𝐌𝐈𝐀𝐏𝐒 - MBAPPÉ, BELLINGHAM, FÉLIX

Chapter Five

A TEAM EFFORT

Imagine a symphony of fragmented breath.
A melody of pants and heaves, echoing out through an open room; a depiction of exhaustion, with limbs loose, lax, and splayed out on the floor.  The very picture of repentance and regret.

Some call it Karma.

I call it Ballet.

"Please... please tell me it's over?"

In our first full lesson, I had made those boys jump higher than they knew was humanly possible, sit straighter than a rulers edge, and think harder and faster than their bodies could move.

"I... can't take this anymore... Ronen.  I take it... back.  This.... it's.... it isn't easy."

I held in a laugh at Erling's plea.  I was sure the others were feeling and thinking much of the same if their physical language was anything to go by. 

"I mean, you're all so slow that we barely covered half the stuff I had planned - but the session is almost over so yes, I guess we're done."

"Thank god!" Said Richarlison.  "I know my mistake, okay Ronen? Ballet is a real sport, and it's fucking hard."

There were groans of agreement from the rest of the boys, as some moved to stand up again - others rushed to get their water.

"Can we try out the Baby Ballet tomorrow instead?" Asked Jude. "I don't think I can handle anything more advanced."

I hummed pensively, pursing my lips. "We can't do Baby Ballet because that's far too easy for you - but I'll cut you a deal: if you learn positions 1 through 5 for tomorrow's lesson, we'll do something fun."

Kylian shot me a dubious glare. "Fun or 'fun'"

"Actually fun. I promise."

Though Kylian still seemed apprehensive, he took my word and began to collect his bags.  The others took a while to follow suit, still catching their breath from the after-effects of the dancing.

João met my gaze from the corner of the room and I could tell from his look that he wanted to talk.  Ordinarily I would have run away, but he had played a big part in making the boys turn up here and not even I was that callous.  I unplugged my phone from the speakers before walking over to him.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I actually wanted to ask you that." He laughed.  "You kind of disappeared after last night."

"Yeah, I guess I did." I acknowledged, clasping my hands behind my back.  "I just wanted to get away from everything, but thank you for what you did - yesterday and today."

"It was nothing." He assured, quite casually.  "I would have done the same for anyone."

I let out a small laugh.  "No you wouldn't you have."

My reply, accompanied by an eyeroll, was not meant to be deep or objectionable - it was more like a reflex.  With João's temperament I knew that he was adverse to drawing attention to himself in public, and yesterday he'd betrayed that for me - he'd even stood up to his friends.  If it happened to someone he didn't know he probably would have just watched from the sidelines.