  The lights go down and the overture starts. I peek out again but his seat’s still empty and I realise he’s not coming. My last chance has just been blown off.

  ‘Your dad a no-show?’ Sean asks.

  I shake my head. The last thing I need now is a smart-arse Sean comment. I wait for it.

  ‘Mine hasn’t spoken to me since he found out I had a boyfriend.’

  It takes a second to register but I turn to look at him. ‘Really? How did I miss that?’

  Sean grins. Perhaps Christian was right. This production might be a chance to see what the other boys are like.

  ‘Let’s do this,’ Sean says and we go onstage.

  The first act goes well. Being onstage with a huge audience is the most amazing buzz of my life. The music, the lights, the costumes, my feet, my body – everything comes together brilliantly. Even knowing there’s an empty seat there can’t spoil the moment for me. For one short period of time when I’m on that stage, everything is right.

  At interval there’s as much drama going on backstage as onstage. Tara’s gown for Act Two is missing. The one that makes her feel special and has helped her dance superbly in dress rehearsals.

  Christian and I are in the stars’ dressing room with Tara and Abigail.

  Ethan looks like he’s going to kill Abigail. ‘What did you do with it?’ he asks.

  I tell him to back off. Even Abigail wouldn’t sabotage Tara like that.

  They’re calling Act Two beginners to the stage. Tara is refusing to go on without her gown.

  ‘I can’t. I’ve never made it through this act without the costume.’ She takes a deep breath. ‘Abigail will have to go on.’

  Ethan is about to lose it. ‘We can’t have a different Clara halfway through.’

  ‘What do you need?’ Christian asks her.

  ‘Kat.’

  Kat’s supposed to be looking after the costumes, but she’s not here. She isn’t even at the Opera House.

  Christian calls her and puts her on speakerphone, while Ethan tells Abigail to start getting dressed.

  ‘I’ll make a fool of myself,’ Tara says softly into the phone.

  ‘Okay, for one, you’re an expert at making a fool of yourself. No one does it better,’ says Kat. ‘And two, it doesn’t matter. What does is that you stop making excuses. I get that you’re scared but you need to suck it up and do what it is you’ve been working for this whole year.’

  ‘Kat’s right,’ Abigail says. ‘And you’re going to have to because I’m not.’

  We all look at Abigail, stunned.

  ‘You’re better at this than me,’ she says. ‘With or without the costume. And the audience will see it.’

  I never thought I’d see Abigail do the selfless act. I know more than anyone what it must take for her to say those words.

  As Tara goes on I’m standing side stage with Abigail. Tara’s dancing alone, filling not just the stage but the huge auditorium of the Sydney Opera House. Every pair of eyes in there is entranced by her. It is so inspiring.

  As I watch her, it’s like she disperses the fog in my mind. All the confusion, mixed feelings, worries about what I am or what I’m not vanishes and there is one thing left that I know with absolute certainty. There is no way I’m letting this go. I’m staying at the Academy, even if I have to get six jobs to do it.

  I have a plan. It’s mine and no one is going to change it.

  Copyright

  The ABC ‘Wave’ device is a trademark of the

  Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is used

  under licence by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia.

  First published in Australia in 2010

  This edition published in 2011

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  Text copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers Australia

  Based on DANCE ACADEMY A

  WERNER FILMS PRODUCTION

  ORIGINAL STORY BY: Samantha Strauss

  CREATED BY: Samantha Strauss & Joanna Werner

  Copyright © 2010 Screen Australia, Screen NSW and Werner Film Productions

  Copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers Australia

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  HarperCollinsPublishers

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  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

  Bouchet, Bruno.

  Dance Academy: Real Men Don’t Dance / Bruno Bouchet.

  ISBN: 978-0-7333-2879-4 (pbk.)

  ISBN: 978-0-7304-9446-1 (ePub)

  Target Audience: For primary school age.

  Subjects: Dancers—Juvenile fiction.

  Interpersonal relations—Juvenile fiction.

  Other Authors/Contributors:

  Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

  Dewey Number: A823.3

  Cover design by Karen Carter

  Have you read all of the Dance Academy books?

 

 

 
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