It was a year and some months, but lord Marcus' murderer had not been found, all the efforts put in by the Coventry police department had been futile. Although the truck that had collided deliberately with Lord Marcus and Mr Donald's car had been traced back to a construction company located not very far from Kenilworth road, Fair land park street. The delivery guy, Ronald Tyson, told the police that they had no demand for building materials throughout the week of Marcus's death. The police had checked the time of the accident and realized it was 45 minutes past one in the morning. Probably, lord Marcus had left his office late that fateful day, but they were still confused and unsure of who had killed him. They had found no eyewitnesses or any traces of the driver of the delivery truck. Further investigations on the company showed that the lock of the garage where the trucks were packed wasn't broken, but Tyson had sworn he had it locked before going home that evening. A bit exhausted after another day of unproductive search, the police decided to call Mrs Daisy and update her of their findings.
"Really?... Thank you officer Harry, please, don't forget to keep me abreast of any information you find." she said
"I will be more than glad to see my husband's murderer rot in jail" she said with teary eyes. She hung up the call and sadly walked into her room. She sat on her bed and buried her face into her palms.
"They won't go scot free...never!" She muttered to herself. Treasure tiptoed back into her own room, she didn't hear officer Harry's part of the conversation, but she knew too well that her father's murderer had not been found. Sad, she sat down to study, but on a second thought, she decided to practice her balle moves instead.
The next morning, Treasure prepared for school, and after breakfast, Mrs Daisy dropped her off at pattison college, then hurried off to her office. As usual, Treasure met with her friends, Lexi, Jake, Vanessa and Romane, and they headed for the locker room together. Jake was careful not to talk about Treasure's father's murder, for fear of being slapped in the face by Vanessa who had warned him seriously before Treasure's arrival to school that morning. Things were going well until Treasure's gaze met that of Claude. Romane had foolishly told Bianca the real reason behind Treasure being disqualified during their last stage performance and as expected, Bianca had told it all to Claude, making her more jealous and resentful towards Treasure.
"Hey Treasure... She said walking majestically towards them.
"I got a hint Mrs Brunet will be including your name in ze list of dancers for zis year's ballerina performance. I hope you dance well, because, as you know, I'm pretty good with my moves now, and everyone knows I will make a better leader zan you..." Treasure smiled, and placing her perfume carefully in her locker, she turned to face Claude.
"why do you spew nonsense anytime you are scared or nervous?" she asked Its a bad behaviour and you need to stop it. Try to be selfless sometimes Claude, it would help ease your mind and make you younger." she said and winked at her. Claude stood transfixed, . "We shall see about zat" she replied on top of her voice.
Treasure collapsed into her seat and used her hand to support her head. Lost in thoughts, she didn't hear her friends making jokes of Claude.
"I need to dance better than Claude or she'd tease me for the rest of my life." She said to herself.
"Did you say something Treasure?" Lexi asked nudging her but Treasure didn't say a word.
"Let her be, she's not in a good state of mind, but she'd come around..." Vanessa spoke holding Lexi. She was the most understanding of Treasure's friends, but Lexi was closest to Treasure. Romane was just her balle mate, and a friend too, but Treasure saw Jake as a fun bag and paid less attention to him. Apart from the fact that he was the best in his art classes and was really good looking, Treasure considered him a friend because his mom, Mrs Jackson was her mother's friend, so she saw him more often than the others. But to them, Treasure was a friend they couldn't trade for anything else. Most of the girls in Treasure's class took her as a role model, while the others resented her, most of whom were Claude's friends.
"I have music class now guys, please take care of Treasure, I would have waited a bit more, but Mrs Lombardi hates latecomers." Lexi said. Vanessa checking her wrist watch, realized it was time for her art classes too, so she nudged Jake and they both left. Romane observed Treasure for a while then held her arm.
"Treasure, stage fright eezn't something you cannot overcome, eet depends on your determination..." she said.
"I was just as scared as you initially, during our last performance, instead of practicing at 'ome, I was mapping out strategies and excuses zat could get me off ze team." She paused and turned Treasure's face to hers.
"Do you remember zat cousin of mine I always tell you about?" She asked and Treasure nodded.
"...he changed me." she said with a smile.
"You know, he's a balle dancer too, and he's ze best. He told me zat instead of letting my dreams die off because of fear, I should let my fears die because of my dreams. Treasure, I want you to take his advice. Eet worked for me, because I was able to get up on stage and dance with ze rest of ze ballerinas. He watched me Treasure, and he said I even danced better zan everyone else, except for Claude though, but eet was an improvement, and eet made me happy." she said.
"He said he'd be coming over to watch me again, and this time, I want 'im to meet you. He was complimenting Claude's moves, but I told 'im zere was someone better he hadn't met, but he didn't believed me. Please Treasure, you can't disappoint me now, you need to dance better zan Claude and take the lead role in ze dance performance...please would you?" She asked with a puppy face. Treasure kept mute observing her. Romane's French accent had not bothered her as much as it did now. Unlike before, Treasure felt it got worse and preferred to hear it from Mrs Brunet's mouth than Romane's, but Treasure knew she couldn't complain. Holding Romane, she said,
"is this about Ancel or me? It sounds like you are trying to win a bet with him, instead of encouraging me..."
"Eet's not zat Treasure, I'm trying to build your confidence, please" Romane replied impatiently.
"Ok then, I'd try, for your sake... and for my mom's too." Romane leapt with joy.
"yes! Merci beaucoup Treasure, I know Ancel will be glad to meet you, Trust me, he's really good looking, he's ze smartest kid in his school Treasure, a lot of girls are dying to 'ave 'im..." "R_o_m_a_n_e???" Treasure called trying to get her friend out of her dream world, but Romane wouldn't stop talking.
"he's ze cutest amongst my cousins and my mom can't stop talking about 'im..."
"yes, I'm sorry, but you both have that in common..." Treasure teased but Romane didn't mind.
"zat's right, his dad, my uncle eez ze richest of ze Edouards, and Ancel eez his only child, just like you Treasure, but he's a bit spoilt though."
"Really?"... Treasure asked sarcastically but Romane replied
"yes, and zat's one of ze reasons everyone loves 'im. Ancel..." Romane kept going on and on about her cousin, but Treasure got up and hurried out of the class. Romane kept yapping about Ancel until Mrs Brunet walked in and Treasure heaved a sigh of relieve.
"Good morning everyone!" Mrs Brunet saluted them, adjusting her hair.
"Good morning Mrs Brunet!" They chorused.
"Today, I'm pleased to announce to you zat ze balle performance for zis term eez coming up really fast, and we would be needing talented dancers for eet. A selection will be made, and zere will also be a duet" At the mention of this, everyone stood dumb struck. They had only three boys amongst them and they were sixteen all together...
"How can we all duet? We have only three boys Mrs Brunet" Romilda, one of the balle dancers said looking very worried. The others nodded in the agreement, waiting for an answer. Mrs Brunet smiled and sitting, she said...
"we'd be needing only zree girls for ze dance performance zen."
"What??!! Why is that?" they all asked taken aback and Mrs Brunet replied...
"I just said eet will be a duet, and yes, only zree pairs of dancers are needed too, so zree girls and zree boys will dance from amongst ze seesteen of you." They looked at themselves wondering who amongst them will be selected.
"you need to dance well if you want to be among ze chosen ones." Mrs Brunet stood to her feet, and walking amongst them, she said...
"mind you, I'm referring to all ze girls 'ere. Russell, Benjamin and Sean just 'ave to practice, but you girls 'ave to compete amongst yourselves to be among ze best zree..." The hall was quiet for a while before Stephanie, another ballerina spoke...
"but, Mrs Brunet what about the rest of us? Won't we be participating?" Mrs Brunet smiled.
"you will of course, but your dances won't be duet, eet will be more of story telling, and background displays"she said
"story telling?... Background displays?" they asked themselves in confusion. Mrs Brunet paid no attention to their side talks and continued,
"eet might be a little advanced, but I have complete faith in all of you" Treasure was so lost that she blurted out in anger,
"we fail to understand you! Please could you explain better?" Everyone kept quiet waiting for her answer.
"Ballet eez ze art of dance requiring strength, resilience and elegance." came Mrs Brunet.
"Since your preschool, you 'ave only been exposed to ze poseetions of ballet, but now, I want us to move in properly into ze types of ballet dances, which are ze classical, ze neoclassical and ze contemporary. An example of ze Classical eez ze Romantic ballet dance, which we are going to be performing on stage by ze end of zis term..." Mrs Brunet observed their countenances, she continued...
"We will be performing..."
"La sulphide?...coppelia?..." Claude asked interrupting her but she continued almost immediately...
"paquita!, my absolute favourite!" She said and everyone stared at her in fear.
"Qui!"...she said nodding her head, "...eet's more advanced and might be a bit difficult, but I train mon ballerinas to take on difficult tasks from a younger age. Eet won't be easy, but I promise, eet's a stepping stone to zose of you zat will be taking ballet dancing as a career"...she said looking towards Treasure. Everyone was quiet, they had become so scared that no one, not even Claude wanted to say a word. Mrs Brunet, however, spoke calmly.
"don't be scared, I believe in all of you, so you must believe in yourselves too." She turned towards the boys and said...
"Russell, Ben and Sean, you will be practising with one girl at a time, and I will pick out ze best ones, but mind you, you will be stressed more zan ze girls for now, but my partner, Mr Aimeric, will assist you well, zen I will focus more on ze girls and pick out ze best ones you can feel comfortable with." No one spoke and heaving a sigh of relief, she began to stretch herself.
"Everyone, fall in line." She said and they sluggishly obeyed. She called in Mr Aimeric, a lanky frenchman with a curly moustache, who smiled at them and patted the boys on their shoulders. "Boys! gather your wits, it is time." She spoke again watching the boys adjust themselves.
"Let's begin", she said putting on the music player, and splitting on the floor in a pose, while Mr Aimeric stood behind her with one of his legs above his head.
After dancing for two hours, they sat on the floor very exhausted while Mrs Brunet observed their tired faces.
"you've all done well today, rest up, we will continue tomorrow" she said "Remember, if you must be chosen among ze best zree, you must practice ze moves at 'ome. Understood?" she asked and they all replied.
"Yes Mrs Brunet". As they walked out of the hall, Romance spoke.
"Treasure, I saw Mrs Brunet admiring Claude's moves, you 'ave to practice 'arder at 'ome so you can be among ze chosen zree..." she said opening her locker doors.
"Well, thank heavens you said chosen three, myself and Claude are only but two, you could make us three, and make your cousin proud, what do you think?" Treasure asked smiling, and Romane began to blush all of a sudden.
"yes, zat's ze truth, I should practice better too, zanks Treasure." Romane replied.
At home, Treasure went to her balle room and began to practice the dance Mrs Brunet had taught them. It was a little difficult without a partner, and Treasure almost fell more than twice before Mrs Sophia, one of her mother's personal maidservants came in and caught her just in time.
"are you okay ma'am?" She asked and Treasure nodded very exhausted.
"I need a partner, it supposed to be a duet, but I don't have one" Treasure complained. Mrs Sophia thought for a while before she said,
"ma'am, my son, Enzo can dance balle pretty well, shall I call him for you?, he could be of help."
"okay" Treasure said, and Thirty minutes later, a lanky boy came in a bit shy. Mrs Sophia quickly led him to Treasure and began to introduce him,
"this is Enzo, my son, Enzo, this is Treasure, madam Daisy's daughter," she said signalling her son to step forward. Treasure got a closer look at him and noticed at once that he was cute. He had an oval face, and you could mistake him for a girl. He looked nothing like Mrs Sophia, but he had her hair colour(black) and was obviously humble. Treasure smiled talking almost immediately,
"hi Enzo, its nice to meet you." Enzo was too shy, he couldn't even utter a word. Mrs Sophia was very embarrassed but Treasure didn't mind...
"umm..can you dance?" She asked again with a sweet smile on her face, and Enzo managed to nod his head in the affirmative. Treasure signalled Mrs Sophia to leave, then she sat down to observe Enzo who stood transfixed, a few steps away from her. She didn't know how best to put his mind at ease. After thinking for a while, she said
"your mom is very beautiful, and hardworking too." At the mention of his mom, Enzo straightened up to stare at Treasure.
"thanks" he muttered
"I am in dire need of a partner, your mom recommended you, she believes you are talented, so, I need your help." Enzo looked more scared now than before, but he knew too well.that he could not say no to Treasure.
"can you dance paquita?" she asked
Can you hold me properly? I'm a bit heavy you know." Enzo smiled exposing his fine set of teeth.
"I will try if you teach me the moves." he replied.
Enzo caught on quicker than Treasure has expected. Treasure was amazed. "you really are a great dancer." she commended. They danced for hours, where she made mistakes, he corrected her, and surprisingly, he was able to withstand her weight and toss her well when needed. After what felt like decades, they were both exhausted and Treasure called for cold lemonades. They had both settled down to their drinks when she suddenly asked,
"do you live in the maid quarters with your mom? How come I've never met you? Though I don't visit it much...but I should have bumped into you at least once" Enzo almost choked on his lemonade, but he replied with a calm voice...
"I live with my aunt not very far from here, I only get to see my mom when she's sent on errands outside your mansion, and when I'm not at school" "Am sorry..." She apologized feeling guilty, but Enzo smiled.
"thanks for today, you should go home and rest now" Treasure said again.
"you can call me anytime you need my help, I will be honoured" he said.
Later that day, while Mrs Daisy dolled herself up before her mirror, Treasure summoned up the courage to ask her about the servants in the house.
"mom, are all of the servants here married?" Mrs Daisy was taken aback by the question.
"yes, some of them are" she replied
"why do you ask?"
"I was wondering if they ever got to visit their family and maybe, spend some time with their kids" she said. Mrs Daisy turned to face her.
"well, they don't worry about that, because they are here to work." she said "Visiting and spending time with family members should be done on their day offs, they know this fact well" she said again.
Treasure watched her mom with concern,
"day offs? When last did you give any of them a day off?" She asked with a skeptic look.
Mrs Daisy was already loosing her patience.
"why are you this inquisitive all of a sudden? she asked
"Its not like anyone of them has a kid or a husband who is complaining, or a potential husband or wife that is yet to get married because of me. If you've seen any, tell him or her to hand in his or her resignation letter, and they will be paid heavily." she said Treasure thought for a while before she spoke
"but mom, what if they are scared of not getting another job that can pay them better?" Mrs Daisy stared blankly at Treasure.
"Treasure, I've never seen you this passionate about your servants." she said
how about we talk about this some other time?" She asked trying to avoid the conversation. She stormed out of the room leaving Treasure staring after her.
Practice the next day was harder than before, and the number of girls chosen were five. Romilda, Francisca, Romane, Claude and Treasure. Sean, Ben and Russell were already too exhausted tossing girls around.
"Tomorrow, ze best zree will be selected, so we can get over with zis before my boys collapse" Mrs Brunet spoke walking into her office and the rest of them sat down hard on the ground breathing heavily. They were walking back to their changing rooms when Romane nudged Treasure...
"We did great, incredible eezn't eet? I practiced my moves with my mom yesterday, she wasn't very good, but eet paid off." For some reason, Treasure felt a bit Jealous of Romane.
"I wish mom had that much time to spend with me" she said to herself.
"Did you say something?" Romane asked, but Treasure said nothing.
By the time they got to their class, Vanessa was in a row with Jake.
"What's going on here?" Treasure asked breaking through the crowd to get to them.
"Lexi? What's going on?" Romane asked "umm...Vanessa and jake had a little misunderstanding during their art classes, am not very sure what the matter is, but they have been yelling out at each other without saying a word to me, I'm sorry, but I don't think they are ready to share their problems with anyone" she said.
Treasure looked at Jake and for the first time since they were friends, saw how angry he could get.
"Enough of this both of you" she said "What has spurned you both so much that you decided to behave this way? she asked.
"Have you lost it?" She asked nudging Jake. He lowered his gaze, avoiding Treasure's eyes.
"I'm sorry" he muttered and walked away. Treasure stared after him in confusion.
"what's going on?" She asked no one in particular, but Romane answered, Vanessa won't say a thing either, we 'ave been asking 'er, but she says everything eez fine, I'm so surprised at zeir behaviours all of a sudden" Treasure kept mute trying to understand it all but gave up almost immediately. She sat hard on her seat exhausted.
"I tried asking around, but no one knows the exact cause of their row." Lexi said.
"Martins, one of their art mate, said they were both painting when all of a sudden, Vanessa splashed water on it claiming that Jake was painting something else. Jake got mad at her,and they were both asked to spend a week in detention." Lexi reported. Treasure and Romane stared at each other too confused for words.
"I wonder what he was painting that annoyed Vanessa so much..." Treasure said sadly.
At home, Treasure met Mrs Jackson and Mrs petkof waiting in the living room over a bottle of red wine and butter cookies.
"Hey Treasure, you are back so early, come sit with us" As she sat between them, Mrs Jackson quickly held her hand
"my son, talks a lot about you" she said "One of these days, I would like you to come pay us a visit, my mansion has turned into a photo shop of you my dear, soo many..."
"Is that you Treasure?" Mrs Daisy spoke interrupting her Mrs Jackson. Treasure got up feeling exhausted.
"Hey mom!" She managed to speak and Mrs Daisy drew her into a hug.
"you look tired, you should get some sleep" Mrs Daisy said watching Treasure ascend the stairs to her.
"She's a lovely child." Mrs petkof complimented.
Treasure and Enzo practiced balle together, and when they were both tired, they stopped to rest.
"I bet you don't spend enough time with your mom" Treasure spoke first.
"yes" Enzo replied.
"she's always busy..." he said
Treasure pushed further with her question
"where's your dad?" she asked
"Are your parents divorced?" Enzo sipped his drink, and said in a calm voice, replied
"I never got the chance to met my dad" he said.
"my mom is so mad at him, she won't even mention his name to me or show me any pictures of him. Everyone knows me as Enzo Sophia. Once, my aunt tried to tell me about my dad, but my mom became furious with her. The only thing I know about him is that he is a Frenchman." He said forcing a smile. Treasure felt sorry for him.
"I'm sorry, she apologized"
"I know by now, he must have gotten married again but I really careless about that I just want to see him" He said looking up at Treasure who quickly moved her gaze, feeling very sad for him.
"Finally, eet's friday and our best zree ballerinas will be chosen" Mrs Brunet said walking in excitedly.
"Music please!" She said to Mr Aimeric, then Romane and Sean began to dance. Claude and Ben danced, then Russell danced with Francisca. "Change partners quickly" Mr Aimeric said and Sean danced with Stephanie while Russell danced with Treasure. As they danced, Mrs Brunet observed them for a while before calling the boys into her office.
"I want your opinion in this." she said "Each of you will tell me which of ze five girls you feel comfortable dancing with. I didn't expect zem to be this good" she said.
They thought for a while, and simultaneously, they voiced out...
"Treasure!!!" Realising they had chosen the same girl, they lowered their gazes in shyness. Ms Brunet laughed
"Wow!" she exclaimed.
"zat's nice, but we need zree girls, so you must zink 'arder" she said sitting on the edge of her desk. "Romane is good too" came Ben
"I will try to deal with her weight" he said again.
"ok, anyone else?" Ms Brunet asked
"I will dance with Claude."he said.
"Tres bien." Ms Brunet spoke excitedly. "From tomorrow, ze six of you will be practising together, please try to 'andle my girls properly ok?" She asked smiling broadly and the trio nodded.
"Unbelievable! Ancel will be so proud of me!" Romane yelled in excitement as Treasure walked closely behind her. At the cafeteria, they met Claude fuming, but they both ignored her.
"Serves her right!" Lexi said walking in on them but Treasure noticing Vanessa and Jake's absence, quickly asked,
"Lexi, where's Jake and Vanessa?" Lexi sat hard on the chair and buried her face in her palms....
"Those two are still at loggerheads" she said.
"I'm tired of trying to settle their differences, maybe you both should talk to them."
"Where are zey right now?" Romane asked and Lexi pointed out to two different directions where they sat.
"I must find out what is going on" Treasure said.