The Forgotten Ballerina

Sixteen

*Knock *Knock *Knock

"Who is it?" Eli says. "It's me." I say. He opens the door and greets me. "Well good morning. What are you doing here?" He jokes. "Oh hush, we have to go." I say as he walks out. Cameron walks out of his room.

Eli turns to look at him. "Hey man, how'd that break up go last night?" He asks. Cameron looks at me with a smirk on his face. "We're gonna be fine." He lies.

When Eli's not looking at me, I roll my eyes and give Cameron a disgusted look. "Come on, let's go." I say to Eli. We walk downstairs and go to my car. "Can you watch my turns today? They're kind of all over the place now and I'm worried about them." I ask.

"Of course. Even though your turns are always perfect." He says. I smile at him and we arrive at the studio. Eli opens the door for me. "After you, my White Swan." He says.

We walk into the room and start warming up. "First up. Our lovely swans." Our instructor says. Marissa and I walk to center of the mirrors. He begins our music and we start our dance.

Everything is going perfect. Time for my Grande Jeté, and of course I mess up on it. "God, Lilly! I'd rather you not dance at all then have you wobble around the floor like a chicken with its head cut off!" He yells.

My eyes well up with tears but I'm strong enough to hold them back. "From the top." He says. We try to be perfect but it isn't enough. "Absolutely not! This entire dance is wrong!" He yells, again.

I look back to Eli and his face is almost red. He looks extremely angry. "From the top!" He says. The music restarts and we have to dance one more time. Still not good enough. "Whatever. Let's do Eli's solo." He says.

"You know what, I'm not feeling well. I'll sit today's rehearsal out." He says. Our instructor rolls his eyes and scoffs. "Fine. But tomorrow you're doing everything no matter what. Dead or alive." He says.

"Now, time for the group piece." He says. I sit next to Eli after my part. "Are you ok?" I ask him. "I just get a little angry sometimes. I'm learning to control it." He replies as he places his hand on mine.

I smile at him, in attempt to calm him down. "If you're not doing anything, maybe we can hang out later tonight? Like a fancy dinner." I ask. "I'd love to." He says.