Under the spotlight

Chapter 5: Being embarrassed

That night I slept peacefully, no nightmares to bother me. Instead I enjoyed my eight hours of rest like never before. It was like the fire had finally extinguished, the flames were now water around my bed. Imagine the feeling of waking up rested and calm, I couldn't't take the smile out of my face. I stepped out of my room, it was 6AM, I had decided to start my routine earlier. To my surprise, Sarah was already up and making breakfast. I was still in pajamas and my hairs were all messy.

"Good morning" A pancake was thrown in the air, luckley it landed in the pan back. "Someone seems happy" I enlarged my smile and nodded "There's coffee if you want"

"you don't have to ask" I took a mug and served the drink there.

"Matthew left the wine here, I'm sure someone will kill us if they know we have it"

"Oh my god, yes, what should we do?" We sat thinking.

"I can't take it today"

"Oh no, no, don't, me neither, if Katarina sees it I'm dead, I'm not even supposed to drink"

"Okey, we'll deal with it later today" She went to her room and before entering said "I have class in half an hour, you want to walk together" I nodded and finished my coffee. "Get ready"

I stood up and went to the bathroom, Sarah's things were all over the countertop. I tried to sort some of it to have my space and then I opened the tap. The mirror in front of me showed me my reflection while I got undressed. There they were, my scars, reminding me they weren't going to leave. I never had a problem with them, as I said, it helped me go through it. But then I remembered the costumes I saw in the little shop, they usually had visible areas. Though I don't have a problem with them, other people would look at me weird. That sensation wasn't nice, not at all.

I touched the water to see if it already had perfect temperature. It was, so I entered and waited there for a couple minutes. The springs would fall down my body and I felt how my muscles were relaxing. I hadn't notice how tense I was from yesterday. I stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around me. My hair was very wet, I couldn't arrive like this to class. Hidden in the second drawer was a hair dryer that I used, thanks to it I only needed five minutes to have my hair perfect.

"Common Agnes! five minutes"

"Yes sorry, I'm coming!" I screamed back and ran to my bedroom. I grabbed the white leotard and baby blue tights. My new shoes were resting in a chair, I grabbed and packed them in my bag as well as changing clothes for afterwards. When I went outside I saw Sarah was waiting me, she had a black Shirt with blue jeans. "Ready"

"You look so cute with that" She told me and I chuckled. It was a 15 minute walk to my building and we had plenty of time because it was 6:40 AM. I didn't know why she had a class so early in the morning but I didn't really care, it was okay to practice. When we arrived I waved at her and went inside. The classroom was luckily opened. The lights were off so I had to turn them on. Once I had found the switch I could start practicing.

I remembered how Katarina used her phone to put music on so I copied her with mine. I had plenty of songs to dance to, my personal favorite being "Nocturne, Op. 92" from Chopin. It was emotional and well...the last one I danced with my father. Before starting I went to the barre to stretch a little bit. I had always been a really elastic person, it was easy for me, skinny legs and not that much chest. Not like Maia who had a beautiful body but no so practical. It took me forty minutes to stretch and be ready to dance.

I put the music and waited for the piano to start. First note and my head looked down, my hands went up. I let myself be drank by the melody and followed what I thought was alright. Though I wasn't paying much attention to the steps I did remember to tighten my legs and extend my feet. The face and hands of my father, helping me to turn and jump made me cry. I had tears but I didn't stop, it was good to dance with emotion. I smiled back to the memories of him and mother. The music got more intense and I did one, two, three, ten Fouttés. I felt so many things at once. When I was going to do a gazelle the music suddenly stopped making me come down to earth.