Breaking Pointe

Chapter Three

Dedication to emmadances for helping me with the ballet stuff because (confession time) I haven't taken a ballet class since I was four and I'm pretty sure I just spun around in circles and tried not to fall over.

       At age thirteen Arabella started to develop. She kept her rigorous dance schedule, but her body was changing. Soon, she began to notice curves where there weren't before. Most people wouldn’t have even noticed the small pockets of fat on her hips or her half-cup size gain on her thin, tall frame. She didn’t have a mom around to talk to about it, however, and felt very self conscious. 

Arabella headed over to the bar to warm up by herself like always and thought about how much her ballet experience had changed over the past two years. When the other girls found out about her mom’s death they didn’t know how to react. The result was the other girls pulling away from Arabella. They weren’t usually mean to her, but she never truly felt included. She didn’t mind too much, though. Part of it was because they were jealous. She was the tallest of the group, and had always been the skinniest naturally. When she moved through her warm ups and stretches, she was the most graceful and flexible. Auditions for Swan Lake began the next week, and everyone knew Arabella would get the lead.

In the corner of her eye, Arabella spotted Jordan looking at her, frustrated. When she caught Arabella looking back, she turned and whispered something to her friends. They all giggled as they stretched while Jordan made gestures suggesting she was talking about someone with a large chest. Jordan was the second best dancer at the studio as well as the “Queen Bee.” She was very peitie with short black hair and large, brown eyes. Usually Jordan couldn’t get to her, but that day Arabella felt shame rising up into a blush when she saw all the girls laughing. Afraid she would start crying, Arabella turned away and focused on completing her daily bar exercises. 

“Beautiful, Arabella,” came Maddock’s voice. His British accent and charming smile, along with his rock hard abs, made all of the younger girls in the ballet studio swoon. He helped Tina  teach some classes even though he was only three years older than Arabella. Most of the girls had a crush on him, but Arabella just saw him as a big goof. She smiled at his compliment.

“Maybe if SOME OTHER GIRLS would pay attention to their warm ups, their arabesques would be as good as Arabella’s,” he scolded, then winked at Arabella. That was another reason the other girls didn’t like her. Since she was the only one that wasn’t creepy obsessed with Maddock, the two had become close friends. Arabella would rather have her instructor’s approval than her peers’. Jordan stood up and, as soon as Maddock turned around, shot Arabella a nasty look. Arabella lowered her gaze to the floor and inspected her foot position even though it was already perfect.

“Focus is a virtue, girls,” said a loud female voice. Tina walked into the room and every girl immediately sat or stood a little straighter. Tina owned the studio, one of the most prestigious in New York, and was very strict. She ran hard practices six days a week and expected nothing less than perfection all the time. Her rare compliments could have you floating on air, but more often her brutally honest critiques often sent girls crying to the bathroom.

“Why don’t you demonstrate a grand jete for us Arabella?” she said, pulling her short brown hair into a small ponytail. 

Arabella nodded and set her mind on the move. She had practiced this one over and over with Maddock last week and knew she had it down. She took a deep breath and focused her mind. Taking two strong, graceful steps, she pushed off into the air and extended her back leg. Her legs stretched out in the air, toes perfectly pointed. With barely a sound, her feet landed gracefully back in the floor. Pride and relief flooded though Arabella when she landed. She had just executed it perfectly. The lead was practically locked up! She turned toward Tina and Maddock beaming. Maddock smiled back gently and winked. Tina gave a small nod of approval. Arabella turned the other way to get a look at the other girls’ faces. She allowed herself a little joy from their jealous expressions. She was flying high when suddenly a pair of hands grasped her hips.