Talia dragged herself to Friday’s rehearsal after enduring another round of insomnia. Other than the occasional yawn, which she cleverly disguised by stroking her upper lip, there was no indication to tip off the others.
Ruby and Scarlet were hard at work tightening their flamenco steps for another fiery TwInSanity routine. After a couple run-throughs, Talia said, “Even after all these years, the two of you are the best at these steps.” Something else that hadn’t changed: Scarlet turned a more vibrant shade than her sister at the generous compliment.
The rolling of wheels mid-afternoon punctured the joyous atmosphere. Talia’s face fell and the twins turned their attention to the front of the room. Arriving late as usual, Amber lugged an overflowing garment bag onto the stage. Rolling her eyes slightly, Talia strolled over. “You can have the rehearsal space in an hour. This stage is reserved for those with the courtesy to arrive on time.”
After a quick glance around the room, she flipped her hair and retorted, “I don’t see Emilia anywhere. Would she be given the same advice?”
She narrowed her eyes, poised to respond when the fast-paced clicking of ankle boots dissolved the awkward silence. “Hey Talia, I am so sorry. I was up late…”
“No excuses, Emilia.” Talia sighed, “Just be ready to go in 10 minutes, all right?” Amber shot her a smug grin. “We will discuss this later.” Amber groaned as she wheeled her luggage to the dressing room.
Emilia appeared before Talia on stage, three occupied hangers draped over her shoulder. “What was that about? It wasn’t about me, was it?”
“No. Amber was late again, so I had to remind her of the price that comes with that.”
“So why aren’t you giving me the same cold shoulder?” The twins shared a knowing glance with one another and couldn’t help but nod. Since she joined the troupe, Emilia always received preferential treatment from Talia. Even with their squabbles, Ruby knew Amber made a good point.
Surprising no one, Talia downplayed the oversight. “This is your first time so I will let it slide this once. What do you have there?” She circled Emilia for a better look. She counted three cheerleader uniforms, white with red trim.
“I’ve been working on an idea for a new routine with Ruby and Scarlet. I wanted to show you and get your opinion.”
She stroked her lip to hide another yawn. “All right. Be changed and at center stage when you’re ready to begin.” With that, she left the stage and took her position in the middle of the floor.
The sisters joined Emilia for a proper look at the outfits she picked out. “We’re finally doing this? I can’t wait.” Scarlet’s voice almost squeaked with excitement. “Our little sis is growing up so fast.”
“Stop it, you’re making me blush. Come on, let’s go.”
Donning her black leather rhinestone corset, matching knee-high boots, fishnet gloves and tights, Amber came out as the three girls rushed in. They were too caught up in their excitement to even manage saying hi. She shrugged against the nearby wall, narrowly avoiding them.
“Where’s the fire?” She grumbled on her way back to Talia.
“Emilia wants to propose her first routine to me. The other two appear to know exactly what is happening.” Talia spared a moment to size Amber up, seeing the gloves extending past her wrists properly for the first time. The past week had been a blur and she couldn’t shake a nagging feeling there were more things that had escaped her attention.
“I know what you’re going to say, but can I at least stay and watch?”
Her tone was even, though somewhat distracted as her attention remained on the vacant stage. “You may but leave the verdict to me.”
“Please,” she flipped her hair, “we both know you’ll say yes. Emilia’s been here for over a year, but she’s still your precious little protégé.”
“Enough, Amber.” She held out her palm to silence her and took a peek stage right. Alejandro was already preparing the stereo system so the music was ready to go when they were. “She really thought this out,” she said aloud to no one in particular. Alejandro glanced over briefly before resuming his work. Talia remained in the middle of the dance floor while Amber secluded herself to the back of the room near the main entrance.
The curtain rose as the music picked up. Talia recognized it as a song Emilia frequently performed at karaoke. All three girls had their backs turned, swinging their hips to the right on the beat. Emilia’s hair was tied back in a ponytail, hitched just short of the top of her head. One by one, each of them spun around to face the dance floor as each line of the opening verse unfolded. With each step forward, they crossed their arms over their bodies. Their hips shook side to side in time with the lyrics. Their objective: attacking a selfish ex-boyfriend and summarizing the regret of accepting his advances.
Throughout the routine, Emilia lip-synched and flashed a smile. On ground level, Talia pursed her lips. From the back of the room, Amber tapped her foot to the music and swayed her head to the catchy beat. Emilia’s excitement radiated so strongly and she longed to work with her more than ever. She was so caught up she hadn’t noticed Vanessa enter the door next to her. She took quick inventory of the room and nodded with approval.
Maintaining a neutral expression, Talia came onto the stage to meet Emilia afterwards. “So, what did you think? Did you like it?” She asked, shuddering with anticipation. Her smile shrunk when she saw Talia’s arms cross; they’d never crossed in her direction before.
“Can I be honest, Emilia?”
“Yeah, of course.” Her eager posture went lax. One of the twins gulped, but she didn’t turn around to find out which one it was.
“I’m sorry, but this isn’t mature enough for our audience. Not yet. It will need a lot of work.”
Amber hissed under her breath, “She can’t be serious…” Her hands balled into fists. Vanessa hastily brought an arm across her front. Without meeting her eye, she whispered, “Let me handle this.”
“Right... it is still a work in progress.” Emilia dropped her gaze. “I guess I’ll go change out of this and into the dress for the first act.” Not sparing her mentor another glance, she ran into the bathroom, taking the air in the room with her. The twins remained rooted in place, too stunned for words.
“She was just having a little fun, Talia. Don’t you think that was a little harsh?” Dressed almost identically to Amber, Vanessa wasted no time crossing the room from the main entrance.
“She wanted my opinion and I gave it to her. I control the shows we perform and that wasn’t at our level. Like those uniforms. It was immature like high school.” Quickly checking to make sure Emilia wasn’t coming back any time soon, she modified her stance. “And I only want music from strong female artists to support us on stage. This singer always writes about boyfriends and heartbreak. That idiocy has no place here.”
Vanessa’s face hardened. “Well, so much for being honest with her. You want her to remain innocent in all this, but portraying that attitude onstage isn’t up to your standards? How is that fair?”
Despite the slight discoloration marking her cheeks, Talia dug in her heels. “The choreography alone wasn’t strong enough. Emilia is capable of so much better. Her audition was proof enough of that.”
“Then work with her on it! She worked really hard on this. The twins clearly did as well.” Scarlet nodded, her head bowed. Ruby traced her arm to offer reassurance.
She let out an agonized sigh, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. “Maybe if I didn’t have everything going on with Juan Paulo…” Her train of thought was broken by the vibration of her cell phone. It grew louder as did a set of footsteps.
“Talia! One of your clients is calling for you! It’s the third time since rehearsal started.” The main rule of rehearsal was to leave cell phones at the bar and only answer if they related to business or emergencies. Alejandro held it up so she could see the number. She immediately recognized it. Her face paled, but inside, her heart and groin pulsed with adrenaline. “Give me a minute. I’ll be back.” She rushed into the bathroom with it and slammed the door behind her.
“What did you think, Amber? I only caught the final seconds.” Vanessa asked as she came over to join her.
She grinded her teeth. “To a point, I agree with her, but she didn’t have to talk down to Emilia the way she did.”
“Yeah, she was unusually condescending to her.” Noticing the longing in her eyes, another idea formulated in Vanessa’s head. “What would you have said if you were in her place?”
“Does it matter?” She sighed, “At this rate, that isn’t any closer to happening.”
She inhaled to calm her nerves. Dealing with one attitude was already trying enough for one day. “Fine, hypothetically, then?”
“For starters, she shouldn’t smile so much. This is a revenge song, after all. Of course, Talia hasn’t given her room to grow as a performer, so she probably doesn’t know any better.” She sighed heavily as she retrieved her baggage from the dressing room.
“Where are you going?"
“I’m going home. There’s no way I’ll have time to rehearse at this rate.”
Vanessa cocked an eyebrow. “I hate to repeat the obvious, but you would have if you showed up on time.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Fuming, Amber hauled her garment bag the same path it traveled a mere 10 minutes earlier.
“Is it me or is her attitude getting worse?” Ruby asked matter-of-factly.
“We’d been hanging out so much lately our periods synchronized. I had an emergency, so I let Talia know I was going to be late. Maybe if Amber afforded her the same courtesy, she wouldn’t be so annoyed with her tardiness all the time.”
Emilia emerged from the bathroom. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, leaving no smudges.
“Hey Emilia, are you ok?” Scarlet patted her shoulder before wrapping her arm around her.
“Talia said before taking up the bathroom that we’d have a conversation about it later. She apologized, but she seemed really distracted by that phone call.”
“Did you catch his name?” Vanessa crinkled her eyebrows.
“Rodrigo, I think.”
The three veteran sirens shared a look of dread, but Scarlet thought quickly to change the subject. “Before she left, Amber said you shouldn’t smile so much for that routine. It doesn’t really work for the subject of the song.”
After thinking for a moment, Emilia’s jaw dropped. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Did she say anything else?”
Vanessa answered, “Just about wanting to work with you, but maybe never getting that chance.”
“Do you think Talia would mind if I asked her if I could… I feel like I need to get an outsider’s perspective on this.”
“She’s got a point,” Ruby shrugged, “we worked with you on this, so we aren’t completely unbiased.”
“But you’d have to catch Talia in a really good mood before you ask,” Vanessa added. “That’s why Amber left because she clearly wasn’t getting anywhere with her. Especially this close to show time.”
“Good evening, ladies.” Juan Paulo greeted the women as he dashed onto the stage with Javier in tow. Scarlet immediately flushed but slipped into a lip-lock with him as if taking her next breath.
“Good for them.” Emilia smiled. “I wish you and Talia could be like that.”
Juan Paulo shrugged. Although maintaining his flawless smile, his frustration was palpable. “That makes two of us.”
***
Music: "I Knew You were Trouble" by Taylor Swift
...for some weird reason, I thought the cheerleaders from "Glee" did a performance in the music room to this song. I don't know if they did any of her songs on the show and I stuck with the whole series.
But that's sort of vibe I was getting when this scene came together in my head.
But that's sort of vibe I was getting when this scene came together in my head.
Talia's comments were a common criticism of her earlier in her career and still follows her to this day, unfortunately. Her opinion is the complete opposite of mine.
As much as I love Taylor's music, though, none of it really fit the story or I probably would have used more of her songs.
As much as I love Taylor's music, though, none of it really fit the story or I probably would have used more of her songs.
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