Chapter 1
"Have a nice weekend girls, and remember to think about your solos for the competition!" Mrs. Fonteyn smiled and waved as her students filed out of the room. All but one.
Mrs. Fonteyn turned around after shutting the door. There on the wooden floor, Victoria was doing her middle splits, keeping warm and stretching on her spot in front of the mirror. Her forehead and back were both beaded with sweat, her royal blue leotard was also soaked through. But that face of grim determination was still there, as clear as day. It always was.
Mrs. Fonteyn sighed, turning her back towards Victoria. As she busied herself with organizing the mix of CDs that were all over her desk, she wondered how Victoria could still be so full of energy. The girl was already dancing eight hours a day for six days a week. But that was the life of a dancer, and thankfully, Victoria was strong enough to take it. Mrs. Fonteyn picked out the CD for basic warm ups. "Alright, dear, we'll do a little stretch at the barre and then we'll work on your solo for the competition, okay?"
Victoria nodded, getting up. She pushed her pink duffel bag aside and took her place at the barre. Mrs. Fonteyn pushed play on the music player and smoothed out her skirt as she sat down to watch her best student begin to dance.
Mrs. Fonteyn had been teaching at the Lakewater Dance Studio for nearly ten years. She wasn't the oldest nor youngest of the workers of the faculty, but she was definitely the most experienced. While other teachers had been trained at the School of American Ballet, Mrs. Fonteyn had been taught at both the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet Schools, two of the most prestigious academies of dance in the world. Whenever teachers, students, and parents asked her how she had done it, she always replied saying that all she did was dance. She danced-- and things had just ended up with her training in both places. But the titles that she had been given as principal dancer and prima ballerina, the highest title given to dancers, made so many of her students admire her with the utmost respect.
It wasn't always easy for Mrs. Fonteyn, though. Other instructors got jealous from time to time. She'd once even been accused of stealing a fellow teacher's pointe shoes-- those pink satin ones that every little girl wanted, the ones that you saw in pictures everywhere. Thankfully, the headmistress of the studio had gotten down to the bottom of the stituation immediately, and the teacher was eventually fired. Mrs. Fonteyn had to admit it-- being an educator sometimes was a struggle on her. There were students who were dying to have her as their coach, and other dancers, some with no talent at all, were having their parents pay hundreds and thousands of dollars just to get her attention. Mrs. Fonteyn would usually work with them as best as she could, but she'd always end up saying that she didn't have enought time to teach them, a fact that was true. Other than teaching at the Lakewater Dance Studio, from time to time, she'd do some choreographies for major ballet companies. The dancers there were all extremely brilliant, but somehow their training sessions seemed dull and bland for Mrs. Fonteyn, like she was just acting, doing nothing for real.
But training Victoria was nothing like that. The young dancer, currently at the age of thirteen, always had a fire burning inside of her, a passion that drove her mad. What Mrs. Fonteyn thought was funny when they first talked was that Victoria had never heard of the name "Amelia Fonteyn" in her life until she had met the dance teacher. Victoria was a full time dancer, but also a ridiculous ballet researcher. Whenever she had spare time, Victoria would be watching ballet videos on her iPad or reading books on the history of the pointe shoe and whatnot. So it was a pleasant surprise when Victoria had innocently asked, "Amelia Fonteyn? Who is that?" instead of having a huge group of girls race up to her and ask for autographs and pictures and how to do this, how to do that.
But as soon as Mrs. Fonteyn had discovered that, yes, Victoria wanted to be a not just a principal dancer, but a prima ballerina-- the top level of a dancer that every girl wanted to reach-- more than anything else in the world, she began watching her very, very closely. Did she have the build to survive the cruel things that dance could do to her body: the small head, the skinny body, the slender legs? Yes. Was she determined? Yes, too. Did she have the talent? Most definitely. No questions asked.
So when Mrs. Fonteyn explained her career to Victoria's father and the girl hersef, she watched as Victoria first caught her breath, then her eyes go as wide as saucers, and finally, jumping up and down as she pleaded and begged for her father to let her work with Mrs. Fonteyn. And Victoria couldn't believe that she was so lucky to have such a wise dancer to teach her, and for nothing more than the average dance tuition. Mrs. Fonteyn had told Victoria how amazing they could make her dancing, and that was all it took. Victoria was on her way to success.
