After ballet practice, Evelia and the other dancers thanked Madame and went out into the hall to gather their things. She sat down on the floor alone while the other girls whispered about her as they removed their pointe shoes. Just then, Meg, the blonde dancer who hadn't joined the others, walked over to Evelia and sat down "You did a wonderful job in class today" Meg said quietly as she untied the ribbons on her pointe shoes "How long have you been dancing?"
"Oh, since I was a little girl" Evelia replied "I think I was about 7 years old, so that makes it over 7 years I've been dancing. What about you?"
"My mother stared me dancing when I was three years old" Meg replied quietly.
"Three! Well, no wonder you're so good!"
"Not as good as you are." Meg blurted out Evelia was about to disagree, but just then, Meg broke the awkward silence "Do you like it here?"
"Oh, well, yes, it's wonderful! You're mother is an amazing teacher, but…"
"It's the other girls, isn't it?"
Evelia nodded "Why do they hate me?"
"Don't mind them, I guess it's just jealousy. They've been dancing here as long as I have, and they're just used to the way things are. On the rare occasions when mother takes a new dancer in, they LOVE to look down on her and criticize her and such. But now you're here, and you're better than all of them, so they realize that they can't do much to you! It really irritates them when they're not on top. They only leave me alone because my mother's the teacher."
Evelia said "I see...well, are you friends with them then?"
"Not really. They may leave me alone for the most part, but really they don't like me. They think that since my mother's the teacher, she's easier on me and makes my dancing sound better than it is."
"That's ridiculous! It's so obvious you're better than them without any extra help! It looks like Madame is even HARDER on you, In fact. But that's understandable, since she IS your mother. Well, those girls are just making stupid excuses for the fact that you're better than they are."
"I only am because my mother works me so hard. Whenever she sees me looking even slightly bored or not busy, she tells me to practice. But I'm so used to it, I guess I don't mind."
The girls talked as they walked down to the ballet girl's dormitories. Each one of them was to get a good night's sleep, as they had their first full cast rehearsal in the morning.