ℒ𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒪𝓃 𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒟𝒶𝓃𝒸ℯ ℱ𝓁ℴℴ𝓇 [𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟏]

𝟎.𝟎𝟎- 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

˚✧.⋅₊˚ ‧ 🩰⋅୨୧ ⋅🦢 ‧₊˚ ⋅.✧˚

["Dance To Express, Not Impress"]

Emily Cooper had beautiful blond hair that went just below her shoulders. Her eyes were a bright green they stood out to everyone. Emily was shorter for her age too. She was four feet one inch, close to the average height for an seven year old.

Currently she was in a ballet class with two of her best friends, Chloé Lukasiak and Paige Hyland. Like her, Chloé and Paige both had blonde hair. They were taller than her. Paige's eyes were a beautiful blue while Chloé's were a soft but deep brown. They were the twins of the studio. They were best friends too. Emily was close to them, but not as close with them as they were with each other.

That was okay though because Emily's other best friend was Maddie Zeigler. Maddie lived across the street from her and went to the same school as her. The two had been dancing duets together since they were four. That was when Maddie joined the Abby Lee Dance Company. Emily had joined a little before Maddie.

Emily joined the dance studio when she was only ten months old. It was a lot of money, but her parents knew it was what she wanted. They had taken her to see a musical and she wouldn't stop imitating the dancing. Emily's mom, Katie, had already known Abby- the dance teacher.

Katie moved to Pittsburgh from Tallahassee Florida. She had no money and was very poor, her parents had kicked her out. She worked her way through school and opened her own restaurant, that's where she met Abby's mom. Mrs Miller. Mrs Miller helped Katie out.

Katie still works a lot to make money, and she struggles to pay for everything. Especially ever since her husband was fired from his job as a pharmacists. He hasn't been very productive since then.

"Okay, everyone, I want you to go on relivè and hold that arabesque for as long as you can," said Gianna, Abby's assistant teacher. Gianna was a college student who taught at the studio.

All the kids in the class followed the instructions, Emily glanced at Chloé. She had always been the best at ballet. Emily looked up to her a lot because of her talent. She wished Abby recognized Chloé's talent more. Then again Chloé seemed to have fun dancing.

Emily glanced around the room, trying to stay up as the other kids dropped from the position. She and Chloé were in the top five up. Paige had been the sixth to drop. Slowly everyone except Emily and Chloé had dropped. Three minutes had gone by.

"Go, Chloé! Go, Emily!" she heard Paige cheer this in a whisper.

Emily laughed a little at the silent encouragement, she bobbled a little and eventually fell. Chloé then came down. Emily mouthed a "Good job" to her friend. Chloé smiled at her and then Paige gave her a hug.

"Thanks, Paige," Chloe giggled.

Paige then went over to Emily, "You were so close, Em, sorry if I distracted you," she said as she placed her hands on Emily's shoulders.

Emily shook her head, "It's okay," she said.

The class did have much left. They spent ten minutes on pirouettes. Emily managed to do seven, which was pretty high for her. Her highest amount was nine. On pointe she could do thirteen though.

Once their class was over, Chloé, Paige, and Emily made their way into the dancers den. Emily dramatically flopped onto one of the benches and her friends laughed at her.

"Mondays always feel so long," she complained to them.

Paige rolled her eyes playfully, "You always complain about Mondays," she said.