The beautiful lights of red, pink, white, and gold shined upon the stage as I danced across it with grace. My flowing skirt brushed my legs as I jumped up into the air when the orchestra hit that certain tune, my feet landed on the floor with a little thud but nobody could hear it over the music. A twirl here and a twirl there, I saw smiling faces and cameras occasionally flashing as I did my ballet stunts for the crowd. Somewhere in the sea of people were my father and mother watching their oldest daughter accomplish what their youngest daughter, my adopted sister, couldn't.
My instructor was to the side of the stage hidden by the curtains, she gave me thumbs up and clapped silently to herself as she also watched me dance. The music hit that certain point of the song where I was supposed to do a penche and a passe en releve after one another. "Give them a show they'll never forget, Elise" my instructor had told me before the show had begun, and I was damn well going to do that. With my hands to my sides I gave one last twirl and a leap as I gave them those two moves.
The music faded as the light above shined down on me in a glowing gold, a few seconds of silence passed until the crowd came together and stood up with a standing ovation. Whistles came from here and there as the people adored me, single flowers were thrown onto the stage from the top floor balconies of the theater. I bowed to the people with sweat droplets slithering down my back neck. With a large ever so beautiful smile I began to gather some of the flowers into my hands as a bouquet for remembrance of this day. Slowly the curtains began to close for me as I picked up the last red rose and just as I set it into the haphazard bouquet of mine a thorn pricked my finger. I hissed in pain as I put my thumb in my mouth and sucked on it to make it feel better, who would throw a damn rose with thorns still attached to their stem? "Fucking idiots" I whispered to myself as I gathered the flowers into my arms and walked my way to my instructor who waited for me near the backrooms of the stage.
"Amazing performance, Elise!" my instructor yelped loudly for everyone backstage to hear, she grabbed my shoulders and shook me with happiness. Some other female dancers glanced our way, some of them smiled and then there were those who sneered at me. I was picked out of the entire class to perform a solo ballet act, because I was the best of the best. I smiled at Ms.Volkavich and handed her a rose from my bouquet, she chuckled and smiled as she accepted it from me. "Flowers for the best" she simply said as she walked me to my dressing room. Yes I was the only dancer with her own dressing room, because like I said, I'm the best of the best here.
Ms. Volkavich left me to myself in the dressing room and closed the door on her way out of the room, it clacked close with a soft thud. I looked around my dressing room with a soft sigh and smiled as I set the flowers down on the wooden desk. My thumb still ached from the thorn prick as I took a seat at the desk and looked at myself in the large mirror. I have to admit they really did give me a nicer dressing room than the group one. The floor was covered in a soft white carpet, the walls were a pale lilac purple, and the light above was just nearly a chandelier. The chair was a plush chair, definitely comfy to sit in as I do my makeup and hair before a show. I glanced at myself in the mirror and chuckled to myself as I began to take the decorations out of my hair.
An hour passed as I scrolled through my phone in the dressing room, harmonious classical music played from the cd player sitting on top of the table near the closet of the room. My face was clear of makeup and cleaned with some foreign skin cleanser my instructor gifted to me a week ago and my hair was up in a towel from the shower I took a few minutes ago. I scrolled through articles of the theater I was at and occasionally I'd scratch my nose out of boredom.
The clock on the wall ticked away and made a slightly annoying TICK TICK TICK sound. As I reached up to scratch my nose again my index finger brushed against a bump on my nose. "What the hell?" I said to myself as I set my phone down on the desk with annoyance and looked at myself in the mirror. The light above the mirror flickered as I leaned forward to look more closely at the bump on my face, it was definitely a noticeable bump! I hissed in slight pain as I tried to pop it, it only made the skin a bit red and the bump to flare up. "What the fuck" I said in a slight panic as I tried to pop it again, and again, and again but to no avail. It was still there and getting bigger!
