Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You Read Online Free

taught us the combination of steps, we danced in small groups. When it was my turn to rest against the barre and watch, I surveyed the competition. There were several worthy contenders: Melissa, Ivy,Lourdes—a senior who, like Joey, planned to postpone college and go straight to a ballet company after graduation—and a couple of others who weren’t consistently excellent but could appeal to someone who hadn’t seen them dance day after day.
    Getting a lead part was definitely going to be tough.
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    After class I waited for Joey in front of the girl’s dressing room. As he approached, Devin trailed behind him. “Don’t think the gay guy always gets the girl,” he said. “In this ballet it’ll be different.”
    â€œI don’t always get the girl,” Joey said, putting his arm around me. “Just the one you want.”
    â€œShut up, you fa—,” Devin shouted, stopping himself as the band director walked by.
    Ever since freshman year, Devin had resented Joey and me—me, for not going out with him, and Joey, for being his biggest ballet competitor. He tried to use the gay thing against Joey, but it always backfired—no one listened to his stupid jokes.
    Joey laughed as Devin stormed off. “Let’s go find Paterson,” he said.
    Aside from the dance studio, the art room was my favorite place in the school. Artwork hung on every available wall space, and wherever you turned you could find something beautiful to stare at. Paterson was working on a sketch of Lourdes, who had modeled for the figure-drawing class. “I can’t get this ribbon right,” she muttered before she even knew we were there.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Joey said. “It’s great.”
    â€œNo, it’s not right,” Paterson said. She took the eraser and removed the whole pointe shoe. Lourdes sat with a stump at the end of her leg.
    I surveyed the other work surrounding Paterson’s easel. “Hey, where’s the picture of Joey?”
    â€œI’m saving that one,” Paterson said.
    â€œFor what?” Joey asked, affecting a scholarly inflection. “New York’s famed Metropolitan Museum of Art?”
    â€œI wish,” Paterson said. “I’m waiting till everything’s finished to turn in the whole portfolio.” She picked up her sketch pencil. “Can you guys occupy yourselves for a while before I drive us home…please?”
    Joey and I looked at each other. We were always waiting for Paterson to finish something, but it was better than taking the bus.
    â€œC’mon,” Joey said, “let’s go to the school store and check out the new guy.”
    â€œNot you too?” I said. “Melissa and Ivy are already in love. What did you hear?”
    â€œJust that his sexual persuasion wasn’t immediately identifiable.”
    â€œAnd you learned this how?” Paterson asked.
    Joey looked at the floor. “I admit it wasn’t a very good source…. It was Devin.”
    Paterson groaned. “Mr. Homophobe himself. I’d be a little skeptical of anything Devin had to say.”
    â€œDon’t you remember?” I said. “After I refused to go out with him, he tried to spread a rumor that I had implants.”
    â€œWell, if one of us doesn’t get a date soon,” Joey said, “there’ll be even more rumors.” He turned toward me. “Maybe you can go out with the new guy and get some fresh blood into this triumvirate.”
    â€œOkay, we’ll check him out,” I said. If there was someone at Farts worth dating, I definitely wanted to see it for myself. I turned to Paterson, who was trying to reconstruct Lourdes’s left foot. “Fifteen minutes, okay?”
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    Inside the school store, I didn’t see anyone who looked like the hot guy I’d been hearing about. I was surveying the lamb’s wool and various types of