Chapter Twenty
“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.”[1]
The next couple of days the only thing Bryar could think about was her discovery. It was like time passed but she wasn’t aware of it. Now she had found this information, she didn’t know how to continue her family tree. How could you reveal such a magnificent secret? Bryar knew that she couldn’t just finish her project, she had to know if there was any truth behind the school legend. She found a couple of articles online but nothing useful but Bryar was utterly determined to find out the truth.
With all the days that passed, Bryar did spend a lot of them with Morgan and the girls per usual. The girls kept her on track with their projects and homework assignments – even though she had mostly finished it in class already – she mostly found her thoughts wander somewhere else. Her midnight calls with Morgan still happened very frequently, probably more than they should. One evening he brought up her vacancy of the past couple of days.
“How are you? Really, I mean. You’ve seemed a little out of it recently.” Bryar sighed.
“I am fine, honestly. It’s just that this stupid History project is really taking up more time and effort than I thought it would.” She paused. For a second she deliberated if she should tell him. In the end she kept her mouth shut not because she didn’t want to tell him but simply because she didn’t know where to start.
“Okay,” He muttered softly, “Just know that I’m here for you.”
“ I know that. I promise to tell you if something serious is going on.” Bryar felt a smile creep onto her face by hearing his concern. “ You know that you can tell me anything too, right?”
He paused just a tad too long to be convincing. “ Yes, of course I do.”
Bryar’s forehead furrowed in confusion but Morgan carried on before she could reply.
“ Good night, my beautiful girlfriend. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”
She decided to let it go. “ Good night, my handsome boyfriend.”
His chuckle was the last thing she heard before she fell soundly asleep.
As she days past, she found herself not thinking as much about the school legend, which helped her greatly with her dance classes. She was utterly on point and all the teachers seemed to notice it too. Most of them had complimented her slightly or only gave her little things to work on instead of the huge assignments she used to receive. Also her friends and Morgan had been so supportive, even though Bryar mainly suspected it was because not only was she doing great but she wasn’t lost in her thoughts anymore. This meant that her time with Kieran with decreased slightly but she still found herself spending a lot of time in the dance rooms, surrounded by her music and still utterly in love with dancing.
There was only one person that seemed to have somewhat a problem with her newfound success, and that was Jordan – or as she now continuously referred to him – Mr. VanderBilt. Not only was he giving her an incredibly hard time by giving her a lot of lead roles but he also seemed to be incredibly critical, especially when it came to her.
“ NO! It’s a ronde-jambe twice before you slide out!” He yelled through the dance room. All the other pupils seemed to flinch when it came to his strong tone but it didn’t phase Bryar at all. Maybe because she was used to him giving her a hard time, or maybe because she was still trying her utter best to ignore him as much as possible.
“As the famous dancer and teacher, Igor Schwezoff said: There are two basic elements to classical ballet. They are quality and quantity. Quantity is how much a dancer can physically do… the element that gives an artist the freedom to concentrate on quality, while quality is how he or she does it…quality of movement… the most difficult phase… requires long and arduous training.[2]“
He slapped the piano that was stood in the corner of the room. Incredibly hard.
“ So show me not only the quantity of your movements,” His eyes flitted from the one dancer too the next until they landed on Bryar,” but specifically the quality. Pull. Me. In.”
Bryar knew that he meant her because she had been going through the motions but not adding her passion to it yet because she didn’t know the routine that well yet. That’s why he was staring her down. You want quality? I’ll give you quality. Bryar thought to herself as she stared right back and undid her hair.
Bryar stood by the barre and pushed her hair back over her shoulders. As soon as she heard the first beat of the music, she moved. She pushed her body to perform her absolute best. At the barre there were a lot of flicks, controlled kicks and sharp feet movements. It was all about how precise she could hit the steps on the beat. She moved and felt the movement of her hair on her shoulder blades. They all had to do the routine with left and right. Once she had done her barre routine, they all had eight counts to move to the next section.
The music changed from a classical beat to something more contemporary. Just as it changed, they all moved. And fell back into the classical. The centre was more focused on the flow in movements so Bryar left her arms flow while her legs were drawing great ronde-jambes and a lot of other patterns. With her hair loose, all the movements looked bigger and as if she had added momentum. She felt herself let go and felt the music pull her heartstrings. For the ending, the girls who were stood at the barre came running to the centre and they all did a second floor piece. They each glided across the floor and slowly came to a halt.
Once Bryar woke up out her dance daze, she felt amazing. When she looked around, so did they other girls. Each of them smiled and were telling each other how good that was and how much better it felt. Bryar couldn’t help a smile escape when she saw Noa jumping up in happiness. Suddenly they were all pulled out of their bubble when they heard someone clap very slowly.
Jordan walked to the centre of the room, still clapping. He turned and looked at every girl with a little smile. He stopped clapping and stuffed his hands in his pockets before looking Bryar dead in the eyes.
“That’s what I was talking about.” He said with a smile before the girls burst out in cheers. Bryar wanted to but she just couldn’t shake Jordan’s look. The bell rang signaling the end of the day.
After that Technique lesson, she noticed Jordan being everywhere. He always seemed to pass her in the halls or to walk in front her when she had to walk up the stairs. Naturally she tried her very best to ignore it but she had a nagging feeling that this intense attitude only was the beginning of something else entirely.
The weekend couldn’t come fast enough. Bryar really felt like relaxing this weekend and to finally being able to catch up on her long-term work. This essentially also meant finishing her History project but Bryar decided to leave that as last. She had tried to talk to Morgan before the week ended but he seemed a little vacant and distant but she didn’t want to push him because he had been very patient with her too. When Saturday came everyone seemed to be rather busy with something. Bryar decided to just take a break and stroll around in the gardens.
As soon as she was outside, she knew she made the right decision. It was a little fresh still but incredibly pleasant. The sun was shining and it promised to be another beautiful. Bryar was daydreaming when she accidentally bumped into someone.
“I am so sorry!” They said at the same time. Bryar looked closer and realized who it was.
“ Dace?” She easily recognized his emerald eyes anywhere, even though they were a little hidden behind his dark brown hair that had grown quite a bit since the last time she saw him.
He smiled. “ Hey. Long time no see.”
Bryar nodded. “Definitely. How are you? How are all the others and your classes?”
“Hanging in there. It’s a heavy work load but we’re all battling through it.”
“ Yeah, I know what you mean.” He stuffed his hands in pockets.
“ So, aren’t you supposed to be inside? Working hard and stuff?” Bryar smiled.
“ I’m actually taking a break right now. I seemed to be a little stuck with some of it.” She answered, thinking of her History project.
“I understand,” He trailed off, “So… one of my mates is playing in a concert in town. I have an extra ticket. Do you want to come?” Bryar’s smile dropped slightly and she opened her mouth to reject him but he cut in before she could.
“ I know that you and Morgan are together. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just really great seeing you again and I thought it would be nice to spend more time together. That’s all.”
Bryar couldn’t help but smile. “ In that case, I would love to.”
He smiled back. “Great. I’ll wait in the Common room at six. Okay?”
“Yes, perfect. I’ll see you then.” Bryar said before walking off. She heard him call after her a couple of minutes later. She turned around.
“I forgot to tell you that even though we’re teenagers, it’s not that type of concert. My friend’s playing in Selfridge Theatre.” Bryar laughed. Selfridge Theatre was one of the oldest theatres around and was famous worldwide for it’s classical concerts.
“Don’t worry. I’ll dress appropriately.” She said with a wink.
When Bryar made it back to her room, all the girls were still gone. She decided to finish her work there. After a good three hours, she had finished all her literal homework. Now she just had to choreograph two routines and her history project. She decided that she could do her History project the best in the library where all the stuff was. If she just cracked a couple of hours in a dance room the choreography could be done too. She glanced at the clock and noticed that it was a quarter to five. Perfect. It gave her all the time she needed to lounge around and to get ready.
Bryar switched on the radio and flipped through some of Carmina’s magazines to do up some inspiration for her make-up and hair. After fifteen minutes Bryar had figured what she was going to wear and how she was going to wear her hair and make-up. She opened up and pulled out the dress she was thinking about wearing. It was a mid-thigh length dress that was completely beaded in an Art Deco style. Bryar bought it at the time because it really reminded her of the 1920’s style that she loved. The beads ranged from stormy dark grey to silver grey. The front and the back were v-shaped to show some skin but nothing to scandalous. Bryar decided to wear a pair of stiletto ankle-strapped heels that she had that were dark grey and glittery. It just really finished the dress off and added more glam to the look. Because her dress was so beautiful she wanted all eyes on that so she decided to wear no jewelry.
Bryar grabbed her own hair and make-up supplies and stalled everything out like she was supposed to. She plugged her curler in; while she was waiting for it to heat up she started on her make-up. She decided to do a simple silvery grey smokey-eyes look to make the green in her eyes stand out. The make-up took her ten minutes and she only added a little eyeliner and mascara to finish the look off. Once the curler was completely warmed up she split her hair up in sections and pinned some of it up and started curling. After thirty minutes, she was done. Bryar rearranged and pinned her hair so that it all fell over one shoulder.
She looked at the clock and noticed that she had twenty minutes left. Tidying up after herself was a big thing, especially in their room since Carmina and Noa seemed to have very messy tendencies. Once Bryar had tidied up the bathroom and grabbed a coat and a handbag with all the stuff she needed, she quickly scribbled a note to the girls about where she was and just to call if there were any problems. She gave herself a one over but stopped. There was something that was missing but she couldn’t think of what.
What would Noa say in a time like this? Bryar looked around and saw one of Carmina’s lipsticks lying on her bed. Perfect! She ran and grabbed it – the lipstick was a beautiful wine red. She applied it once and looked at herself again. The lipstick really made everything come together and gave her a very mature look. She smiled and walked out her room with all her stuff.
Dace was already waiting for her when she entered the waiting room. He looked up when she walked in and he smiled while she walked over to him.
“Are you ready to go?” He asked while still looking her over.
“ Yes. I think I have everything.” He hesitated for a second.
“You look gorgeous.” Bryar smiled a little while cast her eyes away.
“Thank you. You look very handsome yourself.” And he did. Funny enough he happened to wear a silver grey suit with a dark tie that made his skin and eyes stand out beautifully. Even though Bryar knew that she was with Morgan and that she wouldn’t cheat on him – Dace really was a sight to see.
“ Come on, let’s go.” He said with a smile while he offered her his arm.
The Selfridge Theatre did not disappoint. Countless people had show up, all in extremely fancy clothes and expensive jewelry. Bryar felt a little left out in the beginning but Dace just squeezed her hand, gave her a wink and started to introduce her to his friends. He had introduced her as a dear friend but she saw him look away with a broken look in his eyes. She suddenly found it hard to breathe. Just when she wanted to say something a tune played, signaling that the concert was going to start in ten minutes. Bryar found Dace and they said their good-byes and found their seats in the enormous room filled with burgundy velvet seats.
An announcement rang asking everyone to switch of their phones and to refrain from making photos. That’s when concert began. Dace had told her that his friend played the cello and had black hair. The music started and Bryar held her breath. It was so magical. It was like she was taken away by something – just completely and utterly captivated. She immediately found Dace’s friend, right at the back and in his hands indeed a beautiful, big cello. Halfway through the concert, Dace’s friend and another cello player had a duet. It was the two of them with the whole orchestra backing them up. The sound that they made was so pure that Bryar felt her eyes water and a tear roll down her cheek. Being on the stage and watching the stage are two very different experiences, yet both incredibly touching and special.
Once the concert was over, Dace and Bryar met up with his friend. His name was Benedict and he was an incredibly funny lad. Dace and Benedict – he refused to let her call him that so it was just plain old ‘Ben’ – were obviously good friends and they had a great conversation. She found out that the other cello player in the duet was Ben’s brother. Bryar spoke to him and told him that was someone of the most beautiful live music she had ever heard in her life. She saw him tear up slightly and hugged her briefly before telling both, Dace and her, that he had to go and find his family in this crowd. They shook hands and Ben told her that it was an absolute pleasure and honour to be in the presence of a prima ballerina, which in turn made her tear up slightly. Such compliments weren’t given every day.
“You have a very special friend,” Bryar said while motioning in the direction Ben just walked off in. Dace smiled.
“Yes, we have been best friends ever since I can remember. He was also one of the reasons I seriously started to pursue my dance career. We have helped each other through a lot.”
“I hope you guys stay friends for a long time to come.” He looked into her eyes.
“Yeah, me too,” He said while casting his eyes away. He cleared his throat before asking, “So are you busy now or would you like to go somewhere for a bite?”
“Nope. I’m free for the rest of the night.” She said, shrugging the tension between the two of them off. He laughed and offered her his arm.
They decided to go to a little café that was just around the corner. Bryar ordered a big plate of spaghetti and a cup of tea because the evening had a turned a little cooler than she thought it would. The dinner went great. Bryar forgot how much fun she always used to have with the boys. But – sooner or later – the inevitable topic came up.
“So how is Morgan?” Dace asked. Bryar swallowed her pasta slowly.
“ Okay I think. Honestly, he seems a little out of it lately.” She said while poking her pasta around. He grabbed his cup of coffee and takes a sip.
“I hope so. Last time he was a little out of it we received the news that he wouldn’t be able to dance in the show anymore.” Bryar looked up at him.
“What?”
Dace set his cup down. “I know Morgan quite well and I have had lessons with him for as long as I remember. He has done a lot of the same productions as I have. On our last production he left because he became very ill suddenly. Very ill.” Bryar suddenly didn’t feel as hungry any more as she looked at the last few pieces of her pasta.
“I don’t know what he’s told you but this is something he is going to have to tell you himself,” Dace grabbed Bryar’s hand, “Hey, trust me. It won’t be that bad.”
Bryar managed a small smile. “Thank you.”
[1]Quote by John Holmes
[2]Quote by Igor Schwezoff
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These are the songs I used:
Levi's Ballet Commerical (Jordan's Dance Class)
Benedictus - 2Cellos (Dace's friends duet)
I highly encourage you to listen to both of the songs because they are both out-of-this-world beautiful!