At the Opera House

Chapter 2 : Dancing

1881, November 25, Paris, France

"I cannot apologize enough." Louis said as Christine carefully pulled her ribbon around her ankle. "Quite honestly, I don't know what happened."

"You need to work up your muscle strength, that's what happened." Christine said sharply, she gave the ribbon an extra tug. "You haven't been showing up to practices and now someone is suffering for it."

He hung his head, he couldn't have been older than twenty, Christine softened. "Please, you have a little time, you can still have your part, but only if you work hard."

"Yes Mademoiselle Christine." He muttered, his dark eyes looked downwards in shame.

"Cheer up darling. You're really a wonderful dancer." Christine held out both her hands, giving them an extra flick dramatically. "Now be a gentleman and help me up please."

He grabbed her hands and pulled her up, Christine briefly went on point for a few moments, feeling the new shoes, and sank back down again.

"The shoes are just in from Italy." A sharp voice called. "They are a new design."

Christine turned to see Madame Giry, in her typical black dress. Her eyes looked at Christine approvingly in the improvised costume. "If you need an old pair, feel free to ask. Most of the girls still are not used to them."

Christine jumped on her toes and curtsied. "They are parfait Madame." She murmured. "They support my feet wonderfully."

The women gave an approving nod, then her eyes flicked to Louis. "See that you don't drop her too!" She barked. "I can't lose my best Ballerina."

Louis nodded vigorously before giving his own bow. "Of course Madame Giry."

"Let's begin." Giry waved a hand at the seated pianist in the corner of the room. "Warm up music please."

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"Argh." Christine muttered as she rubbed her feet gently.

"It hurts?"

Christine looked up to see Meg, she nodded grimly. "I admit, this is harder than I anticipated. Once," She gestured to the rehearsal room. "this would have been nothing."

"You are really doing very well." Meg looked at Christine's feet anxiously. "Better than I thought you would."

"I'm greatly enjoying myself, despite the bruises." Christine chuckled, then yawned, her eyes blinking away her weariness. "Goodness, it's been years and years since I've done a full dance rehearsal before. I missed it."

The day had been extremely busy. Louis did not drop her once, but he was rather clumsy with the choreography and they had to keep stopping to fine tune it. Christine thought she had managed rather well, but she had appreciated supper more than she cared to admit. After supper they had moved to the stage, practicing dancing across the wide stage. They were finally done.

Meg smiled, her blue eyes sparkled in the lamp light. "I could not imagine going years without dancing." She leaned forward, an eager grin splashed across her face. "Christine, how do you dance so well on those new shoes? I've been struggling with them myself-"

"Meg!" Madame Giry called to her from the stage exit. "To bed! We have a long day tomorrow."

Meg wilted slightly, but she got up and skipped across the room while waving goodbye to Christine.

Christine laughed and waved back. Slowly she sat back, the crate shifted forward, letting her comfortably lean back again the stone wall. Her eyes dropped as she watched everyone chatter and move about, soon, they would all leave. Soon she would be alone.