“Colleen misses you, too, but duh, I’m sure you know that,” Juliet went on. “It’s awful about the ABT audition, right?”

“Wait, what—” My heart jolted. The ABT summer intensive audition. January eighteenth. Today. With everything else going on, I’d completely forgotten. How was that possible?

Had Colleen not done well? Was she not going to get in? Alongside my rapidly beating heart, a strange, hopeful feeling fluttered in my chest. “What happened?” I asked.

Juliet tilted her head at me, confused. “She… had that appendectomy a couple of weeks ago? So she couldn’t go to the Philly audition today?” I froze. I could tell she was surprised I didn’t know that my so-called best friend had had an organ removed from her body, but she masked it quickly. Ballet dancers are good at that. “She’s totally okay. It wasn’t ruptured, thank God, and she didn’t need open surgery, so no super-long recovery time. But she still had to miss it. She’s sending in a video, though, so it’s something.”

Okay. Colleen was okay. As I gulped down a few freezing breaths, my mind raced. Big schools like ABT held summer intensive auditions in cities all over the country. Philly was the closest city where Colleen could audition. Her parents had probably planned it well in advance, clearing their work schedules, arranging other transportation for her brothers. Trying to make it to another city’s auditions at this point was probably impossible. Videos were okay, but it was much better to be there in person. There was so much about a dancer that couldn’t be conveyed through a screen.

Still, Colleen’s chance wasn’t gone completely. Like mine was. She could still get in.

I realized I hadn’t said anything back to Juliet. “That’s terrible,” I choked out.

“Juliet, come on!” a girl called from down the hill, her strawberry-blond hair streaming out from underneath a cloche hat. She was probably one of the new girls who’d transferred to KDBS this year. Maybe Camden, the other Giselle, the other Jody. Juliet said goodbye, and I watched her glide off to meet the new girl, link arms with her, and walk away.

I didn’t know how long I stood there watching. What snapped me out of it was Jude, who put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey,” he said gently.