Rose Sees Red (14 page)

My parents said that I didn’t have to go to school until I was ready to. Part of me wanted to just curl up in a ball and stay in bed for a year, but I knew that I had to go in. I couldn’t stay home.

On Wednesday I made my way downtown.

I saw Callisto and Caitlin hanging out in their usual spot, leaning against the brick wall below the window that looked into the office. Caleb was with them. It filled me with joy to see them all there. They didn’t see me as I walked up to them. They were in deep conversation; sometimes they laughed, sometimes they furrowed their brows. As I got closer, I noticed that Maurice was standing with them, sharing his coffee with Callisto.

Caleb saw me first.

He smiled. He raised his hand up. But then he thought about it for a second, scowled as per usual, and turned away from me in his broody way.

He was being cold and aloof, but I could tell, because I
was a dancer and I could read the movements in a person’s body, that Caleb really wanted to run to me. He was holding himself back. And that made me feel so good. I wanted to run to him. But I held myself back, too.

I walked over to my group of friends.

“Hi,” I said.

“We were worried about you when you didn’t come to school,” Maurice said.

“And then when we read about the international incident in the
Times
yesterday,” Callisto said, “we realized that the incident was you.”

“Are you okay?” Caitlin asked.

I was about to start crying or turn away because I couldn’t handle the fact that this crazy, huge thing had happened and I didn’t know where to put it. The whole thing seemed unreal, but these people knew that it had happened. We were all witnesses to the moment.

Caleb looked at me from under his bangs. He wasn’t being broody. He was being shy. He didn’t say anything and I couldn’t speak.

And then Caleb didn’t need to say anything because he made a move toward me and he put his arms around me and hugged me so tightly that I felt like he was hugging the very me that hides inside. After a moment, Caitlin, Callisto, and Maurice piled on, too.

“Are you okay?” Callisto asked me when Caleb finally let me go.

“Shaky,” I said.

“Yrena?” Callisto said.

“Gone,” I said. “Or going soon.”

Everyone’s face went grim.

“That’s so sucky,” Caitlin said.

“I wish things could be different,” Maurice said.

“I really wish that our countries didn’t hate each other so much that Yrena couldn’t come back and visit or something,” Callisto said.

“Hey, guys, I just wanted to say…” I started.

“I just want you all to know…” I started again.

“It’s just that it really meant a lot…” I started a third time.

I wanted to say it. I wanted to say thank you, but I didn’t know how.

“Hey,” Callisto said, stubbing out her clove cigarette. “No sweat. You’d do the same for us.”

And she was right. I would have in a heartbeat.

“So, I’m going to go in to warm up for class,” Maurice said to me. “You wanna join me?”

I nodded.

“Great!” he said. “See you at lunch, Callisto?”

“Yep,” she said, and then they kissed quickly.

“I have a free period right before lunch,” Caleb said to me. “I was going to go get a sandwich at Le Café. Can I get you something?”

“Yeah, a plain yogurt with some honey?”

“You got it,” he said, and he was still holding my hand right up until Maurice and I headed inside. The downstairs was quiet, but as we headed up to the dance department, it got louder. There was music and people talking, and my classmates weren’t just warming up in a boring, repetitive way. They were warming up and practicing combinations and they were trying out different kinds of moves, creating their own dances. Not just ballet or modern. They were free dancing, which was a kind of dancing that I could do and not be the worst at.

They kind of stopped and looked at me when I came in all dressed and ready to work. They looked at me as though I was a stranger…because mostly I was.

I was worried that I wasn’t going to fit in after all and that this was a stupid mistake. But Maurice took me by the elbow and led me into the center of the room and started to stretch next to me. I followed his lead and started stretching, too.

Hang in there, Rose,
I thought.
Just make it through the day.
The bell rang, meaning it was time for my first class: ballet.

Ms. Zina’s cane banged on the floor, announcing the start of class. She began counting out the time as we did our barre exercises. One, two, three. One, two, three. And plié. And relevé. And coupé.

“Now, first group, the combination from last week,” Ms. Zina said.

I watched Maurice and group one do the combination.

“Group two.” Ms. Zina banged her cane on the ground.

I turned and faced the mirror.

Preparation.

And go.

My heart went straight to my feet.

I was a dancer.

Copyright © 2010 by Cecil Castellucci

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920.
SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS
, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Castellucci, Cecil, 1969–

Rose sees red / Cecil Castellucci.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: In the 1980s, two teenage ballet dancers—one American, one Russian—spend an unforgettable night in New York City, forming a lasting friendship despite their cultural and political differences.

ISBN 978-0-545-06079-0 (hardcover)

[1. Ballet dancing—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Russians—New York (State)—New York—Fiction. 4. New York (N.Y.)—History—20th century—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.C26865Ro 2010

[Fic]—dc22

2009036850

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

e-ISBN 978-0-545-28320-5

Rose vines on cover © Natalia Kuzmina/iStockphoto
Skyline on cover © iStockphoto
Cover design by Becky Terhune and Elizabeth B. Parisi