Abigail: Through the Looking Glass Read Free Page A

egg splats on the floor.
    ‘… communication,’ says Patrick. ‘Without them … well … ’
    Tara looks as if she wishes the ground would open up beneath her. Kat has forgiven her, but she’s had a rough week, with everyone shouting out quotes from her pros and cons list about Ethan. She’s not speaking to me, which is totally unfair because she basically created the whole problem herself.
    Patrick divides us into pairs. I’m with Sammy. Tara’s got Christian and she doesn’t look happy about it.
    ‘Focus on who you’re dancing with,’ says Patrick. ‘No one else should matter.’
    That’s easy for him to say. He’s not holding Sammy’s warm, moist hands. I wish that I had a stronger partner – he even has to do
pointe
because his ankles are so weak. But even so, it’s exciting to start learning how to create a partnership, and I enjoy the class until Patrick drops a bombshell on us.
    ‘I’ve arranged with Miss Raine for you to have the rest of the day off from your regular classes,’ he says. ‘Instead, you’ll be doing an exercise for me. Same couples.’
    We each have to choose a slip of paper from his cap. I cannot believe it. Clammy Sammy and I have to be tied together for twenty-four hours!
    I just don’t get it. How is being tied to Sammy supposed to make me a better dancer?
    Sammy seems to want to spend our entire challenge time going on about why I emailed Tara’s list to everyone. At dinner, he’s still talking about it. He’s chosen spaghetti bolognaise, which is
swimming
in oil. I focus on my small salad.
    ‘It just made you look bad,’ he says. ‘Do you not want people to like you?’
    It’s bad enough that I have to be tied to Sammy – Patrick didn’t say anything about enduring constant criticism. Just because I give as good as I get doesn’t mean I actually want to be attacked all the time. I refuse to engage in the conversation and Sammy slides a plate of spaghetti in front of me.
    ‘Carbs after three?’ I exclaim. ‘I’d rather eat a deep-fried vending machine.’
    Sammy is an idiot. He read the slip of paper wrong – it said two to four hours! Two
dash
four. I spent the entire night tied to him, with my arm dangling over the edge of the bed and him on the floor. But even that can’t really bring me down when I hear the news that the Company is back.
    When I walk into the studio, Natasha Willis is standing there with Miss Raine. The excitement in the room is electric. Natasha Willis – world famous ballerina, Principal of the National Ballet. Oh yeah, and Kat’s mum.
    Having Natasha Willis as a guest teacher is so awesome that I feel friendlier towards everyone. When I see Sammy in the common room with a girl I don’t recognise, I head over to join them. The girl’seating pizza. It’s sort of
wrong
that someone can sit in the Academy and get away with that sort of thing when I try so hard to get thinner.
    ‘Who are you?’ I ask. ‘You don’t go here.’
    ‘How can you tell?’ asks the girl.
    I look at the pizza she’s holding up to her mouth and she laughs. She seems friendly and relaxed. It turns out that her name is Mia, and she’s Sammy’s girlfriend. I’ve heard him mention someone before, but I always kind of got the impression that she was … well … imaginary.
    ‘Would you like some pizza, Abigail?’ she’s asking.
    ‘She doesn’t do carbs after three,’ Sammy puts in.
    I can’t help but smile. He remembered … and that means he pays more attention to me than I imagined. Maybe there was a point to Patrick’s exercise after all. I need my dance partner to listen to what I say.
    Another thing that will help me become a better dancer is watching the Company perform. They’re doing
Swan Lake
tonight and I’m desperate to see it! I hear Sammy has tickets, and I find him sitting on the stairs, staring miserably at his phone.
    ‘I heard you had some tickets to this afternoon’s performance,’ I say.
    ‘I wouldn’t, you know, ask,’ I