Chapter 49

I left my awards with my aunt and left straight from awards, hoping that I could sleep through the plane flight. Studio Bleu was going to the same airport so I rode along with them. "I'm surprised that I beat you," I told Braxton, who would also be at Joffrey for the summer and was homeschooled.

"I'm not," he shrugged. "You were amazing. Besides, second is fine with me, I care much more about ballet. I'm happy that we get to keep working on our pas de deux without much trouble."

Because I was traveling with a few others, I wasn't noticed, so I was able to rest on the plane. Melody met me at the airport and congratulated me warmly.

"You must be tired, though," she said. I nodded.

"Nothing a good sleep can't fix."

I slept in the next morning and got myself signed into Joffrey, as well as getting access to my schedule, which was busy but manageable.

Monday-Wednesday Schedule: Joanne Zielger, Summer Session 2012

8:30 AM-9:30 AM: IA for Intermediate Ballet

9:30 AM- 11:30 AM: Advanced Pro Ballet

11:30 AM- 12:00 PM: Lunch

12:00 PM-1:30 PM: Advanced Pro Lyrical

1:30 PM- 3:00 PM: YAGP Preparation Class

3:30 PM-5:00 PM: Advanced Pro Group

7:30 PM-8:30 PM: IA for Beginner Ballet (paid)

Tuesday-Thursday Schedule: Joanne Ziegler, Summer Session 2012

8:30 AM-9:30 AM: Studio Time

9:30 AM- 11:00 AM: Advanced Pro Contemporary

11:00 AM- 12:30 PM: Advanced Pro Ballet

12:30 PM- 1 PM: Lunch

1 PM- 2:30 PM: Advanced Pro Group

3:00 PM-4:30 PM: IA for Intermediate Lyrical

4:30 PM-5:30 PM: Advanced Pro Flexibility

Friday Schedule: Joanne Ziegler, Summer Session 2012

8:30 AM-10:00 AM: Advanced Pro Ballet

10:00 AM-11:30 AM: Advanced Pro Barre

11:30 AM-12:00 PM: Lunch

12:00 PM-2:00 PM: Advanced Pro Group

Note: studio space can be rented on Saturdays between 9 AM and 8 PM and on Sunday between 12 PM and 7 PM.

Most everything would be en pointe, so I had been really working on my strength. I had about three backup pairs of pointe shoes on hand at all times, and was glad that I had plenty of money because otherwise I'd really be struggling. Pointe shoes were expensive.

Ursula, Chloé, Paige, Brooke and Nia arrived that night and us girls had a nice dinner together, chatting about the summer and how happy we were to be done with filming.

"Abby was really nice to me this season," Nia said over her pasta. "I liked that, but still, she's hard to be around, and the crew is worse."

I nodded. "The producers are huge drivers of drama, to the detriment of our dance education. Luckily we won't have to deal with that at Joffrey."

I was in the classroom at 8:10 AM the next morning, stretching and drinking coffee. Lysander Green, the instructor, greeted me warmly as the dancers (including Nia, Chloé and Paige) started filing in.

"It's great to meet you, Joanne. Call me Lysander if you like. Let me show you what we're doing today. Those from your studio may struggle a bit as we've been in session for a month now, but I think you'll be alright.

"Maybe. I do need to let you know that Paige Hyland broke her foot two months ago and will be a bit behind the others, but she didn't want to give up the scholarship. She's medically cleared for ballet."

"Yes, that's in her file. I'll speak to her about what she can do. In the meantime, I'd love for you to lead warm-ups."

"Hello everyone!" I called, and the group of Juniors looked at me. "I'm Joanne, and I'm the Instructor's Assistant for this class. Mr. Green wants us to begin warming up."

"Class hasn't started yet," a brunette girl said, not looking up from her phone. Beside her, Nia looked alarmed and moved slightly away.

"No, but there isn't time for full warm-ups in only an hour class," I responded blandly. "Everyone get to the barre, please, and I'm going to be taking attendance so I can learn your names."

"You already know your friends," the girl snarked. "Miss Famous."

I chose to ignore the girl, whose name was Sadie Kuntzman, and simply began to read names off the list. Most everyone was here.

"Sadie Kuntzman?"

"I've been talking to you, Miss Famous."

"Her name is Joanne," Paige told Sadie firmly. "You're being very rude."

"What, and she isn't rude to you?"

"Not at all, actually. She's very nice."

"None of that matters, we're in class," I said, looking sternly at Sadie. "Like it or not, I'm the IA for this class."

"Miss Kuntzman, you are out of line," Mr. Green said seriously. "I will not hesitate to remove you from the class. This is Joanne Ziegler, she's the YAGP Junior champion, won the Grand Prix award, and placed third in the pas de deux category last season. Be grateful that she's here and is going to be helping you. Get warmed up."

I didn't get much trouble for the rest of class, and Paige did well with what she could do. Mr. Green complimented her lines and feet, which were very clean. Chloé got attention as a beautiful ballet dancer, and she was significantly more relaxed away from Abby and the ALDC. Nia was a middle-tier dancer for the class.

The only class that I had with Ursula was YAGP Preparation, which was bigger than the year before, so during individual critiques everyone worked on their dances. The teacher started with Braxton and I, then as individuals, then Chloé.

"I understand that you have been working on this since the Final," Mr. Tyrell Jacobson said. "You two understand that there's more pressure on you, coming off of a strong Finals performance. Mr. Jones, you made the top 12, and Miss Ziegler, you need to defend your awards. It's different this year. Miss Lukasiak, you also made the top 12, and you're moving up into Juniors soon. You'll be up against Miss Ziegler and Miss Green. Let me see the pas de deux."

The next few weeks fell into a rhythm for me: lots of dancing, interspersed with professional work, and lots of time spent with Misty, Melody and Ursula. I would go home every other weekend, a short train ride away. The show's episodes aired every week and only served to skyrocket my fame, much to my chagrin, especially when Episode 21 where Maddie lashed out at me aired. I felt quite tense going into the next day, and rightfully so. Sadie approached me right away.

"Did your parents kill you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Clearly not. I'm not interested in talking about it."

"Oh, come on," Sadie groaned. "You gotta give me something here."

"No, I really don't," I did my best not to spit at her. "My personal life is not up for debate."

"Well said. This show has been causing a ruckus," Mr. Jacobson sighed. "I am sorry that happened to you, Joanne."

"Thank you. It was a long time ago now." I smiled tightly.

Still, the looks and whispers followed me around for the rest of the week. I wasn't one to look at social media but did take time to see what was being said about the episode. I was getting some criticism for cursing in front of children, which was fair enough, but only really bad people thought that I had actually overreacted. While my personal life had been revealed on National TV, it wasn't as bad as the impact on Maddie. In the professional world, you could be the best out there, but if you did something like Maddie did, you would be much more likely to be turned away by employers. It certainly didn't help her that I was so well-known in the dancing community already, and if Maddie could treat family like that, she could treat anyone badly.

I know that Maddie's a brat, but that's way too far. Joanne is her cousin and is by all appearances a great kid, she doesn't deserve that. Nobody does.

I don't really like Joanne, she's so uptight, but Maddie crossed a line. It seems like Joanne was horribly abused and not ready to talk about it. It definitely makes me more sympathetic to Joanne.

I can't see Maddie coming back onto the show, what an awful thing to say. Goodbye to her future career.

Imagine telling your cousin that she should have died. What a terrible kid.

Wait, I'm sorry, the implications of that comment are insane. Yep, Joanne's parents were convicted on attempted murder and child abuse in 2009 and somehow kept custody of their older daughter until she was old enough to get away. If that were my kid...

I can't believe that made it into the show.

"Are you alright?" Ursula asked me. I looked up from the Facebook comments.

"It's nothing crazy about me. It's just all a mess, and it's public." I shook my head. "This'll be terrible for Maddie's future."

"She brought it upon herself. She's old enough to take responsibility for that," Ursula responded tightly.

"Yes, she did," I agreed. "That was more of a comment than a worry. She is my cousin, I do care about her even if I'm angry at her. It's good to have distance between us."

Overall, I had a fruitful first few weeks of summer, and made a lot of progress on my YAGP dances. I was feeling good going into my final season of non-ballet competition dances.