It's been two days since the incident happened and I'm pretty sure I had to change schools because of that. My mother apologized to us but I thought it wasn't necessary. My friends were sad but I promised to visit them afterwards. Luckily, the Lawyer paid for all the expenses, my uniforms and the school's fee. I thanked him for that but I'm afraid he might charge me for it if I messed up because they were around a thousand euros. And I can't pay that much money honestly. My sister was happy I got one of the most expensive schools in the city. Le une des lumières Junior High. It was a french school and the best ballet school. When I first got there, I was nervous but I cooped with it and its class routine till I was called to come to ballet class.. And with that, I was scared. I got there and saw them practicing. Doing a 90° stretch, a split stretch, a bit of twirls and leaps. I gulped down my fear and walked inside. Everyone stopped and glanced my way. I trembles a bit. I glanced around til my eyes laid on their teacher who smiled at me. I nervously retuned it.
"Oh, hello Tera"
The teacher waved at me. I nodded and the girls at the back began to whisper to themselves. The teacher motioned me to move to her side- Which I did, in an awkward manner. Some giggled to my weird attitude and saw it as normal since it's my first time being in an actual ballet class.
"Everyone come around!"
She called out in her french accent, clapping softly to get their attention better.
"This is Tera Galore.. your new dance mate. Please treat him well.. he's a little shy."
The girls giggled and some of the boys took interest in me. All except one. An albino like young boy with his hair tied to a bun. He rolled his eyes every time I glanced at him or when we locked eyes.. The teacher taught me the basics in which I did with a lot of pain but flaws as well. She said I was flexible enough but it was above a man's flexibility to do ballet so she assumed it's a gene I got from my mother. We had a break and I had to find a place to sit so that I'd eat and clean up after myself. Then three guys approached me. I gazed up at them and sipped on my grape juice box.
"Hi.."
I said gazing up at them once more before putting the box in the bag.
"You're the new kid, huh?"
One asked, tilting his head. He had black short hair and brown eyes and he wore a grey shirt over his leotard.
"Yes.. yes I am.."
I responded. They looked at each other and whispered something in their ears. The other two were blondes; pepper and gold blondes respectively. They both wore grey leotards with a white shirt over it. Then the one at the left spoke:
"I heard a Lawyer paid for you because you couldn't move out of your own house. Is that true?"
I furrowed my brows and stood up. They were quite tall and intimidating. I didn't like the aura they had though. But for some reason, they seemed harmless.
"Who blurted that out?"
I questioned. They looked at each other and shrugged. I sighed and sat back down. The blackhead raised an eye brow as if to expect an answer like he's saying "So is it true?" I stayed silent and one spoke:
"That's okay.. My uncle had to pay for me because my Dad didn't want me to go"
"Mine was a scholarship"
"I had to transfer here with my elder sister's help."
I gazed up at them and they smiled back at me. Their smiles were soft and I smiled back. Finally getting accepted for once in my life.
"Hey, wanna be friends?"
"Uhm sure.."
I smiled and they sat beside me and began to have a little chat with me. They introduced themselves as Jake (black head), Alexander(blonde) and Mark (Pepper blonde). They were cool to be with and their story really told me a message. I enjoyed their company till I realized that the albino dude was staring at me. He had this emotionless yet piercing look in his eyes. Mark noticed and turned to the back
"Is Axel telling you something?"
He asked. "Axel was his name?", I thought. Sounds like something out of a novel or a fantasy book.
"He keeps staring at me"
I answered. We all stared at him and Axel turned away and walked to the other corner and sat there. He took out a music player and wore some black headphones.
"Axel isn't that much of a socializer- You get what I mean?"
"Yeah.."
I turned to Mark and the others. Then Mark continued shortly after a small set of silence:
"He's our leader and he's from Britain- just like you, Nadia and Chris; but he's half Canadian so he just came from there to the UK. Normally, he's isolated or just side eyeing you for some reason. The girls fangirl over him even though he's as emotionless as a brick. He's a chill dude and has good sense of music. His parents are strict and he's really observant. Rarely have I head him say anything"
I mused on the description of Axel and sighed. The next lesson was about to start so I had to prepare. As I tried to warm up, my eyes met a pepper blonde with grass green eyes. She smiled at me and I smiled back. She was pretty and looked quite young. The lessons were killing me and I couldn't say anything because no one seemed not to complain. All I did was to scream internally and pray that my legs don't snap into two. The warm ups were hard and the actual practice was HARDER than I expected. I couldn't walk for a while so I had to lay on the floor. For some few hours, I got off the floor and reached out for my bag and burrowed through it. I took out my notebook and wrote down the number of hours I had to practice at home. We had to leave so I left first since my sister would be expecting me. As I walked through the hallway, I met Axel and he avoided me from going out.
"What do you want?"
I taunted. He was tall and he looked like someone who'd punch you if you didn't answer what he asked you. He folded his arms and spoke
"Why were you four staring at me, huh?"
"You started staring at me."
I remarked and he furrowed his brows.
"Don't try and act dumb. I'm warning you to stop looking at me. It makes me uncomfortable"
"As if I don't have feelings. Now get out of my way before I shove you off"
I purposefully bumped into him and I could feel his fingers nearly grab onto my hair. If I wouldn't had ran, I would've been on the floor, screaming like a girl and dodging his attack. I noticed my sister and waved at her. We later got home with enough time for me to practice.
"So how was it"
She asked me
"It was fine.. I thought my legs would've backed out on me"
She chuckles. We got inside and saw the Lawyer sitting there. I furrowed my brows and he suddenly glanced out the door. He waved at me and I waked back with a straight face. I rushed into my room and sat on my bed. Sighing heavily, I thought of something.. About how I am supposed to do this perfectly without going to the hospital due to pulled muscles or broken bones. I shook my head and sighed once more. Almost an hour later, I was called downstairs to come for dinner. I sat down and my mother held my hand.
"How was school today, Dear?"
She asked with her usual soft voice
"It was.. great. I liked the halls and how rich it is.. practice was hard but it had its efforts and I made some friends."
"That's nice! I hope you're enjoying yourself over there"
She smiled before dishing out our plates of food. As I ate, a thought came to mind. "Am I doing this forever?" "How long will it last?" "When will I stop?" "What should I do when I get the money from just dancing?". I sighed and took a spoonful of rice before gazing at the living room. After dinner, I left to my room and sat on my bed. Sighing, I changed into my PJs and laid in bed. The thoughts roamed in my head til I finally fell asleep.
The next day I had to rush because it was almost time for a morning break before history class. I took my breakfast and my sister drove me there. Rushing to class, I saw Axel and some other two pupils of his talking then he glanced at me. Before he could completely see me, I had vanished into the classroom. I sighed with relief and sat down, pantion like I had ran a marathon. After history class was science class and it was my first time going there too. They gave us individual lab coats with our names embroidered on their left breast pocket. When I got there, I realized there was another class there and boy I was nervous. But what made me even more scared was that Axel was there!
"Oh gosh"
I groaned and entered along side some other students. I went to the back of the class and sat there with three other classmates of mine. As I took notes for the mixtures we were going to do, I felt something tap me on my shoulder. I ignored it then I felt another. And another, and another, and another, AND another till I was pissed off.
"Who's throwing that?!"
I taunted softly so that the teacher won't notice me. The girl who sat beside me, Penny, tapped my shoulder and pointed at Axel.
"Axel??"
She shook her head and pointed at the one behind Axel. It was that pepper blonde girl from ballet class yesterday. She smiled at me and motioned that during recess, she'd like to talk to me. My cheeks turned a soft shade of gloss and I buried my face onto my book. Then the bell rang and out of nowhere, she grabbed my arm and dragged me out. We got to the playground and she sat under a willow tree on a bench and motioned me to sit by her. I hesitated at first.
"You're Tera, right?"
She spoke softly.
"Yeah.. and you are?"
"I'm Claudia.. nice to meet you!"
She smiled widely and I nervously retuned it
"So are we going to have ballet classes today?"
I asked her.
"Probably.. I hope to meet you there. It was your first time but you ere doing so well!"
She complimented. I chuckled and nodded in appreciation to her compliment. We sat there and talked til recess was over and I had to go with her to ballet class.
"Alright class!"
Our teacher called. We all agthered around her.
"We're going to learn 'Le danse en couple' in which you pair with a partner. You'll learn more of this in the 7th to 9th grade. Now, pick a partner and let's begin"
Suddenly, the class rushed to pick a partner and I was caught and tosses aside. As soon as the commotion was done, everyone had a partner. Ann except I and Axel.. "Great... Just great.."
"Oh! Oh no.."
The teacher exclaimed softly and chuckled. Everyone glanced at us and I gazed away in embarrassment.
"It's normal if two students of the same gender pair.. C'mon now. Pair together you two"
"I don't wanna.."
I furrowed my brows and gazed at her.
"Oh? Why not?"
"He's rude and mean and he might drop me since it's my first time doing ballet properly"
"No I'm not"
Axel taunted softly with furrowed brows. My eyes were still on the main reason why I couldn't tolerate stares anymore
"Tera's lying. I didn't do anything-"
"But you were bullying him yesterday"
Someone blurted out. Axel immediately darted a glare at the person and they immediately hid their face afterwards.
"Now, now Axel. There's nothing wrong with revealing the truth. Now tell me.. Did you ACTUALLY bully him?"
"N..."
He held onto his shirt and furrowed his brows as if to look innocent. Guess what? It worked
"Aww Axel.. it's alright I understand d you're antisocial so it's weird when you get called out like this. C'mon.. apologize"
Axel turned to me and sighed. He softened his gaze and spoke blandly
"I am sorry.."
"Apology accepted"
I nearly smiled then he decided to ignore my gaze. That was weird and what got weirder was how dance practice got off. I went home flabbergasted!