Kat: Breaking Pointe Read Online Free PDF Page A

doesn’t seem to be in any hurry.
    Ethan walks past with a takeaway coffee. ‘Wasn’t your excuse for monopolising the shower that you had to be at school on time?’ he hassles.
    â€˜And I’m going this second.’ I jump up, grab my bag. Ethan disappears inside. Ben chews dolefully on his hoodie string.
    â€˜Signing out for another day of bum numbing in the classroom.’
    Ben catches my eye and suddenly his face comes alive with mischief. Uh-oh.
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    â€˜If I’m going to wag,’ I tell him finally, after endless pestering (he’s cute as a puppy, and puppies don’t stop pestering until you kick them, or play with them), ‘I’ll need a costume change.’ I gesture at my school uniform.
    â€˜Go for it,’ Ben says, watching eagerly.
    â€˜I don’t have anything else to wear. I don’t carry extra clothes like you balletbots.’
    He throws his bag to me. ‘Knock yourself out.’
    I find some convenient bushes to duck behind.
    â€˜I vote we go to the Aquarium,’ he calls to me. ‘Annoy the sharks.’
    I throw out my school shirt. ‘How exactly do you annoy a shark?’
    â€˜Tell them they’re not as pretty as dolphins?’
    I step out, wearing an outfit cobbled together out of his ballet gear – an oversized tee, tights.
    He looks me up and down. ‘I love you as me.’
    I grab my clothes and stuff them in my schoolbag. Ben finds a card that has fluttered to the ground.
    â€˜Who’s Anne Black?’ he asks.
    So maybe I didn’t throw the card away. Maybe I transferred it from one outfit to another. Maybe I’ve been carrying it around with me for days, trying to decide if I want to call her.
    â€˜Some dodgy agent I met at Showcase. She wanted to meet with me.’
    â€˜But that’s awesome! You should ring her.’
    â€˜I bet she gives her card to every blonde who can do a time-step.’ I go to grab it but he holds it out of reach, reminding me what a shorty I am. I jump ineffectually a few times.
    â€˜Well, cupcake,’ Ben tells me. ‘It’s the agent or the sharks. Your pick.’
    I look at him, thinking about it.
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    The agency is a lot more swish than I expected.
    â€˜See?’ Ben says. ‘Not at all dodgy.’ His eyes follow a tall, gorgeous model type walk across the foyer. I so don’t belong here.
    I notice Anne Black walk into the reception area. I don’t expect her to remember me, but straight away she says, ‘Katrina?’
    I forget to speak. The sharks would have been less intimidating. But Ben isn’t intimidated by anything. ‘Ben Tickle,’ he says, thrusting out his hand. ‘Her manager.’
    â€˜My friend,’ I say. ‘Who needs managing.’
    Anne smiles. I see Ben’s charm works on young and old. ‘Mr Tickle, your client and I need to talk.’
    She ushers me through to her office.
    â€˜You’ve got five seconds,’ she says to me.
    â€˜What? Oh. Well I … it’s Katrina but everyone calls me Kat … and I just thought. My friend Ben out there thought …’
    Anne does the sound of a buzzer. I stop, startled. Anne laughs.
    â€˜That’s how much time the casting directors will give you. You have to know who you are.’
    In five seconds? When I haven’t worked it out in sixteen years?
    â€˜You’re your own business now. You’re Katrina Karamakov.’
    â€˜I am?’
    â€˜But you need to want this. Because when I believe in the artist more than they believe in themselves, that hurts, Katrina.’ The phone rings and she answers it, but while she talks she scribbles something on a piece of paper. I blink at it, confused. She covers the mouthpiece. ‘Audition. This afternoon. It could be the start of a special and lucrative bond between us, Kat.’

CHAPTER 8
    â€˜Can we go now? Because that’s unsettling.’
    I point to the