Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

85. Spot Light

"And for the last performance of the night..." Peter's at the edge of his chair again. His attention had kind of shifted away from the stage for a while as there were so many performances that it made his brain kind of numb. But he knows Daphne has to dance one more time. And if this is the last performance, it has to be Daphne on stage next.

The presenter announces Alice, the violinist, and all the other band members. The group consists of Daphne's old classmates. Malcolm, a very handsome, black haired guy saunters onto the stage. The members of the small band places all their instruments in the front corner of the stage. The only other classmate Peter recognizes is Caleb, who was DJ'ing at the Halloween party. He's sat behind a drum kit that got pushed onto the stage in its entirety.

Alice tip toes to Malcolm's mic, which is on a stand. She brings her lips close to it and speaks softly.
"Avery, we all love you very much, hope you get to dance with us again soon," she speaks quickly. "I may not have told any of the higher ups about this to keep it a surprise, but we managed to get another dancer for this piece." She clears her throat, obviously nervous about admitting she went against the rules. "Didn't take long to convince her, as she's the one who originally created this choreography and has danced to it before." Alice's eyes dart to the back of the stage and a smile spreads across her face. "Daphne Birch, thank you for helping me out with this, you're a bean."
"I gotchu, boo!" The audience chuckles at Daphne's yelled, yet muffled response from backstage. Alice has a playful look in her eye as she turns back to the mic.
"This is Fairy Tale."

The band prepares their instruments and Alice brings her violin up to her chin. She bobs her head to a count and mouths:
"Three, four..." The bow lands on the violin and the cheery, nearly Celtic sound fills the room as she plays by herself for the first two eight-counts. When the bass and drums join in, Daphne skips onto the stage. Her hair is now in a half up-do and she's wearing a flowy peasant-style ballet dress. A little similar to what she wore as Swanilda, yet somehow very different. She looks like a fairy. When she turns her face just right, something in her hair catches the stage light and reflects straight into Peter's face. He squints, trying to look closer and he grins when he realizes she's wearing the golden dove pin he gave her.

Most of the lyrics of the song don't really appeal to Peter, and he can't help but get slightly jealous when Daphne interacts with the handsome singer, who is obviously flirting with her. He doesn't care if it's staged, it's making him bite the inside of his cheek with frustration. However, when she moves away from the singer, a bright smile spreads across her face. Peter can feel her intense and sincere happiness to be on stage all the way from where he's sitting. He's in awe. The way she moves across the stage... It's enchanting. Like a fairy tale.

I'm in love with a fairy tale,
even though it hurts.
But I don't care, if I lose my mind.
I'm already cursed.

"Her leaps are phenomenal," Natasha says quietly. She'd mentioned that Daphne's turns were alright earlier, and Natasha had been commenting on every ballet performance throughout the evening. She was, generally, harsh about what the people on stage were doing and with her ballet past she sure knows what she's talking about. To hear such a genuine sounding compliment about Daphne's dancing caught everyone off guard and made all the other Avengers and May pay even more attention to the girl gliding across the stage on her pointes.

Daphne's stamina is reaching its end. She's exhausted, but she knows she has a few more counts to go. Smile, tense, relax, smile, smile, smile, jump, turn, foot-foot-foot-foot! The moment she dreads the most is nearing. Italian fouettés. Why she ever thought it was a good idea to sprinkle a few of those into the choreography is beyond her. She hops to the middle of the stage and prepares. Smile!