Will I Remember?

Chapter 1

I froze in my finishing position as the soft music died away. I had poured my heart and soul into it, let every twist, turn and jump suspense me into the music, as if I was living it. How much I love this feeling. The whole of my class roared with applause, I guess they thought my dance was great. Well, I hoped so anyway.
"That was wonderful, Sasha, just wonderful! The choreography was amazing, your choice in music matched your steps perfectly. I loved every bit of it." I couldn't stop myself from smiling proudly. I was expecting it from my Dance teacher, Natalie, since I was her favourite student but I still felt like all my hard work had payed off. As I went across the modern, dance studio to join my classmates, they all bombarded me, telling me how great I danced.
"You're so good at dancing, Sash, I wish I could dance as good as you."
"You have to teach me how you do that jump."
"Thanks guys, dance is just my life, I can't help putting my all into it." I said, thanking my friends. I went across to the other side of the studio and saw my best friend Hanna rolling her eyes.
"You're such a show off, 'ooh dance is just my life'!" She said, sarcastically, nudging me so I almost fell over. Her bright blue eyes gazed into mine as she started laughing, her long, blonde hair, this time highlighted with purple streaks, swishing across her shoulder in her high ponytail. She was quite the daredevil.
"Oh well I'm sorry if you think I'm TOO good for you!" I said, putting my had up to my face, ironically. We both collapsed into laughter, causing people to stare at us. 'I'm so lucky to have you as a best friend Hanna.' I said smiling, as we both tried to steady ourselves, looking around as if nothing happened.
"I thought you were too good for me! Maybe I'll just go over there and...mingle." This time I fell onto Shay, my other best friend, causing her to jerk in shock.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked, now turning to face me.
"Hanna," I breathed pointing to the vague figure which was seconds from collapsing onto the floor, 'said...she...was...about...to...' But I was stopped by the sound of my boyfriends voice in reply.
"Mingle?" He said rhetorically, a wide grin on his face. I looked up to him, Aaron Vanderwall. His hair was long, thick and brown but somehow always perfectly arranged, he was tall, taller than me, which was a coincidence as I'm one of the tallest girls in my year. But his eyes, they were a deep turquoise colour, fringed in long black eyelashes. I could get lost in them, as if I were in a deep trance that would never let go. He was perfect, and I felt like the most luckiest girl in the world. Aaron helped to steady me off Shay, and stood, laughing to himself, keeping his glistening eyes on me all the while. 'Your dance was brilliant by the way, you're so talented.'
"Why thank you! You know, dance is just my life." I said, a little over-exaggeratedly. I craned my neck around to meet Hanna and smirked. She struggled to contain herself from bursting out laughing, again.
"Sure is," Aaron said. 'Anyway, do you want to...'
"SASHA DRAKE!" A stern voice screeched, echoing off the vibrant walls of the dance studio, leaving Aaron slightly speechless. The whole room fell silent. I looked over to my friends with a questioning expression saying, what do I do? They shrugged, with a worried, 'I don't know what it's about' look. I sighed, took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Erm, yes...Miss?" I said a little shyly, walking slowly towards the young woman wearing a navy, sleeveless dress, with a post-it in her hand. I had seen her before on rare visits to the Main Reception, she'd only come into lessons discreetly, taking away a student to go home because of an appointment or something. I was positive that mum hadn't told me about anything, but she seemed rather quiet and queasy at the breakfast table that morning.
"Ah, yes, Sasha you are requested to see Mrs Emery. You must go immediately." She had a stern but pitiful look on her face. I could sense urgency in her voice. This didn't sound good. I was a bit shocked, yet a little disappointed. I wanted to spend the rest of my Dance Lesson with my friends, laughing, having fun, but instead I was sent to the headmistresses office. Great. I gulped slowly and turned around to Aaron, whose mouth was still gaping open slightly, and mouthed the words 'speak later'. He closed his mouth and nodded, giving a wry smile. I walked closer towards the staff member still not remembering her name and thought about why I had to go to Mrs Emery. Maybe it was a good thing and she was going to tell me the news from Elite Dance Academy, or I was receiving some sort of recognition. But then why would I need to go immediately? She could just say come at the end of the day, or at lunch. I have no idea. But my hopes are up.
"Come along then Sasha, we don't want to keep Mrs Emery waiting do we?" She tried to sound cheerful, but I could see her eyes were glazed with water, as if she'd just been crying or been told off as if she was some naughty student. I nodded contently, keep your hopes up Sasha!, I thought. The was an awkward silence. I didn't want to ask her if she knew about anything, or if she was okay. I just walked, through narrow corridors and past the grey stone walls outside our vast building, hearing only the sharp echoes of the teachers' blue suede high-heels, almost the whole length of Sterlingham High School for Arts, until we reached my headmistresses office door. This was the first time the teacher looked me in the eye.
"Well, er, Sasha, I shall leave you here then." She looked at me, leaving me with no thoughts at all as she left for her own office, "Goodbye." Something told me she didn't want me to see her face as she clip-clapped her way out into another room. She didn't show any emotion on her face as she left, and she didn't look back. Well here goes nothing. I took a deep breath and knocked on the wooden door.
* TWO WEEKS LATER *
"We came here as soon as we could; Mr Loaves kept us in longer after the bell, typical. How are you holding up?" I gave Shay a long, sorrowful death stare. That was a question that didn't need to be answered. Could she not tell by the mountains of tissues piled up on my once empty duvet cover? There was a pause when Shay and Hanna realised that that was a stupid question.
"We brought you chocolates?"
"That's just great Hanna, thanks for the thought. I'm sure moping around as if I'm just recovering from some soppy break up is going to make me feel much better to get over the thought that my family is dead...DEAD." They seemed a bit awestruck at my sudden outbreak and a bit lost on what to do with themselves. I threw myself at them both, too frustrated for any words, and wrapped my arms around them into a great bear hug. 'I...I'm sorry...' I whispered, unable to explain my thoughts in any way, 'I...'
"Shh, it's okay Sash." Hanna said.
"That's exactly it. What if everything turns out horribly wrong and I get put into some psycho children's home, and I'll have to move school and,"
"Hey!" Shay said, turning to face me, "it won't be like that, okay?" I looked down, seconds away from breaking down and telling myself that this is not a terrible nightmare where I will pinch myself and everything will be alright. No, this was reality. Reality that I have no idea how to face. You will never know how alone I have felt in these past two weeks, being in my own house, by myself. I am past the stage of people coming over to tell me they'll sort something out, telling me not to worry. I am long gone that stage, yet I still can't figure out how to tell myself 'THIS IS REAL, THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO TO CHANGE IT'.
"Sure." I said. Everything will be okay.