Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) Read Free Page B

courtyard. On a warm sunny day like this, it seemed the perfect spot. She grabbed a burger and some salad and headed outside.
    As she stood in the doorway looking around, she noticed Veronika slide onto the bench of a table that students were evacuating. Perfect.
    “Nice move. Can I join you?”
    “Sure.”
    Her laptop was still open and she continued working as she ate.
    “Lots of work to do?”
    “Y eah ,” Veronika said, not looking up from her computer. Elena slowly ate her lunch, surrounded by students laughing and talking.
    “So, Elena right?” Frankie said as she stood next to Elena, her hands on her hips.
    Elena nodded as Frankie came a round and sat beside her, crossing her legs.
    “You’re doing acting , right ?”
    “Yeah.”
    “So drama next period?”
    “Ye ah . I think they’re going to tell us about the auditions for the productions.”
    “Pretty exciting , isn’t it?”
    “Well, that’s the real world, I guess.”
    “Oh, you ’ ll be fine. Okay , well, I just wanted to find someone in the same class,” Frankie said.
    “This is Roni by the way. Roni , Frankie.”
    Veronika looked up from the screen and smiled at Frankie.
    “Hi,” Frankie said, waving her hand enthusiastically. Elena thought she saw Veronika cringe.
    “Great spot El,” Sebastien said as he appeared from nowhere, sat next to Veronika and took a big bite out of his extra large sandwich.
    “Ooh, hello,” Frankie said. “Is this the boyfriend?”
    “Sebastien,” he replied. ”Best friend , not boyfriend.” Veronika moved her face around the computer to look at Elena with an arched eyebrow .
    “Oh, that’s too bad,” Frankie pouted. “I’m Frankie.”
    “Are you a drama student?” he said.
    “How did you guess?”
    He shrugged. Elena could feel Veronika smiling behind the computer.
    “I must be off,” Frankie said. “I’ll see you soon, El.”
    “Bye.”
    “Cute,” Sebastien said, munching on his sandwich.
    “Definitely perky ,” Elena agreed. “She’s interesting.”
    “By the way, this is Veronika, Seb,” Elena said gesturing towards Veronika.
    “ Roni .”
    “Hi . ”
    He peered over her shoulder to see what she was typing.
    “Hey,” Veronika said, pulling the lid down.
    “School newspaper?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Didn’t know freshmen wrote many of the articles.”
    “They don’t usually , but I didn’t want to waste my first year writing classified ads so I decided to write the material and then convince them to use it.”
    “Go Roni ,” Elena said.
    “What’s it about?” Sebastien continued.
    “You know, first day of school. Who’s wearing what, doing what. Freshmen getting lost, s eniors feeling the pressure. Who’s dumped who? You know, the good stuff . ”
    “How do you find out that stuff? You’re new here,” Elena said.
    “It’s amazing how easy it is to be invisible behind a computer. People don’t notice you ’ re there. Plus, those in misery always want to be heard. I give them the opportunity.”
    “Sneaky,” Sebastien said. “Nice work.”
    Veronika smiled gratefully.
    Sebastien finished his lunch and licked the top of his fingers. “That was good,” he said, patting his stomach. Elena had barely gotten through half her food when the bell rang. Time for the last class - drama .
     

Two
     
    Elena and Sebastien took seats at the back of the classroom, waiting for their drama class to begin. Sebastien placed his hands behind his head and leaned back against the chair. Elena looked around the room at the other students. Some looked familiar from the classes earlier today. Frankie bounced into the room moments later and sat in front of them.
    “This will be interesting,” Frankie said glancing at them briefly before her eyes began scanning the room.  “Excuse me.”
    She moved from her seat and went to sit near a group of boys, introducing herself and gaining their interest immediately. Elena wished she had that sort of confidence.
    “I w o nder what