Yay! 2,234 words! Probably more if you take apart all of Alice's please's. Haha. Okay, bad news. My cousin is coming to stay at my house on Tuesday for five days, so I might not get the one-shots up. BUT the day she leaves, I promise I'll post all of them, okay? Don't be mad at me please!
"Yeah right."
"Bella! Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease! You used to take ballet before! Show me!"
I sighed and stared at Alice, who was holding a pair of pink Pointe shoes in one hand, and white ballet flats in the other. Both in my size. "Alice, I told you before! Me plus ballet equals disaster! Or broken bones; whichever comes first," I trailed off. I had been enrolled in a ballet class before, but she knew that that ended horribly. I was always placed in the back and ran into the better dancers. Quitting was a blessing. And even if I was better than that, considering that my last trip to a ballet studio almost got me killed, I didn't fancy going back to one any time soon. I wouldn't have to explain all of this again to Edward, but his sister . . .
"You are going to show me, Bella," she said, tapping her head. "I can see it."
"You cracked me," I mumbled, taking both pairs of shoes. I started off for Alice's room, expecting to find a leotard and tights there, when I stopped suddenly. I had found a flaw in her plan. Maybe I wouldn't have to dance after all. "Alice," I called.
"Still here, Bella."
"I can't wear the Pointe shoes without any toe pads."
"That's okay, they're in the shoes."
I groaned and took a peek inside. Damn it; she was right. "Thanks, Alice," I grumbled, trudging to her room. Inside I found a pair of tan tights and a purple leotard. My size again. I stripped off my jeans and sweater and started pulling on the tights. I found out that if I stuck my arm down the tube, and then pulled it back up so the leg was bunched, it was much easier to get your feet in. I pulled the tights the whole way up, trying not to put too many runners in them. I hadn't done ballet since I was seven; how did Alice expect me to remember any of it?!
After getting on the tights, (they were convertible and a little harder to figure out) ((A/n: I know everyone hates these notes inside the story, but I have a feeling that nobody will know what convertible tights are. Instead of being sewn shut at the ends, there are holes at the bottom so you can wear them like cutoffs, but they'll stretch down far enough to cover your whole foot, like normal tights. You won't feel the hole, because it's normally centered on your foot so it's comfortable. Most Pointe dancers, (like myself) wear them so that you can take the foot part off, stick on the toe pad, and put the foot part back on to hold it in place. Bella will be doing that, so there's the description.)), I grabbed the purple leotard lying on Alice's couch. I stuck my legs through and pulled it up, adjusting the straps to fit my arms comfortably. Well, as comfortably as possible without falling off. I picked the shoes back up and went into the hallway, stopping when I saw Alice standing there, donned in full ballet gear.
"Ready Bella?" she squeaked.
"Ready for what?" I asked suspiciously.
"Ballet lessons!"
"Aliceee!"
"Please! Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease! Puh-lease! Pleasepleasepleaseplea—"
"Fine."
"Yay!" Alice grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall, passing me a camisole in the midst of running down the stairs. I put it on quickly and followed.
As we got into the car I asked meekly, "Do I dare ask what class level we're in?"
"Intermediate Ballet with Pointe Technique!" she squealed. I groaned audibly, watching the trees whiz by. "Come on Bella, it was either that or Beginning Ballet with a bunch of six year olds." At least it would be harder for me to hit the six year olds, I thought, depressed. They're too small to hit.
Alice pulled up to a small building, with 'Walnut Lodge Ballet School' written up on a banner that hung from the edge of the roof. We both got out, Alice jabbering too fast for me to catch what she was saying as we walked to the doors. Inside, there were two flights of stairs two our left and right, and an empty room before us. Alice led me up the right set of stairs and opened the only door visible, climbing up the final few stairs that lay after the door. We stepped into the room, seeing a small stage to the right and black rubber laid across the middle of the floor. Benches were at the back of the room, a few parents and bystanders sitting there. Others were looking through the windows behind them. More benches were where we stood, and a few girls our age were sitting there with ballet flats on, stretching.
"Coming Bella?" Alice asked, finding an empty bench and dumping her bag there. I followed her quietly, setting down the bag she had given me for my shoes. This wasn't going to end well.
There were six girls on the floor now, being instructed by a shorter girl with short black hair. They were all wearing tap shoes, working on some routine. One of them waved in my direction, but I looked around to see that another girl had followed us in, and that the tapper was waving to her, not me. Thank God.
Alice had already gotten on her shoes, and was joining in on the stretching and mindless chatter that the other dancers were talking about. I sat down on the bench and stuck on my shoes quickly. That was one good thing about ballet flats; there was no designated right or left foot. I then sat down near Alice, stretching, but not talking. I was trying to stay unnoticed, but with Alice there, that was impossible.
"Emily, Alicia, Marissa, Nerissa, this is Bella. Bella, Emily, Alicia, Marissa, Nerissa." She gestured to each of the girls in turn. Emily was taller than the others, and obviously older, more our age. She had dark black curly hair and pale skin, and was smiling at me. Alicia was probably her younger sister, who had the same dark curly hair and light skin, but was just a little over my height. Marissa had long light brown hair with pale skin, freckles dotting her cheeks. She was obviously younger than me, shorter too. Nerissa was dark skinned, with dark brown curly hair that was pulled into a bun. She was shorter than Marissa, and looked the same age as she. They were all wearing black leotards.
"Hello," I murmured, trying to sound more than halfhearted. I'm not sure if I succeeded, but the five girls, including Alice, just turned back to their conversation. I kept stretching, mimicking the other girls movements.
After a few minutes, the tappers on the floor left, and so did their teacher. Another lady walked in, maybe forty or fifty, and she was also wearing black. I suddenly felt like I stood out in my dark purple leotard, but then again, Alice had chosen a pink one, so I'm sure I blended in more than she did. The lady walked over to us. "Come on girls, move out the bars." I had just noticed the four bars against the walls, all ranging in height. I started to move over to help with the bars, but that lady stopped me and Alice.
"I'm Jill. I'll be your teacher here." She shook each of our hands, and then turned her attention back to the bars. "Please take off any shorts or camisoles!" she called out, not just talking to us. Marissa and Nerissa walked back over to their bags and put their shorts in them. I did the same with my camisole.
The bars were out by then, so Marissa, Nerissa, Alice and I walked to the shortest bar, while Emily and Alicia walked to the higher one. The class was a little fuller now, and the other two bars were occupied quickly. I placed my right hand on the bar, facing away from the stage; mimicking the movements of the line in front of me. I knew not to be in the very back, because when we turned, then I would be leading. I didn't want that, so I made sure that Alice was behind me, at least, for the moment. I noticed that it became quiet and the students let go of the bar. I followed suit.
Jill began the music, and started the exercise. "Face your head away from the bar. Look at the wall. Prepitory position!"
I had absolutely no idea what that was, so I looked at the person in front of me. She had her feet facing front, together, and her arms formed a 'u', fingers close, but not touching. I copied her.
"First position! Open your arms and feet to second! Plie! Eshapae close fifth! Arms to prepitory, leave them there. Pointe your toe, bend to the floor, arm up to third! Straighten your back. Bring your toe in. Face the bar! Fifth position! Plie one, two, slide right foot to pointed second three, four, jump, land in plie five, six, straighten seven, eight. AGAIN!"
I couldn't believe it, I could actually follow what she was saying! Well, not really. I was watching and repeating. I knew what a plie was, and most of the positions, but what the hell was an eshapae? I learned that you should jump up and close in a different position, fifth in this case. I could do it! Well, most of it. The long string of counts I learned was called a glyisod, (glee-sod) and I could sort of land them at the end of the hour-and-a-half. Alice was progressing a lot faster than I; not a surprise there. She could walk as gracefully as I could dance.
"Go sit down girls! Change your shoes! If you aren't doing the half-hour of pointe, class dismissed! Hurry now!" Jill walked over into her office next to the stage; presumably to change her own shoes.
I followed Alice to the benches where our bags sat, Marissa and Nerissa following me. I sat down and took off my flats, stuffing them into my bag as I pulled out my pointe shoes, staring at the two long ribbons that were supposed to keep them on. This was going to take awhile. Alice, already having her pointe shoes on, raced to the rescue. She pulled the foot off my tights, sticking a toe pad on my foot and then stuck the foot of my tights back on, doing the same for the other foot. She then stuck the shoe on my foot, lacing up the ribbons correctly. As she was doing this, I noticed that Nerissa and Marissa's shoes had an extra piece of elastic on them, probably to hold the shoe on better. Maybe I would invest in that.
Alice finished tying the boe, tucking the edges in the wrapped ribbon. I noticed that the main wrapping point was right above my ankle. Didn't all of the paintings of ballerinas have the ribbons laced up to their upper calf? I asked Alice and she just laughed.
"That's how the painters picture it. If you really laced them like that, the shoes would fall off your feet and the ribbons would fall." She laughed again and went over to the bar. I followed. Emily, Marissa, and Nerissa came after me, but Alicia sat on the bench. I pulled Emily over.
"Doesn't she do pointe?" I asked.
"Nope. I'm not sure why, she just isn't interested. Maybe cause it hurts so much." Emily walked away to the high bar, while I joined Alice and friends at the lower one, gulping. I decided to try stepping onto my toes. Yeah, bad idea. I slid, landing on my back and twisting my ankle. The other dancers came to help me up and led me to the benches, where I sat down, immediately taking the shoes off.
"Haha, not so easy as it looks, is it?" Alicia asked jokingly from a bench over. I discovered why she didn't do pointe at least. Not wanting to be alone throughout the last half hour of the class, I went over to join her.
A/n: Hope you guys aren't too mad about the note at the beginning. I have pointe from 2-4, (lol. jill is my real teacher and I know emily, alicia, marissa, and nerissa, haha) which is my normal writing time so idk how long it'll be. What I think I'm going to do is hand-write until like, one in the morning so I have a few more ideas for the period of time when my cousin is here. Kk, love you guys! Review!
Kanapapa :)
