Breaking Pointe

Chapter Nine

When Arabella woke up there was still a strong arm around her. Her head was tucked under his chin and their feet were all tangled up. The events of the previous night came back to her. She had never opened up to anyone like that and she was embarrassed. He, however, had been perfect and amazing. She didn’t deserve him.

Not wanting to still be in that slightly compromising and vulnerable position when he woke up, she tried to wiggle out of his iron grip. She managed to turn around, but that was all. His arm was too heavy. When she tried to reposition herself again for better chances of escape, she felt him stir.

“Good morning, Ella” he said in a sleepy voice, nuzzling her neck. It was the single absolute sexiest this ever. She tried to laugh it off but he turned her around and ran his hand down her side until it rested on her hip. “How did you sleep?”

“Good” she answered quietly although that was a complete understatement. She had slept like a rock. She took the opportunity to hop up out of her bed before his morning voice made her do something she would regret.  Catching a look at herself in the mirror out of the corner of her eye, she  groaned. She grabbed her hair and tried to work out the huge knot at the back of her head. Tyler stretched out on her bed and rolled over, burying his head in the pillow. Somebody was not a morning person at all. 

Walking out into the kitchen, she realized he would probably want some breakfast. She managed to find some cereal in the cabinet. Putting a bowl and a spoon in the sink so it looked like she had already eaten, she yelled out, “Come and eat, lazy!”

Tyler walked out of her room, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. His tee shirt rode up to give her a peek at the abs underneath. Yee haw. He caught her looking and grinned. Cocky.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” he asked, shoveling Fruity Pebbles into his mouth.

“Already did” she motioned to the bowl in the sink.

“Those stories of your mom that you mentioned, do I ever get to hear them?”

“Someday” she answered and he seemed fine with that. He left pretty soon after because she had to go to ballet practice. After practice she went to an open room at the studio to work on her audition routine. The song didn’t feel right so her choreography was off and the whole thing was going completely downhill. Her stomach cramped up from the hot dog she had eaten the day before. Frustrated, she tried to do a cross move but couldn’t focus because Tyler’s sexy morning voice kept popping into her  head. She fell and knew there would be a bruise on her knee the next day. Four hours later she had done nothing productive except burn some calories. She could see the bruise already forming.

When she was around Tyler, Arabella felt like a normal girl. She couldn’t be a normal girl, though, and this was why. Tina was right, she couldn’t afford distractions. Being just friends with Tyler was supposed to be the solution, but that obviously wasn’t working. Her entire future was at stake in three weeks. She knew she had to cut it off completely with Tyler if she had a shot.

Arabella ignored Tyler’s texts all weekend. She did alright at ballet practice on Sunday, but her audition routine still wasn’t coming along. She tried different songs, different moves, but none of it felt right.

Monday came and Arabella was at her locker before school when a girl from her history class, Jessica, walked up to her. She was very sweet with curly, blonde hair and big, brown eyes. She did well in school and was always nice to Arabella even though they hadn’t really talked much.

“Hi Arabella! So I was wondering what the deal with you and the new guy Tyler is. Are you two, like, dating?” Jessica asked.

“No, we are definitely not dating” she answered.