❝she (pronounced ʃi or shee), noun
the female person or animal being discussed or last mentioned
French equivalent: elle❞
"Your form is wrong."
Elle sighed, angrily sitting down on the floor and pulling off her pointe shoes. "For God's sake, then," she said furiously. "It's not as easy as you say it is."
Lola sighed. "I know it's not, Elle. Please put your shoes back on."
"This is hopeless."
"Nothing's hopeless unless you are."
"Fine. I'm hopeless. Better?"
"Stop acting like a brat. Drew and your dad might take it, but I ain't. Put your damn shoes back on."
She huffed angrily, staring at the wooden floor. Finally, she stood up, picked the shoes up off the floor, and began lacing them properly. "Good," said Lola. "Again from the top."
"I can't be Clara," she sighed. "I'm not any good."
"Elle, you're the best in your class. Trust me."
Elle, who had now been dancing with Madame Lorenzo for almost ten years, had been cast as Clara in 'The Nutcracker'. Though she was proud, she was also damn near terrified. Could she be the main character? Thank goodness there weren't lines, she knew she'd read them wrong and end up praying to Dog in the middle of the play.
She stood up, starting in the corner of the room again. "Alright. Let's go."
"You need to take a break, you're pushing yourself too hard."
"I'll be fine."
"You'll be fine 'til you pull a muscle. One more time, then I want you to sit down for at least ten minutes, understand?"
Elle sighed. "Yep."
Lola, who was still confined to her wheelchair, was now Elle's second-closest confidante, and like an older sister to her. They were extremely similar, and Elle went to her when Drew couldn't help. There are some things you can't tell your guy best friend, no matter how close he is to you. Lola lived a dancer's life vicariously, through Elle, and it was better than never dancing again. Her mother would be proud.
Elle tried again, but this time, tried the jump and landed wrong, falling to the floor. "Motherf*cking..." she muttered to herself.
"Alright. Break time."
"Yeah." Elle sat down, grabbing her bag and pulling out a homemade muesli bar that she had made the week before. "Want one?"
"Sure, you know I love your cooking," she said, taking it. "How's Ryan?"
"She's fine. She's coming back earlier than we thought, a few days after her birthday."
"Oh, I see. And Spencer?"
"Same little weirdo as always." She smiled slightly. "I miss him."
Lola smiled. "Hunter?"
"He's fine. Oh, Pa asked if you and Caleb were free sometime this week to come 'round for dinner."
"Oh, er, I'll have to ask." She smiled slightly. Elle was like a younger sister to her, and reminded her of Penny so much that it hurt. But at the same time, it was nice to imagine that she still had Penny with her. "You've worked hard today, maybe you should get back home."
"Hmm, yeah. I suppose I ought to." She slung her bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you soon, then."
"Bye!"
She began the short walk home, before she heard running steps behind her. "Hey, wait up!"
Elle turned around. "Oh. Hi, Chad."
He grinned at her, his white teeth sparkling. "How're you?"
"Not bad," she said.
"Coming back from practise, eh?"
"Yep."
"How's your English assessment going?"
"It's fine."
He sighed. "C'mon, babe, give me something here. Just tryin' to make conversation."
She chuckled. "Sorry. Got a lot on my mind."
"You look good."
"Oh. Uh, thanks." She stood at the bus stop. "Well, this is my stop. I'll see you later?"
"No, I'm actually going into town."
"Oh, right," said Elle, her mind running wild. "Uh... well..."
She had been very careful not to let anyone but Drew know where their house was. She had kept it a secret for this long, but knew that if Chad- or anyone, for that matter- found out where they lived, it could make life harder for all of them. "Yeah, I gotta take the bus for one more stop."
"Oh, okay. Cool. I need to get myself some stuff, then grab lunch as well. Wanna come?"
"No, thanks. I'm making lunch for my kid brother and kid sister. Pa's busy."
"Right. Anyway, here's the bus," said Chad, and they got on the bus together. Elle quietly cursed herself for taking a bus that would be two miles away from her house.
Elle managed to get off the bus on the next stop and walked back home as fast as her aching legs would allow her. It wasn't that she didn't like Chad- he was pretty cute, after all- it was more that she didn't feel like being with anyone. She wanted to go home and think about nothing for a little while. Maybe she just didn't like people. That didn't seem improbable, after all. Not after all the people who had lied to her through her life.
Her phone made a notification noise.
Pa: Where are you?
She decided to call him instead- her texting skills were as miserable as her spelling. Dyslexia made life hard, and as a teenager, she struggled in school.
"Where are you?" he asked, the moment he answered.
"Sorry, had to take a different bus."
"You don't even take the bus."
"No, but someone was walking with me, and I didn't know he was taking the bus, and so I told him I needed to take the bus to get home, but then he told me he was taking the bus as well, and so I had to take the bus so it didn't seem like I was avoiding him-"
"Ellie, why don't you just call me? You know I can pick you up-"
"I'm not a little girl anymore, I know how to walk."
"That's not the point."
"It's broad daylight, I'm not even past my curfew."
"Elle, you remember what nearly happened to you in broad daylight a moment before your Uncle Jon came and saved you?"
She shivered slightly. She still had nightmares about what might have happened to her if he had been just a moment too late. "Yes, I do. But that was four years ago. I'm older now, more experienced. I can fight these people off."
Pa was quiet. "You're still my little girl."
Elle sighed. "Pa, I can see the house from here. I'll be there in just a moment, hold on." She hung up the call, and opened the door.
Nita bound up to her, barking happily. "Hey, girl," said Elle gently, scratching behind her ears. She had missed Phoenix dearly when they had gone to London, more than even he had missed her. But now they were back, and she was her cheerful old self.
Hunter hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry. I just got worried about you, that's all."
"Yeah, I know." She sighed, pulling her hair pins and hair tie out so that her waist length brown hair fell down to her hips. "Did Ma call?"
"Not yet, no. But guess what?"
"What?"
"She got her PhD! She's having the ceremony in a few days!"
"That's awesome! Congrats to her."
"You should talk to her."
"Yeah, I will. Maybe in a bit, though."
"Alright. Have you got homework?"
"A bit. How good are you with math?"
"Not very."
"Right. Can I call Drew over?"
"Sure, fine by me."
"Cool. Thanks."
<><><><><><><><><>
She thinks she's ordinary.
She thinks that her brown hair isn't like a waterfall of caramel, with blonde highlights in the sunlight and that one, strawberry streak of pink. She thinks her eyes, so perfectly, uniformly brown, are boring. But she doesn't see the light in them that I do, the perfect, chocolate colour of them.
I suppose it's strange, that I describe her with only food. But she doesn't realise how sweet she is, and how much I wonder how sweet her lips would be against mine. I wouldn't tell her, of course. Why would I?
"What're you writing, Drew?"
"Nothin'," he said, angling his laptop screen away from her. She chuckled, rolling her eyes.
It's funny how people all tell me that I should have a different best friend. "She's so mean!" "She doesn't even try!" "She obviously doesn't care about you!" But the thing is, there's such an amazing feeling about being the only one to make her smile. There's this strange kind of accomplishment, when you find someone who hates life, and manage to make them smile. Even if it's just for a moment.
Look at her. Look at her, with that perfect makeup, and her oval shaped nails, decorated with orange and blue. Her shoulders, so slender, willowy, and her legs, perfect and thin, with taut muscle from all that dancing. That perfectly deep jugular notch, the angle of her collarbone. Her arms, not muscled, but toned. Her skin, pale as cream, with smatterings of imperfection, which only serve to make her even more beautiful. Her voice isn't high, or pitchy, not like the other girls. It's slightly deep, a little rough. How? How does she do it?
If only she knew how much I loved her. How much I care. But she could never understand. She could never truly realise how much I wish she were mine. She'd never understand that. That's not her thing, conveying emotion. I sometimes wish it was. Just so I could see what it was like.
"I didn't call you over here for you to be sitting and typing love letters to your boyfriend," said Elle. "Help me with this question?"
"Yep." He glanced over. "Erm, use sine rule, and then use cos on angle C."
"Cool, thanks."
She thinks she's stupid. But she's the smartest person I know. She's not one of those girls at school who piles on the makeup and acts cute and dumb around boys. She doesn't twirl her hair on one finger, and she doesn't have a high-pitched giggle. No, she snorts when she laughs, and she sounds like a dying donkey. And I love it. I love how she laughs. And I love that she doesn't pretend to be someone she's not. She's real. She's a God-given gift. She's real.
There's just something about her. Something about the way she talks, the way she acts, that tells me she's hiding something from me. But I don't care. One day, she'll know that I love her. And then, she'll trust me.
I'll wait.
He closed his laptop with a sigh. "Alright. Got it, Elle?"
"Yeah, think so." She sighed. "I freaking hate triangles. Bloody three sided little... ugh."
"I hate circles more, though."
"Yeah, but then with triangles, you've got your little buddy, unit circle. Because I care so much that sine over cosine equals tangent. Fun."
"Fun," he echoed.
Elle sighed, leaning back and picking her fingernails. "So? How are Mel and Shaun?"
"They're good. I think Mel's pregnant again, but Shaun's denying it for now. I think they're saving the news for Dan's birthday, he's wanted a little sister lately."
"Sounds cool."
"Are you doing okay?"
"Failed my History assessment. That shit was terrible."
"Yeah, you haven't got a head for names, have you?"
"Don't have a head for anything, to be honest."
"Except dancing."
She scoffed, looking at her bedcovers. "Not even that, these days."
"Why?"
"I'm so... so..."
"You're scared to be Clara."
She nodded imperceptibly, then chuckled slightly. "Stupid, isn't it? Me, afraid of something."
"Being afraid isn't a bad thing. Nerves can be good."
"Yeah, sometimes. And sometimes, being afraid will send you all the way to London."
"Elle, come on. You heard Ryan's side of the story."
"Yeah, I did. That doesn't mean I condone what she did. Just means that I forgive her." She sighed, leaning back. "It's so hard, Drew. The damn dance is all crazy pointes and super leaps and-"
"- everything that you're good at," said Drew. "So why don't you stop worrying, and realise you were picked for a reason?"
She looked up at him and smiled. "You mean that?"
"'Course I do."
She hugged him. "Thank you."
"Anytime."
<><><><><><><><>
Ryan was sitting on the couch. She had just gotten Spencer to sleep, and she was considering what she could do.
Then, she steeled her nerves and went to the bathroom, pulling out the thing she had bought from the airport pharmacy.
A pregnancy test.
She quickly did the test, before waiting anxiously. What would she do if she was? She was going back very soon, so it wouldn't matter if she were to get pregnant. And Hunter would be over the moon. Finally, their pregnancy would be at a time that suited everyone.
She glanced at the test, and a huge smile came over her face. ||. She was pregnant. There was a growing child inside her. A slight laugh escaped her, but she was ecstatic. God, she was so happy. She and Hunter could start anew when she got back to America.
She grabbed her laptop and started a video call to him, which he promptly answered. "Hey, baby!"
"Hey!" She froze for a moment. "Wait, it's still only midday for you, right?"
"Yeah, don't worry," he said. "You look... happy."
"Guess what!"
"What?"
She almost told him, then froze. Maybe... maybe she could surprise him at the airport? Was there any other news she could tell him that wouldn't sound strange?
"Erm..." she said. "I, uh... forgot."
He cocked an eyebrow, but laughed. "Good going, hon."
"Thanks." She laughed. "I'm just so excited. We're finally coming back!"
"I know, isn't it great?" He laughed. "Where's Spence?"
"I just tucked him in, he seemed tired."
"Oh, I see. Well, Elle's been practising Clara, but she's terrified."
"Speaking of that, I actually have a dress from a long time ago that, if the dance company are okay with it, she could wear?"
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, it's not with me right now, though. I mean, of course, if she wanted to, she could ask Naomi to make one for her that'd be perfect."
"I guess, yeah." He smiled. "Why're you so happy? Tell me."
"Well, I've got a little surprise for you for when I come to the airport," she said.
"A surprise? What is it?"
"Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it?"
"I guess not, no," he said with a laugh. "I'm glad you're happy, though. Not long now. One more month, and you're home."
"Home," she said dreamily. "I can't wait to be back there with all of you."
He smiled. "Now, why don't you go and get some rest? I'll call again tomorrow."
"Alright," she said. "I love you."
"I love you, too." She hung up, before laughing happily to herself.
They could finally start over.
*A/N: *deep breath*
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I FORGOT TO UPDATE
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NETHII <3*