Chapter 113

                                    

                                          
Just Like a Movie by Wallows
And now it's real, just like a movie, and now I see, you see right through me.



I'm stretching backstage for the annual Christmas Eve showcase, broadcasted live with an audience filled with celebrities and dancers. The school board only chose four of their most talented dancers each year to perform a solo and then a group number together. They almost never choose the same person twice, but this is my second year of being chosen so I guess I'm doing something right. It's me, a junior and two seniors, all of which I had never met before.
My solo this year is ballet, I know I wouldn't have even touched this kind of choreography last year because of how complex it is but over the past year I've got so much better and stronger.
I step onstage and wait for my music to start, remaining in character the whole time. 
The steps all feel like muscle memory at this point with how much I've practised. The burning stage lights don't even faze me as I dance every step as I know.
I half expect my dance teachers voices to start congratulating me like every other time I rehearse, instead the entire audience roars and screams for me. I snap out of my trance and finally take it all in, squealing with glee on the inside but remaining in character on the outside as I curtsey and walk off stage.
The four of us get ready for our group number. It's a chair-ography routine which I'm slightly more nervous for because I don't have much experience doing the whole 'sexy' thing. 
I'm wearing what is basically just a black set of underwear, fishnet tights and the highest heels I've ever worn. Accompanied by red lipstick and bouncy curls.
I drag my chair on stage like choreographed, all of us taking our places on our own chair and starting the dance. 
Immediately I can tell something is wrong. It takes me a moment to determine what but the second I realize, panic floods all my senses. Someone's touched my chair.
It's not necessarily an issue if someone's found it and sat on it or played around with it, the issue is that it's broken. One leg is slightly loose, I don't quite know how long it'll last but I've already started planning what I'll do if it breaks. Depending on how bad it is I'll hold it and do an aerial to get it off stage then improvise without a chair so it isn't a hazard for the other girls.
I find myself fearing my life as I step atop the chair which I can feel wobbling beneath me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
In time with everyone else I do the high kick, staying as strong as I can so the audience can't see how wobbly this chair is.
We all start the cartwheel move over the back of the chair, the second my feet leave the chair I know whats about to happen.
In just a split second the chair completely buckles and collapses beneath me. In slow motion I fall onto the ground, landing right on my back. 
Ringing. That's all I hear. The sound of silence is blaring loud. I feel numb. I can only see white. My chest rises and falls for that one moment. The numbness quickly fades and I feel like crying at the sharp pain in my back.
The ringing seises and all I can hear is the gasps and squeals of audience members. I roll onto my stomach with all my strength, looking to the audience, only to see all my teachers trying to signal the technicians to shut the curtains, turn the lights and music off and help me. I also notice a blond figure risen out his seat with fear, staring me down intensely.