Free Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) by Kathy Petrakis

patted his stomach. “It’s nice to do something different, too.”
    “I guess I’ll have to go to the home games now, just in case.”
    “Are you going to put on a little skirt and cheer for me?”
    “Don’t push it!”
    They were almost at school by now and with the cloud of Letitia gone, Elena felt light and happy. That quickly dissipated as they saw a group of kids outside the school in a circle clapping, cheering and congratulating someone.
    “What’s that about?” Elena said.
    Veronika snuck up behind her. “Word ’ s out that she’s about to go on a week’s tour with her mom - backup singer for Yolanda Adams. Big article in the newspaper this morning.”
    “Who is?”
    Veronika raised her eyebrows.
    “You have got to be kidding!” Elena said.
    Letitia spotted the three of them out of the corner of her eye and blew a kiss.
    Elena shook her head and squeezed her way through the entrance. Show choir was up first.
    “Try to keep your cool,” Veronika said to Elena. “With both of them.”
    Elena bustled to her seat, finding Frankie almost immediately.
    “Ooh, there’s Jay,” Frankie said, nudging Elena.
    “That’s nice. How’s Leon?”
    “Wonderful,” Frankie sighed and continued to talk in detail about the little things he would do for her, like carry her bag or leave a flower in her locker, but Elena wasn’t listening. She was watching Jay as he leaned against the piano talking to someone. She could see his perfect profile and the muscles in his arms as he placed one hand on his hip. Elena sensed him turning in her direction and hung her head. Her view was further blocked as Letitia and her fan club strolled in.
    “Elena, why are you sitting so close to the front? You are going to put me off if I have to listen to you,” Letitia said, followed by laughs on cue from her fan club.
    “I can sit where I want. If you don’t like it, you sit somewhere else.” 
    “I’m the lead, I have to sit in the front row,” Letitia said as if explaining it to a six year old. Elena felt the whole group staring at her.
    Elena wanted to tell them all to go shove it, but the teacher had come in and she didn’t want to make a scene. Frankie yanked her off the seat and they moved to the back row.
    Letitia grinned as she sat down , surrounded by her fans . Elena could imagine pulling out Letitia’s hair strand by strand.
    Ms. Lazowski stood to the front of room, looking more excited than usual. “Let’s all applaud Letitia, who will be touring with Yolanda Adams next week.”
    The students cheered and clapped loudly.
    “It’s not like she’s actually one of the backup singers. Her mother is,” Elena said loudly. That earned her a few indignant looks from some of her worshippers. Letitia was too busy flicking her hair and bowing to notice.
    And of course, as it would happen, because Letitia was so important the whole class was going to be focused on her solos because she would be missing one rehearsal.
    “Everyone ready?” Ms Lazowski asked. “From the top.”
    Letitia came in strong and pitch perfect. The choir came in later with the backup vocals.
    “Stop! Stop!” Letitia said.
    “What’s wrong, dear?” Ms Lazowski asked her.
    “Not me. It’s the altos, something’s wrong.”
    “I didn’t notice anything. Let’s try the altos on their own .”
    The group sang confidently but Letitia was contorting her face in pain.
    “It only takes one person,” Letitia said in exasperation. “Elena! I can hear it! You’re not in tune.”
    “What? We were perfect and there is no way you could tell what I was singing from over there.”
    “I’m the one with perfect pitch, so I’ll be the judge of that,” Letitia said.
    Ms Lazowski hesitated. She looked indecisive as she heard the exchange.
    “Um, OK, how about you sing it on your own, Elena?” Ms Lazowski said.
    Elena could feel her facing burning as everyone turned to her expectantly . She didn’t think that was a great idea at all. Veronika