You never know - Pjo Fanfiction

14- In another life, I could fly, which is why I dance in this one

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Hazel felt ashamed. She was ashamed to be crashing in Frank's home, and she was ashamed of leaving her own house. But there was no way back.

Clarisse and Frank led her to a small kitchen, in which an old woman was serving dinner.

"Well, hello dear" She said "Come sit"

She was also ashamed of eating with them, for she should not be bothering, but at the end sat in the table.

It had been long since she'd eaten a hot meal with family. Actually, had she ever done so?

She held her tears and bit her lip.

"So..." The woman started "Are you that Hazel girl?"

"Yes, ma'am" Hazel replied, her head down.

"The girl that Fai won't stop talking about? I see why you like her, Fai, she do is really pretty"

Frank chocked on his food and turned bright red. Hazel akawardly placed a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah" Clarisse said "All he ever says is 'Oh, she dances so pretty! I wish I could dance with her again!'"

Clarisse broke into laughter, and Hazel didn't know whereas she should hide under the table or ask Frank for a dance.

"I don't dance pretty well" She confessed "I have never attended a class. I just sorta taught myself by watching my brother. Oh! And I watched that choreography in the library computer once"

"You have never taken dance?" Frank asked "Well, then you must be the most talented dancer on Eart-"

"There goes Mr Compliments" Clarisse smiled cheekily "I want to see the two of you dance"

"Why, that would be nice!" The older woman said.

Hazel knew she could not avert it. So, after she insisted on helping to wash the dishes, she tied the ribbons in her ballet shoes and put on her leotard and skirt, which were thankfully dry again.

"So..." Clarisse grabbed her phone "Which song, lovebirds?"

"Orpheus ballet?" Hazel wondered, trying to stop blushing.

Clarisse found the song and sat in the sofa, giggling. The woman, which she supposed was their grandmother, sat beside her, with a steaming mug of tea.

"Show me some good dancing" She said "I want to feel impressed"

So, when the music started, Hazel began to dance. She felt the music as she normally did, only stronger. Eurydice's dispair was hers. How the nymph felt lost in the Underworld was how lost she trully was. She spinned and danced her heart out.

Because dancing was where she felt safe, her home. It was her escape from reality.

When the song ended and Frank turned to her, she once again did her split on the floor and kept her head down, pretending to be lost in the Underworld again.

When she rose again and stared into Frank, she realized he was staring avestruck at her. Clarisse and their grandmother were also in silence.

"You, girl" The woman started "Are a prodigy. I have felt things by watching you dance that I haven't felt in years"

"Frank, you need to dance better" Clarisse said "She's way too good for you. You look like a stick"

Hazel blushed lightly. Clarisse gently pushed Frank aside and grabbed Hazel's waist.

"I'll be a worthy companion to your dance, m'lady" She faked a masculine and posh accent.

Hazel pretended to be flattered and placed her hand in Clarisse's shoulder.

"Oh, it will be a pleasure, kind sir"

Song after song, partner after partner, the day turned to night.

The last song was rythmical and cheerful. Hazel spinned around and ended in Frank's arms, pretending to fall.

Clarisse cheered for them "That's how you do it!"

Frank was blushing up to his ears when he pulled Hazel back up.

"I think it's time to go to bed" He muttered.

Hazel then realized she had nowhere to go for the night. But she wasn't going to pity herself. She'd find a bus stop somewhere, or maybe a park would be a nice place. If it only stopped raining...

"Well, thank you so much for letting me stay for dinner, but I should be leaving"

Frank's grandmother got up 

"And where do you plan on sleeping?" She asked.

Hazel tried to dance around the fact that she was probably homeless

"I just need to find my father. He'll probably take me in. If only mother hadn't... Never mind, it's ok"

"Girl, stay for the night!"Clarisse proposed "I think I could ask Chris if he knows your father, but he isn't here yet. He'll come in a couple of days. Would you stay until then?"

Deep down, that was what Hazel most wanted, but she never would have asked herself. Being invited, however, was a complete different thing...

"Are you sure? I don't want to be trouble"

"Yes! Stay!" Frank said, perhaps a little too enthusiastic.

And so Hazel got ready for bed, or the Zhangs' couch, however you decided to see it. But before she went to sleep, she grabbed a pencil and started drawing in her sketchbook.

First, she drew people. Dancing people. She drew Orpheus trying to save his lover and Eurydice lost in Hell.

She also drew glass shards. Many of them, littering the floor, some with blood stains.

And, at last, she tried to imagine how her mother once had been, before everything went wrong, before... Before she was even born.

But the drawing wasn't working. The face was blank. Hazel erased the whole thing angrily.

"Woah, are those your drawings?"

Hazel closed her sketchbook in a reflex act only to realize it was Frank.

"Yeah... Drawing is my safe place. Appart from dancing"

"I also feel nice when I dance" He confessed "But I have a feeling it's different for you"

"It's" she started "It's as if, in another life, I could fly, which is why in this one I dance"

"That's beautiful..." He said "Goodnight, Hazel"

"Night"