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    When it’s time for me to go on stage, Ethan comes up behind me. He didn’t leave, even when he thought I’d given up on our solo. ‘I was banking on the socks that you’d change your mind,’ he says.
    The judges announce the commencement of girls solos. I’m on first, but there’s one thing I need to know.
    â€˜I have a question, dancer to choreographer,’ I say.
    â€˜Go for it.’
    I lean up and kiss him. His lips, surprised for a second, respond. Definite chemistry … or maybe performance nerves.
    â€˜I’ve been wondering if it was a strictly professional relationship between us,’ I say as the judges call my name out, announcing I’m performing an original piece by Ethan Karamakov.
    â€˜Did that clear it up?’ he asks.
    â€˜Totally professional,’ I smile, go out on stage and dance better than I ever have.

CHAPTER 8
    Is there something about the way I kiss? First there was Sammy. We kissed, we started dating and then he suddenly decides he’s gay and then he isn’t. Next Ethan, we work together, become close, kiss and then, bang! He’s told he has to leave the Company and starts looking overseas for work. He contacts Impresión, a dance company in Barcelona.
    I had better get used to rehearsing on my own again. I got through to the Nationals in the Prix de Fonteyn, so I don’t have a moment to lose because the competition is only going to get tougher. Tara’s out, expelled from the Academy for seeing an outside doctor, but Grace is still here. Dear, sweet, ‘I don’t care about ballet’ topped the regionals, Grace. If I’m going to beat her, I need to work harder than ever. I slip quietly into the rehearsal studio and go throughmy steps. This is how it’s going to be. How it always used to be. Me, the mirror and no one else. I focus on my steps, calculating how to push more emotion into the piece. I need to be more than technically perfect to beat Grace. When I finish, I realise Ethan’s standing there watching.
    â€˜You don’t have to prove you can resist me.’
    â€˜I’ve been busy, workshopping contemporary solos. Now that you’re not going to be around to choreograph for the Nationals.’
    â€˜Are you saying you’re going to miss me, Abigail?’
    There’s no way I’m giving him the satisfaction. ‘No,’ I say, but he smiles like he knows it’s not true.
    I could do with Kat interrupting us now, but the one time I need her crashing my rehearsal, she’s nowhere. Typical. She is even meant to be at the Academy now. She’s my new roommate too, but sharing a room doesn’t mean we share much else – especially not a commitment to practising.
    Ethan’s ambitions in Barcelona don’t go far. Within a week he hears Impresión is not that impressed. They’ve told him to ‘drop in for coffee’ next time he’s around. Like his bus swings through Barcelona on the way to Bondi. He’s decided to stay in Sydney. It does mean having him around to rehearse me, but I can’t help feeling disappointed. None of us wouldbe here if we’d given up when someone brushed us off. Even Kat had what it took to force her way back into the Academy.
    I never had Ethan down as settling for second best, but that’s exactly what he’s doing. Worse. He wants to drag me down his second best career path – musical theatre. Fringe musical theatre. He’s decided to audition as a choreographer for some small time theatre company and I have to be there to show off his work.
    â€˜You dragged me out of dance history for this?’ I ask as we walk through into the theatre of the non-gifted amateurs. ‘I’m allergic to musicals.’
    I’m about to leave when Ethan applies the guilt. ‘After all the work I did on your Prix solo?’
    We meet Finn, the musical’s director. Obviously not