Du Nord: The Believing heart lost years (EN)

Welcome to Nice

Monday 25 June 2001, Nice, France

"New place, I needed to start again somehow and that's when I thought about what to do, as it was a new week, I was already getting ready to go out and see what was around town, my father hadn't even got home yet and I already had to run after things, I was really thinking about what I was going to do from now on, I had the money to go to Luna Nova, at least part of it, but I didn't want to spend it yet, since I had francs left over, worst of all is that the story of how I lived in the worst of Nice wasn't told well."

Dad hasn't really come round, he's gone to have some fun with that bitch Daryl, he's probably getting more money, I'm going to take advantage and go for a walk, I've already had breakfast today, yesterday's stale pizza, well at least it didn't turn out so bad, it's a new week starting, I even ended up sleeping a bit more, but I imagine there must be something open here, I hope so.
I go outside already dressed, feeling hot, it's much hotter here than Annecy, I think I'm going to have to get used to it, at least there's a bit of the freshness of the sea coming in, I walk through the town, trying to find just the place I had passed before arriving here, I remember it's close to home, I arrive, noticing the façade and the dancers, which enchants me, the girls doing their ballet class, I stare in amazement, soon it will be me there, I take a deep breath and walk in.
I wave to everyone and the teacher soon notices me, stopping the other girls who were doing their steps to attend to me.

"Good morning little girl, what brings you here? Do you want to become a ballerina?" She asks.

"Yes, I want to become one, I want to take ballet lessons" I'm just not going to say that the reason has a little to do with the fact that I'm going to use this to learn magic.

"Skinny, tall, very slender, it's quite rare to find a girl like that around here, you'd make a perfect ballerina, you have a great future, how old are you? 14? 15? We can discuss the price and timetable" said the teacher, "and I really can get a false identity by passing myself off as a 14-year-old easily.

"My name is Chariot Du Nord and I'm 11 years old. How much does it cost to take lessons?" I say, smiling.

"I'd swear you were a bit taller, you're really tall for your age, well we'll discuss the price, call your mum and we can talk to her about it" said the teacher.

"I'm the one who has the money here, my mum's dead, I live with my dad, let's talk to each other, I can afford it" I say to her and she laughs.

"An independent little girl hahaha, that's so cute, but we don't pay tuition with lollipop change, this isn't just any ballet school, you'll still have to pay for your clothes, you understand that" I nod and shrug.

"OK, I have money, can you tell me how much it is?" I ask the teacher.

"It's 500 francs a month, I told you that's not a small amount, if you want to come here you'll pay a lot, our ballet school has a reputation" Relax, I have enough to pay.

"All right, I think I can leave it a year early then, now let's discuss the clothes and where to buy them, I accept, I want to do lessons here in the evening, since I don't have the whole day free" She's all shocked when I reply.

"Woah, not bad little girl, you really aren't just anyone, we'll have evening classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from around eight o'clock until half past nine, don't forget to turn up to class, always on time, let's go over the paperwork and then I want to give you an assessment" said the teacher and I've already made a good impression.

We walk to an office and it seems that even the girls have stopped practising, when we get to the room we fill in the paperwork, I sign it, hand over the money, and we get the clothes, trainers, collars, whatever it takes to be a ballerina, I think the most basic clothes, they were quite cheap, I managed to pay 400 for everything plus the 6,000 for tuition, I touch the teacher's hand who smiles at me and then we leave the room.
Together we walk around the room with the other students and I already have a good impression, with a bag of my new clothes, I'm going to be one of them soon, this is so wonderful, it's full of happiness.