My phone rang the moment my door shut. I walked over to it leisurely. I didn't recognize the number but I answered anyway.
"Hello?"
"Hey Eves," a shrill voice stretched out. "What's up?"
"Hedone?"
"Heck yeah baby!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Where are you?"
"I don't know," she slurred a bit. "But it's hot here. I'm thinking New Mexico. I'm at a pay phone thing."
"What? How did you get down there from New York?"
"Some guy...I forget his name...took me up to Olympus for the night and dropped me off here. I have to wait for the cab guy now but I'll be back soon enough."
"Goodness, Grandma, couldn't you develop some self-control?"
"First off, stop calling me that. Secondly, I will develop some of that as soon as you do. I saw you leave with an attractive hunk of meat. Don't blame me. Fourthly, should I stop by and pick you tonight again?"
"Are you still drunk?"
"Getting there...again."
I shook my head at my grandmother's hung-over state. She couldn't even count correctly.
"I don't want to go out tonight and you are not convincing me otherwise tonight."
Hedone sighed on her end of the line. "Fine, I'll hit you up in a month then like I always do. See ya soon babes!"
There was a click then the line went dead. I hung up my phone and rubbed my temples. This was not turning out to be my day. I glanced over at the clock hanging above the archway into my kitchen.
My eyes budged when I noticed the time. I had to get ready for work! My shift didn't start until noon but it was already a quarter past eleven. I brushed off the whole Jay and Hedone incident. As far as I was concerned, it had never happened and I had gotten a free shirt out of the deal that never happened.
I changed quickly out of my nightly wear and into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. My outfit for my job was actually at my workplace. I would have to wait to change until I got there just like all the other employees. I threw my hair up into a messy bun, grabbed my gym bag, filled Theo's cat dish with dry food, and headed out the door.
Outside my apartment, I cool chill fall over me as there was a slight breeze in the air. I signaled for a cab and one finally took the time to stop after a few minutes. Inside, I told the driver my destination and he went off without a word. Glancing at the clock inside that cab I cursed silently to myself. My boss was not going to be happy with me. It wasn't that I was late at that moment but knowing the New York traffic, it was easy to assume that I was going to be and I wasn't even in uniform yet.
About twenty minutes later we arrived at my work place. I gave the driver what was owed and hopped out the door. I glanced up at the building knowing that I was plenty late and still had two flights of stairs to climb. I quickly passed the words "Carmen's Ballet Academy" which was sprawled out in a lovely font just above the double door entrance.
I jumped up the stairs and hurriedly entered the large woodened floored room. The rectangular room had two walls lined with mirrors and there were two wooden horizontal poles, called Barres, attached to the mirrors. The remaining two walls in the room were huge windows allowing a wonderful sight of the New York skyscrapers in the distance.
Currently, there were two smaller Barres in the middle of the room being used by little children doing a few warm up routines. There were the sounds of a classical piano filling the room and echoing into the hallway. I smiled at the children as some shouted my name in a greeting before someone stepped in front of me effectively blocking my view.
A woman with brunette hair pulled up into a bun and currently wearing a black leotard and tights glared at me. I had to look down at her a bit to address her as she was a few inches shorter than my 5' 6" frame. She had her arms crossed over her chest and she began tapping her foot that was covered by a ballet shoe. I winced at her as she raised an expectant eyebrow and hardened her dark brown eyes.
"Hey Carmen," I began slowly hoisting my gym bag up higher on my shoulder. I plastered a big grin on my face in attempt to soothe her hardened stare.
"Don't 'hey Carmen' me! You're late!"
I brushed past her and moved my way to the dressing rooms. Carmen stayed hot on my heels and followed me.
"I know, I know. I had some business to attend to this morning and then there was traffic and I just got sidetracked I guess. I'm sorry it won't happen again."
I paused in my movements to turn and face her. She gave me a hard stare for a few moments before all of her beautiful features softened.
"Oh, I can't stay mad at you," she said dropping her stiff stance. She came up behind me and put an arm around my shoulders. "Imagine if I were to fire you! The girls would miss you too much and with the recital coming up? We need all the help we can get."
We continued on into the employee dressing room. It was located in a small hallway that branched off from the main room. I plopped down my bag onto the floor and moved over to my assigned locker. I quickly dialed in my combination and removed my own light pink leotard and white tights.
"The recital will go great with or without me," I said as I walked into the nearby bathroom area. I took one of the stalls and began to change.
I heard Carmen sigh. "I sure hope you're right. Not that I don't believe in the girls but well, they are so young."
I laughed as I struggled to pull my right leg through my thin tights. "Their cuteness will make up for any mistakes. It's mostly for the parents anyway."
"I suppose," she mumbled in agreement. "How are your parents?"
"Eh," I muttered as I worked with my leotard next. "The same."
Carmen was short for Charmeine which was the name for a fallen angel; more specifically an Angel of Harmony. This made her a natural born dancer. My father knew her because he was also a fallen angel. Those were the only immortals allowed to live on Earth because they had nowhere else to go. Immortals from Olympus (like my mother for example) had to have a special license to live on Earth. Immortals that were half and half (like me and my brother) were like other fallen angels and had to live on Earth, but like immortals from Olympus we could get a license to live up there if we wanted. Most chose to stay on Earth though since that was where their families were.
My father and Carmen were decent friends when they were both angels. My dad had come down to Earth from Heaven first and Carmen actually looked him up after she had been kicked out. This had been after my father and mother were already together and were raising my brother and I.
During high school, I took an intense liking to dancing and my father helped me get the job here at Carmen's dance studio as a teacher. I loved every minute of it and Carmen was a very cool boss. She was barely ever strict and she acted more my age then the age of my mom or dad.
Carmen was a beautiful woman with a naturally kind face and big dark eyes that were always full of expression. She, like me, had stopped her aging at around 25 years old. She was really in her 300's though I didn't know the specific number. She had been on Earth for only about 20 years or so but still she had a busy life. She bought this dance studio and taught classes six days a week. Some for kids and some for adults but I only helped with the little ones.
"How are the girls doing with the routine?" I asked as I came out from the stall holding my other clothes in hand. I folded them up quickly and stuffed them into my locker.
I grabbed the thin sheer ballet skirt that was left in my locker and tied it around my waist. Ballerinas were known for those stiff looking tutus which were great for show but not so easy for practicing or teaching in. The littler children often wore them to practice so they could get used to dancing in them. Parents also thought they looked adorable in them and admittedly, most of them did.
"We'll get to them in a minute," Carmen said thoughtfully. I looked up from my clothes over to her with a questioning expression. "What's that on your neck?"
I blushed instantly and attempted to hide my face behind the metal door of my red locker which instantly made me look suspicious.
"Getting a bit too rough in your relationships huh Eves?"
"No," I drawled out quickly. "You know I'm not in a relationship!"
"Picking up the wrong kind of guy then or is that just how you like it?"
"Carmen!" I scolded. "I just burned myself with my curling iron yesterday before I went out yesterday!"
"When you went out to find the guy who would give you those yesterday?" Carmen asked knowingly. I gaped at my boss.
"No, okay? I just burned myself!"
Carmen walked around me before coming around to face me once again. "Five times?"
I shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not very coordinated."
"You're a dancer," she pointed out.
I walked away from my locker and my antagonizing boss without answering. I was about to open my mouth to reply when a small movement caught my attention in the corner of my eye. I turned to face the little black dot only to discover that it was a large cricket. I shrieked and immediately cowered behind Carmen. She only sighed toward me before walking over and catching the insect in her hands. She calmly went over to the window and leaned up to throw the bug outside. Whether the cricket survived the two story drop or not I could've cared less.
"You are such a baby," Carmen commented.
I stuck my tongue out at her for the added effect and sighed. "I hate bugs of all shapes and sizes. They're creepy crawly gross creatures!"
"Why don't we go check the girls out while you warm up?" Carmen suggested.
I nodded in agreement and ran over to my locker to grab my shoes out from my gym bag. I closed my locker door and zipped up my bag before I left. We weren't afraid of anyone stealing anything since Carmen and I were the only two working today.
I walked back out into the studio. Various kids of all ages smiled up at me and some shouted out my name once again. I waved and smiled at them as I walked over and sat in a corner. I began to stretch and work out my feet. I often developed cramps and various other types of pain in them because of my work. I had never broken a bone thankfully but my muscles did suffer from my intense work.
"Girls," Carmen called out. The twenty or so little children rushed forward from their positions to gather around my boss. "Let's all work on the Fouetté en tournant."
"What's that?" Hayden, a little eight year old, asked politely.
Carmen took a step back and held up her finger as if to tell her students to wait. "That is where we turn, remember? We turn on our left tippy-toe and bend our right knee as we spin; like this." Carmen demonstrated the move and the little girls all nodded in wonder. After all, her movement was flawless. Carmen instructed them to line up in front of the mirror so they could all watch themselves.
"Remember girls: the best way to learn is to watch. Keep an eye on what you're doing and see if you can catch what you are having problems with."
The girls began their turns all doing fairly decent. They continued on and Carmen went from girl to girl correcting what she could. Some of the girls were too young to really grasp the concept perfectly.
I continued stretching out my feet flexing every toe and muscle I could. After that, I moved onto my ankles making sure to rotate them in each direction. I laced up my shoes and redid all the preparation work. Then after my feet were good to go, I stood up and moved on to an empty Barre. I worked on stretching out all of my leg muscles. This went on for another few minutes for each leg before I was finally ready.
I took over the class then telling the girls to take a break from their spins. They all drifted off in different directions looking extremely dizzy. I giggled at their antics.
"Go get some water and then we'll all go over the routine," I instructed giving them some time to come to their senses. Some went to get water, a few went to the bathroom, but most of them just chatted around excitedly. Our oldest student was ten years old and our youngest was three and was also my neighbor's daughter, Katrina. She was a sweet little girl who I occasionally babysat for when her single mother, Bianca, had to work late.
This was our Tuesday and Thursday class; the little kids. Our Mondays and Wednesdays consisted of an older crowd; the teenagers. Fridays and Saturdays were the adult classes.
"Evie," Katrina called out to me. She wobbled over and lifted her hands up as if commanding me to lift her. I marveled at the adorable blonde curly haired girl in a small little pink tutu. I grabbed both her hands in mine and swung them to and fro instead of picking her up.
"Yes?"
"Mommy says that I'm a pretty ballerina," she mumbled.
"Of course. Your mommy won't want to look at anyone but you at the recital."
She beamed at me with a toothy grin before tottering back to some of her four year old friends. The other girls came back from their break and Carmen changed the CD in the small CD player. I clapped my hands to call the attention over to me.
"Alright girls, let's practice!"
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A/N: Another chapter, yay! It's kind of a fillerish one but we got introduced to some new characters that will come in to play later and we learned about Evie's job!
Note: The title is named so because Carmen's Ballet Academy (CBA ) is ABC backwards. :P
Comment and vote or don't! (That rhymes!) Either way I just hoped you all are enjoying the story!