Once again the taxi driver opened the door for her and helped her with her suitcase “You just stay safe little ‘un” he said fondly shaking her hand “I just hope you love this wonderful city as much as I do” They said goodbye again and he sped off leaving her staring at the grand black door with a large silver knocker in the shape of a lion’s head laying before her eyes. She knocked in a haste just to get a glimpse inside the building, from the outside it appeared fairly normal, just blending in with the rest of the London skyline. But however as the door was opened for her, a beautiful sight greeted her eyes.
Her feet and the wheels on the Alexandrov suitcase echoed as she stepped tenderly into the large hall in absolute awe of the surroundings to which she had entered. The marble flooring was pristine and polished to perfection as the white walls with incredibly high ceilings flooded the room with light, blinding her as she marvelled at each intricate detail. It was adream to any aspiring artist. Of course many large canvases covered the enormous walls as paintings of different ballet dancers (successful students of the school) hung as they were placed in a downwards, spiral motion, following the curving black spiral staircase which glorified the room with gold detailing, contrasting to the rest of the establishment and making it the most spectacular feature. A faint tinkling of piano keys could be heard as classes were taking place throughout the school. She was stopped in her intricate thoughts by a voice that came from beside her. “Ahh hello, I’m presuming you must be new around here” an extremely tall blonde girl stood at a slight distance away from Alissia, she was incredibly thin with pale blue eyes that glanced at her in an unfriendly fashion. She was unsure of what to make of her hippy-style appearance. The girl was covered from head to toe in fake tan, an obvious attempt to cover up her pale complexion, her face was heavily made up too as one of her drawn on eyebrows raised to study her appearance further. The two girls behind her mimicked her judging look “Hello, yes I’m new here, erm, I’m actually unsure of where I’m supposed to go” Alissia confessed. The girls were taken back by her Russian accent and a small smile now appeared on the blonde girls face “Wow, great accent you have there, what a joy it is to have another Russian ballet dancer with us” she grinned “I’m Camilla, Camilla Lupton” She held out her hand to Alissia, she herself had a very posh accent and a nasal, brittle quality to her voice “Erm, Alissia Alexandrov it’s really nice to meet you” she shook her hand, the girls now looked even more taken aback “Alexandrov?” Camilla questioned “Oh wow are you relate to Ms Alexandrov?!” Exclaimed the girl stood to Camilla’s left. This was Serena Floros-Rae, a pretty half Greek girl who was very small in comparison to her friend. Serena had tanned skin and long dark hair in tight spiral ringlets (tied back in a bun of course since this was a strict policy for the school) she had large olive coloured eyes that shone as she spoke. “Well obviously she’s related to Ms Alexandrov, Jesus Christ Serena” Camilla snapped bitterly “Yeah.. Yeah of course you are sorry- blonde moment!” she giggled and then hung her head when Camilla glared at her. “Yes, I am related to Arian- I mean Ms Alexandrov, she’s my mother” Alissia almost questioned the statement as she spoke. A girl stood to Camilla’s right said nothing and merely mimicked the other girl’s actions; this was Rosabelle Benson, a girl who didn’t seem to have much about her in looks or personality. She was the curviest out of the trio but by no means was she fat, her hair was mousey and was done in the same style of the rest of the girls. She had brown eyes that were dim and lacked sparkle and the only striking feature was the light freckles that dotted her cheeks. “Mother?!” the two girls were stunned “But Ms Alexandrov doesn’t have a daughter she’s spent her whole life dancing and-“ “Perhaps Serena” a voice boomed from the centre of the spiral staircase “It is unwise to ask questions and better to return to your lessons so you can improve your posture which was unsurprisingly weak in my class this morning” she barked in a Russian accent even stronger than Alissia’s. A painfully thin women around thirty or so marched her way down the rest of the elegant staircase “Oh wow” she thought “It’s really her- my mother”.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs with a confident click of shoes pounding the marble floor the three girls curtsied in perfect time with each other to grace her presence, Alissia did the same as a mark of respect, Arianna watched her as she did so “Not bad, not bad at all for a non-ballet dancer” She spat the word non hiding the compliment she gave her, Camilla looked alarmed by this “Excuse me Ms Alexandrov, beg your pardon for interrupting your conversation but is it right that.. Your daughter, has never received any training whatsoever unlike the rest of us in grade five?” “Well I beg your pardon for interrupting your conversation Miss Lupton but my..” She struggled to say the word “..daughter is absolutely none of your business, now if you wouldn’t mind escorting yourself, Miss Floros-Rae and Miss Benson over there who seems as chatty as ever back to your tap class I would like to be left alone without the interrogation if you’d be so kind” She spat the words at them, disgusted by any sort of questions, the trio left in a haste apologising and curtseying as they returned. Alissia began to feel scared- she had to be left alone with her now.
When the clutter of tap shoes had left the grand hall Arianna’s piercing green eyes met Alissia’s own and for a brief second they studied each other. It was bizarre for Alissia, Egor was an exquisite painter so of course her mother looked exactly like she did in the painting, there were some drastic changes though, she obviously looked older and the age was showing in her face as prominent frown lines indicated she wasn’t exactly fun to be around, she’d also loss about three-four stone in weight and therefore the features on her face and body stood out more. Her collarbones and cheekbones were highly visible making the rest of her cheek area look as if she was sucking her face in slightly- this didn’t do well with her sullen expression. In her eyes there lay not a glimpse of warmth and a cold glare met Alissia as if to say “How dare you look at me”. The gaze was broken and Arianna cleared her throat to talk “Well, you have travelled a long way” She said awkwardly “Follow me I will show you to your room” she began to make her way towards the staircase again “Yes mother” Alissia replied casually, Arianna turned back sharpish as an alarmed look filled her whole face. “You are NOT to call me that under any circumstances” She screeched suddenly, she lowered her voice back to normal level again trying to stay calm, “It’s Ms Alexandrov okay”. They paced up the Spiral stairs, Alissia trailing behind because of the heavy suitcase, her mother waited impatiently at the top “Strength is something you will have to get used to” she yelled “Ballet requires strength, balance and grace” she recited “Well there’s three things I don’t have" Alissia muttered. “I heard that Miss Alexandrov! Do not mutter unless you want a detention on your first day!” her accent seemed to get stronger as she yelled, it was odd for someone who’d lived a long time in England. Finally she reached the top of the staircase which took more energy out of her than usual, she had to catch her breath as the moment seemed to become a dreamlike state. “Well God help you if you get tired from doing that” She mocked “Since you are my… Relative, I expect you to do the Alexandrov name proud, I will not have this name ruined over a pathetic burden” how could she even say that to her own flesh and blood?! She didn’t dare confront her over it, she’d quickly learnt that Arianna was not the type of person how’d lose a fight. “Come along weak child, I will show you to your room”.
She was led down a fairly narrow corridor, each door with a number on it; she stopped at room thirty and led her to where she would live from now on. The shape of the room was long and rectangular and had four white beds with the same vintage headboard. They were all equal distance away from each other on the left side of the room. It was nicely decorated as white wood panelling covered the bottom half of all the walls and the top half painted a light baby pink, directly across from each bed was a build in wardrobe for each of the inhabitants and the only accessories were four small canvases of the same ballerina placed directly above each bed, Arianna gestured to the one nearest the door “You shall sleep here, you’ll be sharing with the girls you met downstairs since your all just best buddies” She looked repulsively at Alissia’s tie-dye top and un-brushed hair, examining every ‘terrible’ feature in her eyes “You can unpack later, come on you need some serious normalising.”
Authors note:
Hello! A big thankyou for reading this, the next part will be up very soon
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M.E Is Not Me
Proză scurtăAlissia Alexandrov, now an elderly woman looks back on what was the hardest time in her life- her teenage years. She was merely sixteen when loving grandfather Egor had to send her away to live with her professional dancer and teacher mother whom sh...
