Free Olivia's First Term by Lyn Gardner

taken Olivia up to a small rehearsal room right at the top of the school. She was trying to help Olivia do a grand plié.
    â€œThat’s much better, you’ve almost got it right,” said Abbie encouragingly, although in truth what Olivia was doing was a very long way from right. It was, thought Abbie patiently, a bit like trying to teach a newborn foal to dance. Olivia had the best sense of balance that Abbie had ever encountered – she could tumble, do cartwheels and back flips like a professional acrobat – but she seemed incapable of grasping the technique of any dance form, whether it was ballet, tap or contemporary. She was all gangly arms and legs. Privately Abbie suspected it wasn’t that Olivia couldn’t dance but that she wouldn’t dance; unlike her little sister, she just didn’t want to. But Miss Swan had asked her to try and help Olivia, and Abbie was going to do her best. Besides, she liked the younger girl with her dark soulful eyes and serious face, and although Olivia never complained, Abbie knew that she wasn’t happy.
    The last three weeks had been the worst of Olivia’s life. Eel had taken to the Swan like a cygnet to water. She was in seventh heaven. She loved the routine, the morning academic lessons followed by long afternoons of dancing, singing and acting, rushing between classes and discovering the amazing things that her body could do. Once upon a time, all her teachers had despaired of her, but now she was considered a star in the making and encouraged to take as many dance classes as possible. Whereas Olivia, who had always been such a rising star in the circus, was just a nobody.
    Sometimes Eel’s enthusiasm for the Swan made Olivia feel furious. Only yesterday evening Olivia had become so infuriated by Eel watching herself perform for hours in front of the mirror in their shared bedroom that she had called Eel a “stage-school brat”.
    â€œNo, I’m not,” said Eel reasonably. “I just want to be very good at dancing, and you can’t get good at anything unless you practise for hours and hours. Gran says it doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you don’t put in the work you’ll never be really brilliant. And I want to be the bestest dancer in the Swan, in the country and in the entire universe.”
    â€œOh,” said Olivia nastily, “so little Miss Twinkletoes wants to shine, does she? Just like Katie Wilkes-Cox.”
    Eel had looked hurt and replied, “I’m just getting the chance to do something I really like, and do it well. You should be pleased for me, but you’re being really horrid, Olivia, and behaving like a boar with a sore head.”
    â€œBear,” snapped Olivia. Eel had stomped away.
    Olivia knew she was behaving badly, but she couldn’t stop herself being sulky and sullen. Every day was a trial. Because of their complete lack of experience, both Olivia and Eel had been put in the dance classes with the youngest children who had only just joined the school in Year Three. It was all right for Eel, who showed every sign that she would soon surpass them.Her obvious talent and sunny nature had already made Eel popular with the other children, and she’d quickly made friends. But Olivia, who was tall for her age, continued to feel like a clumsy giant among all the smaller children, and was acutely aware of Katie Wilkes-Cox and the little gang around her. Whenever Katie passed her in the corridor, she would come as close as she could and whisper, “Baby ballet,” and then fall about laughing as if she had said something supremely witty.
    â€œOlivia, I’ve got to go. Miss Swan promised to run through my song with me,” said Abbie, who was through to the final round of auditions to play Liesl in a new West End production of The Sound of Music. She glanced at her watch. “There’s ten minutes before the bell for afternoon lessons; why don’t