Chapter Three: Turning Pointes
I'm going to go ahead and get the chapter in before I have to go back to school on Tuesday. After which, it will get harder for me to update.
lime. likes. jam: You'll just have to wait and see….. ;).
PrincessDiya: Power to the French people! Helen is half-French by the way, thanks to 'Maman plus chère'. I'm hoping you'll tell me if my French is incorrect. I am only in French I….
Miamigirl2015: I'm glad you like it, more to come.
When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way.-Wayne Dyer
"Weeks and weeks had gone by like that. The months had changed from September to October. Aro hadn't even seemed the least bit bothered by my behavior, he didn't even seem to acknowledge that I had done anything wrong, which felt weird at first, but I brushed it off quickly at his request. Henry had become more pleasant to be around, but we still had plenty of our differences."
"Hey twerp!" Helen shouted as she walked down the stairs one early October morning. Her hair was in a messy low ponytail, her teal leotard covered by a low, waist cut, black, loose, and long sleeved sweatshirt; and she was wearing jean shorts over her white dance tights which she rolled up just below her knee so she could wear her black converse.
"What?!" Henry spat back as he ate his toaster waffles.
"Would you like to explain to me as to why, a pair my ballet slippers have purple marker on them?!" Helen replied, her voice razor sharp.
"Yeah," Henry said after taking a sip of chocolate milk, "don't leave your junk lying around!"
"Those slippers were in my ballet studio!"
"You mean, 'the attic'?" Henry said in a condescending voice, "I was using the smoothed out wood for science."
"Henry," Helen warned, "the floor, and everything about the attic that you find so pleasant, is because it was renovated into a ballet studio for me!"
"Wow," Wesley said as he walked into the pantry to get cereal, "it's not even eight in the morning and you guys are going at it."
Helen rolled her eyes while Henry smiled. Henry always seemed to prefer Wesley to his sister. Helen grabbed a tub of Key Lime Pie yogurt from the fridge. She so wasn't in the mood for her little brother's personality.
"Morning Hendricks's," Their father sad happily as he walked down the hall from his bedroom, his dark grey suit and combed back hair making him look sharp.
"Morning Dad," they all replied with a 'too early to be out of bed', tone.
"So," Richard Hendricks replied with a grin, "how do I look for sentencing day?"
"Sharp," Wesley replied.
"Good," their father said with a pleased voice, "I need to spark fear into the defense team; I also need to get the 'guilty' verdict so that we can go visit Hawaii for Christmas."
"'Now when you choose a law career, the moment you embark, there is that joke you're bound to hear: a lawyer is a shark'," Helen mused out loud with smile.
"Very funny, Flapjack," her Dad said with a sarcastic grin.
"Here's another joke," Helen stated, "if we go to Hawaii, can we leave that, here?" She motioned towards Henry.
"Helen Louise," Her father warned, "you and your brother better start getting along or you both will stay here. I'll also have great Aunt Petra come watch you."
'Oh dear god.'
Great Aunt Petra was Uncle Boris's widow; she was given the villain name of 'cheek pincher' and smelled like cats and old perfume.
"Dad," Helen said sharply, "ground me, make me babysit Henry, or forbid me from auditioning for The Nutcracker next month. Just don't set Aunt Petra on me."
"Same," Henry replied with a horrified voice, "I think she bruised my cheek bones the last time she was here."
"Behave and I won't," he explained.
"Hey Nells," Wesley said while changing the subject, "how come you're halfway dressed in ballet stuff?"
"I have a test today in Repertoire," Helen explained, "Ramona isn't giving us a bunch of time to get changed."
"How do you have a test in ballet?" Asked Wesley.
"Ramona is making us dance Giselle," Helen said in a strained voice, "I think she's punishing those in my class who have about as much technique as…..that box of cereal you have there, Wesley."
"Don't make the cereal box feel insecure, Helen," Wesley said with a sarcastic grin.
"I'll make this brief," Ramona sneered as they gathered around her and waited for instructions, "you dance, then you wait and DON"T TALK! I have a headache! Alison your first up!"
Allie walked into the center of the room while the rest of the girls kept warm at the barre, Helen looked over to Aro who was focusing all of his attention on her instead of Allie. The problem with the Giselle variation was that it was incredibly technically demanding. Perfect for Allie, bad for Sydney.
Ramona nodded approvingly while Allie was performing the attitude turns with technical perfection. Over in the corner to where Aro was sitting in the chair with a bored look on his face, not even so much as glancing at Allie.
Allie took notice of this and tried adding more expression into her movements, but to no avail. Allie's amount of artistry in ballet measured from zero to one percent, she didn't understand how to properly put feeling into what she danced, making her steps seem cold.
She finished and then it moved from her to Natasha, the latter of whom almost dislocated her knee on one of the turns. Aggie performed with good lines so Helen felt content with her performance. Meghan and Hanna were both one wrong movement away from snapping their achilles.
Helen remained calm while doing her pique turns, but Giselle was one of her most difficult performances. Only someone who had impeccable technique could properly dance Giselle like one of the greats such as Anna Pavlova. Impeccable teachnique however, was something Helen didn't have some of the time. When she finished, Ramona gave her a nod while Aro seemed like he could barely keep his happiness under control.
Clare went, then Lana; both of them were just fine, as usual. Now, moment of truth, it was Sydney's turn. Helen and Aggie had spent the past week and a half trying to help Sydney, the piece was so technically demanding that Syd could have just one false imperfection and BAM! Injury!
Helen kept her right leg raised on top of the barre while she saw Allie whisper what she could tell was an insult towards Sydney, directly into Grace's ear. Allie should count her lucky stars that they weren't allowed to be caught talking, or she would've screamed enough things to owe fifty dollars to the swear jar.
Aro also paid attention to Syd, he seemed to be half-focusing on Helen, half-focusing on Sydney. For the most part, Syd was doing just fine. Lines were almost without a break, steps were under control, same for the turns.
Sydney was actually improving.
After Syd, there was Maya, and then there was Grace. However, things took a turn for the worse with Dana.
Her lines were sloppy, her leaps were weak, and her form was anything but graceful. Dana needed to be careful, a majority of the time when you dance incorrectly, you will likely...
"OW!" Dana's right foot sickled and she yelped as she fell to the floor. Ramona Vasquez ran over to Dana while the rest of the girl remained standing around her, most of them whispering. Ramona knelt down and attempted to remove Dana's right pointe shoe, only for her to yelp louder.
"Where does it hurt?" She asked, her voice now calm and soothing.
"My..." Dana huffed and moaned, "my Tibia..."
"Rickons!" Ramona shouted towards Maya, "help me take her to doctor's office!" Maya rushed over and helped Ramona lift Dana's feet off the ground and rushed her to the doctor's wing.
"Wow," remarked Allie in a snobbish voice, "finally someone bites the dust."
"Shut up, Allie," snapped Aggie.
"Yeah," Helen said, her voice as cold as ice, "it's just an injury, she's going to be fine."
"Please," Allie drawled, "I saw it snap, she's out."
"Miss Alexander," Aro reminded the girls his presence was still in the room. He stood up and took slow steps towards them. His voice had gone from the alluring and delicate velvet to a harsh and deadly tone. "I believe it best if you resign yourself from harsh comments. Your compassion towards others is almost as horrifying as your ability to dance."
The room went silent. Helen, Sydney, and Aggie were taken aback, not once had an adult ever called Allie a horrible dancer. Not once had Allie ever been spoken to like that either.
"Did someone just insult Allie?" Whispered Aggie.
"Better yet," Sydney whispered back, "did someone just insult her dancing ability?"
"You can't talk to me like that!" Allie replied while sticking up her nose.
"Why?" Aro questioned, his tone not as deadly as before, now it was more condescending, just like Allie's was. "You speak towards others in the very same manner. What is it to you if someone regards you with the same behavior, Miss Alexander?"
"I...well..." Allie stuttered.
"You berate, belittle, and act superior towards others. As if you are an example of what a ballerina should be." Aro was pushing Allie to the brink of tears, "you are not so much as even close to being a model dancer. You are not good enough, and I'm afraid you never will be."
Tears ran down Allie's face. Never in a million years did Helen think that Allie was capable of showing a genuine human emotion.
"That's not true!" Helen interjected herself into what she couldn't decide was the greatest or worst thing she had ever seen. A part of her wanted to watch Allie cry and be hurt, to finally give the bitch what she deserved. But she couldn't, because then she'd be just as bad as Allie; and that's something she'd never do.
"Don't get me wrong," Helen explained, "you are right about how she acts, Aro. But don't ever tell her she's not good enough, because every girl in this room is good enough. Allie may have her flaws, but she's earned her place here."
Helen stared him down, even though he was about ten inches taller than her. "She's had this coming for a long time now, but it's not supposed to come from you."
Aro showed no signs of anger or discontentment, in fact he seemed to comply with Helen and lower his assault on Allie, just because Helen had told him off. It was as if he would do anything to please her.
Helen had been sitting on the curve, again. Wesley's shift ended thirty minutes ago and he was nowhere in sight, she'd kick his ass for that later. So here she was, waiting and waiting and praying that Wesley wasn't ignoring her.
The sky was beginning to get darker and the tree near the curve was beginning to shade more and more of the area she was sitting on.
'Brother, where for art thou?!'
"Helen," the familiar tone of sweet velvet made her jump, Aro was standing right next to her from out of nowhere! Where the hell did he even come from? "Helen, may I speak with you?"
His voice was once again making her heart pound, it was just as decadent and loving as before.
"There's nothing to say," she replied.
"Please?" Aro asked lovingly.
"I'm sure you're thinking, 'Oh Helen will say no! He's shown his true colors!' Well, unfortunately, I wasn't as smart as some of you were back then. This story is a hundred percent true, and as such, will be told with a hundred percent accuracy! So I actually said..."
"I guess so," Helen shrugged.
"Thank you," he replied gingerly as he gracefully sat down next to Helen. There was a contrast in their auras for a moment, Helen's aura of awkwardness and sarcasm mixed strangely with Aro's aura of refinement and poise.
"I believe I owe you an apology." Aro begun, "I was out of line this morning and I do hope you'll forgive me."
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing too!" Helen corrected, "Allie was the being yelled at, not me. Allie was the one being reprimanded, not me. Allie was the one crying, not me."
"I know," Aro replied, "and I've addressed that particular situation. No charges have been made against myself, so you will not lose me as your patron."
"It doesn't matter," Helen corrected again, this time more sharply, "I'm going to tell my Dad tonight and ask him to cut off the financial support. So either find someone else to sponser or just leave."
Aro's face had gone from calm to that of panic, "Helen, Mia Stella."
"What did you just call me?!" Helen asked in a somewhat disturbed tone.
"Mia Stella," he explained, "it translates to 'my star' in Italian, I come from the Italian country, Mia Stella."
"You're from 'Italian'?" Helen asked sarcastically, "wow, never heard of that one before, is it new?"
Aro didn't speak, no, Aro laughed, and he started belly laughing not long after. After a few minutes or so he regained his composure to a bitter Helen. "Are you done?" she asked bitterly.
"My dear," he replied, still somewhat laughing. "I've never met a young lady who says exactly what she feels."
"Well I've got plenty to say," Helen assured.
"I trust you on that subject." Aro smiled, "you're a charming girl, Helen. You make me laugh."
"Okay," Helen replied nonchalantly.
"Alright," Aro responded, "well do you think you could find it in your heart to forgive me?"
Helen sighed, "I don't know, I've never met anyone who could bark down Allie Alexander besides Syd, Aggie, and I. A part of me was glad that you did what you did, because Allie deserved it. Another part is scared, because it wasn't your place to do what you did."
"I don't want you to be scared of me," Aro replied in a soothing and father-like voice, he once again seemed to think about reaching his hand out to stroke Helen's cheek or pat her on the head, but he again decided against it.
"I know you didn't mean to," Helen assured.
"Well," Aro replied, "I came to apologize and I did so."
He got up to leave, he hadn't even taken five steps when Helen shrugged and sopke up. "Wait," she stated, "I won't tell my Dad about any of this, but this can't happen again, okay?"
"It won't happen again, Mia Stella," Aro said silkly, "that I can assure you."
Wesley then pulled up near the curve, his light blue 1985 Ford Mustang Truck was playing The Beatles. "Well this is me," Helen said with a smile, "See ya."
Aro gently waved good-bye to her as she slided into the front seat of her brother's car. However when she turned around to wave back, he had disappeared.
"Who was that?" Wesley asked while keeping his eyes on the road.
"Aro, he's my patron," Helen replied, "apparently he's from Italian."
"Well, his Jos. A Bank black suit kinda told me he was rich," Wesley snorted
"How in the hell could you tell he was wearing a suit like that?!" Helen asked in a shocked voice.
"I couldn't," Wesley responded, "it was a joke."
"Thank God." Helen sighed
"But seriously," Wesley stated, "he looks like a billionaire."
"I think he is, Aro rides in a black limousine. As his means of transportation, not just to look badass ," Helen assured. "He also talks like he's from another time period."
"How so?"
"Well," Helen tried to explain, "he says 'my dear' and 'dear one' to me, Syd, or Aggs. He also uses 'it is' while we would use 'it's'. I don't know, he just sounds really refined. Maybe he's in the mob?"
"Nah," Wesley assured, "he probably just went to rich, snooty private schools and a rich, snooty college. You said he's european so that could have something to do with it."
"That's true," Helen agreed, "In the eighth grade, there was an English boy in our class, Holden Nott. He had a face like a horse, but his accent made him like ten percent more attractive."
Upstairs in her ballet studio, Helen was working on the piece they were learning in Contemporary. For the girls, their piece involved confliction between who they were and who they want to be.
At first it seemed easy, but it was actually very hard hard to contemplate. Students at the school should know who they want to be, professionals. It was what Helen always wanted, but sometimes she felt as though it wasn't her destiny to be a professional, that it was to be something else.
"Helen!" Her father said loudly on the intercom. She turned off the music, took a drink of water and toweled herself off before hitting the reply button. "Yeah, Dad?"
"Can you come down here, please, it's urgent?"
"Sure, I need a break," Helen replied in a heavily breathing voice.
Helen drank more from her water bottle as she walked down the spiral, black metal stairs. She wondered why her Dad needed her to come down, had something happened? She walked across the hall and down the main staircase. Helen walked slowly into the kitchen and her jaw almost dropped at what she saw.
A young woman, mid thirties, with a dark blonde bob. She was tall and slim, and had that same sharp look in her eyes as Helen's father had when he was in 'Lawyer mode', but she was very nice looking. She was wearing a black blazer, white dress shirt, beige pencil skirt, and black Mary Jane's; around her neck was a set of small pearls and she was holding herself in very confident manner. Helen now felt incredibly underdressed because she was only wearing a black, sleeveless leotard and a red wrap skirt. Helen's hair was let down and probably messy from all of her dancing.
She glanced at Henry and Wesley and saw that they both had a nervous look.
"Guys," their father said with a bright smile, "this is Carole Newman, she works at the law firm. She and I are kind of seeing each other."
"It's nice to meet you all," she said while flashing her white, even teeth, "I've heard so much about you. Now let me try and guess."
"Wesley," she pointed to Wes.
"Helen," she motioned towards Helen.
"Henry," Carole pointed towards a ecstatic looking Henry.
"Yep," Helen replied, "we would've all lined up and stepped forward like the Von Trapp's, but we're not quite that trained." Carole Newman let out a throaty giggle and once again flashed her white teeth.
"You're father told me about your sense of humor, Helen," she smiled. "I'm so glad I finally met you all, I told Richard that we should've gone public for a while now."
Silence filled the room, no one was all that sure about what to say to this. This was the first time that another woman had been in the house that wasn't related to the Hendrick's family.
"So," their father began, "you're going to all be seeing more of each other, now. Carole and I were hoping that we could treat you to dinner."
"Sorry, Dad," Helen said with an apologetic look, "I've got a piece in Contemporary, and a History paper over the bubonic plague due tomorrow."
"I," Wesley began, "also have another shift at Nemo's in twenty minutes."
"'Bill Nye The Science Guy' also comes on at five," Henry stated.
Carole and their father seemed disappointed, Helen wasn't intending to hurt his feelings. She just had a bunch of school stuff to do. "But," Helen stated, "I'm sure that we could all do something tomorrow, maybe we could eat dinner here instead?"
"That's a great idea!" Carole beamed, "I have a delicious lamb chop recipe!"
"Oh..." Helen mumbled, "um."
"Actually," her Dad explained, "Helen's a vegetarian."
"Oh," Carole stated while blushing, "I have a baked Tilapia recipe?"
"Yeah, sure," Helen replied, "I eat fish."
"Great," she replied happily, "it's a date!"
"So what's she like?" Sydney asked while they were stetching in Repertoire.
"Nice, level-headed, lawyerly," Helen replied, "I think that's a good match for my Dad."
"You think it's serious?" Aggie questioned.
"Maybe," Helen stated nonchalantly. "I just want my Dad to be happy."
"Alright ladies!" Ramona said while getting there attention, "starting today, I'm afraid to say that Dana Walton will no longer be able to come to class. Her right Tibia is snapped clean, and the doctors say she won't be able to dance again. I know that it's a terrible thing, I am telling you this as a reminder. Not all of you," she glanced at Sydney, "have the physical potential you think you do. The reason your teachers get so hard on you when something is incorrect is because we don't want what happened to Dana to happen to you."
Allie Alexander spoke up, "Ramona, did you assign us Giselle to determine if some of us," she also glanced at Sydney, "don't have good enough technique?"
"Yes," Ramona replied, "and what I've gathered is that some of the girls should go back to basics and work at the barre. Barton, Dillard, Edwards," the three girls jumped with fear, "you three and Clare Lewis will be working at the barre, starting today."
Helen, Sydney, and Aggie all grinned at Allie's disappointment that Syd had not been demoted.
"Now!" Ramona Vasquez barked, "I have to attend to some paperwork, I trust that you can all warm up on your own. Mr. Aro would you mind keeping order until I return?"
"Of course, Miss Vasquez," Aro replied merrily.
Ramona smiled at him before leaving the room. Most of the girls talked amongst themselves while they warmed up, Helen expected Allie to have learned her lesson from yesterday, but unfortunately, she was wrong.
"I told you she was out," Allie replied snobbishly to Lana and Grace.
"We knew you were right, Allie," Lana replied while fawning over her.
"Yeah, Walton wasn't even as bad as O'dell and she was out." Snickered Grace.
Aggie, Helen, and Sydney all rolled their eyes at the three girls. "Hey Hendricks!" Lana called out to Helen.
"What Martin?" Helen replied in an annoyed tone.
"Who do you think the next to go will be, our money's on O'dell?" Grace snickered again.
"How about you two shut up, before I damage your nose jobs?!" Helen warned.
"It's just a question," Allie replied condescendingly, "God, don't be so sensitive."
"Well Allie," Helen said while mocking Allie's tone, "it would be you then, because the little to nothing amount of artistry you put into ballet might be starting to make Ramona sick."
Aggie and Sydney bothe covered their mouths to laugh, Aro also seemed to be trying to hide his laugh from the rest of the class as well. Allie then grew red in the face, "why you little-", she stopped after reminding herself that Aro was in the room, something she actually had learned, but everyone could tell she was about to say 'bitch'.
"So Helen," Carole said while they ate dinner in the dining room later that night, "Richard tells me that you want to be a ballerina."
"That's right," Helen affirmed with a smile.
"How many years have you been en pointe?" She asked.
"It'll be five years in around three weeks," Helen replied before taking a bite of Tilapia, "this is delicious."
"Nell," Wesley said with a realization upon his face, "you're birthday is in almost three weeks!"
"Aww, he remembered," Helen said with a sarcastic pout. "Yeah, October twenty-second," she explained to Carole.
"Any idea what you want?" Her father asked.
"Basic Hendricks B-day," she replied, "cake, presents, a few friends. Nothing original."
"I mean what do you want for a present," Richard re-stated.
"I don't know," Helen thought for a second, "wings that give me the power to fly?"
The table was filled with laughter while Helen sulked n her chair, her cheeks growng increasingly red by the minute.
Helen was cleaning up the rest of the dishes in the kitchen. Tonight had actually gone pretty well, and Carole seemed like a really nice lady. She could tell that her Dad was happy with her.
She looked through the outside window and saw that there was a clear, starry sky and a beautiful full moon. Out of curiosity, Helen walked out the back door and into the depths of the forest.
The Hendricks House was right near a deep creek, into the wilderness. The night wasn't very hot or very cold, and other than the moon, there was no light. Helen had to wait every now or then for her eyes to adjust to the darkness so she could see where she was going. Now she wished that she had left a trail of breadcrumbs like Hansel had been clever enough to do.
Deep in the forest there was a large oak tree, her father had told her that this particular tree had been here since the house was built in eighteen-forty-five. He also said that sometimes slaves would cut through here trying to escape to the north and would cut through these woods and rest near the tree. When they finally started running again to the north, they left an old piece of themselves in the tree. It was said that if you rested near the tree you'd leave a bad memory or dream in it and become stronger.
When her mother left when she was four years old, Helen climbed into the branches and spent the night in the tree. When she went home the next day, she was a different person.
Helen then decided the trip down memory lane had lasted long enough. She started to head down the path back to the house. Seconds later, a hard force propelled her forward and made her skid across the ground and made her graze her knee.
She quickly got up to run, but something snaked around her chest and pulled her into a smelly, hard surface with a texture like fine cotton. She tried to scream, but a rough hand covered her mouth.
Helen kicked and screamed and squirmed, the man holding her never waivered on his hold. His bad breath became more apparent as he whispered to her, "wanna have some fun, little girl?" He smelled like a bar.
He let Helen go and forcibly kissed her, she punched him in the chest and tried to run. He held by the wrist and she heard the click of a switchblade, he sliced her upperarm and when he let his hand off her wrist, he slapped her across the face, "Stupid bitch!" He shouted.
Helen was about to get up and run, but seconds later he pushed her down to the ground and got ontop of her. He moved one of his hands to her shorts' waist line. His other hand placed the knife on her throat.
"Make a move, make a sound, and you die," he said in a hoarse whisper. Hot tears streamed down Helen's face, she hoped that she was going to wake up and this was going to be a bad dream.
She remained shaking while he unbuttoned her shorts, he whispered "so sweet." Helen whimpered and waited for him to cut her again, but a moment later, something fast and strong pushed him off of her.
Helen thought she was imagining things, the man who was attacking her was now crawling away from whatever was attacking him. Something then pulled her up and shoved her in the direction of the house.
She thought about turning back to see who or what had saved her. But she just focused on running back to where the safe haven was. Helen ran straight into the house and locked the door behind her. She turned around and saw everyone staring at the wound on her arm.
When the EMT finished cleaning Helen up and stitched her arm, she was hounded with questions. "Did you see the man who tried to rape you?" One of the policeman asked her.
"No," Helen replied, her voice shaking, "it was too dark, I'm sorry."
"It's fine," he assured her, "did he say anything to you?"
"He said, 'wanna have some fun', 'make a move and you die', and...and then he said 'so sweet'," tears rolled down her face, "while he started to unbutton my shorts. He smelled like a bar."
Carole walked over to her and wrapped her grandmother's quilt around her, and stroked her hair in a very motherly fashion, something she wasn't used to.
The officers who were searching the outside came back in.
"We found him," one of them said.
"Well, is the bastard in chains?" Wesley asked with a sneer. "Keep him away from me, or else I'll stand trial for murder."
"No," the officer replied, "we found his body."
"H-he's dead?" Helen choked out, "yeah, I remember that someone yanked him off me."
"Whatever killed him wasn't a human, ma'am." He replied, "he's covered in bite marks and it looks like it was trying to rip him to shreads. Odd part is, there ain't no blood, like something lapped it up."
"That's enough, officer," her father replied with a death glare, he looked towards Helen with soft eyes, "sweetheart, go upstairs to bed."
Helen nodded and quietly walked upstairs while tears rolled down her eyes. Henry glanced at her with a sad face while he stood in the door frame, she didn't say anything to him, she couldn't. She was a different person right now.
"Helen!" Sydney shouted while hugging her tightly the next morning, outside the school, "sweetie why are you here, you were almost 'the r-card'?"
"How are you holding up?" Aggie asked softly.
"Better then last night," Helen replied, "I bet I look like crap."
"How's your arm?" Syd asked when she saw the wound.
"Fine, it doesn't hurt," Helen stated in a melancholy voice, "luckily the EMT said it won't scar."
The three girls walked in and got changed for Repertoire, before they walked into class, Syd asked her, "what was it like?"
"Sydney!" Aggie shouted.
"No, it's fine," Helem assured and then turned to Syd, "I felt like I was in a dream, one of my nightmares. I couldn't tell if what was happening was real or a hallucination.
Repertoire was as silent as a graveyard when Helen walked in, everyone stared at her, especially Aro who's eyes were filled with relief that she was alright. Helen walked to the barre and began doing battements. All of the eyes in the room were on her, Allie started muttering something to Grace while staring at her arm.
"Yes, there is a knife wound on my arm! Yes, I was almost raped! Yes, I know, it's a tramatic moment! JUST STOP STARING AT ME!" Helen angrily stormed out the classroom. She expected Syd or Aggie to chase after her when she sat down on a bench in the hallway. But Syd or Aggie didn't come, Aro did.
"Helen," his velvety tone comforting to her, "Mia Stella, are you hurt?" Aro glanced down at her left arm where the stitches were, "let me see." She obliged while his cold hand touched her hot wound.
"Nasty little thing," he remarked with a sneer, but his soothing tone returned as his red eyes met her baby blue ones, "Mia Stella."
Before he said anything else, Helen burst into tears and sobbed into his chest while his cold arms protectively and lovingly wrapped around her. "I'm so glad he's dead," Helen stated in between sobs, "but I can't let go what he did and tried to do to me!"
"Shh," he whispered into her ear, "it's alright, I'm here, I'm all you need. That despicable thing can't hurt you anymore." One of his hands came up and released her hair from her somewhat messy ballet bun, and then he preceded to stroke her ginger curls.
"No one will ever hurt you," he swore to her, "that I can assure."
"Thank-you for driving me home, again," Helen said to Aro in the car. She had called her Dad and decided to leave school early, Aro had once again offered her a ride home, and she was starting to really feel comfortable and trust him now, so she hadn't refused, however Jane and Demetri were not accompining them this time. "My only hope is you feeling better, Mia Stella." He replied lovingly.
Helen collected her bags while Felix held the door open for her, she smiled at him one last time before she stepped out of the car.
"Oh ,and Helen?" He called after her as she stepped out, "yes?"
"It would please me greatly if you refrained from going in the forest," he explained, "would you do me the honor?"
"Yeah," Helen assured him, "I've already promised myself that too."
"Good," he replied with a cheery smile. Helen walked back into the house and set her things down, she figured the best thing to do to clear her head was dance in her studio.
What Helen and her friends loved to do more than anything was make dance lip-syncs to songs and then post them on YouTube. A rough and tough Hip-hop dance could be just the thing she needed to get back up.
As she got the music ready and warmed up, Aro's words ringed in the back of her head, "It would please me greatly if you refrained from going in the forest,". Shock and fear came upon her face at a realization.
"I never told anyone I was in the forest," she whispered.
DUN! DUN! DUN! Will Helen discover something about Aro? How did he know she was in the forest? Does he have something to do with the man's death?
Find out next time...R&R!