Free Stolen Luck by Megan Atwood

Chapter 1
    â€œNo, Kayley! Your turnout is simply poor! You’re being lazy—I know you can do a proper turnout! And lift your leg in the arabesque. It droops every time!”
    Madame Puant slammed the butt of her cane on the floor and glared at Kayley. Then Madame waved her hand impatiently at Patrick, the pianist, until he stopped playing. Except for the sound of heavy breathing in the room, no one made a peep.
    Kayley could feel her face growing hot. Hotter, anyway. She and the others were already an hour and a half into the class, and Kayley was tired. And maybe she had been drooping a little—but she didn’t think it was fair that Madame called her lazy.
    She grumbled under her breath, “Lazy, my butt,” then took a peek at her friends. Ophelia looked irritated, like always, probably because she had had to stop dancing. Sophie and Emma were exchanging looks because they couldn’t do anything without each another, even have a thought. Madeleine stared at Kayley with sympathy.
    Madame said, “What was that, Kayley?”
    She replied sweetly, “Sorry, Madame.”
    Madame harrumphed. “You’ve been sorry all class. That’s the second time I’ve had to interrupt everything for you. Take a break and gain your breath and we’ll work on the stepsisters. Sophie, Emma.”
    Madame nodded to Patrick, who played a hint of what the orchestra would sound like when the class actually put on the show.
    Kayley walked to the side of the room, avoiding the gazes of her classmates. She slumped down next to her bag and threw her legs in a wide split, pretending to stretch down to the floor so she wouldn’t have to look at anyone. Her legs were sore. Maybe over fall break she should have practiced more often.
    Coming back to the school after seeing her family in Connecticut had been more than a little hard. As the youngest sibling out of five, Kayley loved being home with her big family. All four of her brothers were superstars in some way, of course. Her oldest brother was literally a brain surgeon in Boston. The next oldest one was a lawyer in New York, and the next one was a professional tennis player. The brother closest to her, still in college, was planning to be a psychologist and a psychiatrist. He would, too, because he was by far the smartest person in her already smart family.
    And then there was Kayley.
    Kayley loved to dance. She really did. It was just that everyone expected so much of her all the time. Even over fall break, in the middle of a laughing episode at dinner, Kayley’s dad pounced.
    â€œSo, are you up for any leads this year, Kay?”
    She hated it when he called her Kay.
    â€œDaaaad. I told you, I got fairy godmother in Cinderella .” She took a big bite of her mom’s lasagna and added, “It’s a solo part. Everyone loves that part.”
    Her dad frowned at her. “But no leads. Maybe you should practice more. We could set you up—”
    She shook her head impatiently. “I want to have an actual break during my break!”
    Kayley could feel the disappointment wafting off of him.
    â€œOK, honey,” he winked. “Anyway, we can’t wait to see you dance whatever part you dance.” And then he ignored her once again and started talking to Brian, her oldest brother, about his possible upcoming job as chief of neurosurgery. The pride in his face could’ve made anyone teary.
    Kayley stared down at her lasagna and put her fork down. Suddenly, she wasn’t hungry.
    And now, a week later, Kayley couldn’t seem to even dance the fairy godmother role, let alone a lead part.
    She leaned down and touched her forehead to the ground, feeling the pounding of pointe shoes as Emma and Sophie danced. She could feel it when Ophelia jumped in. People always thought ballet dancers were delicate, but if they could hear the floor when the dancers jumped …
    She felt someone sit down beside her but refused