A/N: Yay, I finished another chapter and made my beta proud :) As always, thank you for taking the time to beta my chapters.
Nooow... I actually don't have much to ramble about so you can just go on and read
We hung out with Leah, Sam and the others for a while until Emmett noted that it was time for us to head back to the academy.
Alice insisted that I drive back with them and so we left Leah and her friends behind.
So I ended up squeezed in between Alice and Rose on the backseat, answering some of the questions that they asked, ignoring others.
We made it back on time and the boys left us to head toward their wing.
Alice and Rose were roommates and their room was on the floor beneath mine.
When I entered my room, Victoria let out a sigh of relief.
"Finally," she cried.
Irina just rolled her eyes at her and pushed past me to get out of the room.
"Uh...did I miss something?"
"No, not really. Irina was just getting on my nerves and I had been anxiously for you to return and save me."
"Weren't you supposed to be friends?"
"We are friends," Victoria insisted, "I just don't like dealing with her antics all the time. She's just jealous, I think."
"Jealous of what?"
Victoria sighed.
"She's been a bit bitchy because I'm dating James. I think she's just regretting not taking her chances with Laurent. He's dating someone now."
I made a small noise, to give Victoria the impression that I was listening, despite the fact that I really didn't care about this kind of stuff.
Victoria continued to rant about James, Irina and Tanya, while I continued to act as if I was listening.
At some point in Victoria's speech, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remembered was waking up to sounds of my alarm clock.
The day started just like every morning, slow and painful.
The only thing that was different this morning was that Alice was standing in front of the door when I stepped out of my room.
"Good morning," she greeted enthusiastically.
"Morning?" Her bouncing frame was a bit confusing for my semi-awake mind.
"I decided to pick you up for breakfast," Alice explained.
"You do realize that I do know where the cafeteria is, right?"
"Yes, I do."
I sighed but didn't say anything else.
I just made my way to the cafeteria with the hyperactive little person next to me.
"So are you going to dance today?" Alice asked.
"Umm...not that I know of. Why?"
"I was just wondering. Could have been that you finally decided to join us properly in class," Alice shrugged.
"That is not going to happen any time soon if I can help it."
"Ah well, we're going to change that soon," Alice replied confidently.
I raised my eyebrows at her, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Oh look, Rose is waving at us," she squealed, when we entered the cafeteria.
I looked over to where Alice pointed and saw that Rose had in fact only made a small hand motion to gain Alice's attention.
Leave it to Alice to get all excited over it.
I got myself a bowl of cereal and followed Alice, who was headed to join Rose at the table that I usually occupied.
"Morning," Rose greeted absentmindedly.
"Morning."
"Good morning, ladies," a voice boomed.
Rose cringed visibly and before I even knew it, Emmett sat at the table with us.
"How are you on this beautiful morning?"
"Wonderful before you showed up," Rose grumbled.
That caused me to raise my eyebrows at her. Weren't they supposed to be friends?
Emmett just shrugged it off.
"So Bella, you gonna dance for us today again?"
"Err...no."
"Why not?"
"Didn't you hear that she just said no?" Rose snapped at him.
"I didn't ask you, did I?" Emmett snapped right back.
"Could you please not argue this early?" Alice chimed in.
Both Rose and Emmett glared at each other briefly, before they ignored one another.
I wasn't sure what it was but I definitely must have missed something in this scenario.
"Where are Jasper and Edward?" Alice asked then as if nothing had happened.
"Edward didn't want to join you guys and Jasper just decided to stay with him," Emmett replied.
"What's his problem anyway?" I asked no one in particular.
"Nobody knows. He's probably just being a bit bitchy because no one pays attention to his petty problems," Rose shrugged.
"No, he's actually annoyed that his grades are slipping," Alice informed us.
"His grades are slipping? Since when? He just got an 'A' in French yesterday," Emmett wondered.
"I'm talking about dancing. Did you look at the ranking list? He's not even in the top three anymore."
"Yeah, but he's still in the top five, so he shouldn't be complaining. He's still higher up than me," Rose scowled.
"He says that it's your fault," Alice muttered.
Rose's head whipped around. "My fault? What the hell did I do?"
"The two of you can't really dance with each other, so you're both kind of bad in Pas de Deux."
"It's not my fault that he's too stupid to get anything right."
"He says that it is your fault and asked Aunt Esme yesterday if it were possible for him to get a new partner. She said that she'd talk to Madam Cope to see how the rest of the class is doing, but she doesn't really want to provide a new partner for him."
"He's such an asshole. Just because he can't get his fucking hands in the right position and doesn't even know how to be intact, he goes crying to his mommy that I'm the one at fault? I'd kick his ass so hard that he'd taste the fabric of my Pointe shoes but I love them too much to get them ruined."
Rose looked beyond pissed while she said that and for some reason I couldn't help but giggle at her words.
Emmett was also biting his lips to prevent himself from laughing, but he chuckled anyway.
Rose ignored the two of us.
Eventually, we all made our way to class. Rose immediately walked up to Edward to hiss and screech at him. Edward didn't seem to be in a good mood either, which resulted in the two of them arguing.
"It's not my fault that you obviously don't know anything about grace and beauty," Edward snapped at her.
"At least I'm still getting my steps right, you always trip over your own feet."
"Not over my feet, it's your feet that are in the way."
"Stop trying to blame me for this. It's your own fault if you keep fucking up."
"Enough, you two," Madam Cope's voice interrupted.
Everyone, who had been listening to the argument taking place, turned around at the sound of her voice.
"Both of you can join Isabella on the floor and do some stretching for today. I will inform the other teachers not to let you dance," she instructed.
I grimaced at the sound of my full name, while Rose looked like she needed a moment to figure out who 'Isabella' was.
Edward just looked downright pissed.
"The rest of the class, get in position- we are trying out something new today..."
Rose sauntered over to me, scowling at Edward who took up a space a safe distance from me.
The rest of the day passed without any major events. Rose kept ranting about Edward's arrogance, while Alice was apparently looking forward to an afternoon spent with her aunt.
Rose asked me if I'd help her break in her new pointe shoes, to which I agreed since I had nothing better to do with the afternoon anyway.
But whilst we were eating lunch a small girl approached our table informing me that Madam Esme wanted to talk to me after lunch.
I frowned at the news, trying to recall if I had done anything wrong. As far as I knew I had behaved almost too well in the past days that I had spent here.
Rose and Alice also had no explanation for this and spent the remainder of our lunch break with me trying to figure out what Madam Esme could want from me.
We finished our lunch and both girls decided to accompany me to the headmistress' office.
"Good luck in there," Rose said quietly as I opened the door to the office.
Madam Esme sat at her desk, looking much like she had on my first day here.
"Ah, Ms. Swan. Take a seat," she said in a pleasant voice, even smiling a little.
I complied, even more confused as to what was going on.
Madam Esme looked at me for a few moments before we spoke.
"I have been talking to some of your teachers," she then started slowly, "Apart from some little incidents in the beginning it seems like you have been behaving quite well so far."
I nodded, knowing that I really hadn't done anything to piss any of my teachers off.
"Still, they are not all pleased with you. Your aversion to dancing makes it difficult for the teachers give you any points. Right at this moment you are not only at the bottom of your class but of the whole school. You only got two points for last week and that was only because Madam Cope says that you are progressing a bit with your stretches."
It was kind of true. My flexibility was slowly returning. It hadn't actually been lost, but my body had to get used to it again. Not that I wanted it too.
"I got a letter from Judge Jensen today and she wants to be informed about your progress. I don't know if your father told you this but it's not enough for you just to be sitting around in here. The only way that you can convince the judge to let you go free and erase your record is for you to show her that you have chosen a new path. You have to show that your behaviour has improved and this is not being done just by sitting here."
I raised my eyebrows at that. What exactly did the judge expect from me? How in the world am I supposed to show that?
"I know that you might wonder how you are supposed to accomplish that, but the answer is quite simply- all you have to do is take part in the dancing classes."
"What? But I don't want to dance," I protested.
"I know that, but it's either that or going to jail. We both know that you are not a bad person so why would you be willing to put yourself down like this? These kinds of things can ruin your future; you know that, don't you?"
Madam Esme's green eyes seemed to glow with intensity.
I nodded slowly.
"Isabella, I really don't want to see you throwing everything away. I know that your mother's death has been hard on you, but you can't just throw your life away and waste such a great amount of talent. She wouldn't have wanted that."
I hated it when people started talking about my mother. It didn't happen often but usually when it happened, I told them to shut up. Nobody knew what my mother would have wanted or not, so there should be no reason for anyone to tell me stuff like this.
But somehow I couldn't tell Madam Esme to shut up. Something was different about the way she said it. It sounded like she really knew what she was talking about, almost as if she had known my mother. And the compassion that was clearly written on her face was also plain to hear in her voice.
She didn't pity me- she felt with me.
It was oddly comforting.
My voice was hoarse when I spoke, "I can't dance. I just-"
"Your father told me about your mother's death. I can't imagine how this must make you feel but there is no reason for you to be blaming yourself-"
"But it is my fault," I interrupted, "If I hadn't just ran away, she would still be alive. If I wouldn't have put Ballet above everything else, I would still be able to talk to her. She wouldn't be gone and I wouldn't be left behind."
By now the tears were running down my cheeks in streams.
The memory of my mother's dead body was hard to shake off and only caused me to cry harder.
I didn't notice that Madam Esme got up until I felt a soothing hand on my arm. She was crouching down beside me and handed me a tissue.
"Isabella-"
"Just Bella," I sniffed.
"Bella, I'm really sorry for your loss and I know that you don't like talking about it," Madam Esme murmured soothingly, stroking my hair.
I just sniffed and whimpered in response.
"Now Bella, I need you to start dancing again. Not just for the judge, but also for yourself. I know that you were once a very passionate dancer and that you loved Ballet just as much as everybody else at this academy does. Just try to have fun with it again; you don't even have to give up any other dancing activities."
I looked up in surprise, only to see Madam Esme smiling at me.
"Madam Cope told me about your performance in class yesterday. She says that you have remarkable feet, even when you're not dancing Ballet it shows," she told me, smiling brightly.
I couldn't help but smile back.
"So you will take part properly in classes now, yes?"
My smile wavered as I hesitated to reply.
I didn't want to return to the world of Ballet, but at the same time I felt the tiniest bit of excitement when I thought about doing what I once loved the most.
Before I even knew it, I nodded in answer to Madam Esme's question.
Again, I was rewarded with a bright smile.
"Do you have any dancing gear?"
I shook my head. I had thrown everything out, quite some time ago only keeping my mother's pointe shoes.
For some reason, I didn't even know I had brought them with me, but I didn't want to wear them.
They had been my mother's 'lucky' pointes. She had always worn them for her competitions and I didn't want to wear them during classes.
Madam Esme got up and walked toward the door. I heard her talk quietly before she turned toward me again.
"Well then, Bella. Rose is going to help you with the shopping that you need to do, so I guess you need to get going."
I got up and walked out of the office with Madam Esme right behind me.
"I wanna go shopping too," Alice wailed.
Both Rose and Alice had been waiting in front of the office.
I heard Madam Esme chuckle.
"You can go if you want; maybe you want to stop by tonight so we can have some girl time as well."
Alice bobbed her head enthusiastically, while Rose rolled her eyes at the little pixie.
"Alright then, girls. Have fun."
"Thank you," the three of us chorused, before Alice hooked her arm through mine and dragged me along.
"We need to get changed really quickly and then we should be on our way right away," Alice blabbered happily.
"We need to get you some leotards and you'll need some more tights. Also we should buy some hair ties, just so that you can look even prettier. Do you have pointe shoes?"
I shook my head slowly.
"Oh yay, then we need to get some for you. That's awesome; I wanted new ones as well. I guess we'll have to go to Eclipse for all of that."
I threw a questioning look in Rose's direction.
"Eclipse is a store in Seattle only for Ballet Equipment. They have everything in every size and it looks pretty."
Seeing the way Alice was bouncing up and down, I had a feeling that this shopping trip was not going to be fun. Not that I liked shopping anyway, but with a hyperactive pixie it could only get worse.
Just then my phone rang. I had a feeling that it would be Leah.
"My leg is finally free," Leah yelled right away.
She was so loud the even Alice leaned away from the phone.
"Hello to you too," I replied dryly.
"Aren't you happy?"
"About what?"
"My leg no longer being in that dreadful cast. I can return to the academy next week."
"Oh, really? That's great."
"More or less. I'll probably still have to sit out for some time."
"Lucky you," I sighed, "My bench time is over and I have to start dancing now."
"For real?" Leah asked in surprise.
"Yes."
"So are you going to be spending your whole afternoon training?"
"Err...no. Alice and Rose are taking me to Seattle to go shopping. Some place called Eclipse or somet-"
"You're going to Eclipse? I want to go too."
Again, Leah screamed loud enough for the other two to hear.
"She can come with us, if she wants to," Rose said with a shrug.
"You could join us," I told Leah.
"That would be awesome. Can you guys pick me up?"
We quickly arranged plans to pick Leah up from her place and then we all went to our rooms to get changed into normal clothing.
Merely twenty minutes later all four of us were sitting in the car, on our way to Seattle.
"Okay, we need a check list," Leah announced.
"Already thought of that," Alice said, waving a notepad around.
We all sat in Rosalie's red convertible BMW and Alice had immediately taken up the passenger's seat.
"Seriously, what do we need a checklist for? I only need pointe shoes, leotards and some tights," I asked.
"You also need dancing flats- we're not always wearing pointes," Leah pointed out.
I rolled my eyes at her.
The rest of the drive, we listened to Alice listing colours that she thought would look good on me, until Rose turned on the stereo loud enough to drown out Alice's chatter.
When we entered Eclipse, I realized right away that it was not going to be a cheap shopping trip. The store was huge and it looked like they really did have everything in every size.
It was like being in some kind of High-end boutique for Ballerinas.
"Welcome to Paradise," Alice said dramatically.
"Let's spend some money," Rose sighed and sauntered off, already having her attention captured by something else.
Leah had also vanished, which left me alone with Alice, who turned around slowly and grinned widely at me.
I thought about running, but then decided against it.
Surely, it couldn't be that bad.
"Alice, if you give me one more leotard to try on, I will fucking strangle you with it," I hissed after Alice threw yet another leotard into the changing room.
I had been stuck in there for thirty minutes already, showcasing one leotard after another.
Alice decided which ones I should take, blabbering some nonsense about 'complimenting my curves and my skin tone'.
"Why only leos? Maybe Bella wants to wear unitards," I heard Leah ask. I didn't even know that she had re-joined us.
"Oh God, I didn't think of that," Alice admitted.
"Good that you have me then," Leah said and then her head appeared from behind the curtain.
"Here, try these on as well."
I groaned when Leah handed me a stack of unitards, but decided to just get it done.
Some of those things were actually to my liking and as much as I wanted to deny it- somehow I had missed the feel of the fitted fabric around me.
Looking in the mirror, I decided that I liked this one the most.
It was a blue leotard with ¾ sleeves. It had a mock neck with a small zip in the front and an open back.
Stepping out, I noticed that all three girls were sitting on the small couch now.
I smiled at them and twirled around in a pirouette. Even if all the trying on was getting on my nerves, I was starting to look forward to be wearing these again.
"That was a bit sloppy," Leah remarked.
I ignored her.
"Damn Bella, you have a totally perfect body. Well, you need to flatten that stomach a little, but that'll probably happen on its own now that you have to eat healthy food on a regular basis," Rose said.
"What are you talking about? Her stomach already is flat," Alice protested.
"Yeah, yeah," Rose waved her off and then turned to me. "It looks good, you should buy it."
"I think, I will."
"Good, now can we move on from the leos?" Leah asked, already getting up.
"Yes, I think we can cross that off the list," Alice replied.
Next I was forced to put on a few dance dresses before Alice finally decided to let me go around on my own for a little while. She only did that though, because she had a pile of dresses that she wanted to try on herself.
I wandered through the aisles, picking up a few items that the others didn't think about.
I guessed that they wouldn't think too much about legwarmers or Sweatshirts, seeing that they were all used to this horrendous weather.
"Those shorts are cute, but you could have gotten a more interesting colour," Leah noted, suddenly appearing beside me.
"What's wrong with black?"
"Nothing. Green is just way cooler."
"I don't like green."
Leah shrugged and picked up a pair of green shorts.
"Oh, look at that! Zebra legwarmers," she then called, pointing at the object of her desire before she took off again.
I just shook my head at her and continued my journey through the aisles.
At some point Alice found me and pulled me along to 'finally get those pointes'.
I didn't object and just went along.
"Meet Marcus, he'll help us find the right shoes for you," Alice announced as we approached a young man who was sorting shoes into the shelves.
He turned around at the sound of Alice's voice and a wide smile immediately lit up his face when he saw the little pixie.
"Alice," he greeted happily and walked up to us. "I haven't seen you in a while."
"I know, I know. It's been too long," Alice replied with a grin.
I briefly wondered just how often Alice came here to shop.
Marcus' eyes came to rest on me.
"This is Bella. She's new at the academy and she needs pointe shoes," Alice continued.
"Nice to meet you, Bella," Marcus said, shaking my hand.
"Nice to meet you too."
"Okay, so what do you need the pointes for?"
"Umm...just for classes."
"Alright then, let's get started."
Marcus clapped his hands together and suddenly looked just as enthusiastic as Alice.
That wasn't exactly a good sign.
After telling them my size, both of them picked out one pair after another, piling the boxes in front of me.
When they finally decided it was enough, Marcus crouched down beside me to hand me a pair.
"You know how it works, right?" he asked.
I nodded.
I took the shoes from him and slipped my feet in. I had been smart enough to wear tights beneath my pants.
I quickly tied the shoes without thinking much about it. It was all very familiar and yet, I almost felt like I had when I first tried on pointes.
"You're tying pretty fast, "Marcus noted, while Alice stood behind him, grinning widely.
I bit my lip while I got up.
"Those are very soft, because I wasn't sure what strength we should start with. On the platform please," Marcus spoke in a calm voice.
"What, you are already trying on pointes? Why didn't anyone call me for this? I wanna see that posture," Rose screeched from somewhere behind me.
I turned around to see her approaching together with Leah.
Both of them came to halt and looked expectantly at me.
I shook my head at them, but didn't say anything. I was too occupied with the nervous feeling in my stomach. There was actually no reason for me to be nervous, since I was just trying on shoes and not auditioning for the Russian Ballet, but my nerves didn't seem to agree.
It had probably to do with the fact that I had last worn pointes on the day my mother died.
Swallowing, I took a few steps with the shoes before I stopped and slowly got unto the platforms. Or at least tried.
"The shanks are too soft," I said, knocking lightly with the shoe on the floor.
Marcus nodded as if he had thought as much even before I said that.
I took the shoes off and he handed me the next pair.
I didn't even tie those. "Too wide."
The pair that followed was also too wide and the one after that was too small.
The three girls were already sitting down, looking a bit frustrated although I should be the one to sigh in frustration.
Next, Marcus handed me a pair of black pointes. I quickly slipped them on and tied them up, not having to complain so far.
I took a few steps again, actually feeling comfortable in these shoes.
Then I slowly raised myself up on the platform of the right shoe. I frowned when I realized that these were too soft as well, but went up on the left platform as well.
"Aren't you arching your feet a bit too much?" Rose asked, staring at my feet.
"They're too soft," I told her.
"Wow, you have pretty bendy feet," Alice said. "How long did you say you danced?"
My eyes flitted over to Leah, but she was too occupied with staring at my feet as well.
I got off the platforms again and quickly untied the shoes.
"A while," I said.
"You must have danced at least a couple of years; otherwise you weren't allowed to dance on pointe."
"I know."
"So when did you stop dancing Ballet?"
I bit my lip.
I didn't want to let her know just exactly how long I had danced.
It wasn't a secret, but I knew the expectations that would come as soon as they knew about my dancing career.
I wasn't ready to dance yet and I still had to get used to the thought that I would have to join the others starting tomorrow. It would only be worse if everyone was expecting me to keep up right away or even surpass the others.
I just wanted a few days of getting used to dancing again before I was thrown to the sharks.
"Bella?" Alice pressed.
Knowing that she wouldn't let me be without an answer, I sighed, "I stopped dancing when my mother died."
It was to be expected that silence followed my words.
It was a normal reaction and I felt a slight bit bad for that. I knew that Alice would probably feel bad for asking now, thinking that she had upset me.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know," she stammered.
I sent her a tight-lipped smile. "It's okay."
Marcus handed me another pair and all of us turned our attention to the shoes, everyone wanting to change the topic.
"They are really pretty. I've always wanted white pointes, but I never found a pair that fit," Rose sighed.
I quickly slipped the shoes on, noticing right away that the shank definitely had the right strength this time.
I tied them up and didn't waste any time stepping around.
I got on the platforms right away, smiling when I felt the familiar pressure in all the right places.
Marcus looked up at me with a smile.
"I think we might have found the right pair," he said.
"I think so too."
"It definitely looks good from here," Leah said. "You should walk over to us."
It turned around in a fluent movement, feeling more graceful on pointe than when I was walking.
I took wide and slow steps and smiled happily. The shoes fit perfectly.
"They look really good," Alice said, nodding to herself.
"So you'll take those, correct?" Marcus asked, starting to clear up the shoe mess.
I bent my feet a little and nodded at him.
"Alice, isn't all of this a little too much?" I asked while Marcus was folding the endless amount of clothing and put them into giant paper bags.
"You need all of that," Alice argued.
"I'm pretty sure that I won't need everything."
"That'll be $769, 32," Marcus announced.
I groaned. "Who in their right mind spends this much for Leotards?"
"Oh my gosh, I totally didn't think of the money," Alice squeaked, "Can you even pay for all of that?"
"Wow, Alice. You are a truly considerate friend," Leah joked, "You just spent almost eight-hundred dollars of Bella's money and didn't even think twice about it."
Alice looked down guiltily. "I can pay for it if you want," she muttered.
I rolled my eyes and sighed, pulling out my wallet. "No need for that."
I handed Marcus my credit card, not really liking that I was throwing out that much money.
"Are you sure that it's okay? Your dad isn't going to be angry or anything when you spend this much, right?"
Alice sounded genuinely worried.
I took my card back from Marcus and grabbed the four paper bags that he held out for me.
"Don't worry about it, Alice. My father won't even know about this shopping trip."
"What, are you planning on hiding that bill from him?" Rose asked with raised eyebrows.
I shook my head. "I've got some money saved up, so there is no need for anyone to worry."
I got three sceptical looks directed at me.
I just ignored them.
I didn't feel like telling them that I inherited quite the sum from my mother. That combined with all the prize-money I had gotten over the years, made quite the fortune.
On our way back to the academy we dropped Leah off first and then Alice.
Rose and I both ended up in my room, breaking in our pointe shoes, much to the dismay of Irina. She had been trying to read while Rose and I were hitting the toe boxes of the shoes against the floor.
Rose and I were in hysterics when Irina left the room, complaining about 'amateurs'.
We both put on our new shoes and walked around on demi-pointe for a while. With Irina gone we put my iPod on its docking station and put it on full blast.
Our fun was interrupted by Irina though, because she returned and turned off the music, reminding us that it was time to get ready for bed.
Rose and I rolled our eyes at her, but she left anyway.
I quickly got ready for bed and for the first time since I had gotten here, I went to bed feeling nervous.
I had expected Alice to have a joyous outbreak once she saw my attire for the day.
I wore a purple leotard and matching legwarmers, which ended mid-thigh.
But Alice didn't even look at me when I greeted her. I wondered briefly if she was upset that I had put on a black sweater over the whole dance attire. She couldn't really be upset about it though, seeing that it was somewhat see through.
I quickly came to the conclusion that she was not upset with me because of my clothes.
Rose didn't know what was wrong with her either and when Irina and Victoria joined us, they were also looking a bit confused.
Not even the fact that I wore the purple Ballet slippers that Alice had picked out seemed to lighten her mood and so we ended up going to class with a silent Alice.
"Whatever you did it, must be pretty bad, because she usually never shuts up," Rose whispered to me.
"I didn't even do anything," I hissed.
Rose shrugged as we entered the dance studio.
Normally I would be going to my usual spot, waiting for Madam Cope but today I followed Rose.
I felt like a small kid all of the sudden and I was grateful that not everybody in the classroom was paying attention to me.
Rose, Alice and I all sat down in a corner and pulled out our pointe shoes.
"No way," Emmett's voice boomed, making me jump.
"Could stop screaming around like that?" Rose complained.
"Don't tell me you are dancing with us today, Bella?" Emmett asked me, completely ignoring Rose.
His loud voice could be heard in the whole room and all of a sudden every pair of eyes rested on me.
"No, I just wear pointes for fun," I grumbled.
"I don't believe you," Emmett sang.
"Jeez, Em. You're worse than Alice," Jasper muttered as he approached. "Dancing with us today?" he then asked, seeing me put on the shoes.
I didn't respond and just continued to concentrate on the shoes.
Jasper didn't seem to mind.
"Are you even allowed to wear pointe shoes?"
It was a slight bit unsettling how easily I recognized Edward's voice, despite the fact that I hadn't heard him talk often.
I looked up to glare at him.
"Why shouldn't I? Every girl wears those things around here," I replied.
"Yes, but those are all trained ballerinas. You do know that there are rules when it comes to these shoes, right?"
I got up and wanted to snark something back at him, but Alice beat me to it.
"Oh, she knows the rules alright. Maybe even better than you."
All of us looked at Alice with confused expressions, while Alice narrowed her eyes at me.
"Alice, are you feeling alright?" Jasper asked.
"No," she snapped, "I feel betrayed."
Another dark look at me.
Now everyone looked at me.
"What did you do to the little one?" Emmett asked me.
I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn't know, just when Madam Cope entered the room together with Madam Esme.
She looked around and when she saw me, she smiled. Something about her expression didn't sit well with me. Not that it wasn't a genuine smile, but there was this knowledge in her eyes that didn't ease my nerves.
As if she knew something that others didn't.
"Good Morning, class," Madam Cope greeted.
"Good Morning, Madam Cope and Madam Esme," the class chorused.
"Would each of you please sit down?"
Everyone did as we were told, sitting down on the floor. Still nobody knew what was going on.
The door opened again and a boy slowly stepped in.
"Ah yes, Mr. Milton. Take a seat," Madam Esme said when she saw him.
"What is Laurent doing here?" Victoria asked.
I hadn't even realized that she was sitting so close to us.
Alice made a strange noise, which led me to think that she knew what was going on.
I slid closer to her.
"Um, Alice?" I whispered.
She didn't look at me.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Yes," she hissed.
"Will you tell me what it is?"
Now Alice did turn to look at me. Or more like to glare at me.
"You didn't tell me."
"Tell you what?" Now I was downright confused.
"I thought we were friends."
"We are friends." These words left my mouth before I had time to think about it.
Alice face lightened up. "Really?"
"Err...yes?"
Then she scowled again, although the look wasn't as dark as it had been before.
"Then why didn't you tell me or any of us for that matter…"
"Tell you what?"
"Ms. Swan and Ms. Brandon, do you mind paying attention?" Madam Cope called.
Both teachers were looking at us with raised eyebrows.
"Sorry," we both muttered.
"Swan?" Victoria asked loudly. "Your name is Swan?"
"Actually it's Isabella Swan- what are you getting at?"
Victoria blinked and then gaped at me.
"You are Isabella Swan," she then suddenly screeched.
"Victoria," Madam Esme warned.
"B-but...but she is Isabella Swan," Victoria stammered.
I feared the direction in which this was heading.
"Jesus, Vic. We all got it now. Her name is Isabella Swan, so what? My name is Tanya Denali," Tanya said.
"So her mother is Renée Swan," Victoria snapped back at her friend.
"Gosh, Vicky. Stop acting like a crazy fangirl. Bella is hardly the only student in this school with a famous parent," Alice sighed.
"Why didn't you tell us, Bella?" Rose asked me, ignoring Alice's statement.
I buried my face in my hands, sighing loudly.
At least now I knew why Alice was upset. Although I found it ridiculous for her to be upset because I didn't tell her who my mother was.
"Ladies, could you save these conversations for later on?" Madam Cope said sternly, shutting everyone up, who had started to murmur.
I peaked at the two teachers from between my fingers, feeling that a lot of people were staring at me.
I hated it.
"So," Madam Esme started, "Madam Cope and I have been talking and we both feel like this class is not progressing as much as it should. I know that this is your first year of actual Pas de Deux classes and it is harder than it had been last year. Still, we expect more of you so we decided to make some changes."
A murmur went through the room.
Madam Cope silenced the room by speaking up again, "I've told the headmistress about each and everyone's progress and we have both noticed that some of the constellations are not working. Master DuPont didn't choose many good matches for this year's class. While some of you are already working brilliantly together, others still have to argue about the position of the hands and other trivial things."
I looked at Rose, who threw a menacing look in Edward's direction.
"So today we are going to change some of the pair ups. And some of you have noticed we have a new addition to our class to even out the number."
She gestured toward Laurent.
"I don't want a new partner," Victoria complained quietly.
"Of course, these new pairs will need to get used to each other so you will most likely repeat the lessons of the past weeks before you move on," Madam Esme said. "Okay now I'm just gonna tell you who your partners are."
She opened the small book she had held in her hands.
"Melanie Adams and Joshua Michaels..." she started listing.
I only listened with one ear, only waiting for familiar names.
"Victoria Carter and James Nomad."
Victoria breathed out a sigh of relief, causing me to chuckle at her.
"Happy that you didn't lose your sweetheart?" Rose joked.
Victoria only pulled a grimace at her.
"Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale."
Alice reacted exactly like Victoria had. She looked at Jasper, who smiled gently at her.
"Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan."
"What?" I shrieked without thinking.
Edward seemed to have thought the same thing, because I was pretty sure I just heard him protest as well.
Madam Esme looked at the two of us with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan," she repeated slowly.
Beside me I heard Rose giggle.
I would have punched her if I was not too busy being frozen in shock.
Not only did I have to dance again- I had to dance with Edward. Of all people in this room it just had to be him.
Dear God, please kill me...
A/N: Soooooo? What do you guys think? Will Edward and Bella be a better pairing than Edward and Rose? I'm not quite sure about that... we'll see :)
Okay, I still have absolutely nothing to ramble about so I'm just gonna let you guys go with a few last words:
Please review!
Love you all
xoxo ~ Star