You never know - Pjo Fanfiction

6- You never fail. Either you win or you learn

--

Nico ran to his sister as soon as he saw her in his school canteen, his eyes wide.

"Nico!" Hazel hugged him "I missed you!"

"I missed you too" He said, staring into his little sister's eyes "Whatcha doing here, sissy? It's not my birthday..."

"I'm here for the audition" She told him "I thought that then, maybe, we could go to the same school and dance together"

Nico smiled at her. He knew that, when that girl had something in her head, she would move mountains to achieve it.

"That is an amazing idea!" He said. Then, he noticed his friend were waving at him.

"Are those your friends?" Hazel asked

"Yup." He said, smiling "Those are Will and Reyna. Well, I gotta go now. Good luck sissy! Have fun!"

Hazel waved him goodbye and then sat back in the table. Her brother had always been pretty shy, but since he had started in Olympus Ballet Academy, he seemed like a complete extrovert. Crazy how some self confidence can change you.

She ate a spoonfull of food and engaged in the conversation.

"I'm Piper, by the way" The girl with braids was saying as she glupped down liberal amouts of food. "And this is my sis, Drew"

Drew waved at them, looking bored.

"I'm only here because mother obliged us to come"

The four of them became quick friends, and started chatting about trivial things.

"Hey, why don't we share a room?" Annabeth proposed "Unless any of you snores"

They all agreed to share one, and Hazel was really excited about making friends in the academy. But, of course, not all of them would getin. Heck, she didn't even know if she'd get in.

While they were finishing their dessert, two girls got closer to them. One had red, curly hair, while the other's was straight blonde. 

Hazel realized that they had both rationed their food and had only eaten a small part.

"I'm telling you, Percy is madly in love with me" The redhead was saying "We'll partneer in pas de deux and win for sure"

"I'm going to win, too" The other said "Not as if I can't afford to go here, but just to prove I'm the best"

"You're so funny, Kelli" The readhead giggled weirdly.

"You aren't so bad yourself, Rachel" Kelli said.

"Girl, it stinks here" Drew told her friends "I don't want to be near this misses 'I am the best' one more second"

"Yeah, and I'm getting cold" Piper said "Let's go get changed and claim a room"

Hazel was intrigued by the other girls, Rachel and Kelli, and why were they so sure they would win. But she decided to follow her new friends into the changing room. 

She carefully removed her ballet shoes and her leotard, and kept them on her bag. She got on her pink flowery overall again and her feet felt familiar inside her espardilles.

She turned to the other girls. They all wore big hoodies on top of tank tops, with shorts underneath and some sneakers.     

"Wow, I love your style" Piper told her

She smiled gladly and walked with then towardss what would be their new room.

When they arrived to the girls' rooms, they saw there was a file as to claim one. Annabeth got on the job.

"Annabeth Chase" She muttered as she wrote "Can you guys tell me your surnames?"

They told them while Annabeth kept writing.

"Hazel Levesque, Piper Mclean, Drew Tanaka, room 10!"

And so they ran to that room and went inside.

Their mouths fell instantly.

They had a huge wadrobe in the wall, two bunk beds with lots of pillows and fluffy blankets, four cupboard for their things, an enormous mirror and a barre. The bathroom had a bathtub and the tiles were pink.

"Dibs on the high bed!" Piper screamed as she climbed up to the top bunk.

"Guess I'll share with her" Drew huffed, trying to sound annoyed

"You wanna have the top one?" Annabeth asked her

But Hazel had a plan to train at night, so a top bed would be trouble. Also, she had never in her life slept in a bed so high.

"Nah, you can have it" She said while settling for the bottom one.

Just as the clock striked eight pm, they got on their pijamas and started their nightime routines.

Annabeth got on her bed and grabbed a huge book. She stated that everyone who bothered her 'would suffer a fate worse that death'.

Piper switched on a TV and started watching a survival program while being on her split, as if it was the most ordinary thing.

Drew took aout her phone and started chatting with someone while she combed her long hair.

And Hazel? Well, she knew she needed practice if she wanted to win. So, on her nightgown and barefoot, she grabbed the barre and forced the possitions once more, trying to remember everything they did at training today.

After half an hour, a panda-shaped pillow landed on top of her.

"Don't stress yourself like that!" Piper told her "You need rest"

"Yeah, relax, girl" Drew said, while putting on a sleeping mask 

So Hazel, even if she thought she needed hours more of training, got to her bed and turned to one side.

"Good night" She said.

"Sleep tight" Drew added

"Don't let the bedbugs bite!" Piper giggled.

"Death to my enemies and the people who won't let me sleep" Annabeth muttered.

Hazel had never in her life witnessed a greater way to make silence fall.

She turned in her bed, but was unable to sleep. After half an hour of battling with her blanket, she heard noise.

In a second, she had someone sitting in her bed, blond curls framing her figure.

"Annabeth?" She asked

"Shh, wanna wake everyone up?" She replied. Then, she got closer "What's on your mind?"

Hazel took a deep breath

"It's just... I'll never be good enough. And I'll never win. But, if I don't, I'll never dance" She confessed

Annabeth smiled and put her hand in her shoulder.

"Look, failure is impossible. Either you win or you learn. I know you need to learn a lot, but I also have a feeling you already know what you need to win. You just need to trust yourself, to follow your heart"

Hazel nodded "Thanks"

"No problem. And now, get to sleep or I'll end you"

She didn't need to be told twice. She put her blankets up and fell into a deep slumber.