Meet Us at the Barre: A Series of SAB Oneshots

peter martins

Warnings: if any of you all have heard about this scandal with NYCB and Peter Martins, you know that it got a little iffy.

*mentions of harrassment*

Katherine untied her pointe shoe ribbons, exhaling loudly as she laid on her back. Her head hit the Marley, sort of hard, but she didn't care.

It was only a twenty minute break, but she took this opportunity to let her feet rest from all of the time they were scrunched into her pointe shoes.

Katherine could have sworn she fell asleep, since those twenty minutes flew by. In what felt like five minutes to her, she was back in her shoes, up and dancing.

"Up, straighten your back!" The ballet master, Peter Martins spoke. He rapped his knuckles hard against the small of Katherine's back; Katherine's spine immediately straightened. "Again." He sighed, restating the music.

Katherine nodded, returning to her first mark. It was late, they both were exhausted.

"Jump, and jump, and jump, and jump...stop!" Peter cut the music, crossing his arms as he stared at the highschool-aged ballerina.

Katherine lowered her head as Peter walked towards her. His steps came angrily and loudly across the Marley.

"Your jumps are weak, your feet are--" Peter began, but stopped suddenly. "Look at me when I speak to you!" He took three of his fingers and jerked Katherine's chin upward to face him.

Katherine's body began to tremble in fear as tears filled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Sir, I--"

"I did not make you an apprentice for no reason, do you understand?" He spoke through clenched teeth. "I can take you right out of here."

"Yes, Sir." She whispered, lowering her head. Katherine quickly raised her chin once more when she remembered what happened only moments ago.

She tried her very hardest to maintain professional and sharp eye contact with her teacher. Katherine couldn't, though, without tears filling her eyes.

Peter Martins was known to have a temper. Usually, a temper that only came out during tech rehearsals or rehearsals for gala performances that were going terribly wrong. This temper, though, never came through during one-on-one rehearsals.

Did it?

"Ballerinas that cannot control their emotions are ballerinas that are not useful." Peter stated, coldly. "You are dismissed, this rehearsal is over."

Katherine nodded, giving Peter a quick curtsey before heading towards the exit of the studio. She whispered a thank you before leaving entirely.

"Katherine." Peter spoke up, making the brunette stop dead in her tracks. She turned slowly around. "I will decide the status of your apprenticeship by the morning."

"Thank you, Sir." She said before heading back to her apartment.

~~~~~

Katherine sighed as she sat her bags down. It was truly nights like this when she was incredibly grateful that she lived on her own.

She frowned as she turned to look towards her kitchen. Katherine shook her head at the thought of eating this late at night. She crossed straight to her bedroom.

After flopping down onto her bed, she dug her phone out from her jacket pocket. She simply set it on her nightstand. Katherine shut her eyes, exhausted from the day. And with all of her ballet attire still on, she fell asleep.

~~~~~

It was when Katherine woke up at two a.m., tears immediately filling her eyes that she knew she needed to call someone.

She shakily picked up her phone and called the first contact that came to mind.

"Vanessa?" Katherine asked, quietly.

"Huh? Yeah, you okay?" Nessa responded, her voice heavy with sleep.

Katherine sucked in a sharp breath. "I need you to come over." She whispered, breaking down into tears.

"Woah, woah, alright, let's calm down. I'll be over in five minutes, alright? Stay still."

"Thank you." Katherine whispered.

"Of course."

Within the promised five minutes, Nessa was over at Katherine's apartment.

"Are you okay?" Nessa asked immediately, pulling Katherine into a hug.

"Did I wake you up?"

Nessa rubbed Katherine's back. "No, no, don't worry about me. Abby's at home too, she's fast asleep. And Emmie, and James, and Mark, and Ben, and everyone is safe."

They separated from the hug. Katherine and Nessa both sat on Katherine's mattress.

"I might not be an apprentice in the morning." Katherine whispered.

"Hold on, what?" Nessa gasped. Her eyes widened a moment later. "You had Martins, didn't you?"

Katherine nodded, biting her thumbnail. "Yeah, he was coaching me on Giselle. Y'know, because Noelle got injured."

Nessa nodded. "What happened?"

"I just...couldn't execute the variation right, I guess?" Katherine shook her head.

Nessa also shook her head. "I wouldn't take it personally."

Katherine looked right at her friend. "He's going to demote me! How do I not take that personally?!"

"Kath, did you knock at his temper?"

Tears ran down Katherine's cheeks as her voice cracked. "If I did, I didn't mean to!"

Nessa pinched at the bridge of her nose. "You didn't hear this from me, but Peter's been under a lot of fire lately. Something in the Company, there are all these insane allegations floating around."

"So?" Katherine sniffled. "What does that have to do with--"

"He's anxious, he's stressed. He'll probably lose his job over what everyone is saying. He...he probably just took it out on you. Listen, I'm sorry that happened to you, but we can't fix it." She explained.

Katherine's jaw dropped slightly. "You can't fix that he's demoting me?! It isn't my fault he screwed up and now has rumors flying about him!"

"I know, Katherine." Nessa sighed. "But when he comes to his senses, he'll realize it was a bad decision."

"So you're saying he's going to demote me?" She snapped. "You're not even going to try to make me feel better?"

Nessa rolled her eyes, not liking how Katherine was acting. "I just said it was a possibility, Kath. Seriously, calm down."

"I've worked so hard." Katherine whispered after a moment of silence, breaking back out into tears.

"I know, I know. I can't control what decision he's gonna make, but you'll be alright either way." Nessa hugged her friend once more. "You need to get some rest now, though, Hon."

Katherine nodded against Nessa's shoulder. "I guess you're right."

Nessa nodded, softly smiling at her friend. "You'll survive, I promise. I'm just glad that he didn't hurt you."

"Ness?" Katherine stopped her friend. "What do you think is going to happen to Peter?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. If he loses his position, we're in a lot more trouble than we are now."