Love You, Hate You Read online

  Dmitri rolled his eyes and whispered “Pam!” to Julian. He got in the van and they drove away, leaving Julian, Tristan, and Kageki to carry the costumes into the academy.

  The whole hall was filled with people waiting to get into the studio, which was full of precariously stacked tutus and large props. As Tristan and Julian walked by carrying a trunk, a peculiar man, who was measuring Taylor’s hips, called out to them. “Boys! Hurry back, I need you next. So nice to see you again, Tristan.”

  “Who was that?” Julian asked.

  “The costume guy.” Tristan was struggling as they manoeuvred the trunk down the stairs. “His name is Cromwell Gilly. He used to go to McKinley. He’s training to be a designer now, and he likes to practice sewing and stuff at the academy.” They heaved the trunk down onto the costume-room floor with relief. “Whew! Let’s leave the rest for Leon and Jonathon, okay?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Julian said, and they trudged up the stairs.

  Cromwell Gilly was even more eccentric close up. He was very small and had long, thin blond hair, and he was in constant motion. He wore extremely tight, black skinny pants, pointed leather shoes, a white poet’s shirt open to show a great deal of his chest, a belt with a huge silver buckle on it, three rings, and a leather and silver necklace. As he darted around measuring people, he’d tell them to put their arms up and down, then shout out their measurements to Michael’s mother, and generally promoting noise and confusion. The students were sprawled all over the hall, talking loudly to be heard over the commotion.

  “By the way, he likes to be called by his full name,” Tristan whispered to Julian.

  “He’s even more interesting with sound,” Julian whispered to Tristan as soon as they were close enough to hear him. They both sat down on the floor next to Alexandra, snickering.

  “Oh. My. God.” Cromwell Gilly said as he measured Aiko’s ankle.

  “What?” she asked, sounding worried.

  “Oh nothing, nothing,” he said, frowning. He called out the number to Michael’s mother, his eyebrows raised. She gave him a weird look, but wrote down the number.

  “What? What?” Aiko asked, starting to freak out.

  “Oh, nothing,” Michael’s mother said.

  “Done!” Cromwell Gilly sang out, smiling at Aiko. She walked off frowning, clenching and unclenching her hands. “Lexi, baby, how are you, love?” he asked Alexandra, gesturing her forward. Without letting her answer, he continued. “I can’t believe I was called in this late. What were they thinking?” Cromwell Gilly didn’t like the Demidovskis. Every year he would design new costumes for them, and every year they would nod politely and continue using the twenty- or thirty-year-old costumes instead. Any time something on the building was fixed, he took it as evidence that they had money they could give him to make the costumes but preferred to waste it on stupid things like fixing the roof.

  “Did you know that they got a new car?” he asked ALexandra in a stage whisper as he measured her hips. She shook her head. “Done!” he said, spinning her around by the shoulder and pushing her away.

  “Next!” Angela stepped forward, and Cromwell Gilly frowned. “What are you in?” he asked, scanning his list. “Oh, ‘Trepak,’” he answered himself in relief. “Thank god it’s not a tutu! Those ‘Trepak’ dresses are easy to let out.” Behind her Alexandra and Tristan giggled. Angela’s face turned completely red. Cromwell Gilly gestured her away, saying “We’ll just do you later, shall we? Next!” Delilah giggled as she stepped forward.

  “Del, darling, how are you! What are we going to do about your boobage m’dear?” he said, frowning as he measured them. Delilah blushed. “We’ll just take some of the material from the waist and add it to the chest, shall we?” She rolled her eyes and he called for the next dancer.

  Tristan shoved Julian forward. But, much to Julian’s relief, Cromwell Gilly didn’t have anything embarrassing to say about him, merely remarking that he had “a very nice body for dance, don’t you think, Tristan?”

  In the big room where the stacks of costumes were, the girls were rummaging through the tutus, each trying to find one in their size. Taylor was trying to do up Kaitlyn’s Clara costume, but it wasn’t working. Kaitlyn looked like she was about to cry, as Taylor gave up happily and said, loudly, “It’s just not going to do up, Kaitlyn. It’s all right, though. They always have to adjust the costumes for me, too, because I’m so small. Like, in width.”

  Keiko found a tutu that fit. But she scowled when she looked at the tag, and went off to find another one.

  “Are some of them taken already?” Julian asked Tristan.

  “No, it’s just that these tutus are so old, they kind of have history, you know? Everyone wants to get one that a good dancer, or one with a good body type used to wear, just to see if it fits. It’s kind of cool that they used to wear it. So you always look inside the costume to see who wore it before you.”

  “Yeah,” Kageki said enthusiastically. “I got to wear a costume that Mr. Yu wore once. It was so cool.…”

  “It fit you?” Julian asked.

  Tristan laughed. “No, duh! They took it up like 50 percent.”

  “But I still wore it,” Kageki said defensively.

  Suddenly, they heard Taylor say, “But I got it first!” She sounded close to tears.

  Jessica was trying to pry her tutu away from her, saying “I need to wear that one! I’m taller than you. Go find one that a shorter person wore.”

  Keiko came up to Taylor holding a tutu. “Taylor, try this one. It’s small, and Leonie wore it!”

  “Leonie Camden?” Taylor excitedly shoved the other tutu into Jessica’s arms. She tried it on and Keiko did her up.

  “It’ll need to be taken in,” Keiko said.

  “No, it’s fine,” Taylor said. She shot Jessica a worried glance to make sure she wasn’t trying to steal this tutu also. “This is so cool! Can you believe that Leonie did this dance once? I mean seriously,” she shook her head. “Thank you so much, Keiko!” She hugged her.

  “Can we go, yet, do you think?” Julian asked. He was getting bored and ripping apart tape that held the floor pieces together.

  “Yes,” Kageki said.

  “Don’t we have a speech thingy from the Demidovskis today?” Tristan asked, turning to Kageki.

  “No. The Demidovskis decided that they didn’t want to come today.”

  “Figures,” said Tristan. “Come on, let’s get out of here fast, before anyone decides they need us.” He ushered Kageki and Julian down the hall as fast as he could.

  “Where are you guys going?” Alexandra asked as Michael’s mother hooked her into a tutu.

  “Outta here, loser!” Tristan said, laughing.

  “Loser yourself!” Alexandra stuck out her tongue at him.

  As they got changed, Julian asked Tristan and Kageki if they wanted to hang out.

  “I want to,” Tristan said, “but I have so much physics homework and an in-class English essay tomorrow.”

  “Okay, I will,” Kageki said, shrugging.

  Julian felt a bit awkward as he and Kageki walked out together. They didn’t normally hang out without Tristan. “So, where do you want to go?”

  “I don’t really want to go anywhere, I’m too tired,” Kageki said. “Could we just go to your homestay? I love going to Mr. Yu’s. My homestay is so weird. My homestay mom gets really mad if people come over and I haven’t asked her like a week before.”

  “Sure,” Julian shrugged. “Come on, that’s our bus!” He broke into a run.

  As they walked up the street to Mr. Yu’s house, they talked about the weirdo on the bus who’d been giving out religious pamphlets and talking about Armageddon.

  “Guess what, Kageki. The world’s going to end tomorrow!” Kageki rolled his eyes. “What religion do you have mostly in Japan?”

  “Um … well, Buddhism and Christianity. But the Christians are more here, of course. So basically, in Japan, this is most common,” he shaped his hands i
nto the sign of prayer with his fingers out stretched, “and here is more this,” he made the sign of prayer with his fingers crossed over each other.

  “Cool,” Julian said, making both signs. “My mom’s Buddhist.”

  “Really?” Kageki sounded surprised. “How come you didn’t know that already then?”

  “I don’t live with her. With Satya.”

  “You call your mom by her name?” Kageki asked as he followed Julian into his room.

  “Yeah,” Julian shrugged. “It’s her name, right? She says she wants to be addressed as a person, not as a role.”

  “Okay…?”

  “Her full name is actually Satyagraha.” Julian flipped open his laptop and signed onto Facebook. “Look, here she is.”

  “Mmm … she’s kissing that woman!” Kageki said. “Does your mom … like girls?” He leaned forward to take a closer look at Satya’s profile picture.

  “Um, she likes both,” Julian explained awkwardly. “Look …” He searched for another picture. “This is her boyfriend Luigi. He’s awesome. I got a scholarship from the Demidovskis for tuition at the academy, but I still had to pay homestay fees, and he paid them.”

  “But … he’s not your father?”

  “No, he’s been with Satya for less than a year,” Julian said, switching pages. “This is my dad, Will … and my half-brother River, and his mom, my dad’s girlfriend, Daisy.”

  Kageki stared at the picture, puzzlement creasing his face.

  Julian flopped onto his bed after dinner and phoned Will.

  “Hey,” he said, trying to keep his voice down. The walls were so thin that everyone could hear him if he used his normal voice.

  “Hey, how are you? Daisy’s just out taking River to his soccer practice, but you can call later if you want to talk to him.”

  “No, I wanted to talk to you, Will. I need to know if you want to come to the performance or not.”

  “Well, Jules, I don’t really know. It depends on your grandparents … I’m not sure if they are going to buy us tickets.”

  “But they’re not coming, right?”

  “No. I’ll get Daisy to phone them tomorrow.”

  “They’re your parents, you should call them,” Julian pointed out. “Anyway, goodnight Will. Love you.”

  “Sure thing, buddy,” Will said. He hung up.

  Chapter Nine

  Kaitlyn Wardle

  Really happy to be having RAD class again tomorrow!!

  Kaitlyn tucked her essay into her bag, the mark facing in so no one could see it.

  “Bus pass?” the driver asked, stopping her. She blushed, got it out, and made her way to the back of the bus. No one else from the academy was on the bus. Weird, she thought. I didn’t think I was catching the later bus. Kaitlyn looked out the window and saw Michael and Chloe come flying down the street to the bus. The driver opened the doors again and waited for them.

  “Where’s everybody else?” Kaitlyn asked when they’d sat down next to her. “Are we catching a different bus?”

  “No, they all got a ride with Anna,” Chloe said as she unpacked her lunch.

  “Her mom picked her up from school today,” Michael elaborated. “I guess they just didn’t have enough seats for you. Yum, can I have one?” he asked Chloe as she got out her baby carrots. She held the bag out to him. “Aren’t you eating any lunch, Kaitlyn?”

  “I’m not hungry,” Kaitlyn said, turning and looking out the window.

  “Are you sure?” asked Chloe and held out her bag of carrots. “You can have some of these if you want.”

  “We’re just concerned about you,” Michael added.

  “I’m fine,” Kaitlyn answered sharply, sending them a look that was scary enough to shut them up. “We have RAD class today right?”

  “Yeah, we’ve got Mrs. Mallard,” Michael answered. “You’ve had her before, right?”

  “Yeah. She’s coached me on all of my exams. I think she’s going to put me through my Solo Seal this year. “

  “Wow, you’re doing that really young,” said Michael. “Even Leonie didn’t do it when she was that young.”

  “I know,” Kaitlyn said with a smug little giggle. She pulled out a Ziploc bag of trail mix.

  “Oh, so you are eating lunch,” Chloe said with an exaggerated tone of relief. Kaitlyn glared at her.

  Kaitlyn got off the bus and moved quickly toward the academy, putting enough distance between herself and Michael and Chloe that no one could accuse her of being with them.

  Everyone was sitting in the hallway eating and stretching. Tristan was munching on a sandwich, chewing exaggeratedly, facing one of the security cameras. “Look at me! I’m eating bread!” he told the camera, pointing at the sandwich in his hands and opening his mouth wide. “I think I might have a Coke next!” Alexandra, Delilah, Grace, and Jessica giggled at him. They kept their lunches out of sight of the security camera, though.

  “Where’s Angela?” Jessica asked.

  “I dunno,” Delilah said and shrugged.

  “Who cares?” Anna asked, laughing. “I wish she’d just go away and never come back!”

  “She looks like a horse, but ugly and fat!” Alexandra chimed in.

  “No, she looks more like a groundhog,” Grace said.

  “I think she’s half and half,” Tristan said, turning his attention away from the camera. “The size of a horse, and the brain and body type of a wart hog.”

  “Nice,” Anna said, laughing. Kaitlyn nervously walked past them, trying not to attract their attention. But she couldn’t escape Anna’s notice. “Oh, look who finally got here.”

  “Yep,” said Kaitlyn, giving her a sweet smile. She went to get changed, quickly, before they could say anything else.

  When she came upstairs again, everyone was still sitting in the same place. There was no free floor space, but there was a free chair so she took it. Keiko came upstairs just as Kaitlyn sat down. She rose out of her chair, hoping to go sit with Keiko, but she went to sit on the stairs with a bunch of the lower level students. Kaitlyn sat down again then immediately shot to her feet with a shriek. Delilah had slipped her pasta onto the seat, and Kaitlyn had sat right on it.

  “Why did you do that?” Everybody started to laugh as they got a good view of Kaitlyn’s sauce-covered butt.

  “Oh, my God, you like just ruined my lunch! Now what am I supposed to eat?” Delilah feigned outrage.

  “Yeah, you should totally buy her a new lunch,” Tristan piped up, trying not to snigger. “That was really mean of you to ruin her lunch.”

  Kaitlyn burst into tears and ran downstairs, and a fresh wave of smothered laughter followed her.

  “What’s her problem?” Alexandra said.

  “So sensitive,” Grace said, shaking her head sorrowfully.

  Fortunately Kaitlyn had an extra uniform bodysuit and tights in her locker She couldn’t stop crying as she changed into them. What right does Delilah have to make fun of me? She tried to calm down and stop the tears. Only the mental image of what her face must look like enabled her to stop bawling, and she slowly started to breathe normally. She felt her face to try and judge exactly how puffy it had gotten. Taking deep breaths, she gathered her courage to leave the bathroom stall and checked the crack between the door and the wall. Luckily no one was there. She went to the mirror and attempted to make her face look normal with liberal amounts of cold water and toilet paper. As soon as she felt she looked as good as she was going to be able to look, she forced herself to walk out.

  The RAD Advanced II class was the highest level offered as a group class, so it was always packed. Kaitlyn got upstairs just as everyone was filing into the studio. She didn’t feel up for the usual race and slide for a good spot at the barre, so she resigned herself to a spot at the back.

  “Oh, Kaitlyn!” trilled Mrs. Mallard as she turned and saw her. “It’s always such a pleasure to have you in class, my dear. Are you excited to learn the Solo Seal work?” She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. �
��I think you’ll really enjoy it. It’s quite different from the previous syllabus work, much more focused on musicality and performance. Of course, the technical work is quite challenging, but I’m quite confident that you will be more than capable in that area. I was discussing it with Mrs. Demidovski just the other day, and we both agreed that you were quite up to the challenge.”

  “Yes, I’m really excited,” Kaitlyn said, trying to sound enthusiastic while realizing that everyone else in the room was completely silent and focused on them.

  “You come right up to the front, dear,” Mrs. Mallard said, grabbing her by the arm and taking her to the centre barre. She had her stand her in front of Anna and Grace and across from Alexandra and Tristan. Kaitlyn gulped.

  “Now class, Kaitlyn’s already done this work and taken her exam. She’s done quite well, in fact.” She squeezed Kaitlyn’s arm fondly. “So, since the rest of you haven’t learned the Advanced II syllabus yet, I’ll have Kaitlyn demonstrate each exercise once, and then the rest of you will give it a go. Any questions? No? All right then, why don’t we begin. Pliés please, Kaitlyn dear.”

  The rest of the class watched with disgust as Kaitlyn performed the pliés. RAD required highly exaggerated artistry in the higher levels, but halfway through the exercise Kaitlyn turned her head to do a port de bras and caught a glimpse of the others’ expressions, which ranged from amusement to utter disgust (the last one belonging to Anna). She immediately blanked out her face, closed her mouth tightly, and managed to finish the exercise without making a choreographic mistake. As the last notes from the piano died away, Taylor held up her hand to stifle her laugh.

  “Well, that was just lovely, wasn’t it?” Mrs. Mallard demanded of the class. “Kaitlyn, that was technically gorgeous, and I loved your grasp of the artistry of the exercise in the beginning. But halfway through, you lost it a bit. I want you to work on keeping that emotional involvement all the way through. Don’t get too focused on the technical aspects of the exercise.” Kaitlyn nodded, keeping her eyes down.