Chapter 4 - THE SCORES VANESSA DIDN’T WANT SEEN
Tessa tapped the page with one finger.
“Vanessa told the faculty Lily would lead the junior showcase section. She wasn’t a pity pick. She won.”
I stared at the numbers.
Technique, performance quality, musicality.
Lily had outscored every junior soloist in the studio.
“Then why did Vanessa cut her?”
Tessa hesitated.
“Because two days after auditions, Vanessa had a meeting with Claudia Mercer.”
I knew the name. Claudia’s daughter, Sienna, danced at Hartline too—talented, polished, and heavily promoted on the studio’s social media.
“Claudia helps fund the studio,” Tessa said carefully. “Costumes, guest choreographers, part of the lease increase last fall. After that meeting, Vanessa changed several program placements.”
“And Lily?”
“Lily was the only change nobody could explain.”
That was ugly enough by itself, but Tessa wasn’t done.
“Vanessa also asked me something strange after she removed Lily.”
“What?”
“She asked whether Lily had ever saved copies of her rehearsal videos at home.”
I frowned.
“Why would that matter?”
Tessa leaned back and glanced toward the window before answering.
“Because Rebecca Sloan called the studio in February asking about Lily.”
My skin prickled.
“Rebecca remembered her from a summer audition.”
“That’s what I thought too,” Tessa said. “But Vanessa got off the phone white as a sheet. She told me if anyone asked, Lily was ‘not yet ready for outside placement.’”
She slid a second paper toward me.
A rehearsal schedule with Lily’s solo title handwritten at the top—then crossed out and replaced with Sienna Mercer’s name.
“You didn’t get this from me,” Tessa said. “And one more thing—ask Rebecca exactly what video she saw last year. Vanessa’s been scared of that question for months.”
I drove home with the score sheets on the passenger seat and a sick feeling spreading through my chest.
May you like
Lily had not been removed because she might fail.
She had been removed because something about her success threatened Vanessa.
