The Black Swan

Chapter 22

I love how most CS shippers know this pic because Christopher Gorham (ehem stupid Walsh) was edited out of it 😂😂 Also, special author's note at the end that you might want to look at, the super duper shmuper important part will be marked with a ***
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Author's POV
     Emma waved goodbye to her friends and ran into her house. She went up to her room and quickly changed into a leotard. She laced up her pointe shoes and ran back downstairs. She started walking to the studio because she still had some time before she had to be there.

Today had been a good day for the most part. She had made amends with her friends. Not everything was alright, but it was a start. When Emma got to the studio, she found the room filled with twice as many people as it normally had. Today they were practicing with the younger kids.

"Okay, everybody, listen up! Today might be a little more hectic than usual, but we're going to make this run as smoothly as possible," Jefferson said.

Everyone quickly went to their starting positions and, as Jefferson had said, it went as smooth as a first large group practice could go.

A few hours passed, and it was time for Emma's private session. Today it would be with Jefferson so he could keep track of her progress. Emma was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be spending time with Killian, but it was for her benefit that she would be practicing with Jefferson.

After warming up a bit, Jefferson ran Emma through some techniques that would strengthen her legs so her leaps would be better than they already were. During one of the more difficult techniques, Jefferson told Emma that it was extremely important to stay focused and not let anything distract her from total concentration.

"How was school today?"

"Average," Emma responded with a strained voice. Her muscles were burning and she started to break a few drops of sweat.

"Friends?"

"Good...ish."

"Life at home?"

"Eh."

"What about Tink?"

He was really trying to distract her, but she wouldn't let him. She couldn't.

"What about her?"

"There seems to be tension between you two."

"When is there not?"

"Touché. Again, but backwards." Emma ran through the drill again and tried clearing her mind. Jefferson asked her countless questions and told her to recite silly things like the ABC's and to count to twenty, but each time, Emma complied and ran through them perfectly.

"How do you like Killian?"

Emma almost tripped but caught herself in time to continue. Her heart rate sped and she prayed Jefferson didn't catch her fault.

"He's a great dancer and a good instructor."

"True as that is, I meant as a person."

Emma gulped and tried to figure out the correct wording.

"He seems nice, but I wouldn't be the right person to judge his character, I hardly even know him." I hardly even know him. Emma knew him, but she only saw the big picture, not the little things about him. She really didn't know him as well as she thought. She started thinking about that and got a little worried. They hadn't been together very long, everything had actually happened pretty fast. It all escalated so quickly. But did she regret it? No.