What it's like to be a Cherry Blossom

Chapter 7: My turn

Music filled the silent classroom. I started slowly. I tried to put the best poker face I could. I was panicking like crazy. I hadn't planned a routine, even though I was before-last.

Relax. No one planned anything.

Relax. If you're stressed you'll blow it.

Relax. Relax Gracie. Listen to the music. What does it remind you of?

What did it remind me of? It reminded me of small children playing. I smiled and closed my eyes. Innocence of young kids. Playfulness.

Let's complicate the choreography, I thought to myself. Turn-out... followed by a pirouette and immediately after a Assemblé.... and return to fifth position.

I opened my eyes again, only to see everyone looking at me. At first I thought their faces had a hint of mockery, but then I realized that in fact, they were happy. The playfulness in my routine was affecting them!
I continued to dance playfully, always in touch with gracefulness. I decided to leave the biggest jumps to the end. I'll stick with my strongest points, steps and pirouette, I thought. As the song rolled on, I started increasing the difficulty in the steps and turns. First a Emboité and a Chassé. An Illusion turn and a Chaînés. A variety of steps and turns that were playful enough for the music.

Alright Gracie, let's add a little spice to finish this up. Jetè, followed by a Croisé, plié and.... a Tour en l'air!

I land as gracefully as possible, ending in a Quatrième devant. I bow, and my fellow dancers clapped. I smiled a bit wider, satisfied with my routine.

"Alright, alright, thank you students," Miss Jasmine said, settling down all the dancers. "My oh my Grace. That was an incredibly beautiful performance! I can see that you know that your strengths lay in steps and turns, and you even added turns that aren't from ballet, such as the Illusion turn. You even did a Tour en l'air, a step that usually men do. You did it perfectly, by the way. Yet your jumps don't match the level of capacity as your steps, which gives us something to work on. And lastly, I noticed you panicked at the beginning. We'll also work on controlling your panic, as in eliminating it completely. But aside from that, it was spectacular."

I nodded and smiled. I made my way to Mai, who was also smiling. I just got feedback from a real ballerina! I didn't messed up horribly! And I was better than Colette! I just showed everyone how capable and worthy I was. We all sat in silence, waiting for the next dancer to begin.

***

"This class is definitely the best!" Mai said jumping up and down.

"It was definitely something." I replied.

"What are you? Five? No wait, two? I'm sorry, but babies shouldn't be here Maiko." said Sophie from behind us.

"Maiko, you are utterly ridiculous. Only a wannabe ballerina would act like you are behaving right now." Colette agreed.

"Uh, excuse me Colette and Sophie, but I believe that Mai here completely kicked your butts in there. She was the best of them all, and you say you're the top ballerinas." I spat, defending Mai.

"Is Miss Let's-panic-because-I-have-no-experience here actually talking back?" Colette asked, expecting me to back down.

"As a matter of fact Miss Stuck up-and-a-complete-fake, yes I am. Who wouldn't after seeing all the bull-crap you said proving itself wrong? I mean, you told me you're the best ballerina, and yet you're not graceful and get distracted just by the mere fact that a new rival is here? Maiko clearly beats your level."

Colette's mouth fell open. "Maiko used to be with us, y'know? Where do you think she learned how to dance ballet? Hmm? Without us, Maiko wouldn't even be in ballet. Now, here you are, defending her, and you don't even know her history here! How pathetic." Sophie said, saving her best friend. Sophie flipped her hair at us followed by Colette. I just stood there, awestruck. Maiko lowered her chin, hiding her face.

"Mai, is that true?" I asked, breaking the silence between us.

She hesitated. "Yes," she said in a small voice. "When they entered in six grade, we became best friends. We were the popular girls. Seventh grade passed, we were still friends, trying to keep the popularity, but tension grew between us, and then eighth grade came..."

I noticed tears fall off her chin. I rushed and hugged her. Those girls did something to her. Something horrible. "If you want, we can go to the dorm now. We're free now." I said.

"No. We agreed to meet Clara, remember? Let's go find Luna and Vale." She freed herself of my embrace and left. I followed, yet I couldn't help wonder what happened between Colette, Sophie and Mai.