Pirouette Read Online Free PDF

way to the hospital. They were almost there when the car crashed, which is how I survived.”
    â€œHow we survived,” Hannah corrected.
    â€œMy father … our father … was driving. He was killed almost instantly, but they managed to get my mother to the hospital, and I was born by C-section just before she—”
    â€œ We were born by C-section,” Hannah interrupted.
    â€œYeah, I guess … before she died.”
    â€œI still don’t see how you know all this. The orphanage didn’t tell my parents anything. They said it was against the rules … ”
    â€œMy mum dragged it out of one of the nurses,” Simone explained. “That’s why I dance. She sent me to ballet lessons as a way of … honoring my mother’s memory, I suppose. And once she discovered I was good at it, she decided that I must have inherited my mother’s talent.”
    â€œWell, she was right about that. Where do you take classes?”
    â€œThe VSD,” said Simone.
    â€œThe VSD?” Hannah almost squealed with excitement. “The school that every dancer wants to go to?”
    â€œNot every dancer,” said Simone.
    â€œDon’t you like it there?”
    Simone shook her head. “I did at first. The thing is, I don’t really want to dance anymore. Not as a career. I hate performing. I hate the feeling that I’m being judged. And it’s just so tiring. Sometimes,” she confided, “I cry from exhaustion.”
    Hannah just stared at her, wondering how Simone could hate the very thing that she herself craved. She would have given anything to be one of the lucky dancers at the VSD. How wonderful to have the chance to train professionally! But how terrible to be pushed into it. She tried to imagine what it must be like, day after day, to be forced to do one strenuous class after another if it wasn’t really what you wanted to do.
    â€œThat must be awful,” she said.
    â€œYou have no idea.” Simone gave herself a little shake, then glanced at the small alarm clock by the bed. “I’ve got a jazz class now.”
    â€œAlready? Has it been an hour?”
    â€œYeah. Look, I’d better go.”
    â€œBut … you must be starving,” said Hannah. “You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?”
    â€œI’ll grab an apple from the Caff on my way to class. How about you? Are you hungry?”
    â€œNope,” said Hannah. “I ate on the plane.”
    Simone gazed at Hannah as though trying to memorize her features. “I still can’t believe you’re here and you’re my roommate. Why don’t you unpack while I’m gone?” She paused in the doorway. “I wish I didn’t have to leave now, but they do a roll call.”
    Hannah regarded her twin with sympathy. “You really don’t want to go?”
    Simone sighed, her face a mixture of exhaustion and sheer lack of enthusiasm. “I really don’t,” she said.
    â€œWell, you know, I haven’t registered yet … ” The twinkle in Hannah’s eye was unmistakable.
    â€œYou mean … ?”
    â€œYeah,” said Hannah. “I could go in your place.”
    â€œWould you?”
    â€œWhy not? I can’t wait to start dancing.” Hannah had already flung open her suitcase and was tossing her dancewear onto the bed. “Where’s the class?”
    â€œThe same studio I was in before.”
    Hannah pulled on jazz shorts and a matching top.
    â€œWait!” said Simone. “Won’t it look strange if I’ve changed my clothes?”
    Hannah shrugged. “Not necessarily. Lots of people change between classical and jazz. They’re such different styles.”
    â€œI guess … ”
    Hannah tied the laces on her jazz shoes. “How long is the class?”
    â€œAn hour and a half, but—”
    â€œSee you in an hour and a half, then.” And before Simone