HEAVEN IS HERE

CHAPTER FIVE

After Annalise and the other girls continued to watch the hand-to-hand exercises, as Madame B put it, luckily with people tapping out instead of the first example, it was Annalise's turn.

"You, and you, the new girl." The instructor declares, Annalise and her opponent being the last group before the exercise is over.

A wave of anxiety washes over Annalise, having never fought anyone before in her four years of life. When Annalise looks to see who her opponent is, she's a little relieved, but also a little bit more scared. It's Katerina. At first, the relief she feels is due to her new friendship with the group of girls, but then remembers what Katerina herself had told her earlier that day.

"There is no 'friends' here, Annalise. There's people you have kind of grouped with, you stick together, but never get it in your head that any of us are friends, because once you do, it'll make your life so much harder."

It occurs to Annalise this is probably what she meant. She was quickly humbled when she realized how they don't mess around here, and realizes that Katerina probably said that because it's really just survival of the fittest out here, like the instructor had said.

Annalise stares into Kat's eyes as they both get into their positions, and Annalise detects a flash of sympathy in her opponents eyes before she casts her gaze away from that of Annalise.

"START!" The instructor booms.

Annalise may be inexperienced, but she sure isn't stupid. She lunges immediately, catching Katerina off guard, assuming that she hadn't immediately expected that from the new girl.

Annalise ducks under her opponents legs, pulling one of them as she slides underneath her, causing Katerina to stumble onto her knees. Annalise takes this opportunity to jump onto her back, holding her hand on Katerina's chin as she had seen previous girls do, and the other closer to her neck. She twists, ever so slightly, but enough to send the message across. She's won. It was fast, but the element of surprise was to her advantage. As the instructor claps to signify the end of the exercise, she climbs off of Katerina and sees the mix of impressed as well as surprised looks, even some girls staring in a mixture of wonder and awe. She glances over to Maisie, Marina, and Katerina, and they all give her a nod in approval. She's in.

The girls all go back into the locker room, changing back into their uniforms and head to their class.

As Annalise and her friends, wait no- peers, she guesses, head to class, she hopes that it'll be less harsh than their last lesson.

                              ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

After class, with the subjects being english and math for those two hours, is done, Annalise feels excited and ready to head to ballet. It was just like school, albeit stricter but definitely less intense in comparison to their last lesson. She hopes it stays that way, at least for most of their education based classes.

The girls all change into black leotards, with pink ballet tights underneath, slipping on their ballet flats. Annalise feels like a proper ballerina, especially with her hair already up in the elegant bun Marina did for her and such. She hopes to be good at hair when Marina helps to teach her, she loves when her mom does different hair styles for her. Well, loved.

They head into the room with the glass window Annie had seen in the hall when they were all lined up earlier that day. It appears that the older girls were just finishing up their class, ending counts recited by the dance teacher. The group of girls are ushered into rows, being told to observe the older ones before their own lesson.

"Marissa! Sharper turns" The dance teacher scolds.

The girl she assumes to be Marissa straightens her back, executing sharper turns without breaking the combination they are all in the midst of.