Free And All That Jazz by Samantha-Ellen Bound Page B

off her.
    And that’s when I fell right on my bum.

Chapter Three
    â€˜Ellie! Are you all right?’
    Of course Jasmine called out first and made a fuss. Otherwise everyone wouldn’t have noticed. (Well, they probably would have, considering I crashed into Riley, who crashed into Jasmine, and then everyone went down like dominoes.) But still, Jasmine was being nasty by drawing attention to my fall.
    It was all that new girl Ashley’s fault. She’d broken my concentration by showing off and being so good. I scowled at her.
    Ashley looked a bit taken aback. But I didn’t care. I’d probably ruined my chances at getting into the competition troupe now. To make matters worse, Riley, who was supposed to be one of my closest friends at Silver Shoes, saw me scowling at Ashley. Then Riley flashed me a bad look and smiled at Ashley.
    Some friend!
    â€˜Don’t worry about it, Ellie,’ said Paige, my real friend. She grabbed my arm and helped me up. ‘Everybody does it. You just got a bit off balance.’
    â€˜Everything all right, Ellie?’ asked Miss Caroline. ‘Did you hurt yourself?’ She stopped the music and the whole class looked at me. My cheeks must have been bright red. I’msurprised I didn’t burn Paige when she helped me up.

    â€˜I’m fine,’ I said in a small voice.
    â€˜I’m not,’ said Tove. ‘I’m going to have a bruise.’
    â€˜I just stumbled a bit, Miss Caroline,’ I said. ‘I thought the floor was a bit slippery when we were stretching.’
    â€˜I didn’t notice anything before and I was stretching right where you’re standing,’ said Jasmine. She flicked her long, caramel-coloured ponytail. ‘Maybe your shoes have lost their grip.’
    â€˜My shoes are fine,’ I snapped at her. ‘Maybe you need to get a grip.’ Then I tossed my own hair and gave Miss Caroline a big smile. ‘We can go on now,’ I said.
    â€˜As long as you’re okay,’ Miss Caroline said. ‘And everyone else. No one needs ice?’
    â€˜Ellie needs some for her red face,’ Jasmine muttered under her breath.
    â€˜Remember when you fell off the stage last year?’ said Riley to Jasmine. ‘Right in front of Jay, and he saw your knickers.’
    Jay teaches hip hop at Silver Shoes. He’s tall and one of the youngest teachers. Jay has this long shaggy haircut that he always flicks to the side when he talks to you. He’s kind of cute.
    â€˜I didn’t fall,’ said Jasmine, her hands on her hips. ‘I was pushed.’
    â€˜If you say so,’ said Riley. She gave me a small smile. I decided she could be my friend again.
    I was extra careful not to make any more mistakes while Miss Caroline taught us the rest of the dance. Luckily I hadn’t hurt myself when I fell, but it definitely put me off. I didn’t feel very confident when Miss Caroline asked us to do the final run-through of the dance. I even tried to position myself at the back. I neverdo that. I’m always front and centre. When Jasmine doesn’t steal it from me, of course.
    At the end of class we all collapsed on the floor, panting and stretching and anxious to see if we’d made it through. I have to admit, I was kind of sulking at the back. Not even Paige wanted to sit near me.
    â€˜You girls are fantastic,’ Miss Caroline said. ‘And I’d love to see you all in the troupe. Unfortunately I only need eight dancers, but you all handled the choreography well today.’
    I love the word ‘choreography’. It means putting together the moves for a dance. I’ve done some choreography myself, for school talent shows. Jasmine calls choreography ‘chori’. I hate that. She probably can’t say the word properly, so she shortened it to be cool.
    â€˜For the competition in three weeks’ time I have selected the following people,’ Miss Caroline