Dancing Queen

Chapter 2

"Come on, come on, come on!" Frida clapped her hands in time to her words as she encouraged her little dancers into the room.

"Miss Frida?".

Frida looked down when she felt the pull on the sweater she had tied around her waist "Yes, my little ballerina?" she leaned forward, smoothing a strand of the child's hair.

"I don't know how to tie my shoes" the little girl murmured with two big puppy eyes.

Frida chuckled "Oh, honey. Don't worry. Before starting the new lesson, I'll review it for you and all your companions. I'm sure you're not the only one. Ok?" she winked.

The little girl smiled and nodded, running towards the room soon after.

Frida stood up and sighed, looking inside the room, where a cloud of pink tulle and tights moved frantically around the room, creating an atmosphere almost like a big cotton candy. She gave a hint of a joyful smile and walked towards them.

"Here we are! Here we are!".

Frida turned quickly when she heard the door bang open and her eyes fell on a little girl muffled up in a jacket, hat and gloves and a man with two rucksacks on his shoulder and a briefcase in his hand.

They both ran towards her and she was almost afraid that they would hit her with their energy.

"In extremis! But we did it!".

Frida remained silent for a few seconds and looked into the eyes of the man "Andersson, right?".

Benny smiled widely "Exactly. Benny" he touched his chest with his hand "And Princess Heléne" he looked down at the little girl and stroked her cheek.

The little girl blushed and hid behind her dad's leg, hugging it.

'A habit, then' Frida thought amused.

"I could never forget a beautiful dancer like Heléne. Hey?" Frida crouched in front of the little girl, looking at her with a smile. The girl looked at her with only half of her face coming out from behind his father's leg "We're about to start. Do you want to come in with me?" she saw the little girl hesitant, pulling her father's pants tighter to her "Listen to me: there are a lot of little girls in there and I'm afraid they might eat me!" she said in a low, scared voice, making her giggle "They all have big fangs and very sharp and very long nails and then they have big big mouths to devour me. Roarrr!".

Heléne jumped when she heard her roar and laughed "That's not true!".

Frida pretended to be shocked "You don't believe me? Then you must come and see for yourself! Let's go, come on!" and she reached out a hand to her.

The little girl hesitated a few more seconds and then advanced slowly, gently grabbing her hand. Frida smiled and straightened up. She finally looked up at her father, finding him looking at them with a soft expression in his eyes.

They looked at each other for a few seconds and then Frida laughed nervously "Ok, we're going into the lions' den, then".

He chuckled "You're very brave. Can I stand by and watch for a while? Is that a problem?" he asked hesitantly.

Frida watched him for a few seconds and understood that no matter how fearful and embarrassed the little girl was, he was the one who was really worried.

"Of course. No problem. So If we need help, we can call you! Right Heléne?" she juggled the little girl's hand and she nodded vehemently, still looking behind her towards the room "Ok, let's go. We'll see you back at 7pm". The two smiled at each other one last time and then she and the little girl went inside.