When she finished, Emilia smiled and tried to act flustered from the attention. Ms Rousseau congratulated her, and she bowed. This was her unspoken rountine: act kind, dance and show the competition up, act like it was nothing and be embarrassed for the attention, then boast about it to the defeated competition. It was that simple.
All the while the class was talking amongst themselves and congratulating Emilia, Alyssia was sewing another pair of ballet shoes, not really caring much about the compliments others were giving Emilia. Why would she?
As the rest of the class was put into groups of two or three, Emilia walked over to Alyssia. "You like being shown up?" She asked, a smirk on her lips. "It's a normal occurrence for you now, though."
“Oh I’m sorry, I can’t understand flailing” she scoffed, her slight Russian accent peaking through. She brushed her hair up into a ponytail.
"Maybe that's because your stuffy ballet is too robotic," She retorted. "Besides, you're just jealous because I always win at competitions with my 'flailing' and you don't with your robot."
“Have you seen how many awards I’ve gotten? Besides, I’m expanding. It’s way better to be robotic that being an airhead, don’t you think, Ms. Balloon-head?” She replied, rolling her eyes before getting up and walking over to the wall to stretch
"You realise that an airhead is someone who is stupid, someone who probably goes to a public school? You saw the entrance test to this school, didn't you? Of course you did, you only just got in. I, however, have been here since 7th grade. Which is 6 years this year. Oh, and didn't you try to get into the school multiple times, Pavlova? Which is an Australian dessert, by the way. Maybe that's gonna be your nickname. Pavlova Dessert."
“I’m not gonna waist my time talking to some dimwit who thinks she’s better than me. I went to Russian ballet school, a private school you should know, and was the top of my class the whole time I was there! So don’t you dare talk about prestigious with me, silly American girl” she replied, smirking softly
~
Emilia was shaken a little by the comment, but refused to let her demeanor show it. "If you really think that you were so perfect there, go back. No one will miss you. And maybe your parents won't bash you every time I beat you." She walked away.
That comment choked her up. She excused herself discreetly from the class, trying desperately not to show any emotion to the thing Emilia had just said.
She was right. Her parents thought she was useless, no matter how hard she tried. They publicly humiliated her multiple times, screaming at her during or after performances. They had even kicked her out of the house once when all she came home with was gold. Although they seemed kind, she knew what the hell they were up to behind the facade.
She rushed outside the class and closed the door gently, slinking away to the washroom as hot tears ran burning down her cheeks
Emilia stretched with a small yawn beside her best friend. "Why are you so rude to her?" Kymberlie asked.
"You wouldn't understand, Kym," She replied, watching as Alyssia left the class. She smirked. "She needs to learn her place."
Alyssia soon came back in, looking like she hadn’t been crying at all. She walked over to her bag and began to stretch near it, not really feeling like she wanted to have to deal with someone else today.
Ms Rousseau went through the roll, pairing or trippling people up. "Kymberlie Hart…Alyssia Pavlova…and…Emilia Wass." At the mention of them being paired together, Emilia shot a glare towards the Russian ballerina.
Alyssia cursed under her breath, groaning quietly at the mention of Emilia's name after her own. She got up, walking over to the group of girls.
Emilia turned away, but Kym gave her a small grin and a slight wave.
Alyssia smiled back at Kym, her eyes lighting up. She began to sway her hips happily before sitting down beside Kymberly, but as far away as possible from Emilia. "Your name is Kymberly, right?" she asked, the genuine smile still on her lips.
Kym smiled. "It's with an 'ie', by the way," Emilia said. "Don't forget that."
"Don't worry about her. It's not that big a deal."
"I won't" she replied before turning to Emilia, getting slightly uncomfortable all of a sudden. "So, how long have you been doing dance, Kym?" she asked, her gaze shifting back to the girl that sat with the two enemies.
Kym ran a hand through her silky black hair. "Um…around 10 years, I think? Not as long as Emilia, of course. But I love dance. I lose my cares when I do it."
"Ditto!" she exclaimed, of course, it was a lie though, most of the time at least. Dance stressed her out when her parents were around, mostly just her dad though. Her mom went through the same thing, so she's trying her best to be the best mom a ballerina could think of. But she still gave her criticism, and sometimes more than necessary. She watched the girl's hand run through her hair, her lip tucking between her teeth, "Well, I'm sure you're great" she replied, smiling softly.
"I wouldn't say great," Kym said absentmindedly as she started to braid her hair. "But then again, there's so many dance styles that I suppose you could."
"Kym does hip hop," Emilia said pointedly, a stubborn tone in her voice.
Alyssia glared slightly at Emilia before smiling at her softly, looking back over to Kym. "Really? That's so cool!" she replied, genuinely excited to meet someone that did a completely different dance style than her.
"It's not really that cool," Kym said distractedly, still playing with her hair. "It's a little bit too formulating, but it's what I've done my whole life. I'm used to you."
“I guess all dances have their downsides.” She replied, watching her lazily as she played with her hair