Masquerade Ballet

Four

A/N: Hello again! I must be on fire cause I actually managed to update before it snowed in Egypt. I must say, I'm fairly proud of myself. Anyway, enjoy the update! Love you all!

It was three a.m. 

I had done all of the school I had to do to tomorrow, (today, really). 

And I hadn't slept a wink. 

Now I was laying in bed, counting the number of times I had performed on stage. There were the four times with Swan Lake... The six times with the Nutcracker.... The three times with Coppelia... I yawned, stretching. Why couldn't I just go to sleep? I was exhausted, so why was it so difficult to shut my brain up? It was like jet lag but worse, because I wasn't on vacation. I had five hours of dance later in addition to being a lunch meeting with Mme. Marie to discuss class yesterday, not to mention helping out with running the bakery during the morning rush in about five hours. Groaning, I stubbornly snapped my eyes shut and sternly told my thoughts to take a hike. I needed sleep, and I needed it now. 

When I woke up at seven-thirty, I swore my legs had anchored themselves to the bed and my eyes had been sewn shut. My body refused to move. By the time I finally got out of bed, I had fifteen minutes to make myself look presentable for the flood of customers that were bound to be downstairs. Throwing on a change of clothes, I brushed my teeth and ran down the stairs to the living room while brushing my hair. Carelessly tossing my brush on the couch, I stumbled down the stairs to kitchen of the bakery. After pouring myself a cup of coffee and dumping in three heaping spoonfuls of sugar and a ton of cream, I stepped into the store. Mom and Dad were behind the counter, accepting cash and giving pastries to people faster than you could say: "Thank you for coming to Dupain-Cheng Bakery!" Slipping behind the counter, I started taking orders, cashing people out, and passing pastries back and forth. I felt dead on my feet, but I slapped a smile on my face and pretended like the purple smudges under my eyes didn't exist. Two hours later, the breakfast rush was trickling out, and I was seated at one of the tables munching on a croissant and sipping my second coffee. Watching people was one of my favorite things to do; the way they walked, the way they dressed, how they talked with my parents. It was like seeing the smallest slice of their everyday lives right in front of me. 

I must've been zoning out because the next moment I knew someone was sitting at my table and trying to get my attention. 

"Girl, where are you at?" Alya asked, waving a hand in front of my eyes. 

"Alya!" I said, my voice slightly too loud. "Sorry, just thinking." 

"Auditions again? You have got to let that go, I'm sure you did great." 

"Actually no, though that is on my mind a lot. Besides, I know I did great." 

"Your three anxious phone calls to me say otherwise," she teased, her mouth twitching with the effort of withholding a smile. 

"Shut up!" I protested, slapping her lightly across the arm. "I've had plenty of anxious phone calls from you about Nino," I argued, watching her gasp. 

"We're dating now, so aren't you glad you listened to me?" 

"I don't know, hearing you complain about his stupidity has probably turned me off from actually liking a guy." 

"You know that's not true! Don't act like I didn't see you chatting with the new kid." I involuntarily turned scarlet. 

"It's not like that!" 

"Your face is red," she observed. 

"Cause I'm embarrassed!" I stuffed my mouth with crissont, trying to avoid eye contact. 

"Sure," Alya drawed, standing up. "I'm going to get a coffee, I'll be back." 

"It's on the house," I muttered. 

When she returned, I had cooled my features and managed to have a straight face. 

"Alright, actual reason I decided to drop in," she began, plopping down in the chair, "is that I decided to start a blog on the show." 

"Yeah? That sounds really cool!" 

"It probably won't be popular or anything, but hey, it'll be fun to look back on everything. I'm calling it 'The LadyBlog,' like Ladybug, the muse. Get it?" 

"Totally! That is really cool, Alya." 

"I try," she beamed. "I better get going though, Mama is expecting me home in a few minutes." 

"Love you," I said, giving her a hug. 

"Love you too. Good luck!" 

"You too!" I waved as she left, the bell proclaiming her departure. 

I cleaned up my table and threw away my trash, then went back upstairs to take a shower before meeting Mme. Marie for lunch. After caking concealer under my eyes and blending the daylights out of it, I smacked on some mascara and straightened my pigtails for the twentieth time. Yawning, I went back downstais, missing a couple steps on the way down. When I finally stumbled into the living room, it was eleven-thirty which meant I had to leave. Bidding my parents goodbye, I shuffled out the door and down the street to Café Jean, one of my favorites. My stomach growled as I walked, and I was halfway to the café before I realized that I had forgotten my phone. 

Not seeing Mme. Marie, I snagged a table outside and sat, keeping an eye out for the petite, dark skinned woman. A short while later she swept through, her pink handkerchief skirt threatening to knock over a pot of flowers. 

"Sorry I'm late," she apologized, breathing heavily as she sat. "My dog decided that he would puke all over my new bedding just as I was getting ready to leave, so I had to clean it up, and I am so sorry." 

"Not a problem! I just got here myself. I'm going to go order, so you want anything?" 

After ordering Mme. Marie's and my own food, I brought it back and began nursing my third cup of coffee as she began talking. 

"Overall, I think the classes went well," she started, munching on a chip. "But there was Manon." I said nothing, waiting for her to continue. "Hopefully she's better next week, otherwise I fear she and the others won't be able to learn anything." 

"Yeah, me too." 

"But all of the other classes went well, don't you think?" 

"Definitely!" 

"Next week we will teach them second position and tendu, other than that, I think we're set. You auditioned for the Masked Muses, right? How did it go?" 

"I think it went well, but we don't find out results until today." 

"I think the email was sent out this morning, have you checked yet?" 

"Nope. I was helping my mom and dad with the bakery, then I came straight here. Are you helping at all?" 

"Only with cleaning after choreography is done." She finished the last bite of her sandwich then stood. "I better get going, I have class to teach at twelve-forty-five. Good seeing you, Marinette." 

"You too, Mme. Marie." 

"Good luck!" she grinned. 

"Thank you!" 

As soon as she left, I cleaned my place then hurried home. The tiredness that I had felt had vanished and I practically sprinted home, anxious to see the results. When I swept through the bakery, Mom gave me a curious look, but ignore my antics in favor of checking out a customer. Taking the steps two at a time, I found my phone sitting on the counter and I scrambled to pick it up. 

"Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest..." I muttered as I scrolled through my email, my eyes hungry for one, specific, email. "Wattpad, Facebook... Mme. Gertrude!" I jabbed my finger on the screen so hard I thought I was going to bend my phone. "Thank you for your audition Marinette Dupain-Cheng," I read, trying not skip ahead. "Out of about seventy-five people who all wanted to perform as Ladybug, and the twenty-five that received call-backs, we narrowed down our choices to three, very talented girls. Out of those three, all of whom were technically accurate, we felt that you were the one who made the most of the call back piece. Congratulations, Ladybug."