Bella's Tumble Into Life

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I dust off my second place ballet competition trophy on my bookshelf. I remember Ms. Roberts being furious because I boomed my first turn in that solo. I was only eight-years-old (and going against ten-year-olds) but it was the very first time I hadn't performed with at least one other person. I was dancing to one of those corny Three Dog Night songs. My costume was very pink and bright. I had big bows in my long, straight brown hair which was tied in pigtails. A cutesy outfit like all the other little girls were wearing. Once I got on stage, I felt the scorching heat of the lights, blinding my eyes. Then I saw the crowd. I automatically jumped into my turn but then stumbled when I noticed everyone staring at me. Then, I imagined Ms. Roberts glare and red clouds puffing out of her ears. I composed myself immediately afterwards and kept dancing. The crowd and the judges were impressed with my instant comeback. Their cheers and applause is what I think made me fall in love with the performing arts. It was why I did not quit dance even though Ms. Roberts kept in the back row for a full two weeks. "You were supposed to be first place, Bella. I trusted you to be first place" she kept snapping at me. But she always was so fond of me, she was like my second mother—she was more like a mother than my biological mother— that she had to forgive me.

"Bella!" My father, Charlie yelled from upstairs, snapping me away from my thoughts. "You got everything?"

"Yeah" I called back. I'm moving to New York City from my small town of Forks, Pennsylvania. I was accepted into dance at fucking Juilliard on a scholarship. Charlie would have never let me go if it wasn't such a prestigious school. I also applied to math at Harvard and I knew he really wanted me to go there deep down. Not that he would ever tell me that. He's not someone who talks much. He lets me be. And dance is my calling. I know it. My mother, Renee, is so free-spirited, she was cheering me on from her house in Florida. Her baseball player-boyfriend, Phil might have actually cracked a smile upon hearing her outrageous enthusiasm. I don't feel like I'm leaving anyone behind besides Charlie. He hasn't cooked for himself since I moved in. I get teary-eyed when imagining him attempting to boil noddles without my guidance.

I raced downstairs and saw that Charlie had already packed up the car. I smiled sheepishly. My daydreaming had definitely wasted more time than I thought.

"We better get going kid. There might be traffic" he advised.

"Remember, dad, I—"

"Yeah, yeah. You want to say goodbye to Ms. Roberts before we go. All the more reason to hurry" he interrupted matter-of-factly.

"Right."

And with that I raced in the car.

______________

"Oh Bella, sweetheart!!" Ms. Roberts gave me a great big hug.

She had sprinted out of her house once she saw Charlie's car pull in. Ms. Roberts had also went to Juilliard. And since she has no children of her own or a partner or really any of her relatives close by...I know she sees me as the one to continue her legacy. She chose a career in dance over a family. That's what she had always told me anyways. Apparently she met the love of her life in New York. She described him as a pale, charming, and devilishly handsome man from England. He was already working at some prestigious law firm in New York. But he had wanted her to settle in one place and lay her roots down and "change who she really was." She said leaving him was the hardest thing she ever had to do and she hasn't been able to fall in love since. However, she pursued her dreams and it worked. She performed in Broadway and was a backup dancer to so many celebrities. She decided to become a dance teacher in Forks when she was thirty-five-years-old. Her mother lived here and was sick with breast cancer at the time. I was one of her first pupils. Her mother ended up dying when I was five. That was the only time I think she ever took time off from her dance studio, REVIVAL.