Broadway Baby Read Online Free PDF Page A

I walked into the room for my turn, I covered the beating of my heart with a big smile.
    â€˜Hello again,’ said the director. ‘Welcome. Ellie, isn’t it?’
    â€˜Yes, it is,’ I said, imagining Cadence. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
    Billie and Periwinkle were seated on one side of the director, while the musical director,Stella, and someone else I didn’t know, were on his other. They all stared at me, pinning me like a bug in the too-bright room. I focused on Billie and her encouraging smile. I knew she wanted me to do well and it gave me confidence.
    â€˜We were very impressed with your dancing yesterday,’ said the director.
    â€˜Thank you,’ I said. ‘I love dancing. It’s my favourite thing in the world.’
    â€˜Lovely.’ The director joined his hands together. ‘Let’s have a listen to your singing then, shall we? What will you be performing for us today?’
    â€˜â€œThe Perfect Nanny,”’ I pronounced clearly, and went over and gave my sheet music to the old man at the piano. He gave me a friendly nod that also made my heart settle a bit.
    â€˜Well,’ said the director, ‘show us your stuff.’
    Oh, I’ll show you .
    And I opened my mouth and began to sing.

    â€˜So,’ I whispered to Riley, as I arched over my crossed knees, ‘I started off on the wrong note, and then I forgot one of the words so my timing was off. It was pretty awful, but I quickly recovered and absolutely belted out the rest. I even reached the high note I’ve been having trouble with.’
    â€˜Yay, Ellie!’ said Paige on my other side, as we switched to our backs and prepared to do leg kicks. ‘I bet you impressed the director!’
    I tucked my left foot up so the sole was on the floor and began to kick up and down with my right.
    â€˜Point, flex, lower down,’ Miss Caroline called out from the front of the class.
    â€˜Well, they didn’t boo me out of the room,’ I said, ‘so I guess that’s a good start. Also, Billie gave me a sneaky high five as I left.That’s gotta mean she was happy with me, right?’
    â€˜What?’ hissed Ashley, on the other side of Riley. ‘What did you say? That Billie got eaten alive ?’
    Riley snorted down her laughter. ‘Get your ears cleaned out, Ash,’ she said, affectionately.
    â€˜But I’m all the way over here!’ Ashley whispered. ‘I need a telephone just to speak to you.’
    â€˜Can you be quiet!’ Jasmine hissed, turning around to glare at us. ‘Some of us are trying to stretch.’ She rolled her eyes at Tove.
    â€˜Oh, don’t worry, Jasmine,’ said Ashley. ‘It doesn’t matter how hard you stretch your face, it won’t improve.’
    â€˜Sorry, I left my laughter at home,’ Jasmine threw over her shoulder.
    â€˜Shhhh,’ said Riley. ‘Will you keep it down? I’m trying to stretch.’
    â€˜Everyone, hush!’ Miss Caroline called. ‘I can hear whispering back there. Any more and I’ll make you do a double set of ab work.’
    â€˜Good,’ joked Ashley. ‘I ate too much Chinese last night.’
    â€˜Oh, food,’ I sighed, kicking a leg over my head. ‘I could really go some jelly snakes right about now.’
    â€˜I have a fresh packet in my bag,’ Paige whispered. ‘I got the sour ones. You know, with the strawberry flavour.’
    â€˜If I wanted sour snakes, I could just wipe them on Jasmine’s face,’ I said.
    â€˜Ellie!’ scolded Paige, who doesn’t like being nasty to anyone.
    â€˜It’s not mean if it’s the truth,’ I whispered back.
    I stopped talking then, because we had to do crunches and ab exercises. A lot of people don’t understand why we spend so muchtime on them in class, but when it comes to dancing you have to use your whole body. So the stronger and more stable your