For Love
In this chapter, which is the sequel to `Threatened Dancer', Sarah is still fighting to get her friend Ellie to her senses, while at the same time she is trying to cope with not having seen Derek for a long time. It is different from my other chapter because it is written from Sarah's POV. Thank you for the reviews I have received and I hope to hear more of your opinions, especially from people who have enjoyed the movie `Save the Last Dance' or from people who dance, too.
`Ellie, wait up!'
I called out as soon as our early morning ballet class ended. My friend and room-mate was heading for the stairway to the first floor. Running, I caught up with her and turned her around so that she was facing me. Her face still showed the pain she had felt at the mean remark about her that Sandra had voiced during the class. And I could also see frustration and a bitter determination in her pretty, almond-shaped eyes.
`What on earth have you been doing?' I demanded of her.
`Look at yourself! You're as thin as a stick, that isn't going to help you dance!'
To emphasize my words, I reached out my fingers and pointed to her clearly showing cheek bones, to her bony shoulders, and to her horribly skinny waist. It maid me sick just looking at it.
`Sarah, I am not skinny! I am fat, why else would I dance so badly?! You're just being nice to me, because you're my friend!' Ellie burst out, the tears that flowed so easily now filling up her glassy eyes.
`Your weight has nothing to do with your dancing ability, trust me! If you would only relax, and not be so afraid of making mistakes and letting all your feelings out, you would make so much more progress. Just dance, Ellie, that's your dream, isn't it? Just dance, and don't care about what anyone says! Dance to free yourself from all your problems, to be in perfect harmony with the ever-spinning world, feel yourself leaving the earth, to soar with the winds...'
I broke off, caught in a drift of remembrance of the person who had told me those exact same words, when I had left for the Julliard School. Derek. He had taken me aside before I stepped into my dad's car and had looked at me with those sensitive, steady eyes.
`Sarah,' he had said in a low voice so my dad couldn't hear.
`At the school, there will be lots of people who want to be professional dancers. Some will be your friends, some will be your enemies. But don't wrap yourself up in hate. It will show in your dancing. Love and you will shine like a star when you dance.'
I had smiled in spite of my tears at having to leave him.
`I think I'll start with loving you, it's the easiest,' I had teased. He had grinned, flashing his white teeth at me in that sweet way he had. Then I had promised:
`I've gotta come and see you again sometime soon. I don't care if I have to sneak out in the middle of the night to see you. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to survive even one month without seeing you, and the Christmas holidays are still three months away (A/N: Sarah is starting the first semester at the Julliard so it's September)!'
One last desperate kiss, the last time for weeks that I would feel the safeness and security of his arms around me and his lips on mine, and I had had to leave.
Remembering this scene with a spasm of longing, I remembered guiltily that I had not kept my promise: I had been at the school for over two months, and with all the training and late night working, I barely even had the time to phone Derek once every two weeks, let alone think of arranging to meet somewhere.
Meanwhile, Ellie turned away from me with a little gasp, as if she were in pain, and whispered in a defeated little voice: `But I can't. Every time I try, I see Sandra staring at my body in disgust and her smirking at me, and I just fail...'
She dashed down the hallway and disappeared up the stairs.
That night, I avoided our room because I wanted to tell Derek about what Ellie was doing. Surely he could think of something to help her. I wandered out into the garden that was attached to the school and started walking down the path, kicking piles of brightly colored leaves out of my way. The moon was already rising, creating a sliver of pale light in the night sky. It reminded me of my mother- how, before she had died, she had told me stories about the moon; about its ever-changing shape, and about the magical power it held.
I felt very alone, without my mother, Dad, Derek, or Ellie. I knew I had chosen that they weren't here with me now (except for my mother, of course), but I wished I would have been able to compromise more with my career and my friends and family.
`Sarah! Over here!'
With a start, I turned, yanked out of my thoughts by the voice. A dark figure crept out of a near-by bush. I couldn't believe my eyes- it was Steve, one of Derek's best buddies! (A/N: Steve isn't from the movie, I made him up myself, but Sarah knows him really well)
Laughing with surprise and disbelief, I threw my arms around him in an exuberant hug.
`Steve! What the hell are you doing here?' I giggled as I gave him high fives.
`Kidnapping you, what else would I be doing at some stuck-up ballet school?' Steve grinned because he knew it annoyed me when my friends insulted Julliard.
`At least the average I.Q. in there is up to normal,' I replied fiercely, knowing he didn't care a thing about smartness.
`But wait- sorry, you probably didn't understand that sentence. After all, `average' has three syllables.' I shrugged and then laughed again when he started.
`But honestly, why are you kidnapping me? Turned criminal in my absence?' I questioned, hoping he would give me a serious answer.
Steve stopped laughing and looked at me with accusation in his eyes.
`Derek's missing you like crazy, man. He's really worried because you sound so stressed on the phone, and he hasn't heard from you for a long time.'
My worst fears had been confirmed. Suddenly feeling helpless and unfaithful, I protested:
`That's not true! I phoned him... just a little more than two weeks ago... anyway, I was going to phone him tonight, but you showed up...' I trailed off miserably, feeling more than ever that I had deserted everybody who ever meant something to me.
Steve had been watching me struggling with a slight amusement in his face.
`Look, what are you standing here talking to me, come with me and you can tell Derek yourself,' he told me smilingly.
`What? Come with you? Where are you going?' I asked, feeling a little ray of hope at being able to convince Derek that I still loved him.
`You sound like an idiot. We're going to Steps; there's a real party going on there, even though I don't know why. But Derek's no fun when you're gone, so I went to get you. Whaddya say?' Steve looked at me expectantly.
I felt trapped. Leaving the school at night was strictly against the rules, but I couldn't disappoint all my friends, especially Derek. Uncertainly, I glanced around at the school building behind me. Would anyone notice if I went just for a few hours? Ellie would, but she would cover up for me. Nobody checked our rooms, so wasn't there more than a fifty-fifty chance that my disappearance would go unnoticed? I really did want to be a dancer, and I was willing to make sacrifices, but what if Derek left me? To go on without him was impossible, I was sure of that.
My decision finally made, I turned back to Steve with an excited grin on my face.
`All right, you win. Let's go have some fun for a change!'
I know this is a very short chapter, but I hope I can make the next one longer. I'm planning to write another story on the Redwall books, so watch out for it! S.J.
6
In this chapter, which is the sequel to `Threatened Dancer', Sarah is still fighting to get her friend Ellie to her senses, while at the same time she is trying to cope with not having seen Derek for a long time. It is different from my other chapter because it is written from Sarah's POV. Thank you for the reviews I have received and I hope to hear more of your opinions, especially from people who have enjoyed the movie `Save the Last Dance' or from people who dance, too.
`Ellie, wait up!'
I called out as soon as our early morning ballet class ended. My friend and room-mate was heading for the stairway to the first floor. Running, I caught up with her and turned her around so that she was facing me. Her face still showed the pain she had felt at the mean remark about her that Sandra had voiced during the class. And I could also see frustration and a bitter determination in her pretty, almond-shaped eyes.
`What on earth have you been doing?' I demanded of her.
`Look at yourself! You're as thin as a stick, that isn't going to help you dance!'
To emphasize my words, I reached out my fingers and pointed to her clearly showing cheek bones, to her bony shoulders, and to her horribly skinny waist. It maid me sick just looking at it.
`Sarah, I am not skinny! I am fat, why else would I dance so badly?! You're just being nice to me, because you're my friend!' Ellie burst out, the tears that flowed so easily now filling up her glassy eyes.
`Your weight has nothing to do with your dancing ability, trust me! If you would only relax, and not be so afraid of making mistakes and letting all your feelings out, you would make so much more progress. Just dance, Ellie, that's your dream, isn't it? Just dance, and don't care about what anyone says! Dance to free yourself from all your problems, to be in perfect harmony with the ever-spinning world, feel yourself leaving the earth, to soar with the winds...'
I broke off, caught in a drift of remembrance of the person who had told me those exact same words, when I had left for the Julliard School. Derek. He had taken me aside before I stepped into my dad's car and had looked at me with those sensitive, steady eyes.
`Sarah,' he had said in a low voice so my dad couldn't hear.
`At the school, there will be lots of people who want to be professional dancers. Some will be your friends, some will be your enemies. But don't wrap yourself up in hate. It will show in your dancing. Love and you will shine like a star when you dance.'
I had smiled in spite of my tears at having to leave him.
`I think I'll start with loving you, it's the easiest,' I had teased. He had grinned, flashing his white teeth at me in that sweet way he had. Then I had promised:
`I've gotta come and see you again sometime soon. I don't care if I have to sneak out in the middle of the night to see you. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to survive even one month without seeing you, and the Christmas holidays are still three months away (A/N: Sarah is starting the first semester at the Julliard so it's September)!'
One last desperate kiss, the last time for weeks that I would feel the safeness and security of his arms around me and his lips on mine, and I had had to leave.
Remembering this scene with a spasm of longing, I remembered guiltily that I had not kept my promise: I had been at the school for over two months, and with all the training and late night working, I barely even had the time to phone Derek once every two weeks, let alone think of arranging to meet somewhere.
Meanwhile, Ellie turned away from me with a little gasp, as if she were in pain, and whispered in a defeated little voice: `But I can't. Every time I try, I see Sandra staring at my body in disgust and her smirking at me, and I just fail...'
She dashed down the hallway and disappeared up the stairs.
That night, I avoided our room because I wanted to tell Derek about what Ellie was doing. Surely he could think of something to help her. I wandered out into the garden that was attached to the school and started walking down the path, kicking piles of brightly colored leaves out of my way. The moon was already rising, creating a sliver of pale light in the night sky. It reminded me of my mother- how, before she had died, she had told me stories about the moon; about its ever-changing shape, and about the magical power it held.
I felt very alone, without my mother, Dad, Derek, or Ellie. I knew I had chosen that they weren't here with me now (except for my mother, of course), but I wished I would have been able to compromise more with my career and my friends and family.
`Sarah! Over here!'
With a start, I turned, yanked out of my thoughts by the voice. A dark figure crept out of a near-by bush. I couldn't believe my eyes- it was Steve, one of Derek's best buddies! (A/N: Steve isn't from the movie, I made him up myself, but Sarah knows him really well)
Laughing with surprise and disbelief, I threw my arms around him in an exuberant hug.
`Steve! What the hell are you doing here?' I giggled as I gave him high fives.
`Kidnapping you, what else would I be doing at some stuck-up ballet school?' Steve grinned because he knew it annoyed me when my friends insulted Julliard.
`At least the average I.Q. in there is up to normal,' I replied fiercely, knowing he didn't care a thing about smartness.
`But wait- sorry, you probably didn't understand that sentence. After all, `average' has three syllables.' I shrugged and then laughed again when he started.
`But honestly, why are you kidnapping me? Turned criminal in my absence?' I questioned, hoping he would give me a serious answer.
Steve stopped laughing and looked at me with accusation in his eyes.
`Derek's missing you like crazy, man. He's really worried because you sound so stressed on the phone, and he hasn't heard from you for a long time.'
My worst fears had been confirmed. Suddenly feeling helpless and unfaithful, I protested:
`That's not true! I phoned him... just a little more than two weeks ago... anyway, I was going to phone him tonight, but you showed up...' I trailed off miserably, feeling more than ever that I had deserted everybody who ever meant something to me.
Steve had been watching me struggling with a slight amusement in his face.
`Look, what are you standing here talking to me, come with me and you can tell Derek yourself,' he told me smilingly.
`What? Come with you? Where are you going?' I asked, feeling a little ray of hope at being able to convince Derek that I still loved him.
`You sound like an idiot. We're going to Steps; there's a real party going on there, even though I don't know why. But Derek's no fun when you're gone, so I went to get you. Whaddya say?' Steve looked at me expectantly.
I felt trapped. Leaving the school at night was strictly against the rules, but I couldn't disappoint all my friends, especially Derek. Uncertainly, I glanced around at the school building behind me. Would anyone notice if I went just for a few hours? Ellie would, but she would cover up for me. Nobody checked our rooms, so wasn't there more than a fifty-fifty chance that my disappearance would go unnoticed? I really did want to be a dancer, and I was willing to make sacrifices, but what if Derek left me? To go on without him was impossible, I was sure of that.
My decision finally made, I turned back to Steve with an excited grin on my face.
`All right, you win. Let's go have some fun for a change!'
I know this is a very short chapter, but I hope I can make the next one longer. I'm planning to write another story on the Redwall books, so watch out for it! S.J.
6