Chapter 57

Ursula and I were in LA for the week, as One Direction had another music video to film and had asked us to take part in it. It was a really fun concept, as the song was a single about learning to dance called "Plié" and the choreography was just us trying to teach them to dance.

Ursula grinned the whole plane flight; she was a big One Direction Fan. "Don't be too hyper," I warned her. "They get enough trouble from crazy fans, they don't need another one at the music video. I am glad that you're excited, though."

Ursula nodded. "It's a job, I'll be professional. So do they know how to dance? How's this going to go?"

I snorted. "Um... they're not great dancers, and we're apparently supposed to be doing a ballet class. Their manager seems intense, like Abby, so it might be a little weird."

Ursula leaned her head back and groaned. "Really? Wow, I feel bad for them. I'm not Abby's biggest fan at the moment. Do you know that she called Paige stupid the other day in class?"

I shook my head, disgusted. "Yeah. I'm happy to be leaving, but I feel for the others. Sometimes it seems like I have to be their coach and teacher, and she'll get a lot worse when we're not around. Other than Nia, no one else is consistently winning. That's all she cares about, apparently. I mean, take the trio. It was good, I liked it, what's the big deal about second? Of course we got second, it was Musical Theater versus Lyrical. It's just silly."

"It's not even all for the show," Ursula said lowly. "The producers are bad enough, but Abby's getting worse and worse. Especially after the strike, which I still don't understand. How could they fall for that trap?"

"No idea, especially Aunt Melissa. I'm still confused that Kaya went along with it."

"She's pressed for money."

"I suppose that's right. Getting a lawyer would be cheaper than that. Anyway, this is all too complicated. I just want to have a fun week in England."

"Yeah, me too."

A few hours later, we were in the LA airport, headed for the screaming mass that had to be where One Direction was by the pickup area. A security guard met us and led us over to where the band was trying unsuccessfully to avoid their fans. Ursula slipped her noise-cancelling headphones on, immediately overstimulated.

Harry spotted us first and waved, grinning. Ursula returned the smile. We didn't actually talk until getting to the limo, where Ursula politely said hello.

"Thank you for coming in person," I thanked the band. "It must have been stressful with all the fans."

"Oh, it was no trouble," Niall replied lightly. "You must be gaining quite a few fans by now, Joanne, especially after the Lana Del Ray music video and your Grammys performance."

"I am," I said. "It's kind of disruptive, honestly, I don't do these things for fame."

"That's what makes you a good famous person," Liam said. "Anyway, Ursula, tell us a bit about yourself."

"Well, I'm fourteen and I'm from New York, but my parents have been split up for about eight years and my dad moved to Pennsylvania so I'm there for the school year. My dad has a fiancée, and my mother has fourteen-month-old twins and a girl on the way with my stepfather. It was an amicable divorce, and this works out a lot better. I do ballet but my main style is Acrobatics- I'll be training at the Cirque du Soleil and finishing high school after this competition season. My mom has two dogs and my dad has a cat."

"Congratulations!" Zayn said to Ursula. "That's a big deal, the Cirque du Soleil."

"I know! I'm really excited about it. So how do you guys feel about learning ballet?"

The band looked at each other and laughed. "We apologize in advance."

"You can't be that bad."

I looked at Ursula, dead serious. "They're that bad. Oh well, they're better singers than I could ever be. Is the song humorous?"

"Yes, it's about how bad we are," Louis smiled.

"You'll do fine," Ursula assured them. "We won't expect you to be experts, just get a few basic moves. Joanne here is a great teacher, and I'm not half bad either. I help teach some baby ballerinas at the studio."

"Simon wants us to do an actual dance for the video too," Harry informed us. "You can choreograph, right, Joanne?"

"I'll have to see what moves you have down. I want to make you guys look as good as possible," I said thoughtfully. "So where's the set?"

The set was a beautiful dance studio, which was rented out. Ursula and I could practice between takes and had free time while footage was reviewed. Mr. Cowell wanted to do a behind-the-scenes video so he had everything filmed with the band, including the initial, rather chaotic lesson.

The band looked silly in their dancewear, but only because they were very awkward about it. They had turning shoes for some reason, because there was no way that four days was enough to get to even the simplest turns.

"Do any of you have any dance experience?" I asked them. They all shook their heads.

"Not unless you count the choreography we do." "Yeah, I don't. Okay, we'll start with the basics then. Go to the barre and line up, please." I began with teaching the correct posture and arm movements. To their credit, while they weren't good dancers, the band members worked hard and were decently fit. Their bodies just weren't used to moving the way that ballet required; the price of being a top ballet dancer for me was sore and hyperextended muscles, blisters, aching feet, and shoulders and hips that needed PT because they were constantly pushed to their limits. I couldn't expect One Direction to do that to themselves beyond a certain point.

"Could you do something more interesting?" Simon Cowell called.

"Yes, we're done with the positions anyway. Do your best to copy what Ursula and I do," I said, going to the bar and simply kicking out in front of me, my leg coming close to hitting my head. Ursula's reached past her head. They all stared.

"We can't do that."

"Just do your best," I told them. Niall's barely got off the ground, Harry's was knee height, Zayn was no better than Niall, Louis was by far the best and Liam was just a mess. Ursula and I looked at each other.

"You all need to work on your flexibility. Remember to point your feet. Let's try some leaps," I said. "I'll show you a split leap, but all you guys need to do is get your legs apart a little bit."

I did a nice split leap, followed by Ursula. The cameras ate up the band's clumsiness, though they were improving by the end of the filming day. The band left, exhausted, while Ursula and I worked on our YAGP pieces. I was a bit worried about not practicing the pas de deux, but we'd have to make it up the next week. As the week went on, I began to see the cracks in the band's personas; because that's what they were.

Liam was drunk. He was hiding it well, but he stumbled around too much on the third day and took frequent breaks. I couldn't blame him, because Simon Cowell was snide and cruel between takes. Each band member needed to have a certain main character trait and I could tell that Zayn in particular wasn't liking it. He seemed reserved and angry when we had dinners together.

"I'm leaving the team too, after this season," I said when Harry asked what was next for me. "I got an apprenticeship at New York City Ballet, which has been my dream."

The band congratulated me as one. "How do you feel about leaving the team?" Liam asked.

"I'll miss the other dancers, but I will be thrilled to leave the producers and Abby," I said bluntly. "She's a cruel person. It's even worse off-camera. Ursula is treated pretty well and Abby basically treats me like an employee at this point."

Harry made a face. "She has such an amazing team, how could she treat them badly?"

Ursula shrugged. "I have no idea. These are kids, and it's not good for them."

The next day, the last day of filming, the band did their easy combination to the song, which I was now thoroughly sick of. It was the most interesting video shoot that I'd been to, that was for sure. It was fascinating to see how corruption and greed reached all through different artistic businesses, and it was something that Ursula and I would need to look out for.

I slept through the plane flight back and happily reunited with Misty and Melody, who was looking huge already. "Are you sure it's not twins?" I joked. She paled considerably.

"I hope not. The doctor says he's a big baby, I might need a C-section. How was the trip?"

"Fun! The band's manager is just awful to them, but they're great guys."

Melody frowned. "Simon Cowell? He gave them their shot at stardom."

"Their stardom or his?" I asked, and Melody sighed.

"I hope that they get out of it," she worried. "They're great singers."

"Yes, they are," I agreed. "How's school going?"

"It's alright, I just get so tired now. The teachers are understanding, though a bit judgmental. The material isn't too hard. Were you able to keep up with your schoolwork in England?"

"Yeah, Ursula and I worked on it together. I will probably move a grade ahead of her soon."

"My smart sister."

"I'm smart, sure, but I also have the time and resources."

"Smart and humble. It'll be good for you to be halfway through high school when you head out for NYC Ballet, Ursula will have a harder time at Cirque. It's crazy to me that you'll just be leaving me here."

"You'll have Braxton and the baby."

"I suppose you're right. I'm fine with it so long as you visit, yes?"

"You sound like Abby."

"Shit, I would never want that. I am super happy for you, seriously. It's a big deal. I'll be looking to come to New York after graduation too, there are amazing art schools there. Maybe we can live together. It would only be a year, maybe less, not living together."

I smiled. "I'd love that- but you're feeding the baby at night."

"Deal."