Prologue  

 

He sat down on the steps of his front porch a cigarette lit ion his hands. It had been exactly one month ago that he auditioned for The Pepe Bronce School of the Arts. He waited nervously for the mail man to come, his legs bouncing with nervousness as to whether he got in or not. He needed to escape from his current location. After his mother died he was forced to live with his father and it turned out his father was truly and asshole like his mother said. It had only been 3 years that he was living with his father and they guy didn’t even care about him, the plus side was that his father wasn’t the raging abusive type, his father was just the “I’m going to ignore and neglect you” type.  He sighed with relief when the mail man finally drove up to the house and handed him a stack of letters. 

“You look like you’ve been waiting all day for me Alex; it must be something very important” The mail man said

“Yes sir Mr.Cardenaz I’m waiting for a letter from PBSA the art school down in Miami” Alex said as he looked through the mail to find a rather thick package with his name on it and the School emblem on it.

                With eyes wide and in shock he tore open the top of the envelope to find the booklet of the school and a letter.

 Dear Mr. Mclean           

Congratulations! You have been accepted to The Pepe Bronce School of the Arts. You transcripts from you previous school has been forwarded to us and everything is in order for you to finish your dance education with us. We hope to see you at orientation on Friday June, 13th to meet your new class mates and teachers as well as the dance company which you are eligible to audition for once you take a semester at our school.  You may arrive anytime to get settled into your dorm and have a tour of the campus.  We will see you in action on June 16th.

Sincerely

 Pepe Bronce

Alex Jumped High in the air making Mr.Cardenaz jump slightly in fright at his sudden outburst.  Hugging Mr.Cardenaz Alex rushed inside tossing the rest of the mail for his father on the coffee table before packing quickly to take the only thing he could afford to get to Miami from West Palm Beach the train.  

Chapter 2 

                Vanessa and Nick where engaged in a very interesting conversation.  Alex was feeling very at home with the two new friends and he only hoped that meeting his roommate would be good.

“Ok, so you have to watch out for Vivian she is our co-ed ballet teacher and she is off her rocker” Vanessa said.

“Good thing I don’t have to worry about that” Nick said as he laughed.

“You guys are nuts well I have to get to my dorm room and finish unpacking my stuff, I still haven’t met my roommate yet” Alex said as he kissed Vanessa’s cheek and gave nick a high five.  “I’ll catch you guys later” Alex said as he put his tray away and walked towards the dorms.

Vanessa sighed as she looked at Nick “Come on Mr. Artist we have a meeting to get to” She said as she dragged Nick away from his unfinished dessert.

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Outside, Howie, Jackie, Anitha, John, Gloria, Christy, Brian, Kevin, Leighanne, and Kristin all waited for Vanessa and Nick to arrive. They all cheered as the Duo appeared and laughed when Nick carried Vanessa over his shoulder and jogged to the oak tree.  Greetings and hugs were exchanged between the group of friends before they sat down under the shade.

“Alrighty then let’s get down to it, as we all know this will be Kevin and Kristins last year at PBSA” Howie said as everyone awed but cheered for their friends graduation after the semester is over.  “So there will be a very well deserved Celebration party” Howie said as the group cheered even louder.

“On to new business, we need to know room assignments to figure out who’s with who this year” Vanessa said “Obviously I’m rooming with Jackie next door to Christy and Gloria, Who are Next door to Anisbell and Anitha , and now for the boys” Vanessa said as she looked  at Howie.

“Well, Nick and Brian are Rooming together like always, Kevin and John are Roommates and as for myself my roommate is some guy named Alex Mclean” Howie said

“Oh he’s cool nick and I met him in the cafeteria, he’s really shy we have to see how good he is at dancing, he transferred here from West Palm Beach” Vanessa said as she got the dreamy look in her eyes where she was nudged by Anitha who pointed to A boy Alex’s description walking around the pond.

“Would that be him?” Anitha said as she pointed to Alex who was leaning against the banister of the bridge.

“Yeah that’s him” Vanessa said and smiled.

“Alright you guys I say we let his dancing speak for itself before we invite him to our group, let him get a feel of PBSA before we bombard him”  Kevin said as he watched as the Campus began to fill with students settling in.

“Yeah besides Anisbell should be here soon” Anitha said as she pushed John away from her because he was playing with her pigtails.

“Oh, Girls we need to do something just us this weekend maybe see a movie or go shopping” Christy said as she leaned against the trunk of the tree.

“Ok so then us guys will do something too” Brian said in a fake Arnold Schwarzenegger voice making everyone laugh.

                Keeping up with their silliness Alex watched the group of friends and felt a bit at home with crazy people like him. He only hoped that they liked him enough to welcome him with open arms. He smiled when he saw Vanessa smile; he felt that her smile just made his heart jump. Shaking his head he knew it would be impossible they didn’t know each other and the last relationship he was in ended up with a bad heart ache and he didn’t want that for either of them.  Getting his thoughts back on track in planning his schedule he began walking back to his dorm and finish making his side of the room home.

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                 After the meeting Nick decided to walk around on his own to see if he would find the inspiration for his art. He sighed in frustration, before the New Year and semester had started his inspiration was anger that his family would leave him out of the vacation. He just didn’t care anymore about it and he wondered what would happen this semester as the classes would start up on the 16th he was still 3 weeks away from making sure he kept his reputation intact.

 

                Why was it so hard for him to find someone like everyone else, he could tell Vanessa really liked that Alex guy but then again, she was always nice. He knew Vanessa suffered with all the relationships going on around them hell Christy had a baseball player fiancé Geraldo who was in PBSA for acting and was in the community baseball team. Gloria had a firefighter boyfriend Albert who she met when there was an accidental fire in the freshman dorms.  Nick just knew that John would ask Anitha out any day or even by the end of the year if he had the guts. Then there was Anisbell, sweet nice and a great dancer, and she was beautiful. Who was he kidding she wouldn’t give him the time of day even if he asked.

                Taking a deep breath he decided to go back to his dorm to see if Brian unpacked his things.  Walking in to the room he noticed Brian put up the basketball hoop and smiled.

“You know I will so kick your but” Nick said as he grabbed the basketball from brains hand and dunked it.

“We’ll see about that” Brian said as they started to play a nice one on one game of basketball.

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Alex was finally settled in his bed when the room to the dorm was opened. He sat up to see that his roommate or at least the person he thinks is his roommate came in.

“Hi I’m Howie sorry I wasn’t here to greet you earlier but I was out with my girlfriend” he said as he put his hand out for Alex to shake.

“Nice to finally meet you I’m Alex and don’t worry I was out looking around the campus” He said and shook Howies hand.

“So how do you like it here so far?” Howie asked.

“It’s ok everyone is nice, and there’s two weeks till orientation so  I guess I have time to check out the dance floors and keep on rehearsing or just stay in shape” Alex said with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, but you know we could use another set of hands to help us with the dance studio if you’re interested” Howie said.

“Ok I guess I can think about it, I just feel like I’m invading” Alex said and chuckled.

“Nah! You’ll be fine once everyone gets to know you, Besides you’re a junior like the rest of us, except for Kevin and his Girlfriend Kristen, they graduate after this semester” Howie said as he sat on his bed and laid back.

                The two continued to talk and get to know each other in the comfort of their dorm room.

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                Inside her dorm room with Jackie, Vanessa had final finished putting all her clothes in an orderly fashion on her dresser.  She was excited about the new semester starting up and about teaching at the dance studio. The Studio was for girls and boys who were too young or who needed to sharpen their techniques to get into the arts school.  Taking a deep breath she lay back in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Her thoughts kept drifting to Alex and his smile. Shaking the thoughts out of her head she chuckled.

“Who am I kidding? He most definitely will go for someone who’s a way better dancer then I am” she said to herself.

                The day was over and a new day would soon begin hopefully with a lot more excitement then today.

Chapter 3
It was close to Dinner time and Vanessa sat in the Students lounge listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Snow (Hey Oh)”. With her Dance History book next to her and Her Dell XPS Laptop on her lap, she was taking down notes before the semester had even started. She made sure she would be able to read them as she typed up important people, dates and their significance in the dance world. Her glasses were almost falling off the bridge of her nose as she sighed and pushed them up continuing her studies. She took a minute to put the laptop down on the small lounge table and walk to the bar and order a coke to quench her thirst. She scowled looking at the empty lounge. Shaking her head she carefully made her way back to the couch where her things were and continued to ignore the nagging feeling of being with someone. She laughed to herself as she looked back through her years; she was always alone or just wanted to be the outsider. Looking to her nails as she typed, she made a mental note to fix the chipping black nail polish later.
Looking over all her notes she was surprised to see she had written up four pages worth of notes along with dates and outside source information. She looked up as the Music changed From the Chili Peppers to No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” and smiled to see Alex leaning against the juke box with Howie by his side as they watched her.
“I thought school didn’t start till…oh I don’t know…..three weeks from now?” Alex said as he gave her a sly smile.
“Yeah V! What’s this? I mean why didn’t you just hang out with Jackie?” Howie asked worried about his friend.
“Well, let’s see not only did I come to the lounge for good music so I could study since the library is boring I also came to just chill” She said not wanting to admit the fact that she was actually feeling lonely.
“Well do you mind if I join you?” Alex asked
Vanessa shook her head and patted the empty spot next to her as Alex walked up and sat down. She could smell his sweet cologne and tried not to melt like butter in front of him. She could feel her heart start to beat a little faster as they started to talk and get to know each other. Howard looked to Vanessa as if she was his sister and smiled when he could tell she liked Alex. Quietly Howie began to sneak off leaving the two to talk. He walked into the hallway of the girls’ dormitory and knocked on Vanessa and Jackie’s Door.
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John looked at the flyer in his hand, it read:

Attention Amateur Wrestlers
July 6, 2008 at the Graham Gym
Looking for wrestlers for a good show
Payment will be $100 per show if called back.
Please see Manager
Mr. Vince McMahon

John sighed as he walked towards the Graham Gym and knocked on the door. He could feel his palms get sweaty as he was lead to the office to meet Mr. McMahon. He watched as the wrestlers walked by him talking and cracking jokes, he only hoped he could fit in even if it was for a short time. John took of his hat and smoothed out his short military hair cut as he knocked on the office door.

“Come in” The voice said.

John opened the doo and walked in. As he closed the door behind him, His mind began to race with all kind of thoughts. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~Orientation~
It was finally here, Orientation day; the day where new students where finally settled in and we given a heads up on what to expect. It was the day that all returning students took as a day to look over scheduling and make sure they had everything once the classes would begin.

Vanessa sighed as she looked at her schedule,
“Damn it I have Vivian early morning. I hate having her early morning” she said as she placed her head on the table.
The girls all looked at their schedules and groaned they were all given the same fate. The evil Ballet Dictator Vivian Tobio would be their early morning torture. The boys laughed as they watched their dance majors groan at their bad luck. Then they looked at their own schedules and sighed.
“You guys are not going to believe this. We were given Micha for morning classes” Howie said referring to the all boy ballet class that was a part of the school curriculum.
Michael (Micha) Bravoski was the pas de deux teacher and the boy’s ballet teacher. Though the pas de deux classes where often split between Micha and Vivian the girls preferred Micha then Vivian.
“Try having Tobio for breakfast, I mean jeez, I would rather have Micha in the morning then dragon lady” Anitha said.
Alex walked out of the auditorium once orientation was over, His perspective of the school better then he imagined. He knew he was going to like it already. He felt that the staff was very knowledgeable of their craft and found the director to be tough but fair. He felt his stomach rumble as he walked with the crowd out of the auditorium. Looking around he walked to his dorm and into his room to find an envelope with his name on it. Opening it he realized it was his class schedule for the semester. He looked around the room and sighed, he hated being messy, nut sometimes life just got hectic. Before heading to the cafeteria Alex cleaned up his side of the room a bit and smiled at his work. With his stomach annoying him he finally closed the door to the dorm and headed to the cafeteria.
Walking into the cafeteria Alex drooled at the smell of rice, beans, mashed potatoes, chicken, spinach, and burgers. He was in Heaven as the aromas made him drool with hunger. He stood in line at the burger station and ordered a cheese burger with fries. He closed his eyes taking in the aroma of fresh food, he was glad to have been out of his father house, and able to eat a good diet of real food. Getting a bottle of water to drink he paid for his food and searched for a table, he jumped slightly when he heard his name being called by a group of people.
“Alex!” They said.
He smiled when he saw Vanessa and Howard waving at him followed by the rest of the group shuffling and making room for him. He walked to the table shyly and took the seat next to Vanessa.
“So, I just got out of orientation and I have to say this school is awesome!” He said and took a bite out of his burger.
“Yeah wait until classes start lol, oh man the dance department is fierce” Nick said as he ate his pasta.
“I see you got your schedule!” Vanessa said as she leaned over and looked at it.
“What’s his schedule like?” Kevin asked as he finished his rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes.
“I have the same schedule as Howie with one small difference, for one of my Humanities I’ll be taking an intro to social science class” He said.
“Oh cool I have that class” Vanessa said as she showed him her schedule.
“Cool I guess we can study for that class together” Alex said as he started to eat his food.
“We better get going this is our last free day before classes start tomorrow” Nick said.
“You guys go ahead we’ll catch up with you later” Vanessa said.
Alex looked at Vanessa and gave a soft inward smile. It felt nice to have a friend around. He never had any friends or girlfriends for that matter when he was living with his father. It was a good feeling having friends and someone to talk to. He only hoped that his mother would be proud of him for following his heart and dreams.

Chapter 4

First day of class
The loud siren of the radio alarm clock began to screech as the time read 5:30 am. The two inhabitants of the dorm room grumbled as they began to wake up. Vanessa pulled the covers off over her head and sighed. She slapped her hand against the alarm clock and rubbed her eyes. She looked over to see Jackie had already sat up and started to stretch out. It was the day many in the dance department (well mostly the girls) feared. It was the first day of ballet with Vivian “The Dragon Lady” Tobio. She wasn’t a bad teacher; in fact she did lecture and explain things very well. The only problem the girls and many of the boys had with her was that she insulted them during class which made them feel inferior. It was one of those things that when you feel inspired for class even if you know it’s with her she ruined with just one word.
Literally rolling out of bed Vanessa shifted the alarm to pick up radio stations as she and Jackie got ready. Jackie was lucky she was in the music program of the college. The assistant dean of the college was also the head of the music program and one of the teachers. He was nice and inspirational. Taking a deep breath Vanessa waited for Jackie to leave and use the girls dorm showers so that she could get dressed. Walking up to her side of the room with her computer desk she grabbed the ballet uniform she laid out the night before and began to get dressed. The thing about the dance program was that everyone had a uniform; the girls had to wear pick tights with convertible holes on the bottoms for point class and a halter top leotard with the schools logo on it. The boys had to wear black tights with a white tank top with the schools logo on them. Even though it was college the dean found that the Dance program being the schools most well known program needed to be uniformed for discipline and for pictures of the school. It wasn’t just the college kids that had to wear the uniform, the middle and highs school kids had to wear them too.
Once dressed, Vanessa began pulling her hair into a tight bun. She looked at her work in the mirror making sure that not one hair was out of place. The way Vanessa saw it was that the college students set the example for everyone else. You wanted to be the best you had to look and perform your best. It wasn’t long before she had on a white t-shirt with the collar and the sleeves cut off to show her leotard under, and her black sweat pants, her pink tights where rolled up to about just under her calf. Putting on her Ed Hardy black boots with red roses on them she grabbed her dance bag and was out the door just as Jackie was coming in to change. Adjusting her dance bag one more time she pulled out her iPod from the small pocket and put on her favorite playlist. Giving a small wave to Jackie she was out the door and walking down the hall and out of the dorm building.
There was a slight fog along the campus grass and side walk as she headed to the cafeteria for a light breakfast. It was always her priority to wake up earlier then the class started so she could digest the food she would eat. She walked by greeting the other students who were up and walking around. It was a good day and she knew that even though her first class would be with “The Dragon Lady” she wouldn’t let it bother her for the rest of the day. She continued along the path leading to the cafeteria all the while the iPod blasting “Quiet Little Voices” By We Were Promised Jetpacks. Once inside she made the line that had formed and grabbed everything she needed for her usual breakfast. She was about to walk to her usual morning table when she spotted Alex sitting by himself. Giving a smile she walked towards his table and placed the tray gently down. Once she did that she took off her head phones and turned her iPod off.

“Morning stranger” She said. “Do you mind if I sit?”
“No not at all, please join me” He said and took a bite of his toast.
“So I see I’m not the only early bird” she said as she poured her cereal in the small bowl and poured her chocolate milk over it.
“Yeah, I like the early start though it might not happen often” He said and smiled at her.
“All I can say is Dragon Lady will not ruin my day today” she said as she continued to eat her breakfast.
They sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company. It wasn’t until they were both finished with their breakfast that they resumed their conversation.

“I think I remember you from one of the auditions” Vanessa said softly.
“I think I could have done better” Alex said softly.
“I think you did great” Vanessa said softly. “You have something that not a lot of people had during the audition”
“Thanks” Alex said.
“I should get going I like to be inside the class room early to get a good spot at the bar” She said as she collected her things.
“Ok I’ll catch you later?” He asked.
“Yeah, you will definitely catch me later” She said as she put on her iPod earpieces and walked towards the cafeterias exit.
It wasn’t long before she reached the ballet class room and removed the top layers she had put on leaving her in her uniform. Taking her iPod she placed herself on the floor in front of where she would work on the bar and began to carefully stretch.
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Meanwhile, Alex headed in the direction of the boys class for the morning. He sighed when he found himself alone but he was glad he could find a good spot at the bar. Taking off just his jacket he turned on his iPod and warmed up by himself. It wasn’t for another 20 minutes that the rest of the boys began to show up for class. He pulled off his ear buds and turned off his iPod as John took the spot next to him.
“Hey man, you got here early?” John said to him.
“Yeah, I had first day jitters I guess” he said and shrugged.
“Don’t worry you’ll do fine” John said as he gave Alex a small pat on the back.
Just then their instructor Micha walked into the room and began the class. He started by going over the bar exercises and then moving on to the center. It came as a surprise to Alex when he was asked to demonstrate an exercise for Micha. It made Alex feel good that he was recognized for something. Once the center exercises were over they moved on to exercises that moved them across the floor. After class Alex felt great and gave John a high five and told him he would catch him later. Leaving the building he checked his schedule and noticed he had and English class next.
As he walked along the path away from the dance building he noticed a couple of girls staring at him. This was the first time he felt himself blush. During his high school years, the girls were intimidated to stay away from him from not only the head cheerleader but her boyfriend. It wasn’t long before one of them walked up to him and batted her eyelashes at him.
“Hi, my name is Camila. What’s your name?” she said as she began playing with her hair.
“I’m Alex, and sorry but I need to head to the English building it’s my next class on the schedule” He said as he ducked out away from her and made a bee line towards the English building.
Taking a deep breath he found Vanessa walking into the building. She looked tired and frustrated at the same time. He made a slight jog towards her and smiled.
“Hey stranger” he said.
“Hey, sorry I’m a bit frustrated after having dragon lady, she is not fun, and she made us do some across the floor exercises over until she felt satisfied. How was your first day with Micha?” she said and gave him a small smile
“Pretty good I was picked to demonstrate some of the exercises and I think I did a good job according to John” he said as he opened the door for Vanessa and walked in after her.
They continued talking when Vanessa realized she was in the wrong building.
“Crap I have Dance theory, I’ll catch you later” she said quickly and dashed out of the building and out of site.
Alex watched and chuckled to himself as he walked into his class room. He was starting to feel more at home now that he had friends.