Let the Pain Begin

Chapter One

November 27

I dug around my dance bag, which was a mess as usual. I was looking for my ballet shoes. 

"Where are they?" I muttered under my breath.

"Ophelia, Miss Dawn is starting the music," my friend Shelby Thomas said, her neck craning around the corner from Studio A. 

"I'm coming, I can't find my shoes. Oh, there they are. Hey, have you seen Kallista lately? She wasn't here for competition earlier."

Shelby shook her head, frowning. "Nope, haven't seen her. Come on, Miss Dawn will yell if you take much longer!" 

Her head whipped inside the studio, her brown curls following. 

I shoved my shoes onto my feet, and dashed into the studio. 

As I entered Studio A, I saw all of my friends were there today, except for Kallista. It was starting to worry me that she hadn't shown up yet. 

Let me tell you about what's happening. 

OK, so my name is Ophelia Patterson, and I am a dancer. I'm 14 years old, and I've got wavy brown hair with brown eyes to match. I'm pretty tall for my age, which gets annoying since all my friends are so short. 

· Ellise Kennedy is one of my friends at the studio. She's one year younger than me, 13. She's amazing, really. Ellise has short, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. 

· Noelle Spencer is...well, kind of weird. In a good way, of course. She's REALLY tall, taller than me. Noelle's got black hair, and brown eyes. Pretty good. She takes ballet and Irish.

· Shelby Thomas (the girl from earlier) is one of my best friends. She's two years younger than me, 12. She doesn't do pointe shoes yet, she just takes ballet. Shelby has curly brown hair, and brown eyes. She's really pretty and INSANELY talented.

· Camilla Daniel. She's 15, black hair and brown eyes. Very....modern. Likes a lot of modern stuff. And cats. Loves cats. But Camilla is a great dancer. (I'll probably say that a lot, heads up)

· Nolen Price and Nate Fields are the guys at the studio. Nolen is awesome, he's so easy to talk to. He's got red hair that he dyes all the time, and green eyes. Oh, yea and he's 17. Nate is newish, has brown hair, and brown eyes I THINK. He's new, so I'm not 100% sure. He's pretty strong though. He's 18? Maybe?

· Last but not least, Kallista Sanders. Same age as me, 14. She's SO AWESOME and funny. Sarcastic, too. Kallista has brown hair, and brown eyes. She's really good at dance, and a great human. 

Alright, so I JUST walked into Studio A, where Shelby, Ellise, Noelle and Nolen are in center floor. 

Miss Dawn is fiddling with the tablet, finding some music to put on. 

I make my way towards Shelby, and whisper, "Sorry, couldn't find my shoes."

"Then clean out your dance bag." 

"I just did!" I whisper-yell, causing Miss Dawn to turn around and face us.  

"Ladies and Nolen, feet in first. We'll be working on strength and balance today. Use your core."

All of us put our heels together, first position.

"Preparation. And. Demi plie, straighten. Demi plie, straighten."

We went through the set of plies we usually do, right and left. 

"Lovely. Ellise, for your fourth positions, don't move your front foot to far to the side, doesn't look like a fourth position. Noelle, round your arms more. Shelby and Ophelia, point your feet a little harder, and Nolen, straight back."