Your Time To Shine

Part 1

Winter could be a bliss- when it was all a blanket of snow, no ice at all, but when the ice came out to play it wrecked havoc with everybody’s life. There would be broken bones, cuts, bruises, all sorts of injuries that came from mucking about on the ice, or just being on the ice in general. That was why Chloe Lawrence, detested going out on icy days, even in her car. In fact, it was probably more of a danger in your car- she’d already mounted the curb three times today- that much had been pointed out about six times by her daughter, Sara. The car swerved to the side around the round about, jerking upwards when it... yet again slid up, and back down, the side of the curb. The minute the cars wheels weren’t on the road, more of half way up the roundabout curb, Chloe’s face twisted in frustration. For a whole two hours they had been on the road, attempting to get back from the shopping center. Sara had convinced Chloe that it would be a great idea to go out and spend all of her Christmas money in January, when all the prices of things went down because nobody wanted to buy them anymore. “No.”' Chloe had protested, “The roads are too bad.” But with a flash of that innocent smile, Chloe could hardly say no to her daughter. So, Chloe had, reluctantly, driven off to the shopping center in her Jeep. They had come back with what... about 11 bags of shopping. Sara was the typical teenage girl that her mother both dreaded, affectionately, and loved. “Watch the curb,” Chloe heard Sara taunting from the back seat of the car - for some reason, she detested riding in the front seat of the jeep, so sat at the very far back, the third row back.                                                                                                           “I am I am!” Chloe convinced herself as she, over and over again, kept muttering this aloud. She had told herself, that if she kept telling herself that she was doing okay, over and over again, she would come to believe it herself- a tactic she’d used for many, many years, being a mother and ex-wife. “I’m doing best I can, why don’t you come and drive?” Even though Sara was still only fifteen, she’d managed to ‘teach herself’ how to drive by asking her mother questions, watching her mother often and in general just researching how to- of course, she hadn’t even had proper lessons so she was in no position to drive- if the police pulled her over and found out she was only fifteen, there would have been big trouble for everyone. Chloe’s hands gripped tighter over the wheel so that she didn’t lose her control over the car. It’s my car, I control the car, she kept thinking to herself. Nobody else can control the car, just me. Stopping at a red-traffic light, she glanced in her rear-view mirror to see Sara riffling through the shopping bags, obviously looking for something. “What are you looking for?” Chloe asked, receiving no answer the first time, so she shouted it this time. “What are you looking for?” She didn’t shout it aggressively, just a little louder than she had the first time. Still glaring into the rear-view mirror she watched Sara’s head pop up from rifling through the many, many bags. 
“Oh, I put my phone in one of the bags and it’s bleeping off, somebody is obviously calling me.” The triumphant smile on her face meant she had found the phone, Chloe guessed. Being a mother, you developed a second pair of eyes, and a sixth sense- the sixth sense being the ability to tell what people were thinking, or had done, just by glancing at their expression- only minor things, but it was helpful. As for the extra eyes, they were needed, as Sara was always dancing around the house, sometimes when she shouldn’t be, and sometimes would knock something over- she wasn’t clumsy, she just sometimes forgot she was dancing in a house full of expensive, rather breakable items. Chloe didn’t mind as long as it didn't break, but it made the house look untidy. 
“Hello?” Sara spoke clearly into the white iPhone.                                                                                           If it hadn’t of been for the whole 11 bags of shopping, Sara would of regretted even coming out the house today; it was a Sunday afternoon, heading on into the evening, a winters day and already it was getting near dark, shadows lurching over the roads- that didn’t help the death trap of a road either. For two hours she had been stuck in the back of the Jeep, being thrown about when the car went over a snowy speed-hump, or skidded along the curb. After searching for her phone when it had burst out with her ring tone, she answered the call. “Hello?” she repeated when nobody answered. She hadn’t even checked the number when she’d answered; she had just spoken into her iPhone. Feeling a little stupid for both not checking and the fact that nobody was speaking, she blushed and her eyes flashed around until she saw her mother’s averted gaze in the rear-view mirror. The voice at the end of the line, when she finally spoke, was both familiar and beautiful- Sara never got tired of her dancer teacher, Ms. Gomez’s voice - it was so Spanish and flowing, yet she spoke fluent English with a Spanish accent. “Oh hello, Ms. Gomez! Oh yes, I’m so very sorry to hear that...” There was a quiet, differentiated voice at the other end. “Does that mean...?” Worry was very obvious in Sara’s voice and her eyes too, they had widened but she was every so often, daring a look down at the floor before her eyes flickered up again, focusing on the scenery. “Of course I understand, Ms. Gomez. I wish you the very best. Yes, I shall see you off to the airport.” Her voice held more of a sympathetic, soft tone now- now that she’d gotten the whole of the situation. “I am perfectly sure that the school shall find me the best of tutors, Ms. Gomez, however none shall ever be what you were.” She met her mother’s eyes again - her mother’s eyes held a questioning gaze, that would mean allot of explaining after she got off the phone. “Good night, Ms. Gomez, my thoughts are with you and I wish you the best.” Tears welled up in Sara’s eyes; she sniffled and fought them back, wiping her eyes. She heard the sound of her mother’s foot jamming down onto the pedal the minute the traffic light turned green and BAM! The car was off like a rocket. “Ms. Gomez is leaving.” Sara explained, sighing as she looked away- she’d been tutored by Ms. Gomez for a whole two years now. “She’s going back to her family in Spain, because her sister has leukemia. I understand, of course I’d rather her be with her sister than me, but I shall miss her so. She says that she’s going to stay in Spain with her sister; she realizes where her soul is. She said, her heart is with me and the school, but her mind and soul are back at home. The school should re-issue me a tutor by tomorrow.”                                                        Chloe had flinched slightly at the mention of Spain. Since her husband, Sara’s genetic father, had left Chloe when Sara was only a little girl- too young for her to fully understand- after he supposedly left for some Spanish dancer, she was touchy at a mention of Spain, or Spanish dancers, but for the sake of Sara, had actually managed to accept Ms. Gomez, even became quite close to her at one point- hence the reason why she too, after Sara explained it all, she shed a tear from her eye. “I’m sure she will be missed through-out the school, Sara,” Her mother attempted to assure Sara; she thought that Sara had a great time at school, that she had a few friends and wasn’t getting bullied anymore- she had been bullied all through school, but she’d stopped telling her mother when she’d turned thirteen and had moved school to where she was now- Terrywood Dance School. They targeted her because she was the girl without a father, the girl whose father had left his family for some Spanish woman, apparently- the girl who had always been a little bit of a social loner. They’d stay stuff like; ‘Sara, she has bad blood, she does, I mean, look what her father did to her.’ Or ‘You know that Spanish dancer that left with her father? She is so beautiful.’ But in worse words… Sara didn’t even know why they did it, could they not consider what it would be like if they were in her shoes? There were some nice people, but there were so many bad ones, she often forgot about the very rare nice people.                          Even though Ms. Gomez tutored Sara privately, five hours a day, five days a week- just for dancing, Sara had dropped all other subjects but dancing, everybody saw Ms. Gomez around the school, all the teachers knew her, and sometimes she’d put on school shows and many people would sign up and know her from then.                                                                                                                                           Chloe had work tomorrow, and she knew that if she didn't get a decent amount of sleep, she would be unable to get up. Her hair would go hay-wire and her eyes would look like she’d been drugged on something. Sara’s face much resembled Chloe’s, but their hair and eyes were different- whereas Sara’s hair was a deep crimson red, Chloe’s was a maroon brown- whereas Sara’s eyes were a deep emerald color, Chloe’s were sky blue. “Anyway, I bet you’ll have a really good tutor now anyway. Sometimes it’s good for a change.” Chloe managed to give her daughter a half-hearted smile. The car was just pulling up in their road. Phew, Chloe thought, knowing that now she would be able to get a decent amount of sleep. She wasn’t so sure about Sara however. The car came to a halt in their drive outside their large, detached house. There house was practically in the middle of nowhere- you went up an estate of posh houses, got to a rough winding road, travelled up there for a while until you came to the really big house that had been there for quite a bit of time, but the interior was still very modern and beautiful. Sara was still in the house she was born in, she didn't even know why they hadn’t moved. It was a great house, however, and the entire mortgage had been paid off, because it had been passed down, generation by generation, by her mother’s side of the family. “I’ll take some of your bags inside the house.” Chloe swung the jeep’s door open for Sara, grabbing about five or six bags- there was too many to even bother counting them.                                                                                                     After finding herself inclined to get into the house as quick as she could, hating the thought of snow getting caught up in her neatly tied up hair- it was tied up with her fringe hanging down, and then plaited, her hair was long enough so that the plait came further down than her chest- Sara nonchalantly abandoned her seat in the car, slamming the door shut, before she trekked over to the seats behind her, clamming the rest of the bags in her firm grip. Satisfied with herself, she withdrew the spare car-keys from her designer hand-bag, making sure that she locked the car before she entered the house, with a faint, half-hearted smile on her face. Even though she’d found out something that had broken her heart, she’d been tutored by Ms. Gomez for a while, something good had come out of the messy day. Tomorrow was a Monday; however, one of the best days you can have a new tutor on- a new week, a new slate, and after school, she’d have to take Ms. Gomez up to the airport- probably with her knew Tutor. Guessing that Chloe was probably already in the bath, she tip-toed up stairs, also knowing that Chloe had dropped the shopping bags off into Sara’s room. Knocking on the bath-room door, she shouted inside; “Thanks Mum, I’m going to sleep now. See you in the morning. Love you.” She was met by the familiar chime of her mother’s voice when she replied “Okay, love you too, Sara.” Hearing her mother’s voice was a treat enough for Sara to realize just how lucky she was to have Chloe. Chloe was like Sara’s sister, best-friend and a mother in one; her guardian angel. Padding back into her room, she slung the rest of her bags by the already large clump of bags, thinking to herself; I have to sort it out before the morning, it will just be more work if I leave it. So, giving herself a good reminder of what more work meant, she decided she’d begin putting her new clothes away now, whilst sorting out an outfit for tomorrow. Funnily enough, she had a bag of coat-hangers at her side to put the clothes on. Her coat-hangers were velvety, with cushioning inside that matched the cream-colour of her walk-in wardrobe. While she was tidying the clothes away, for what seemed like forever, she found the perfect out for tomorrow. Considering it was winter, wearing a skirt seemed ... just weird, but Sara didn’t care. It would go with one of her scarves, as well. It was a black, white and grey coloured plaid / tartan skirt, with tights that made her legs look longer, although they were long enough already, a white-blouse top that stuck to her, outlining her figure. She’d rebelliously wear a tie that wasn't done up right- even if there was no school uniform policy that said you needed to wear anything in particular- would leave her top button open, but still, tuck her shirt in. Then, she could wear her platform black heels, and her blue and white winter scarf. Of course, this wasn’t for dancing in. Sara had a flattering low cut bikini styled top and some purple tracksuit bottoms and a purple baseball jacket, which always went in her large, but stylish, designer bag- it was almost as if the black leather bag, that went with anything was her mascot; It was her life, it contained everything important - passport, identity, school stuff, make-up, phone, hair, everything!