Chapter 79: Chapter XXXVII Show Time-2

Then came the most uncomfortable thing I have ever seen. The ballet dance. Anna and Caleb were at a very bad place in terms of relationship so their duet was flawed from head to toe and extended down her pointe shoe. The dance was beautiful and well-polished, yes, but their interactions were worth every cringe. They tried not to cling to one another, instead avoiding eye contact and doing two different solos at the exact same place. It tore at my heart how downhill the dance went, but others didn't seem to notice their awkward exchanges. I was surprised at how well Caleb improved, seeing as he had no ballet skills whatsoever. It was actually shocking that he wasn't kicked out after I left and one of the other male dancers took up the role of partner. Then again, the symmetry of the dance would be put off then. Madame always loved it to be perfect. And it was. Cheers erupted at the first ballet performance in years, all of them gracefully stepping off to go sooth their beating hearts. I could tell how nervous they had been, but now they looked satisfy with what they had achieved. I wondered if Caleb would continue ballet after all this. The next few acts were also worthy of applause, but it was a long night and we couldn't afford that. I didn't know the line-up, so instead I just waited with anticipation. When I saw the half-naked group step on, the males only wearing spandex shorts and the females only wearing leotards, I knew. My mother leaned over to me in question. "Is Sarina going to perform now?" the rest of the household heard me and I nodded eagerly with excitement. Smoke ran over the stage and props were hurriedly set up, everyone wondering at what they were going to do. When my eyes spotted her my heart sank in one quick splash. Sarina, the girl I adored more than anyone in the world, the girl who I had upset tremendously and cared about most in the world, now looked different. Her hair the colour of pitch darkness threw me off, because I hadn't expect her to be this angry. She told me she hated her hair, yes, but I didn't think she would change it so quickly back again. Not that it mattered, it was her own hair and I had nothing to say about it but... it still hurt. It hurt deeply. When the music began I recognized the song as one which Sarina played a lot. It was pop but the music had the ability to build tension and create nerves. The performers followed that with excellent, contorting their bodies in unison. Anyone could immediately tell the difficulty level of their performance and the amount of time put into it, and it was incredible. Sarina told me minimal about it and now I knew why. I had not expected any of it. They choreographed into the performance that they bow to us, doing an over-the-shoulder roll out of the kneeling position to continue the dance. They were creative. Each time Parker or someone else went flying, my heart stopped. Parker was thrown the highest, probably reaching the ten metre mark above the stage. It truly was death defying. The male gymnasts did flips off of each other and I barely heard the twins say 'it's the guy!' as if they knew the person from their own experiences. Knowing them, they did. Sarina was thrown into the air once. It my heart stop completely as she did the same spin she did on the uneven bars she showed me weeks ago. Instead of dismounting, she placed her life in one of the other guys. It must truly be terrifying, having to trust someone that much. Maybe that's why she had such an intense issue with trust, because she knows the consequences. I began tearing up at the thought. When they finished with a grand gesture of toppling four lairs of people into a pyramid and throwing Parker off from right the top, the cheering was immense. More so than any other performance. People loved stunts. The gymnasts bowed to the other platform where the rest of my family and Alejandro sat before turning to us. Her eyes met mine instantly, as if she was searching just for me. I gave her a large smile and a big applause, but she returned to such gesture towards me. It was to be expected though. At the end, when they walked off, I could however swear that I saw a ghost of a smile on her lips. That was all I needed. When the finale came and everything was ended of incredibly, us five of the main household rose and headed around in the building towards a passage which lead directly onto the stage. I was nervous to greet the performers after seeing their amazing talent, knowing that I could never have anything like that. The audience was still cheering when we headed onto the stage, the host feeling the need to reintroduce us. I first headed to my old ballet school, Madame basically bawling her eyes out at their success. Once she spotted me, her hands cupped over her mouth in astonishment. I chuckled at her actions and brought her into my arms, feeling my teacher of fifteen years deserved it. She hugged me, clinging onto me. "Melanie, I can't believe it," she told me, and in my mind I was back at the studio with her. I smiled and hugged her tighter before moving away. "That was beautiful. You truly are the best and it was my absolutely honour to be able to dance under your name," she sniffled and nodded slowly, not knowing what to say. I headed to all the other girls, congratulating them. Caleb was a bit awkward but gave me a hug, the flashes of photos behind us temporarily blinding me. Of course they knew this was him, and was surprised that I would even get close to him. Anna refused to meet my eye sight when I walked in front of her, but I wasn't going to leave it just like that. I took her into my arms, her head rising in shock. It was a bit hard to hug her, seeing as the tutu was in the way. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally accepted the hug. "I forgive you," I told her before she even said anything. She cried into my shoulder. "I'm so sorry," her voice was small and frail. "Don't be. We both made a mistake," "Hey!" I heard Caleb's voice chip in. Simultaneously, we both moved our eyes to glare at him.