Page 33 of The Virgin's Dance
Boh kissed him. “Then I’ll walk to you. Don’t interrupt your work.”
They said goodbye and she watched him walk away. He kept turning to smile at her.
“How very romantic,” came a droll voice from behind Boh.
Boh turned and gave Serena the finger.
“Keep your jealousy in check, bitch,” she muttered as she went inside the building. She sighed when she realized Serena was following her. “What do you want?”
“Oh, nothing, just on my way to grab my stuff from the changing room. And to tell you Kristof is out this afternoon, sick. Celine is taking the rehearsal.”
“See, you can give good news as well as bad.” Boh wondered why Serena was being so forthcoming. “What’s wrong with Kristof?”
“Where do you want me to start?”
Despite her dislike of Serena, Boh actually sniggered at that. She studied the redhead. “I thought you and he …”
“Oh, we are. Doesn’t mean I’m blind to his faults. I’d have to be dumb, and if I’m a lot of things, I’m not dumb.”
“No, you’re not,” Boh said and Serena looked surprised.
“Please tell me we’re not bonding, Dali.” But she had a smile on her face.
Boh snorted. “We’re not. But that doesn’t mean we can’ttryto get along. Showcase is coming up; we all need each other.”
Serena made a noncommittal sound. She grabbed her bag from the changing room as Boh began to change. “Later, Dali.”
“Later.”
Alone, Boh wondered at Serena. When she had first joined the company, three months after Boh, Serena had appeared to be shy and retiring. Her inner bitch hadn’t come out until she’d realized that Boh was on the fast track to principal; Boh had gotten the impression that Serena was used to getting everything she wanted, when she wanted, and to be fair to the other dancer, Serena was a talented dancer. More than talented, she was a natural, but something was missing. Warmth. Connection, both to her partner and her audience. It was the difference between soloist and principal.
Boh smiled at Celine as she entered the studio. “Good afternoon, Madam Peletier.”
Celine’s eyes softened. “Boh, ma chère, welcome. We’re just running throughLa Sylphide. Warm up and then we’ll go through the combinations.”
As always, as she began to dance, Boh lost herself in the movement, the technicality, and the beauty of the dance.La Sylphidewas one of her favorite ballets to dance and with Vlad, the ethereal Russian, as her partner, Boh soon found herself deeply into the character.
An hour later, however, a very pale, shaken Nelly Fine interrupted the lesson and asked Celine to go with her. Celine frowned. “We are in the middle of rehearsal, dear Nell.”
“I know, and I do apologize.” Boh saw the usually upbeat Nell was close to tears. “But this cannot wait. Please, Celine. Grace will be along in a few minutes to finish the class for you.”
Boh felt a growing dread in her chest. Celine nodded, and glanced at the class. “Forgive me, ladies and gentlemen.”
She left with Nell, and a moment later, Grace, her face tearstained and drawn, reappeared. She closed the door quietly behind her. “Hey, everyone, take a rest, will you?”
They all sat down on the floor, murmuring between themselves. Something was very wrong. Grace took a deep shaky breath in. “Friends … I’m very sorry to tell you that earlier this afternoon, just after lunch, our dear Madam Vasquez took a fall. No one saw the incident, but we’re assuming Eleonor became confused and found her way to the roof.”
Boh gasped, as did some of the others, knowing what was coming. Grace nodded, her eyes filled with tears. “Yes. We found her in the alleyway at the side of the building a little over fifteen minutes ago. There was no hope that she would survive the fall, and so we have lost ...”
Grace couldn’t carry on and Boh got up to hug her friend as she cried. Most of the others were in tears too. Boh saw Elliott, deathly pale, get shakily to his feet and stagger out of the room. Boh nodded at Jeremy to go find him and Jeremy, his expression shell-shocked, followed Elliott out.
It was hard to know what to do in this circumstance, Boh thought later as they all gathered in the common room. Shocked and subdued, every member of the company gathered with the exception of Nell and of course, Celine. Even when Oona had killed herself last year, Boh couldn’t remember such sorrow as this. Liz Secretariat came to find them, her elegant figure bowed by grief.
“Sweethearts, I don’t know what to say to you to make you feel better, because there is nothing to say,” she said. “Some of you younger ones, Lexie, Keith, you may not know what a legendary prima Eleonor Vasquez was, what a trailblazer.”
“We knew, Madam Secretariat,” Lexie said softly. “We knew.”
Liz squeezed Lexie’s hand fondly. “All we can do now is support Celine as best we can, and honor Eleonor’s legacy.”
