Halfway to Love | A Joanne Fanfiction

One

Bunbury, Australia 1999.

"Dianne? Dianne Buswell stop looking out of the window and pay attention." A young girl's teacher said sternly, although she smiled slightly as the small, mousy-brown haired girl snapped out of her quite obvious daydream.

"Sorry Miss." She said, blushing furiously at the newfound attention of her class. She blinked hard, twice in an attempt to try and focus.

"Right, now that we have everyone's attention let us start today's lesson: geometry."

The ten-year-old's mind immediately shut off at the mention of this, as she entered her dream world once more. Her gaze was soon focused on the ocean in front of her, the azure-blue water appearing far more interesting to the girl than whatever was happening on the whiteboard in front of her. The sea, along with the dance studio down the round, seemed to be continuously calling her name, and they were far more fun than geometry would ever be.

She blinked a few more times, tearing her eyes away from where she so desperately wished to be.

"Zeno's paradox. In ancient Greece, a philosopher Zeno, posited that no two objects can ever touch." Her teacher said, and she simply stared back blankly, already finding herself confused. Maths was not the little girl's strong point, and geometry was her least favourite part of it by a long way. Besides, it wasn't like she'd ever been to Greece, how was this supposed to make any sense? To make matters worse, she'd long since decided that geometry was never going to be anything she would use. The word that her teachers most often used to describe her was a "dreamer" and for Dianne, that was more than true. But still, her dream was to be a dancer, so that was what she was determined to do.

"Dianne, are you still with us?" her teacher asked pointedly, and she nodded quickly.

"Right so Zeno's paradox essentially was: to reach a point one must always reach a halfway point, and from there the next hallway point. There will always be another halfway point."

This part Dianne began to understand. She smiled sadly at the paradox, asking "So nothing ever properly touches anything? And no one ever goes anywhere?" she asked, and her teacher smiled at her sympathetically in response as she heard a few of her classmates laugh.

"Almost, not quite. In today's lesson, we are going to learning about what a paradox is and how to solve Zeno's paradox!" she said.

Dianne flopped back in her seat dramatically in response. Just when she thought she understood maths, it had to get more complicated.

"Zeno proved mathematically, we remain completely alone forever, never touching." Her teacher droned on, but now Dianne was back in her dream world. In her dreamland there was no room for paradoxes (whatever they were) or maths or people being alone. Still, the little girl thought sadly, as the rest of the class had become invested in solving Zeno's paradox, at least getting halfway was better than nothing.

Eventually, the bell rang and the class piled out of the room, Dianne grabbing her stuff quickly as she almost ran out of the class in her eagerness to get home and get to dance. "Dianne? Can I have a word?" her teacher said, and she sighed, knowing by the teacher's tone that this wasn't something she should answer honestly. Reluctantly, she shuffled her way back into the classroom, and tried her best to make herself look as innocent as possible.

"Yes Miss?"

"I'm sorry darl, but if you don't start concentrating in class, I'm going to have to call a meeting with your parents."

The girl's eyes widened in an almost comic fashion. "Please don't!" she begged.

Her teacher sighed. "I don't want to either. I know you love your dancing but school has to come first, okay?" She'd seen far too many of dreamers neglect their studies at young ages, and still felt guilty for the consequences that had followed. Times were hard for dreamers, and she knew it better than anyone.

She nodded solemnly. "I know Miss. But I'm good at dance, I'm not good at maths."

She smiled gently at the small girl at this, deciding to try a different approach. She'd seen her dance at talent shows and assemblies and knew that the girl was talented. It was a well-known fact in the community that being a dancer was the girl's ambition but she was also realistic, the idyllic environment of the coastal town could also be the downfall of any potential career, but as a dancer, a happy ending was almost impossible. "What do you do when you don't get something in dance?"

"Keep practicing." The girl said timidly, scared that this might not be the response she was looking for.

"Exactly." She said, internally thrilled that she'd managed to get through to the girl without parental intervention. "Keep practicing and you'll be solving paradoxes left right and centre before you know it."

"Can I be excused Miss? I've got dance and I don't want to be late." The she asked, and at her teacher's nod, she immediately ran off.

Her teacher sighed with the realisation that their conversation had more than likely served for nothing. At least she had tried, she told herself, at least she had tried.

As Dianne walked out of school, the smile that had been placed on her face by the prospect of dance had been dimmed slightly. She knew that she should be paying more attention, but she found it almost impossible to concentrate. By now, Dianne was more than used to adults telling her that she wouldn't be a dancer. They said to her that "times are hard for dreamers" and that was all that she was. Luckily, living in her dream world, her dreams never seemed too far.