Chapter Fifteen
When we reach the school building, I am reluctant to go in. I do not think that I can face Cleo and Adam. Even if I do not talk to them, there is no escaping seeing them. I wonder what everyone thinks now that they are a couple days after I was strutting down the hallway hand-in-hand with Adam. I must be a laughingstock! The thought of taking a break and going home becomes palatable to me once again. But then the image of my Mum’s smiling face fills my mind. She would not have run away when faced with such challenges at ballet school. She would have faced it head on.
Chapter SixteenI do not speak to Cleo after our atrocious exchange and she did not speak to me either. When our eyes meet from across the room, we quickly look away like the eye contact burnt us. She is always in Adam’s arms; laughing and talking about something interesting with their heads lowered together and their lips p
Chapter One.My whole life I wanted to be a ballerina. It wasn’t some childhood fascination like the ones my pee
Chapter TwoI lean over the toilet, expelling the minute contents of my stomach. Hot tears sting my tears as they rolled down my cheeks and into my mouth. I barely made it out of the hall before crumbling into a mess of hot tears and choking sobs on the floor. I forced myself to hug Cleo congratulations before making my getaway. Hopefully, she will be too busy getting congratulated to look for me. I do not want her to see me in the pitiful state that I am. I cannot believe that I am casted as the understudy of the Sugarplum
Chapter Three “Gigi.” I twirl to meet Adam’s mesmerising eyes. The corner of his lip hikes up in something that resembles a smile and a smirk at the same time. I hear Cleo gasp from beside me. I am more shocked than she is.
Chapter Four Dad is already waiting for me when I arrive at the reception. He is wearing his oversized sweater, the one that is older than me—way older than me. The sweater was a gift from my mother when they were still a hormonal teenage couple. It is funny how big the sweater is on him now, after so many years and weight gain. I wonder how big it was on him when he was ninet
Chapter FiveThe next day, after nine hours of much needed sleep, I coax myself from bed and take a shower. Then I stretch on the barre until my muscles scream in agony. The bedroom I now call my own belonged to my Mum. Dad insisted I have it because it was built for a ballerina. Her pic
Chapter SixOn Sunday, after Dad and I attend Mass, he drops me off at school with a cheery wave. I feel like I have gained five pounds just spending two days with my father. I tried to purge whatever I could but still, I feel the greasy fat layering itself on my hips, stomach and thighs. I change into my pastel yellow leotards, pal
Chapter Seven On Monday, I only spend ten minutes with Cleo. Every time I try to talk to her, she is obsessing about the dancer on Friday night. After lunch, I catch her slipping on her pointe shoes in her bedroom.