ChapterEleven
SABRINA
Twenty minutes ‘til open curtain. Yury hadn’t yelled at me for anything in the last ten minutes so I knew it was going to happen any second. I slipped into the small dressing room for the lead dancer.
If only my parents could see me now. Finally, the lead. It’s what they always wanted. It doesn’t feel as amazing as I always dreamed it would feel.
“Sabrina, are you in there?” Gustave tapped on the door.
“Hey, Is something wrong?” I asked, standing at the now open door. “I was kinda hiding from Yury.”
“No sense hiding. He knows where to find you and he is stomping around as usual.” Gustave grabbed my hand to pull me behind him. “The trick is to get out on side stage. He can’t cause a scene there.”
“Brilliant. Why am I just hearing about this?” I swatted his arm. “Oh no, there he is.”
“Sabrina, do not mess up tonight or you will not leave this theatre until morning.” Yury glared at me. “After that, I will send you home as a disgrace.”
Without a word, I watched Yury turn abruptly on his heels, then stop. “Get out of my way.”
I saw a man take a quick side-step to avoid a collision with Yury.
“Sorry about that,” I heard the man say.
“Stop. Why do I see you doing nothing again? Do you want to be fired?” Yury yelled a few feet from the man. “Go now, do your job instead of being in my way.”
That guy again? Why does he keep yelling at that same guy? Does he even work here?
There was no time to think about it further. The lights had dimmed, and the curtain was about to go up. Gustave and I ran for our positions just in time. The show passed in a blur, but I thought it went better than the night before. I didn’t feel near as nervous like I’d made any mistakes, but I knew for sure I wasn’t as good as Jacqueline. I was in the dressing room rubbing my blistered feet when Yury threw the door open.
“Come, it’s time to go to the after-party. Do not embarrass me.” He walked off.
I slipped on my shoes and the shawl from the night before then ran to catch up with Yury. I stood quietly next to Yury while he spoke to many different people. I smiled and answered questions as briefly as possible. I really wanted to be able to sleep tonight and I learned from the night before there was no making Yury mad or the pinches would get worse and less sleep.
“Sabrina, you were wonderful. I was never a major ballet fan but, watching you, I fell in love with it.” Murphy, the lady who ran the theatre from the night before, stood in front of us. “Can I borrow her for a little while to introduce her around?”
“She must leave soon for the hotel. Please make it brief.” Yury glared at me in warning.
Murphy waved for me to follow her. I hesitated for a mere second then decided to just do it. He was going to do whatever he was going to do. Murphy handed me a glass of wine and a plate from the buffet.
“I appreciate your kindness, but I can’t drink alcohol and, besides, Yury would have a fit about me eating. I do need to fit into my outfits.” I frowned looking at the delicious food.
“You can at least have some fruit.” She handed me a fancy glass dish full of assorted fruits. “Let’s go dance.”
“Dance?” I froze. “What kind of dance? Like, what do you call it, rock and roll?”
“Yes, I guess that’s what I’m thinking, just fun dancing.” She chewed her lip. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I’ll bet the last thing you wanna do is dance.”
“I love to dance whenever I have free time, but Yury would not like it.”
“Is there something you would rather do?”
“Sleep,” I blurted out, then covered my mouth. “That sounded bad. So sorry. I am just very tired.”
“Do you get much sleep? Do you do anything fun?” Murphy asked, then nodded to follow her to a table. “Let’s sit a few minutes and talk.”
“Yury will not allow me to sit for very long. Was there something you wanted to talk about?” I sat on the edge of the chair looking around.
“He seems to be a very angry person. Is there anything I can do to help?”