THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER BUT IT IS AN OUTTAKE FROM CLAIR DE LUNE
Hi from Changi Airport!
So I am sorry to say that I have left my dearest laptop in England so it may be used by someone with far more patience than me (I'm way too tempted to throw it against the wall - it's getting dangerous).
Consequently, I am going to be without means of typing up the next chapter for a little while.
So, because I'm not sure how long it will take for my new laptop to arrive once I'm back in NZ, I decided to give you something a little different to make up for the delay!
This is an alternative to Chapter Thirteen in Clair de Lune.
Basically, Bella has just gotten a whole load of complaints and nastiness from her old first year class (oh, how I miss them). Alice is trying to distract her from it all.
It was changed for obvious reasons - a huge deviation from the plot and not a whole load of true substance.
Anyway, just thought you might like it as a wee wind back to the times of Force!
"Where are we going?" I asked as Alice led me up the stairs to the second floor where, as far I knew, there were only student dorms and teacher lodgings.
"Somewhere where annoying teachers like Master Hinde and all those idiots who seem to be constantly pissing you off don't go," she said as we reached the landing. She led me down the same corridor my dorm was down, and I briefly wondered if that was where she meant. But instead, she stopped at a door right next to the girls bathrooms.
If I'd noticed it at all, I'd probably have thought it was a janitor's closet. "Okay," said Alice with an excited smile, though she stood protectively in front of the door, a tiny key suddenly in her hand. "You are not allowed to tell anyone about this. The only reason I tell you is because..." she looked at me with exaggerated scrutiny. "Well, you pissed off Tanya for one thing," she twisted her lips to one side, quirking her head the other way, "Actually, you seem to piss off quite a few people, from what I just saw."
I opened my mouth to protest, but she was back to her ordinary grin. "Yay! We have lots in common. That'll be a good enough reason for Jazz and Em. Rose and Edward..." she blew a hair away boredly, "they'll live. Come on!" She grabbed my hand again and quickly unlocked the old-fashioned key hole.
"Is Narnia in there or something?" I asked.
She laughed, opening the door to reveal a narrow passage way. The only light came from the corridor behind us. "Not quite, but it's private."
"You know, I can't really see you pissing anyone off," I said as I shut the door behind me. Alice got out her phone, casting a little light. I could see that the narrow walls were wallpapered with peeling designs of flowers and leaves. A faded red carpet was rolled down the creaking floorboards. Clearly no one had bothered to refurbish it like the rest of the academy.
Alice laughed, the high sounded bouncing off the close walls, "Yeah, but people here get pretentious. Aside from Edward and Tanya, my group's pretty odd. Rose is considered too busty, Em's too muscular, Jasper's too tall and I'm..." she turned and grinned up at me.
"Too short?" I said.
She laughed again and nodded, "And yet we're at the top of the school. That tends to get people annoyed."
I sighed, "I think I know what you mean."
"I thought you might," she said, and then we came to a halt. The black passageway ended with an old cherry wood door. It looked plain enough, but as Alice shone her phone light a little lower, I realised into the door was carved the school crest that hung in every room. This one seemed more intricate. Roses intertwined the unicorn, the lion, the angel and, of course, the dancer. And underneath, carved in delicate calligraphy, were the words:
Monsieur Marcus Vigernon,
Premier Maître de Ballet
I reached out, touching the carving. I could see it had been coloured in gold, though only flecks of the paint were left. Marcus Vigernon, the founder of Force.
"This is Marcus Vigernon's office," Alice said quietly.
"Why is it hidden?" I asked. At my old school, every new principal would proudly take over the same office...
She smiled, "You'll see," she said, turning the doorknob.
The door creaked loudly as it opened.
We stepped into an ornately beautiful room. It was octagonal, with three walls dominated by huge windows. Rich red curtains framed them, hanging down to the polished wooden floor. In front of the centre window stood an elegant cherry wood writing desk, complete with a silver inkwell. Spread over it were pieces of old paper with scrawls of writing on them.
To the left of the desk stood a wooden music stand. A violin and bow rested on a side table next to it. I looked around, awestruck by the personality of the room. A ballet barre was attached to a wall. It was short, and the bottom was carved with wooden vines and roses. A pair of worn men's ballet shoes sat underneath it. The un-windowed walls were panelled with carved dancers, much like on the grand staircase, artfully standing in poses. "Can I walk around?" I asked.
She grinned, seeing my expression, "It's not a museum, you know."
"I know," I said, "it looks more like Monsieur Vigernon just popped out for a cup of tea." As if he was due back at any moment. The desk chair had been pushed back as if someone had just stood up out of it. A dipper pen rested on top of the papers, as if something still needed to be written.
"It was left exactly as he'd left it," said Alice. "If the Board knew about it then they'd probably want to turn it into another dorm room." I looked at the music still sitting on the stand; Entr'acte from Sleeping Beauty, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
"That's ridiculous," I murmured, "this is like..." I went over to the desk, covered with costume designs and pointe shoes order forms. A thick leather bound book lay on top of some of the papers. It was hand written in messy, but somehow legible black calligraphy, and I would have thought it was a diary, except that at the top was written Chapter Three: The technicalities of a Pirouette en Pointe.
I would have read on, but there was a sudden thud and I almost leapt out of my skin. "Jesus Alice!" I breathed. A square hole had suddenly appeared in the ceiling, and I could see the grey clouds of the sky through it. The step ladder must have been attached to the hatch, because now it touched the floor, giving us a way up.
Alice was grinning, "Yeah, some people call me that."
I stepped away from the desk. "Is it new?" I asked.
She shook her head, "Nope, it was built with everything else. Come on!"
She climbed up first, and then me. The wind whipped at my hair. I quickly shut the trapdoor, not wanting to let the spitting rain into Monsieur Vigernon's room. "Cool, huh?" Said Alice.
I looked around me. We emerged onto what seemed like a balcony, right on top of the academy.
Total plot deviation - I know. And it could be a room from Hogwarts...
Basically, Monsieur Vigernon ended up committing suicide. I wrote something about that, as well, but it's been lost in my disorganisation. Probably a good thing - seriously didn't fit.
I also planned on Edward and Bella having a dance on the roof, but that didn't happen either...
Anyway, a lot of you guys were saying that you miss Alice and so do I! So there's a little Alice for you...
I will update as soon as I can - a fortnight, maybe?
Thanks so much for all your amazing support! Sorry this wasn't a full chapter!
Another twelve hours in a metal tube...yay...
Amberdeen :D