here you go:
Chapter
1
Now,
Lilia Silversmith has been given the opportunity that every young ballerina
dreams for, to have a chance at being big; to have their graceful steps and
twirls mean something. This is a dream, so it seems, but little do these girls,
including Lilia, know the harsh reality of the ballet world. Of course you’re
probably thinking, “Working in a ballet company must be an amazing experience;
your own vanity stall, new, shiny pointe shoes, beautifully elaborate costumes,
day after day of dancing and nothing more. What more could a girl want.” You
see, that’s the illusion. Of course for some people this experience can be life
changing in a positive way but for others it might be life changing in a, let’s
say, slightly negative way. Well for example, there’s Lilia; a sweet, innocent,
smart, little ball of radiant light thinking she’s going to become a famous
prima ballerina, to travel the world and perform in all the greatest ballets
and meet all of the world’s most famous dancers. This is Lilia’s story in this
journey many young dancers decide to make. This is her story of growing up and
facing cold, raw reality.
Lilia felt so alive every time she first
walked into the Ballet Le Mystique Ballet Company building. The smell of
powdered resin and oak wood filled her nose delightfully. She passed dance
studio after dance studio, everyone in them working for the same thing she was
working for the leading role in one or more of the big ballets that are put on
by Ballet Le Mystique, like Giselle in Giselle and Odette in Swan Lake. She was
new while so many girls at this company have been here for several years and
have such a better chance at succeeding. This isn’t what Lilia really believed.
That was what her mother, friends, and old dance instructors believe. Lilia
believes she is a wonderful, outstanding dancer that is fresh-faced and willing
to put her biggest effort into getting the part she desires and devoting her
personal life to dancing. Well, she really is. Lilia does know that she is shy,
quiet, and innocent, but she isn’t about to let the personality flaws that made
school a living nightmare for her ruin her hopes and dreams at becoming a prima
ballerina. She was independent and relied on herself. She never had many
friends and she never really thought she needed them. To her dance was a
friend; dance was her life. When she woke up in the morning, the first thing
she thought of was dance. During the day, dance steps and routines filled her
brain. At night she’s lie awake thinking about tomorrows dance class. In her
sleep she dreams of dancing on stage in front of four thousand people. Dance
seems to control her body like a drug addiction. She admits she is a little bit
obsessive over dance, but dance is all she has ever had. I mean her family doesn’t
understand what she wants to do with her life. Her only friend, Jesse, acts
like Lilia is invisible and hangs out with a group of girls wearing
Abercrombie, with straight hair and glossy lips. Lilia could never be one of
those girls. She wasn’t ugly. She was very pretty. She could look the part if
she tried, but she didn’t act like them. She didn’t giggle constantly or talk
all the time and she never could. She was serene. She liked to wear soft ballet
warm up clothes and natural makeup to school and she had wavy, light brown hair
that she left down except when she was dancing. She was also quiet. So quiet
that often, she would go whole school days without talking. Even though she was
pretty no one seemed to notice her. They would talk about anything with their
friends around her. She saw and heard everything but they never saw or heard
her.
Jesse had been the only person that she
could turn to when she needed someone. Jesse liked to help and comfort people.
Lilia would come and cry and moan about how she injured herself at dance or how
the teacher is too hard on her even thought she works the hardest out of
everyone in her ballet class. Lilia stuck to Jesse for the longest time, but
when they got into high school they slowly began to drift apart. In their
sophomore year is when Jesse started talking to Casey, a tall, tan, blond with
everything Abercrombie and the straightest, shiniest hair. Jesse began to
ignore Lilia more and more to the point where Lilia would call and Jesse would
pick up the phone and hang up so she didn’t have to hear the phone ring over
and over, let alone talk to Lilia. At school, Lilia would try to be with Jesse
but Jesse would glance over her shoulder, pout her lips a little more and walk
fast to catch up to Casey and the rest of her friends. Lilia didn’t take it
that hard, however. She had other things to focus on; like schoolwork and
dance. She would sit alone in classes and eat alone in the crowded cafeteria.
She didn’t mind and nobody seemed to care.
In Lilia’s junior year of high school, she
decided that she had other priorities besides sitting alone and working on
maths papers. She had to focus on the thing taking over her body. It seems
silly to say that dance told her to quit school and audition for ballet
companies in the city, but without dance she wouldn’t have even thought about
quitting school. When she told her mother about her plans, her mother was
devastated. She reprimanded her about throwing her future away and ruining any
opportunity of becoming a successful lawyer like her. Lilia didn’t want to be a
lawyer she wanted to dance. She only wanted to dance. Didn’t her mother
understand that? Lilia told her that she was going to the city to audition for
ballet companies. Her mom just snorted and said, “You’re going to choose a one
out of a million dream instead of choosing over a successful, good paying job
as a lawyer?” Lilia didn’t care what her mother said. She was used to people
saying that a future in dance is virtually impossible. She would tell them of
all the famous dancers and their success stories. They would only explain to
her that she is not them she is only a little girl and that her plan isn’t
practical. But she wasn’t about to let someone crush her dreams like that. She
believed that if you want something bad enough and you really work for it, you
will get it in due time.
