Isabella 'Bella' Marie Rickman: This is Me

Part Seven

Bella was stood at the staircase that leads up to the centre where she then was stood in the middle.

Bella slowly walked down the stairs to the middle of the stage where she was looking around at all the other members of the cast and then stood in the middle with the actor playing the prince.

"Welcome to the palace. You look so beautiful tonight, what's your name fair maiden?" The prince asked.

"Princess Cinders."

"Ladies and Gentlemen. It's time for the Ballroom dancing to start."

The Jelicile Ball music started up. This was where Bella excelled. She was dancing her heart out with the other dancers. The prince who was wearing a mask at the time, was exchanged with one of the other dancers so that they wouldn't know that it wasn't actual Prince dancing with Bella.

As the music was building up to the end, the clock chimes started up. Everyone was now moving slowly as the music kept on building and the pace was quickening up. Bella ran up the steps and managed to get off the main part of the steps and head down.

This would be a quick change over to get back into the village scene. But the Prince and Dandini would be doing a filler scene so that they could get the change done.

It was the end of the first technical rehearsal. Everyone was knackered and just wanted to get home and bathe themselves from the amount of sweat there was.

Bella was just changing out of her clothes, and she headed to the shower room that she had in her dressing room.

Once dressed, Louis was waiting for her at the stage door. He had asked if she would like to go for a drink. Bella politely accepted the invite and headed out to the pub over the road.

Again, she ordered a Cherry Coke and sat down at a table in the back and Louis came and sat down with her.

"It was a good first technical rehearsal. You did a great job." Bella told him.

"Yeah, it wasn't bad. But boy is it heavy to move." Louis sat down and took a big sup of his pint.

"Yeah, but what you lot do is so good. The set looks great." Bella told him.

"I will have to take you to the panto that's over the road. That's a tough one. Turning a concert hall into a theatre. It takes roughly two and a half days to do the fit up and even by the time that it's the technical rehearsal, it's never ready on time. I'm just glad to have left that scene and move into the Professional World." Louis told her.

"Well, this is my first professional job. I turn 18 soon. But my adopted parents signed off that I could be on my own when its rehearsals. This is what I want to do as a career.

But my father doesn't want me to do this. We argued the day I left home to travel up here. I haven't spoken to him since. My boyfriend has called, but I have ignored his calls as he didn't want me to be here either. My family life crumbled years ago when the accident happened." Bella looked down at her hands.

"If you don't want to say anything then I won't push you to tell me." Louis put his hand on Bella's shoulder.

"I wish that I never said yes to the sleepover at Aunt Emma's. Then none of what happened would have happened. I wouldn't have had to go through months of therapy to get me to walk and talk. It got worse leading up to the Chamber of Secrets premier. That my father basically threw me out of the home and sent me to live with his driver and his family. They adopted me; I kept the family name. I do sometimes live with my father, but only when it suits him. He raised me single handily from birth as my mum didn't want anything to do with me at all. So, it was just me and father." Bella told him about her family life.

"But here I am. I'm still standing and aiming for my goals that I set up when I started to go to dance classes. I have achieved some of them, but I still have a way to go."

They both finished their drinks and then hugged each other.

"My wife has a day off tomorrow. Is it ok for you to meet her? She's bored stuck at home and would like to get out more." Louis asked of Bella.

"That's fine. I would love to meet the woman behind you Louis. Yeah, let's meet up and have a drink after rehearsals tomorrow."

"Right then. Its settled. See you tomorrow, Bella." Louis had finished his pint and then headed out of the pub for his last bus.

Bella finished her drink to then hear her phone ring. It was her father ringing her. She ignored it like she did with Tom's call the other day.

Bella headed back to her home to rest up for another day of technical rehearsals.