Link to Banner i45.
Banner by: Christag_Banners
Title by Author: Ballerinas Get the Pointe! by gabby1017
Rated: M
Warnings: None, other than a smile.
Beta: Midnight Cougar
Summary: look at teaser below.
Dedication: To Katalina: I just want to hug you. Your heart and soul are easy to love. This story is for you. Sweet, hopefully endearing. Okay, no lemons. Just pure. Love you.

Ballerinas Get the Pointe!
Story for Stand Up for Katalina.

Teaser: Katalina (Kat) moved to Forks at the age of four with her mother, Anne. She joined Mrs. Cope's after school ballet class and, on her first day, met her dancing twin. They were destined to be best of friends, fated to love a barre and the pointe, joined at the hip and bound by their connection. Kat and Bella were a dancing duo force to be reckoned with. Edward was Bella's music man, as Matt was Kat's lyrics. Success was their goal and together they accomplished everything.

~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~

Stormy skies bellowed with electric energy and jagged lightning danced across the darkened clouds. Rain finally made an appearance, as the heavens opened its fluffy, black curtains. Bella peered out the window with her face pressed up against the foggy glass. With a sigh and a groan, she turned to Kat and smiled.

Both girls mirrored one another in looks. Tiny body frame, long brown hair, always twisted up in a messy bun and very little makeup. Bella was an inch taller at 5'2" and a day older, which she used for squatting rights over Kat. "I'm bigger and older!"

The room was bathed in all shades of pink. The walls were painted a flat Pepto Bismol. Curtains dressed the paned windows with pale pink polka dots over a hot pink background of shear fabric that matched the comforter. And they sparkled.
Large framed pictures of ballerinas saturated the room. The black and white picture over Kat's bed was a shot of her and Bella in full tutus. Kat stood with her feet far apart on pointe, her hands cupped in front of her, holding a pink rose, and her gaze looked straight into the camera. Her eyes followed you around the room. As Bella leaned her hands on Kat's shoulder, stretching her right leg to full extension on pointe. Her eyes, too, followed every movement.

Bella tugged at her dark brown tank top, fitting it down around her waist, as her tan yoga pants hung loose on her slim hips and defined her muscular, dancer thighs. Bare feet extended out, she walked over to Kat.

"You know, you are a turtle," Bella playfully accused.

"Why? … Because you were obsessing over your packing three days ago and I am taking my time?" Kat gleamed.

"Well, you had to wait for the last minute," she huffed.

Kat, dressed in hot pink yoga pants and a pale pink tank top bedazzled in hot pink rhinestones of ballet slippers, stopped in mid-stream with hands on her hips and scolded, "I didn't wait until the last minute. I wanted to make sure I packed up the last of my things." Kat looked around, waving her arms and pointing out the clothes all over the bed. "Besides, I have more clothes than you do."

"That's because half of the things you just packed were mine." She picked up a dark blue sweater from the suitcase and shoved it into her face. "I've been wondering what happened to this."

"What does it matter which suitcase it goes into? We're both going to the same place, anyway." She simply explained and they both laughed.

"Well, slow poke, I want you to get a move on so we can get to Mrs. Cope's before nine." Bella picked up the sweater, folded it and placed it into Kat's suitcase. Kat coyly grinned, while Bella shrugged.

"Mrs. Cope can wait. She certainly made us wait many times," Kat complained, shoving more clothes into the suitcase.

Bella seriously pleaded, "Yeah, but this is our last class and she was very insistent we get to the studio by nine."

~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~

At eight fifty-five, Bella turned into the small front parking lot of Shelley Cope's Dance Studio. The one-story, red brick building had large plate-glass windows framed in faded blue tweed draperies. One glance inside the windows showed the full-mirrored back wall with a permanent barre attachment across its length. And throughout the scratched wooden floor, portable barres stood in every corner.

Bella killed the engine of her ancient, red Chevy truck. She pulled a large rainbow-colored umbrella from under her seat, fanned it out and ran to the passenger's side to get Kat.
Arm in arm, they pranced to the entrance, holding the handle together, clutching one another and stepping left foot right. They stood under the blue-striped awning, while Bella closed up the umbrella and took off her yellow poncho, shaking it out.

"God, I will not miss this weather," Kat declared, as she lifted her bright pink, rain poncho over her head.

Leaving their wet things near the doorway, they walked to the reception area. No Mrs. Cope.

Bella stood on tippy toes to hang over the counter and shouted, "Hey, Mrs. Cope, we're here."

No answer, but her desk was cluttered with papers, leg warmers and ballet slippers.

Kat shrugged. "Maybe she's in the back?"

They scooted down the narrow hallway, being careful not to pull a photo off the wall. Mrs. Cope was extremely proud of her menagerie of herself and famous ballerinas and male dancers, throughout the years and every part of the world. Bella and Kat got to the end of the hallway to one of the small rehearsal rooms and the door that was slightly ajar. Kat pulled the door open and the light flicked on to reveala group of happy faces that screamed out, "Surprise!"

Overwhelmed, Bella and Kat walked into the room with their hands to their red faces.
Shocked, they found their beaming teacher, Mrs. Cope, along with Kat's mom, Bella's dad and the girls' boyfriend's parents huddled together under a homemade good luck banner that streamed across the room. Helium balloons scattered the ceiling with multi-colored ribbons that hung down in ringlets. And there was a time line of pictures of the girls pinned to the large cork board that stood on an easel.

The girls looked at the group's T-shirts: Ballerinas Get the Pointe!

Anne grabbed Kat, while Charlie hugged Bella. "We're so proud of you girls!"

Matt's parents wore hot pink Tees for Kat. His mother, Sara, no bigger than Kat with her blond hair in a ponytail, walked over and hugged her tightly, as his look-a-like father, Brad, groaned, "Hey girlie, I wore pink for you."

Kat pointed. "You're all spazzes. I love it!"

Esme and Carlisle grouped together and hugged Bella. Both wore dark brown T-shirts.

"I hope this is okay?" Esme pleaded.

"It's more than okay," Bella giggled.

Through all the chatter, Bella raised her head at the sound of Edward's voice, "Hey, baby!" She looked around to find Mrs. Cope's laptop on a small table in the corner, seeing Edward and Matt's images over Skype with noise coming from the background. A male voice shouted out, "Hey, watch where you're going!" And lots of laughter and chatter.

Matt chuckled, "Gotcha!" His black hair fell over his pale blue eyes. He and Edward sat next to one another on the edge of an unmade, single bed. Boxes were strewn about the background.

"You knew about all of this?" Bella whined to Edward.

Edward raised his hands in defeat. "I swear, I didn't know until an hour ago," Edward nervously pleaded his case, running a hand through his copper locks. "We were still unpacking, when my mom called."

Esme wrapped her arms around Bella's shoulders. "It's true, honey. We've been planning this for the past few days, but Edward and Matt were a last thought."

Edward sarcastically groaned, "Thanks, Mom."

Esme laughed at him. "Love you, son." She walked back to Carlisle.

Matt's parents shouted their hellos with Charlie and Anne.

Kat skipped over to the laptop, leaning an arm over Bella and dropping her head onto her shoulder. "Matt, hey. How's everything going over there?"

"It's really crowded with all the kids and 'rents going in and out of the dorms." He cleared his throat and whispered, "Miss you." He blinked with a shy smile.

"Miss you, too. But we'll see you tomorrow night." Kat brightly smiled.

"Yeah. Oh, and yours and Bella's stuff arrived about an hour ago. So, Edward and I placed your boxes in your room."

Both girls responded together, "Thanks." They giggled, hanging off one another.

Mrs. Cope announced, "Okay boys, we're going to get down to business and we'll let you finish your unpacking."

Bella placed a hand on the screen of the laptop and asked soft, "See you tomorrow?"

Edward looked closer into the monitor, "Yeah, we'll be there to get you guys. Delta Flight 1634, before 6."

"Yeah, but check for the time. We might be early or late and I don't want you to have to wait around." She smiled and whispered, "Love you." He mouthed it back.

"Bye, boys!" Mrs. Cope gave them a short wave and abruptly turned off the laptop, while everyone gathered around. "Now, girls, we have a little going away present for you set up in the filming room. So, let's all file in there."

~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~

Bella and Kat sat in wooden, foldout chairs surrounded by all the parents. The room was small and used for watching choreographed routines and techniques. Mrs. Cope stood in front of the large screen TV with a huge smile on her chubby, overly-blushed cheeks and pronounced penciled-in eyebrows. Her red, fuzzy hair was piled high on her head with a large lime green flower on the side. She wore a black leotard and tights with lime green legwarmers scrunched around her calves, a long chartreuse unbuttoned cardigan that hung to her knees and black ballet slippers worn from years of use. Her posture straight, her arm gestures graceful and fluid and her voice softly pitched and bold, as she continued her speech.

"Bella and Kat. You're both like granddaughters of mine. I've known you both practically all of your lives." She giggled nervously. "I'm going to miss you girls." Tears ran down her face in slight rivulets on those chubby overly-rouged cheeks.

"I have to admit I kept a record of your progress. Actually, I've recorded everything you both have done in this school," she confessed.

Bella questioned, "Why?"

Mrs. Cope smiled lovingly. "Because you both were always something amazing. You took my breath away. And before you leave Forks, I want to show you … everything. Well, mostly everything. I compiled all the footage, year by year on this DVD."

Kat mumbled, "And I thought you hated us. You were so tough."

Mrs. Cope stared into Kat's eyes and spoke reverently, "Nothing good comes easily. I wanted you girls to reach your full potential." She turned from Kat and grabbed the remote control off the counter, clicking on the TV.
The screen filled with sounds of music, a dozen little girls screamed in tutus and two little brunette girls stood in front of one another, looking each other over. A close up showed their facial expressions, as they smiled in a mirror image.

"My name is Isabella, but you can call me, Bella. What's your name?" Bella's little voice probed.

"Katalina. But you can call me, Kat." She gave a toothy grin. "Wanna be best friends?"

"Sure." Bella grabbed Kat's hand and they pranced in a circle, giggling at one another.

The parents laughed, watching the two of them get acquainted. Bella and Kat were mesmerized by their younger forms, sitting forward with their elbows on their knees with arms linked together.

"They never stopped holding one another's hand." Mrs. Cope gestured towards the girls and pressed stop. "And a friendship was born. The next scene is from their first recital."

A little static snow and the DVD rolled on.
An announcement was made that the four year olds were doing warm-up exercises. On the little stage, fourteen pink tutus, walked in single file. The music flowed into Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers." Some children giggled, some were out of step, but the two little brunettes, side by side, with their hair in high buns and postures straight never stepped out of sequence. Hands over their heads, they turned with precision. At that young age, they spotted one another and turned in unison, each step the same, each movement flowed in mirror accuracy.

The parents oohed and awed.

Mrs. Cope glimmered with great pride and cleared her throat. "The next four years passed and their dedication grew stronger and stronger." She smiled at Bella and Kat. She addressed the parents, "They took more classes. I saw your girls five days a week and they still wanted to come over on the weekend."

Anne giggled, "Oh, I remember. Bella begging me to talk with Charlie."
"
And you saved my life, Anne. What did I know about doing hair or fluffing a tutu?" Charlie added.

"Well, you both managed with two very head-strong divas!" Mrs. Cope nodded.

"Hey, I resent being called a diva," Bella complained.

"Yeah, divas don't clean toilets, Mrs. C.!" Kat shouted out, crossing her arms over her chest.

"They do, when they think they know more than the teacher," Mrs. Cope kidded. "When they were eight, I filmed them choreographing the song "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson. They loved her so much; they wanted to dance to her song."

In tears, Mrs. Cope faced the girls and took a deep breath, collecting herself. She side glanced Charlie and Anne and they nodded. "I took that tape and sent it to The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. I knew they would be amazed, but I never expected they would want you."

Both Bella and Kat looked up at her. "What?" Both shocked.

"They saw what I saw. But they also wanted a great deal for tuition, which they granted a scholarship for each of you…" Mrs. Cope trailed off.

Charlie spoke with his head down, "It broke my heart. " He gestured to Anne. "And Anne's. We wanted the both of you to have the best. We wanted to give you what they were offering..."

Anne, with tears in her eyes, picked up Charlie's thoughts, "We also thought you were both too young to go across country and live with strangers. And we couldn't go with you." She looked at the floor and played with her fingers. "We didn't have living expenses for either one of us to go. So, Shelley agreed to work with you both, giving you extra time and not charging us."

Esme and Sara reached over and squeezed Anne's shoulder.

Kat asked, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"We would have understood. Besides, we were such chicken shi- so chicken, we wouldn't have wanted to go," Bella pointed out.

Charlie grumbled, "We didn't know what to do. So, when in doubt..."

Bella answered, "...do nothing."

"Well, we didn't 'do nothing.' We stepped up your classes," Mrs. Cope tried to add. "Aw, how about we continue on? I have some more footage."

Everyone settled back into their seat, while Mrs. Cope sighed. "The next tape was
filmed on the day we started pointe training."

Kat groaned, "Oh God. You should have done the bunion training first."

Bella lightly shoved Kat. "Please? You took to pointe like a duck to water. And your feet weren't that bad."

"C'mon, Bella, I had bleeding skin peeling off my toes from a zillion blisters!" Kat defended herself.

Bella turned to look at Charlie. "Do you remember taking me to emergency, because I couldn't walk?"

"Bella, I took you to the ER many times, because you were, are, a magnetic accident waiting to happen!" Charlie chuckled.

With a stink face, Bella grumbled, "That's not fair."

Kat giggled. "Yeah, you are kind of clumsy, when you're not dancing."

"Sure, Miss Perfectly Graceful," Bella whined.

"What I don't understand was, after I bought your shoes, you desecrated them." Charlie shook his head.

"Dad, we have to break our shoes in," Bella explained.

"You tore them up, Bella. I saw you with a hammer, once," he huffed.

Anne agreed, "Hmmm, true. I saw Kat take a pair of scissors and score the bottom of her shoes, after she ran them under the faucet."

"It's about the shoe fitting the foot, Charlie." Mrs. Cope smiled. "Anne, a regular ballet shoe is a soft leather. It bends with the foot." She lifted her foot to show her shoes. "But a pointe shoe is quite different. It's hard and inflexible. Think about your big toe pointing directly onto a brick," Mrs. Cope added in.

Charlie cringed. "I'd like not to."

Mrs. Cope clicked the remote. All eyes went to the TV.
Both girls stood at the permanent barre. With their legs apart, they bent their arches up and down, groaning. They began with their feet flat on the floor. They did a small lift of their arch and raised the toe to total pointe. They repeated this movement over and over. Mrs. Cope watched from the side of the room.

Kat held the barre with ease and came up to a strong pointe on both feet. Bella did the same, but was a bit shaky.

"I feel like I'm going to fall over," she winced.

Kat crawled down and placed her hands around Bella's ankles. "Okay, try to get on pointe, now."

Bella rose up. "That works. Thanks."

"Next time, get some sleep. Then, you won't feel like falling over," Kat reprimanded Bella. "You look like crap."

"Hey, Edward was helping me with my calculus homework, until one-thirty this morning," she defended. "I, also, had a test."

"Ya...ya...yack." Kat moved her hands like shadow puppets." Yack!"

The video stopped and started again with a two month time frame.
The girls flitted across the floor on full pointe, watching their movements in the mirror. With arms raised, Bella complained, as she darted past Kat, "Does this ever not hurt?"

Kat passed by her and scoffed, "Oh, get a grip. You wanted to dance."

"Yeah, but not in pain!" Bella yelled.

"You want some cheese with that whine, Belly Boo?" Kat cooed.

Bella growled and stuck her tongue out.

"Or maybe it was that cheeseburger and fries you ate, before we came to class?" Kat smirked.

"Hey, I was starving. I didn't eat breakfast and I went to study hall for lunch!" Bella fessed up.

"No excuses. You're going to get a fat ass. And then, it will be impossible for you to get on pointe!" Kat scolded Bella.

"You know, I never eat that crap!" A tear fell down her cheek.

"I know." Kat sighed. "I'm sorry. My feet hurt, too."

Mrs. Cope clicked the remote to fast forward. "I'm going to go ahead to high school. Well, our class, after their first day...of high school."

Bella complained, "Aaah, oooh, you didn't, Mrs. C?" She stared up at her.

Kat looked puzzled. "What?"

Bella covered her face with both hands and mumbled, "We are so screwed."

In the video, both girls walked quickly into the main room, peeling off their jackets. Other girls were in the background warming up. They squealed and jumped in place, very similar to their first meeting.

"What did he say? What did he say?" Kat jumped with Bella.

"He said he liked me," Bella excitedly did a pirouette.

"And what did you say to him?" Kat mirrored Bella's move.

"I told him I was glad." Bella smiled.

"You didn't tell him you liked him back?" Kat complained with hands on her hips.

Bella broke out with giggles. "No, I kissed him on the cheek."

Carlisle snickered, as Esma giggle quietly.

"Oh, you ho!" Kat laughed.

"And he said..." she teased.

"Said what?" Kat questioned eagerly.

"He said that Matt," Bella coughed, "liked you!"

They both jumped in a circle, giggling and hugging one another.

Sara and Brad both chuckled.

"High school's going to be great!" Bella cooed.

"Come with me to the bathroom. I drank a "Big Gulp" and I feel like I'm going to explode!"

And as they walked away to the hallway, clinging to one another, Bella said, "And they both like music. Edward plays the piano and Matt plays the guitar."

"That's so cool!" Kat screamed.

As the parents laughed heartily, Mrs. Cope clicked the remote and smiled. "And that was the beginning of Edward and Matthew."

Charlie whispered to Esme and Carlisle, "And I thought I had to be worried about your son."

"God, we were so lame," Kat moaned and hung her head on Bella's shoulder.

Bella squeezed Kat's hand and smiled broadly. "But Kat, we're all still together."

Mrs. Cope cleared her throat. "I have two more clips to show you. Then, we can eat."

Mrs. Cope turned towards the TV and clicked the remote. "This was a few months ago. Edward and Matthew came in to play for Bella and Kat.

The light touch of the piano rang out. Edward sat at the bench, hands on the keys. He looked briefly at Bella with fear, as he began to sing...

Lying beside you here in the dark
Feeling your heart beat with mine
Softly you whisper, you're so sincere
How could our love be so blind?
We sailed on together
We drifted apart
And here you are by my side.

A lone tear ran down Bella's cheek, as she sat on the floor of the studio, staring up at Edward.

Matt leaned on the other side of the bench and strummed his guitar. He sang along with Edward with a quick smile and a wink to Kat.

Kat pulled Bella upright and they found their rhythm with the song. "C'mon, dance with me!" Both girls slowly walked to the middle of the floor and started to dance.

So now I come to you, with open arms
Nothing to hide, believe what I say
So here I am with open arms
Hoping you'll see what your love means to me
Open arms.

The parents were stunned by the performance. Esme had her hands to her mouth, while Carlisle sat straight up in his chair. Sara and Brad held on to one another in utter surprise. "My God, the boys can really sing."

Bella cried softly, "Lauren Mallory tried to break us up. She knew I was on my way to class and she grabbed Edward and kissed him in front of my locker." Bella softly whispered, "I just ran away."

Kat hissed, "And the ho almost got away with it, too. But Matt saw everything. He told Mrs. Cope and she allowed Edward and Matt to play...for Bella."

Mrs. Cope smiled. "I couldn't have my girls upset." She walked over to Bella and cupped her face. "Besides, he didn't do anything. And you, Miss Stubborn Little Thing, wouldn't listen to reason." She looked at Kat and shook her head.

"Who would have thought you were a romantic, Mrs. C?" Kat kidded.

"Oh, Kat, the dance is true romance. And that poor boy was devastated," Mrs. Cope playfully poked. "Besides, Mr. Cope played piano for me forty-two years ago." She giggled. "Still does."

Kat opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Bella sang, "She married a music man."

"Okay, okay. I do want to show your parents the audition tape, but that can wait until later. Let's eat and celebrate these glorious girls...who are leaving us." She hugged them tightly.

~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~

Mrs. Cope and the girls finished cleaning up the room and walked to the main dance studio. She led them to the center of the room. "Let's sit."

All three sat on the floor with their legs crossed Indian-style. In the background, a sweet lullaby of piano and guitar played through the speakers.

Mrs. Cope pulled out two letter-sized envelopes from her sweater. Both girls watched on.

"Lovely piece; isn't this?" she asked indicating the beautiful music wafting softly around the studio.

"Yeah, it's sweet, yet passionate." Bella nodded.

"I haven't heard this before," Kat wondered.

"It's new." Mrs. Cope smiled. "Edward and Matt wrote this..."

Both girls smiled, looked and poked at one another.

"They wrote it for the two of you. For your audition," Mrs. Cope coyly smirked.

Both girls raised their heads and asked, "What audition?"

"The one I signed you up for." Mrs. Coped shook her head. "But that's not the point. The dance we have choreographed out for the past few weeks will fit this piece perfectly. I have a DVD for you to follow. And I have all the instruction in these envelopes."

"What?" Bella gasped.

"Huh?" Kat groaned.

"Girls, you'll have to trust me, as I am trusting you. When the boys pick you up tomorrow night, then, andonly then, can you open your envelopes. They want to be the ones to tell you. So, don't ruin this for them. Okay?" Mrs. Cope stared them down.

Kat started to sing the Mission Impossible tune and giggled. "And if you decide to accept this mission," she continued to sing.

Bella followed her lead. "Will they self-destruct?"

They all laughed and Mrs. Cope gathered them up into a hug. "Just do it. God, I love you, girls."

It seemed like they hugged for hours.

~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~()()~

After a tearful goodbye from Charlie and Anne, Bella and Kat spent the day flying across the country, Eastern bound. Three long stops, ten hours and thirteen minutes later, they finally landed at Kennedy. Through the bustling crowd, they pushed their way to find Edward and Matt waiting at the gate.

Wrapped arms and long kisses got interrupted by both girls. Out of breath, Bella talked quickly over Edward's lips, "Hi. This is great. What is in these envelopes?"

"Yeah, and what's with not answering your phones?" Kat complained. "Can we open these things?" She held up envelope to Matt's face.

Bella did the same. "What's this all about, Edward?"

He smiled broadly. "Well, it appears Mrs. Cope does have a few friends with influence."

Kat frowned. "Meaning?"

Matt grabbed both of her hands. "Meaning we all have an audition for a new ballet troupe being developed."

"Yeah, it's in the planning stages," Edward explained.

"Ah, since when are you two dancers?" Bella asked giggling.

"We're composers and musicians. Apparently, this company wants musicians, too," Edward quipped.

"Is that why you left earlier than us?" Kat tapped her foot.

"Yeah," Matt admitted with his head down.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Kat looked under his face.

Matt mumbled, "It wasn't definite. We were waiting to hear from the owners."

"And? God, this is like pulling teeth," Bella huffed.

"Look, you gals aren't the most patient people. So, we talked with them and were able to set up the audition for all of us." Edward grabbed Bella's hands. "I mean, we still have school."

"I'm either really out of it or I'm not getting this. Who, what, where, when and why?" Kat huffed.

"Baryshnikov and his people, a new ballet company, here in New York, next two years and it's all new," Matt quickly filed off. "It's a new concept. They were looking for young talent. And Mrs. Cope recommended us."

"Yeah, it would appear that Mrs. Cope is more than what she seems," Edward poked fun.

Kat sighed and exclaimed, "Wow."

"So, what do we do now?" Bella hummed.

"We get out of here and get something to eat. I'm starving!" Edward's stomach growled.

"Wait." Bella stopped. "That's it?"

"Read your letters..."

Both girls ripped at the envelopes...

If you are reading this, then you know you are auditioning for Mikhail Baryshnikov and a very select group of prestigious ballet dancers and composers. Take a breath, you can do this.
Julliard will prepare you. The boys will support you. And I will be there in two weeks to whip your tushes into shape.
Bella, no burgers.

Kat, no procrastinating.

You've worked hard to get here.

Two weeks.

And you know what you will need to do. Get it... Got it...

Yeah, because Ballerinas get the pointe!

Love, Mrs. C.

Open Arms by Journey:
watch?v=i5pUOVC50Y8