Status: new chapter june 8

The Ballerina and the Rocker

Chapter 11

Zacky

“So, what’d you think?” Zacky asked Quinn as she took a seat beside him on the pier bench. She reached into her black Jansport backpack and pulled out the Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction CD he had lent her the previous weekend.

“I actually really liked it,” Quinn responded as she handed the CD back over to him. “My favorite songs were definitely Sweet Child O’ Mine and Rocket Queen.”

“Yeah, that whole album fucking rocks from start to finish.”

“Do you have another one for me?” Zack smiled at Quinn’s eagerness.

For the last few weeks Zacky had been lending Quinn some of his favorite CDs to help her expand her musical palette, and in return Quinn would let Zacky sit in on her ballet rehearsals (which he realized was a huge deal). On the rare occasion she wasn’t practicing at the dance studio, she and Zacky would galavant around the city to their hearts content, doing everything from eating their way along Main Street to catching a movie and then sneaking into another one for a free double feature.

He was definitely a fan of this whole “boyfriend - girlfriend” thing.

“Yeah, totally.” He took out the Misfits’ American Psycho and handed it over to Quinn. “This one’s totally different, but still fucking great. It’s also a little more recent; just came out a few years ago.”

“Awesome.” She studied the track listing on the back of the CD. “What, no Backstreet Boys?”

“Shut up,” Zacky nudged her. She smiled. “I think you’re really gonna like track seven. Even if you don’t like punk, it’s got such a catchy melody you can’t not like it, you know… what?” He noticed Quinn smiling at him.

“You’re really cute when you talk about music, you know?” Zacky smirked.

“Cute, huh? Not manly, or sexy… Or cool?” Quinn laughed and put the Misfits CD into her backpack. Zacky wrapped his arm around her and she leaned back to rest her head on his shoulder. She took his hand in hers and intertwined their fingers.

“So, my audition is in L.A. next week and I was wondering if maybe you’d want to drive up with me? You don’t have to, especially since I’ll probably be busy at the auditions all day, but it’d be a reason to skip school -”

“You said the magic words!”

Quinn sat up and looked at Zacky with big puppy dog eyes as if to say that Zacky was the greatest person in the world.

“Yeah?!”

“Yeah. Maybe I can even drag the guys along to spend the day in the city.”

“That’d be awesome.” She rested her head back on his shoulder. “Oh, and by the way - sexy goes without saying.”

Quinn

If she wasn’t prepared for her audition now there wasn’t much else she could do. She felt she had her routine down and hopefully the judges would see just how much effort and passion she had.

Quinn practically lived in the dance studio for the last month and a half. When she wasn’t at school she was in there practicing, and luckily she found a guy that didn’t mind hanging out in silence for a few hours.

Being with Zacky was almost too good to be true. Especially at the start of a relationship Quinn figured most guys would have grown tired of the relentlessly busy schedule she created for herself, but not Zacky. When he wasn’t practicing with his own band he would sit in the corner of the rehearsal room and do homework or work on a song while Quinn choreographed and rehearsed her dance over and over again. But just to make sure she wasn’t being a total anti-social, crazed control freak, Quinn made sure she always put time aside to hang out with Zacky away from their quiet time at the dance studio.

She was pretty sure she was on the right track.

“All set?” her mother asked. Quinn placed her duffle bag in the car trunk.

“Yeah, I think so,” Quinn replied.

“And you’re sure you don’t need me to come?” Quinn nodded. “Ok. Drive carefully, and good luck.” She gave her mother a tight hug just as Zacky came walking across the front lawn. “No speeding,” she warned him.

“Scout’s honor,” Zacky replied with a salute. Quinn was about to go to the driver’s seat when Zacky snatched the keys out of her hand. “Nope, you need to relax - I’ll drive.” She smiled at her boyfriend and sat shotgun. As Zacky backed the station wagon out of the driveway, Quinn waved to her mother and began mentally preparing for the audition.

“Are you nervous?” Zacky asked as they drove down the block. “That was a stupid question.”

“It wasn’t stupid, just a little obvious,” she replied with a smile. Barely five minutes on the road, Zacky pulled the car into Matt’s driveway where Matt, Brian, and Jimmy all proceeded to jump into the back seat that could barely fit the three.

“Road trip!” Brian said as the car started back out.

“It’s only an hour,” Quinn explained.

“It’s still a trip, Wednesday.” She narrowed her eyes at Brian, who had thought it was cute to keep her Halloween costume as a permanent nickname.

The boys in the back continued talking exuberantly about something; Quinn tuned them out in order to go through her choreography in her head, staring out the window as they drove up the I-605. Zacky must have sensed her contemplative mood because she felt his hand grasp hers from her lap.

“I guess you won’t really have time to relax, huh?” he said apologetically.

“No, but I like it,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I think it’s better to have a distraction.”

Since traffic on I-605 was always horrible, it took them a good hour and a half to roll into L.A. Even though she had lived in Huntington Beach for a good six months now, Quinn had yet to find herself in Los Angeles. Despite her strong desire to attend Juilliard, she felt a bit sad that she would move away before really getting to know this city. But then again, what else was new.

After turning down a wrong street once or twice, they finally found the building where the auditions were being held. Zacky pulled the car up to the sidewalk and parked it.

“Hey, you’ll be great,” he said, pulling Quinn in for a hug.

“Yeah, good luck,” Matt said.

“Show ‘em how it’s done,” Jimmy added.

“And if they don’t like you,” Brian chimed in, “let us know and we’ll come beat them up.”

“Thanks guys,” Quinn said with a chuckle. “Now go wreak havoc on this city!” After planting a kiss on Zacky’s cheek, Quinn left the car, got her duffle out of the trunk, and entered the building.

The lobby walls were painted a soft gray, paired with a sandstone colored marble floor. Next to the front desk was a sign indicating the Juilliard auditions were being held on the fourth floor. Taking a deep breath, Quinn got into the elevator.

Zacky

“Dude, we need a new bass player,” Zacky said to no friend in particular as the four boys walked down the street, looking for something to do. “I’ve got nothing against Wendt, but he’s just not feeling this.”

“Yeah, we talked about it the other day,” Matt said. The boys stopped at a food cart. “Uh yeah - we’ll take four hot dogs -”

“So what now?”

“Well, he basically quit so we’ve got to find a replacement before we start touring.”

The hispanic man in the food cart handed out the hotdogs and the boys handed over their money before continuing their walk.

“Whu-abu-joony?” Jimmy muttered with a mouthful of food.

“Didn’t your mother teach you not to talk with your mouth full?” Brian asked. Jimmy swallowed before speaking again.

“Fuck you. I said, what about Johnny?”

“Johnny?” Zacky asked. “Like my brother’s friend Johnny?”

He knew they needed a bass player, but were they really that desperate?

“Can you think of anyone else?” Zacky sighed. At least they sort of knew Johnny. And they didn’t necessarily need him forever.

“Why the fuck not.”

“That’s the spirit, Zacky!” Brian shouted, putting his arm around Zacky. “Now- about you and Quinn.”

“What about me and Quinn?”

“Well, she gets into this dance school, and then what?”

“Brian, I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

But Zacky knew exactly what Brian was getting at, he just didn’t want to talk about it. It was something he thought about all the time but figured he would just deal with it when the time came.

“Fine. But just know I’m only being nosy because you’re my friends and I care about you both.” Brian left Zacky’s side and bounced ahead with Jimmy.

“But seriously,” Matt said, taking Brian’s spot beside Zacky. “What’s gonna happen with you two?”

“I think about it all the fucking time and I honestly have no idea,” he admitted. “We’ve only been dating two months and haven’t talked about it. Why all of a sudden on my case?”

“Look, we’re not trying to pry or anything, but we really like Quinn. A lot. And you know we’ve always got your back. So if you need anything at all just let us know, ok?”

“Yeah, ok. Thanks.”

Matt gave Zacky’s back a reassuring pat before shouting at the two boys ahead of them.

Zacky felt sick.

Quinn

She was ushered along with a group of about fifteen or so other boys and girls her age into a room that was about three times as big as the rehearsal studio she used. They were instructed to take a spot at the fixed barre on the mirror covered wall where they proceeded to do standard barre exercises to show off their basic technique and understanding.

“Derrière, devant, and repeat,” the proctor announced to the group.

With one hand grasping the barre tightly and the other arm placed outwards, Quinn lifted her working leg backwards, then forwards, both again, and ended in third position. For a good ten minutes the proctor would shout out instructions for the group to follow. When that had finished, the group was sent back into the waiting room while the next wave entered for their barre routine.

Quinn took a seat on a window sill and overlooked the busy L.A. street as she waited for her individual dance routine time. Realizing and accepting how difficult it is to get into Juilliard was one thing, but actually being at the auditions and seeing just how many people had the same dream she did certainly put a damper on her spirits. If her family hadn’t moved around so much maybe she would have been able to stay at one dance studio and received proper attention and guidance, like all these other dancers probably did...

Feeling antsy, Quinn reached into her duffle bag and pulled out her silver walkman. When she pressed play, her earbuds were immediately greeted with the opening beat of We Will Rock You, Freddie Mercury’s voice soon powering through. She suddenly felt at ease. She was going to rock it.

“Quinn Hartford,” another proctor announced to the waiting room.

Quinn quickly stashed her walkman back in her bag and followed the proctor down the hallway. She was given a seat in front of a door, where she proceeded to put her pointe shoes on. A good fifteen minutes later, she was welcomed into a room smaller than the one before. Before her sat three people, two women and a man, whom she assumed would be judging her audition.

“Welcome, Quinn,” the woman in the middle said. Her hair was a dark brown and pulled back into a tight ponytail. From her small form it was obvious she was a ballerina, and had been dancing for years on end. She smiled at Quinn before continuing. “Take a deep breath - I know it’s nerve wracking. Do you have your music?”

“I do,” Quinn said. She took a CD from her bag and handed it to the man at the table. He placed it into a CD player and Quinn took her starting position.

As soon as the trumpets began playing Bach’s Cantata 243 Quinn began her routine. Her limbs extended, she nailed her pirouettes and assemblés, her leaps felt graceful… she couldn’t have asked for a better audition, and she hoped it was enough.

When her four minute routine came to an end she thanked the judges and left the room. Relief rushing through her body, she quickly changed out of her leotard and headed back down to the lobby where the boys were remarkably on time picking her up. With a huge grin, she hopped over to the car and threw her arms around Zacky, who was leaning against the door.

“It went well, then?” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Mmhm,” she said, nodding her head then planting a kiss on his lips. Beside them she heard Brian, Jimmy, and Matt groaning on their behalf.

“So when do you find out?” Matt asked.

“In a few months, hopefully.”

“So now we wait?” Zacky asked, matter-of-factly.

“Now we wait.”
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Alrighty, you may have noticed I have yet another formatting change (this will be the last one, I promise!) I thought I was being super creative with naming the chapters after ballet terms, and while it's been working for the most part I've realized that trying to choose the right title for future chapters may be a bit of a stretch... so we're just going to stick with good ol' boring numbered chapters. In case anyone was interested.

Thanks all for reading, recommending, commenting, and subscribing! Ya'll are unbelievably awesome.