It's just that Hilary's career as a dancer is top priority with her mom. See, Mrs. Morgan used to be a ballet dancer herself, but she gave up her career to have a family. As I understand it (from what I've overheard in the dressing room) she's one of the worst "stage mothers" in the history of the school. She really pushes Hilary all the time; I know because I've seen her do it. She actually sits and watches our entire two-hour class sometimes! Luckily, she wasn't watching that day - we didn't need any distractions. I don't think Mme Noelle would have tolerated a visitor during auditions anyway.

    All of a sudden, I noticed that the last dancers had finished. Auditions were over. Mme Noelle called us all out onto the stage. She looked us up and down without saying a word. Then she smiled.

    "All of my mademoiselles have done very, very well today," she said. "But only one can be zee Princess Aurora." Suddenly she clapped her hands three times. "Go now!" she said. "Change zee clothes. When you are ready, come back. I will give my decision zen." We all scurried into the dressing room and raced to be the first out of our leotards. Everybody was talking at once, asking the others how they'd looked as they performed.

    "Did you notice when I shook on the arabesque!" asked Lisa Jones, as she pulled on an oversized sweat shirt. I like Lisa, but sometimes she worries too much about her performance in class.

    I shook my head. "Sorry, but I wasn't paying that much attention," I said. "I think I was on Mars for awhile there." That's what it had felt like - I'd been concentrating so hard that I felt like I'd been on a different planet.

    "I thought I'd die by the time I bourree'd across that whole huge stage," said Hilary. "It's not fair that the stage is so much bigger than our usual studio." "Sure it's fair," said Carrie. "We all have to do the same thing on the same stage, don't we?" "I guess," said Hilary. But she didn't sound convinced.