To the Stars, Isabelle by Laurence Yep

Author:Laurence Yep
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUVENILE FICTION / Girls & Women, JUVENILE FICTION / Performing Arts / Dance
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

At our last rehearsal before spring break, Luisa and I had polished our pirate routine, but we were still working on perfecting our stage entrance. Gabriel, Ryan, Jacob, and Hailey were the wave makers who rippled the blue cloth to create ocean waves. Jackie had added some surf sounds to the beginning of our music, and when Luisa heard the sound, she would dance out in front of the wave makers. Then I would creep beneath the layers of cloth and leap out, like a sea fairy springing from the frothy waves.

Now that there were two bolts of cloth swirling around me, though, it was tougher to emerge gracefully from the waves. I wished we could have practiced our entrance for more than half an hour, but our castmates had their own rehearsing to do.

Jackie spent the second half of the morning working with the Waltzing Flowers. When their rehearsal ended, I could hear Renata bragging from way down the hall about the attention she was finally getting from Jackie.

I was tempted to tell Renata about the pointe shoes Jackie had given me, just to put her in her place. But Renata might not be the only person who would get jealous. My other castmates might, too, and that wouldn’t be good for the show. So I kept my mouth shut, even though it was hard.

On the bus ride home, my stomach wouldn’t stop doing somersaults. Just two days from now, we would be dancing for an actual audience!

As soon as I got home, I ran upstairs and started to lay my costume out on my bed—and then I realized I’d been so busy learning the pirate dance that I hadn’t even thought about my makeup. So I went back downstairs to the living room, where Jade was practicing.

I knew enough not to interrupt her, so I just sat down in a corner out of the way. Her eyes drifted toward me, but she kept on dancing. When the song finally ended, she muted the sound on her laptop and turned toward me. “What’s up?” she asked.

“We have our first show on Monday,” I explained. “Would you do my makeup before I go?”

Usually my sister jumps right in to help, so I didn’t expect her to shrug off my request. But she did. “Maybe it’s time for you to start doing your own,” Jade said.

What? She couldn’t be serious. “But you’re so good at it,” I coaxed.

“You’ve seen me do it a lot of times, Isabelle,” Jade insisted. “You can do it yourself—I know you can.” She paused and then added, “Or Jackie can do it for you.”

Jackie? “I can’t ask her,” I said, whining a little now. “She’s too busy.”

“And I’m not?” Jade snapped suddenly. “I’ve got my own lessons to worry about, you know.” Wheeling around, she turned up the sound on her laptop, once again filling the room with music.

As my sister began to dance, I saw how stiff and tense she was. What had I said

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