by Megan Atwood
Kayley stopped shaking her knees and stood up straight. She’d wasted yet another hour worrying. It was time for action. Even if the shoes didn’t work as a good luck charm, well … she’d know she’d tried everything.
Opening her door quietly, she looked both ways down the hallway. Dark shadows played all around the hall, the electric lights on the wall flickering like candles. The bloodred carpet looked almost black in the shadows. Kayley shivered.
As long as she didn’t hear that laugh, she’d be fine. She hoped.
Kayley stepped lightly down the hallway, slowing near the set of big stairs that lead to the lobby. She took a look over the edge of the ornate banister and saw the dark entrance into the lobby area. A red light from the Exit sign on the side of the huge lobby seemed to shine in a beam that led straight to the shoe display. She walked carefully down the wide marble staircase. Her slippers made only the tiniest shush as she walked.
After what seemed like a decade, Kayley reached the bottom. For a second, she hesitated, wringing her hands together. She looked down at her feet, set automatically in first position. She smiled a little to herself; Madame would love her turnout right now.
With the thought of Madame propelling her, Kayley moved forward into the dark of the lobby, following the light that led to the shoes. She stopped in front of the glass case and looked down.
The glow from the Exit sign made the cream color of the shoes a ghostly red. Kayley hesitated again.
Suddenly, the sound of whistling traveled downward from the hallway opposite the stairs.
The maintenance man! Of course, Bert did nightly checks around the building! More than one ballet dancer had been caught during his rovings.
Kayley crept behind a huge leather chair that sat in the lobby. And just in time. The whistling got louder—she could hear the clomping of his boots as he walked through the lobby.
The maintenance man made his way past the case and toward Kayley. She knew she was well hidden, but her heart felt like it would crawl out of her chest anyway.
And then it happened. Kayley’s leg started to cramp up. She knew she needed to switch positions. She shifted ever so slightly, and the key fell out of her hoodie pocket, clinking on the marble ground.
The whistling stopped immediately.
“Who’s there?”
The maintenance man’s voice echoed through the lobby. Kayley thought for sure she’d pass out.
His boots came trudging toward Kayley’s hiding spot, so she picked up the key and shifted her weight until she was completely hidden behind the chair.
And then her leg cramped again. She clamped her lips down hard and stayed in position, ignoring the pain. Bert grumbled, “If it’s any kids, you all are in trouble.”
But Kayley thought she heard some fear in his voice. What did he have to be afraid of?
After a torturous few minutes, Bert walked away. Kayley heard him say under his breath, “You won’t beat me yet, Quincy house. I’m not afraid of you.”
She could tell from the quiver in his voice that he was most definitely afraid.
When she heard his boots make it all the way down the hallway, she stood up and shook out her leg. It was time to get out of the lobby before someone else decided to come in and talk to themselves.
Kayley ran to the box and slid in the key. Sure enough, it fit. She opened the case. A rush of musty smell enveloped her nose, but she reached in and picked up the shoes, moving slowly and gently to make sure she didn’t damage them.
They were tiny and fragile. And they were beautiful.
Carefully placing one and then the other in the front pocket of her hoodie, she closed the lid and locked it.
A strange calm enveloped her, and she walked slowly back to her room, her only thought the steady, reassuring notion that she would once again be the dancer she wanted to be.
Chapter 8
Kayley got no sleep that night. After staring at the shoes and touching them ever so lightly, she had to figure out a place to put them. Someplace safe, not only from someone finding them but also for the shoes. She was mesmerized by them and didn’t want them to get dirty.
Hiding something in your room was problematic. Kayley had seen searches before when things were stolen … She couldn’t risk being caught. She bounced her knee up and down and racked her brain for the solution.
And then she figured it out. The best hiding place was in plain sight. She had slippers shaped like sushi that were plush and huge. She’d put one shoe in each slipper. The shoes would stay pristine, and if anyone decided to do a search, who would check the sushi slippers?
She swore, as she tucked the hidden shoes away in her closet, that she felt an extra little charge. Maybe today would be a good day for dancing. She glanced up at the clock: five thirty. She might as well go to class now and do a good warm-up. And anyway, she was dying to see if there was any effect.
She quickly changed into her leotard and footless tights and tied her hair up in a bun. With a quick look to the closet, where her new lucky shoes lay, she grabbed her bag and raced out the door. She felt electric.
Kayley did a few jumping jacks to get her blood pumping once she reached the ballet studio. She didn’t realize how tight her body had been. She decided to take her time stretching, enjoying every single movement of the pull. She’d forgotten how nice it was to really concentrate on stretching. She did use to come early to do these stretches; maybe she’d get back in the habit.
At quarter to six, Madeleine walked in and practically jumped in surprise at Kayley.
Even though Kayley knew Madeleine didn’t mean to steal everything of Kayley’s, a part of her still felt resentful. But with the thought of the shoes in her closet, she also felt a little … well, superior to her all of a sudden. Superior and just a little snotty.
“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Madeleine asked.
Kayley smiled sweetly and said, “Ballet.”
Madeleine’s face turned red. “Of course. I mean … I just haven’t … that’s cool. Maybe we can warm-up together.”
Kayley smiled again. “You know, I think I’ve done the stretching. I’m going to practice some turns now.”
She took her shoes out of the bag—they seemed so odd now that she’d been looking at the old-fashioned ones—and tied them tight. She flexed her feet. The shoes felt so good, so right. That electric feeling came back. She felt like she could dance up a storm.
She stood up and did a trial pirouette. Just as she spotted, her gaze landed on Ophelia, a scowl on Ophelia’s pretty face.
She said to Kayley, “What are you doing in here?”
Kayley got off pointe and said the same thing she said to Madeleine: “Ballet.” Then she did three fouettés in a row and ended in a side split on pointe. The electricity practically crackled.
Ophelia gaped at her. Kayley smiled with her face toward the ground. It had to be the shoes.
Madame walked in, as did the rest of the company, and Kayley saw it was already five minutes to six. Madame called them all to attention and class began. Kayley had a good feeling about this.
Perfection. That was the word that kept running through her mind. Perfection.
She knew the class saw the change in her. She kept getting looks and this time because Madame used her as a good example. At the end of class, she approached Madame with her excused-absence note.
Madame stared down at her behind small, leopard-printed reading glasses and said, “Well, whatever rest you got yesterday must have done the trick.”
Kayley just smiled. Madame signed the note and said, “If you keep dancing like this, maybe there will be a lead part in our next production.”
Kayley’s stomach sank. “But, Madame, can’t I have the fairy godmother part back? That is, you know, if I keep dancing like I am?”
Madame shook her head. “Kayley, I can’t change back now. We’re too close to the start of the production, and it’s just too strange to go back and forth. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to stay in
the corps this ballet. The next one, though …”
She shot a pointed look toward Kayley, a look that said “this is important,” and added, “If you keep dancing like this.”
Kayley walked angrily over to her bag. What was the point of all of this? She had just danced better than ever before, better than Madeleine. Why couldn’t she get her part back? Had she stolen the shoes for nothing? She picked up her bag as Sophie ran into the room.
“Did you hear?” Sophie asked excitedly.
Kayley shook her head.
“Somebody stole the shoes in the case out front!” Sophie said.
Kayley remembered that she needed to look surprised. She put her hands up to her mouth and made a squeak she hoped sounded like shock.
Sophie nodded, “I know! Who would want to steal those shoes?”
Kayley shrugged. “Yeah, that’s really weird.”
“Honestly, what some people will do for attention here.”
Kayley narrowed her eyes. Sophie, busy walking to the back of the class, didn’t see it. She picked a shrug from off the floor.
“I forgot this,” she said to Kayley and walked toward the door. Turning around, she added. “Hey, you were awesome in class today! I’m glad to see you’re finally trying.”
Kayley fumed. Finally trying? Needed attention? She wasn’t some little kid throwing a tantrum. And it’s not like she hadn’t been trying. Well, maybe not as hard but still.
She walked out the door, determined to show Sophie what trying really meant at their next class.
Chapter 9
The whole school was abuzz about the shoes. Kayley felt a little guilty thrill every time she heard about it. In English class, Mr. Boynton made an announcement:
There would be room searches that night.
Kayley had only a slight trickle of sweat at the thought. She felt she’d hidden the shoes well.
She hoped.
Madeleine tapped her on the shoulder as the English lesson started.
“Hey,” she whispered, “that was some awesome dancing.”
Kayley turned around and gave her a cold smile. “Thanks.”
Madeleine looked so genuine all the time. It was starting to bother Kayley lately.
She didn’t know why, but she just felt mean.
“You know, I haven’t seen you lugging around that big bag of Sour Patch Kids we got you.”
Kayley shrugged. “I’m not twelve anymore,” she said and turned around. She could practically feel Madeleine’s quizzical look.
Three minutes later, a paper ball landed on her desk. Kayley looked over to Ophelia, a few rows over, who was frantically gesturing to her to open it.
Kayley was annoyed—all of a sudden they wanted to talk to her? Still, with Ophelia’s eyes on her, she opened the note and read it. Ophelia had scrawled “What is up with you lately?” across the page. Kayley frowned and crumpled it back up, sticking it down in her bag.
What was up? Ophelia and Madeleine were best friends. Madeleine was taking Kayley’s spot in ballet and everywhere else. All Kayley had was her dancing, so it was time to harness that electricity she’d been feeling ever since stealing the shoes. Time to show them who was boss.
That mean feeling spiked again as she noticed Sophie and Emma whispering and looking over at them. She’d show them all at practice that night.
Madame made the same announcement at practice that all the teachers had.
“There will be searches tonight in your rooms. And anyone caught in possession of those shoes will be severely punished.”
Kayley had to suppress a snort. Well, who in her right mind would keep the shoes? She was confident of her hiding place, but if she hadn’t been, she would have hidden them in someone else’s room. That way, they’d get in trouble.
Kayley shook herself. What a mean thought! She could be sarcastic and insensitive sometimes, but she was never deliberately cruel. She shook her head. Probably not enough sleep.
As Madame led the class through their warm-up, Kayley felt that electric feeling rush through her again.
And when it was time to dance, she knew she killed it. She bourréd off center with a genuine smile on her face, not the usual fake one she put on for performances. Madame looked her way with an approving glance.
Next, Madame clapped her hands and said, “OK, stepsisters. Sophie, Emma. Your part.”
Kayley sat down and leaned into a wide stretch as Sophie and Emma took their places. Both started the first sequences for their parts in the show.
As they twirled, Kayley stared at them in a trance. She knew she was better than they were. That was why Madame had given her the part of fairy godmother in the first place. Madeleine, well, she was hard to compete with, though Kayley felt she had at least come close with her recent improvements. But Sophie and Emma weren’t nearly as talented as Kayley.
Sophie hit an arabesque and then began her pirouette piqués. Kayley was concentrating so hard on Sophie’s feet that her stare could have burned a hole in the floor.
And then Sophie’s ankle turned.
The whole company seemed to gasp. Patrick stopped playing the piano with a string of wrong notes. Madame rushed to Sophie, crumpled on the ground. Emma held her hand.
“Patrick, be a dear and get the nurse, won’t you?” Madame said.
Patrick nodded and rushed out of the room, coming back moments later with Nurse John. In one big movement, he picked up Sophie and carried her out.
The whole thing had happened so quickly that Kayley could barely breathe.
Madame came back in the room looking frazzled.
“Class dismissed for today.”
The ballet dancers gathered their things quickly and walked out in twos and threes, talking excitedly. Emma took off to the nurse’s station while Madeleine and Ophelia walked out together in their two-person huddle, barely noticing Kayley.
As she neared the door, Madame called out to her, “Kayley, you’ll dance the part of the stepsister” and then hurriedly ran out the door, frazzled in a way Kayley had never seen her before.
It took a moment before the thought sunk in.
Kayley was no longer in the corps! She had a solo. Her heart leapt with joy.
But then she had a prickly little thought. What if she had somehow caused Sophie’s accident? Maybe her good luck meant bad luck for others?
She shook her head. No. Sophie’s accident was just that: an accident.
Heart lightened, Kayley practically skipped out the door, excited about ballet for the first time in a long while.
Chapter 10
At dinner, Kayley was so thrilled about her part, she hardly ate. But she was also bored of the dinner table conversation.
She sat at her normal place with Ophelia, Madeleine, and Emma, but it had been a few days since she had eaten with them and the whole situation felt weird. She stayed quiet, and she knew that was weird for everyone around her too. She picked at her vegetables.
Emma said, for the thousandth time, “There was just no reason she should’ve turned her ankle. She’s done those moves at so many practices … !”
Ophelia, who had ignored Emma the first 999 times, suddenly perked up. “Oh, there’s a reason all right.”
Emma and Madeleine leaned in while Kayley just crossed her arms over her chest. This ought to be good. Ophelia loved being in the spotlight and loved making stuff up. Normally, Kayley loved the stories Ophelia concocted, but she wasn’t in the mood that night.
“It’s because of the shoes, of course,” Ophelia said. She picked up a green bean from her plate, ate it triumphantly, and sat back.
Now Kayley was interested. “What do you mean?” she asked. She hoped no one heard the hard edge in her voice. She cleared her throat and tried to soften her tone. “I mean, how could some old shoes in a case cause Sophie to turn her ankle?”
Ophelia smiled wide and leaned in again. “I heard they’re a good luck charm for the school. As long as they stay public, you know, like, everyone’
s, they guard against bad things that happen to dancers. Now that they’re gone, well …”
She shrugged, as if to say, who knew?
Emma’s eyes grew wide. “This school is so weird, there are so many strange things that happen … I can totally see it.”
That couldn’t be true, Kayley thought. She shook off the idea and said, “Oh, come on. Sophie turned her ankle because ballet dancers get hurt! They just do! It happens.”
Ophelia grabbed another green bean off her plate and said, “That’s just the legend I heard. I remember hearing the maintenance man telling some freshman who asked why a pair of ratty shoes was in the case. He seemed to take the whole thing personally.”
“Well, he must be going nuts, then, if that’s the case,” Madeleine said. “Someone stole those shoes right out from underneath him.”
Emma shook her head. “I just don’t get it. Who would do that? And how crazy … It must be someone who really needs some attention. I feel sorry for them.”
Kayley dropped her fork. She bent under the table to pick it up, glad for the distraction. Emma felt sorry for her? Whatever. Who was the better dancer now? Maybe the company would be better off if Emma hurt herself too.
Once again, Kayley was startled by her own thought. Emma was her friend. And she had never wanted anyone to get hurt, ever. What was going on with her?
She put her fork on her plate and got up to leave, mumbling, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Emma stood up too. “I’ll come with you. I want to go visit Sophie in her room. She is so bummed. Do you want to come with?”
Kayley swallowed guiltily. “Uh, I have a lot of homework to do since I missed yesterday.”
Emma said, “Oh my gosh, I forgot you were sick. I was wondering why you’d been so quiet.”
Kayley made her way to the dishes station, wishing Emma would just go visit Sophie and leave her alone.
Kayley gave an awkward laugh and said, “Yeah. I’m feeling better, though.”
As Emma and Kayley started up the steps, Kayley took a peek at Madeleine and Ophelia, still at the dinner table. They were looking up at Kayley, whispering once again. Suddenly, she was crazy nervous that they suspected something. She started walking faster up the stairs.