Abigail: Nice Girls Finish Last by Bruno Bouchet Read Free Book Online Page B

set. After class I try calling Ethan but I get his voice message.
    â€˜Hola. Or whatever. You’re probably off running with bulls – I think I’d be really good at that …’ I need to pull it together. Am I really on the verge of sobbing into a Spanish voicemail? ‘Nothing to report. Just getting ready for Nationals. See ya.’
    I hang up and then I can’t hold back any longer. Tears force their way out. It’s not meant to be this hard. It’s never been this hard for me. Not being perfect isn’t in my comfort zone.
    What I need now is something I can do. Somewhere I can be perfect. In my bag is the script that Finn gave me. I open it up and have a look. I can see Ethan’s chorey and how it will work, how the musical could actually not suck if it was done properly. I get my highlight pen out and make a few notes.
    At the theatre, Finn and Mistii look panicked when I turn up. Probably embarrassed at how amateurish they are. Finn was right, they really do need me.
    â€˜I’m only helping with the dancing. Be eternally grateful.’ I lay down the law.
    Mistii is unbelievably bad. Who else turned up at her audition, Phil, my fat sweaty workshop friend? ‘It’s all a bit forced. We need to simplify,’ I say.
    I dance the chorey. I can sense what Ethan’s trying to do with it – lifting the lyrics, adding a layer of depth to meaning. Compared to Cupid in Don Quixote it’s easy, exactly what I need. I feel like Ethan’s guiding me, watching me with his wry smile through his steps. I can tell he was thinking of me as he wrote them. For the first time in weeks, I feellight, as if I’ve broken the surface after struggling underwater. I open my mouth to breathe, but instead of sucking in air, I sing. I have to, the chorey isn’t complete without my voice, a whole new part of my body to dance with. When I finish, everyone at the rehearsal is clapping and cheering. Finn jumps up to the stage.
    â€˜Sorry dollface,’ he says to Mistii, ‘but you are fired.’
    â€˜No!’ I say. ‘You can’t sack Mistii just because she’s not that talented. She’s worked really hard.’
    He and Mistii swap a look. Something’s up.
    â€˜I’m not really playing Mia,’ says Mistii. She’s playing the director of the review that the Mia character appears in.
    â€˜Ethan thought a bit of competition might win you around,’ says Finn.
    I’ve been played again, but this time I’ve been tricked into something that I might actually want.

CHAPTER 10
    All my life I’ve liked routine. One egg, one banana, one tub low-fat yoghurt for breakfast. Followed by forty minutes cardio and fifty minutes Pilates, warm up, lengthen quads and strengthen feet. It’s all part of the plan. The plan I made with my mother when I was seven. ‘To be the best’. I like the plan, only now a tiny voice in my head is asking ‘to be the best … what?’
    I can’t believe that I, Abigail Armstrong, am cutting ballet classes to rehearse a musical, and loving it. I’m probably the only student that can get away with saying I’ve got a dentist appointment several days in a row. Perfect Abigail wouldn’t skip class.
    But even I can’t get away with it indefinitely. I make it clear to Finn I can’t do any more daytime rehearsal. This can’t interfere with ballet. Nothinghas ever been allowed to do that. But I like acting. I enjoy the sensation of singing while I dance. I love how naturally it comes, like suddenly, I’m myself.
    Let me have a voice.
    Let me speak and be heard.
    Let my spirit be stirred
    With each line, with each word …
    When I get back to the Academy after my rehearsal, I’m afraid the secret might be out. It’s taken six dental appointments for anyone to notice, but now they have. In the corridor, Kat claims she can ‘smell a boy’. Then Miss