Rêveries

Chapter 68.

"Personne ne va penser ça... et je peux m'habiller avec un chapeau et des lunettes de soleil," Nobody's gonna think that...and I can dress up in a hat and sunglasses, he tries, grabbing onto my shoulders as he whines like a toddler. I glare at him, and then I hear Arthur.

"Pourquoi porterais-tu ça?" Why would you wear that?

"Parce que C ne me laisse pas aller à la compétition," Because C won't let me go to the competition, Charles says, letting go of my shoulders. Arthur's head snaps towards me and his face falls into disappointment.

"Êtes-vous sérieux? On ne peut pas y aller?" Are you serious? We can't go? he asks, as his shoulders fall, and now I feel guilty because he looks so upset about it. I open my mouth to speak, but Charles is quicker than me.

"Non, elle pense qu'on aura trop d'attention," No, she thinks we'll get too much attention.

"Mais j'ai déjà choisi une tenue..." But I've already chosen an outfit... Arthur says, and that was the final straw, I felt so bad I could cry. He looked so upset as his eyes shifted between Charles and I. So I sighed and I sat down and let out some frustrated crying noises.

"Entendu!" Fine! I groaned, listening to them as they celebrated with each other that they'd be allowed to go.

Later that same night, Evie called me to tell me Max and Pierre were throwing a fit about not being allowed to go, so I told her they might as well be there. It will be boring as hell, and maybe they'll see for themselves and we don't have to go through this again, because next time, they know they'll be bored if they go.

Elliòtt didn't have a single objection to the boys coming along, since he thinks it'll make us look good. I rolled my eyes endless times as he spoke about how it's probably good to have them there. At least the charity will get a lot of money from these millionaires, that thought keeps me sane.

The first day of the competition weekend, Elliòtt and I went to a media day. It was my first one and Charles had sent Mia with me to calm me down. We had a time scheduled for a press conference together with some other pair dancers. On a stage and everything. There were lights shining on me as I was sitting behind the table and couldn't see a single person, only hear their voices. Mostly they talked to the other pairs, or Elliòtt answered the question for us.

"Céline, I have a question for you," came from the darkness behind the bright lights, but I tried to see the outline of the person speaking. My stomach was turning and I was tensing up, because I just felt in my bones that it would be something completely unrelated to the other questions, and I knew I'd be embarrassed. "You have been seen traveling a lot, mostly for Formula 1 races, do you think that has been affecting your dancing negatively?"

"Then I wouldn't be doing it," I replied shortly as I was praying that Elliòtt was holding a poker face next to me.

"Please stick to questions regarding the competition," Mia chimed in from somewhere below the stage, and the reporter seemed to start over with a new question.

"It's a difficult competition with a packed schedule, a lot of hard work, do you feel like you've had a support system to really get through this?" he asked, which just confused me and I felt my eyebrows furrow even though I was supposed to keep a poker face as well.

"Sorry?" I asked.

"Are there certain people that have been helping you through these stressful weeks?" he asked, and I wanted to sigh and roll my eyes, but I just shifted in my seat asI waited for Mia to step in, which she did.

"We ask that you don't ask questions involving their personal life and stick to the dancing, thank you," she said, a lot more stern than the other time she stepped in.