Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (25 page)

Elena wiped her tears with the back of her hand and shouted back at Letitia. “I care about Jay. I would never date someone just to get back at you. Get over yourself!”

Letitia left laughing with Frankie, singing in strangulated voices in imitation of Elena.

The tears started flowing again. How long was Letitia going to keep this torture up? Couldn’t Jay stop her?

Veronika steered her out of the school with her arm around her shoulders. They had no answer but Elena was definitely not going to go back to show choir, that was for sure.

Thirty-one

On Tuesday as promised, Anya went to studio four to meet Elena and her
“
miracle
”
friend. As much as she loved Elena, she was doubtful she could do anything. But she was a desperate woman and she owed Elena a chance.

When Anya arrived, she found Elena dancing away with the scary guy from last semester.
No way!
Anya t
ried
to keep her face expressionless.

“Hey Anya,” Elena called out. “Don’t freak out, we’re just Krumping. We’re supposed to look angry.”

“Getting ready for the battle ahead,” Darius said.
His face dropped
-
clearly he’d recognized her, too
. Anya wasn’t sure what
he
had to complain about.

“Anya, this is Darius. He’s primarily a hip hop dancer, and he has the most passion and patience I know.” Darius offered his hand to Anya.

She took one look at the sweat and crinkled her face. She waved hell
o
at him instead.
Darius smirked
without further response.

“Aren’t you the one who practically jumped me at the end of year party and didn’t even apologize?” Anya said, pursing her lips tightly.

“Actually, I am the one who accidentally fell on you and tried to apologize but you were so busy screaming bloody murder, you probably didn’t hear.”

“Well, I’m not a fan of greasy men lying on top of me.”

“I bet,” he murmured. “You’re not worried I’m going to rob you this time?”

“No. You don’t look as scary now.
Just sweaty.”

“Anya, we do plenty of lifts in hip hop, so Darius is more than capable of lifting you and supporting you as a dancer,” Elena said.

Darius went to the bench to towel himself down.

“This is your answer, Elena?” Anya whispered.

“Do
you want to be a ballerina or not?” she whispered back. Anya nodded. “Well, whatever you’re doing is not working, remember? You once helped me out and I never questioned your strategy. This is my way of helping you out. Trust me.”

Anya folded her arms defiantly.

“Darius is being extremely generous by helping you out, so don’t let me down!”

“Hmm, fine,” Anya said.  “I’m ready.”

“You sure?
  Because I really do have better things to do,” Darius replied.

“Yes I’m sure,” she said through gritted teeth.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Elena said as she hurried out. Anya’s stomach flipped. “You’re not staying?”

“Why, you need her to hold your hand?” Darius snapped.

Anya sniggered but didn’t reply.

“Right.
First lesson.
Emotions.
When you saw me and Elena Krumping, what did you see?”

“I saw two very angry and frustrated people dancing ugly. Hmm, not the emotions or style I’m after when dancing ballet.”

“Right, but you did see those emotions.”

Anya nodded.

“It’s called Krumping. It’s supposed to look angry.”

Anya glared at him with her arms crossed.  She looked him up and down
without any attempt to be discrete
.
She n
ot
ed
his vest top,
hairy chest, multiple
tattoo
s
and baggy pants with distaste.
Like she needed to see his boxers.
She hated hip hop dancers.
Male ones anyway.
They were so, so classless. She never imagined her ballet career would come to this.

Darius laughed. “Better get used to it, princess,
cause
you’re going to be seeing a lot of it.”

Anya shifted uncomfortably at his tone. She had to do something or this hour would last forever.

“I suppose you could show me what you have?” Anya said as she sat in the corner of the room, head held high.

“Really?
Hmmm. Fine.”
  He put on some heavy hip hop music and danced aggressively for a minute. “And that’s how it’s done!”

“You call that dancing? That looked like martial arts gone wrong. I wanted to run for the police, not watch you.”

“The point is it made you feel something. You felt scared. That’s called an e-mo-
tion
.“

“Whatever. And stop treating me like a child.”

“Stop acting like one.”

She pouted in reply.

“Why don’t you show me what you have, seeing as you are the mentee
?
” he said.

“Fine, no problem.”
She put on some classical music and went through a minute of her solo. She leaped and turned gracefully, knowing she looked fantastic.

Darius clapped mockingly. “Great!” Anya beamed even more.
“If I wanted to go to sleep.
That was about as heartwarming as hugging an ice statue.”

Anya was infuriated and humiliated. How could this person possibly see her flaws so easily?

“What would you know? You are not even a trained dancer. I don’t know what Elena was thinking!” With that, Anya stomped across the room, threw her clothes into her gym bag and walked out the door. That was it. This classless freak from the streets was not going to humiliate her. She was a prima ballerina. She’d been trained by the best.

Darius waved as she left calling out, “I’m not the one who needs help.”

“Ha! That’s what you think,” she murmured.

She continued to the changing rooms, embarrassed and defeated. This had been her last hope, and it had died within thirty minutes. Her ballet career was over. She had no idea what she was going to tell Elena.

The next day, when Anya told Sebastien, Elena and Veronika at lunch time what had happened, they were all in stitches. They thought it was hilarious.

“It’s not funny! What am I going to do? I’m sorry Elena, but he’s so arrogant. And he’s not even a real dancer,” she said without thinking.

“Really?
Hip hop dancing takes a lot of skill. Some of the things I do in those classes, you would never even conceive.”

“Yeah, even I can’t get into the advanced class and I have serious rhythm,” Sebastien threw in. The girls gave him the look of silence. He raised his arms in surrender. “Sorry.”

“I’m sorry, Elena. I guess I’m being a snob. I love the way you dance. That should have told me enough. It was just so humiliating to see him mock me like that,” Anya said quietly.

“
He
definitely brought out your emotions,” Elena said.

“That’s not funny,” Anya replied. “Well, maybe a little.”

“Anya, maybe you need to stop seeing with your eyes. You judged Darius because of how he looked. How many people do you know would offer to help a stranger? Especially one who is so patronizing? That says a lot about him.”

“I’ll help you,” Sebastien offered.

“I need her bones intact, Seb,” Elena said.

“Take the challenge,” Elena said to Anya.

“But I’m too embarrassed now.”

“Give him a chance,” Sebastien said. “Try to look past his tattoos. You never liked me at first either.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t look like you would rob a convenience store,” Anya replied.

“Look Anya, get over yourself,” Veronika said. “Go back, apologize for being rude and grovel for his forgiveness. Pretend he is someone else, wearing tights, if you have to. If you give up, he wins. He’s got the better of you.
Him, the vagrant.”

That did the trick. Anya’s pride took over and she jutted her chin out. “You’re right. I will not give in!”

The next week, Anya wore a full body suit and returned to the studio determined to last longer.

“I knew you’d be back. They always come back,” Darius said when he saw her. Anya took a deep breath and bit her lip to avoid a rude response.

“Hello Darius,” she said. He said nothing.

“I’m sorry for my behavior and” - she swallowed -
“I would like to give it another go.” He still said nothing. “Please.” That was it. If he didn’t say anything, she was going to leave. She was not going to grovel.

“What’s with the suit? Going to Mars or something?”

“I wanted to ensure that I have the most protection possible. You know, from sweat.”

Darius laughed hard.

“Then I hate to disappoint you, but I thought we would start working with that emotion thing again. Since you are already in the mood, how about some Krumping to get out all the frustration?”

He started the music. “Up you get, let’s go.”

“Aren’t we going to warm up?”

“I thought you were professional, warm up yourself before you get here!”

Exasperated, Anya got up and tried to play along nicely.

“
You
look like a gorilla. You have to put the anger in every step and arm movement. That’s what makes the style.”

“It’s a stupid style.”

“Focus on the emotion,” he said. Then he poked her.

“I want you to get angry!” he shouted. “You’re not going to let some street vagrant
tell you what to do, are you?” And then he shoved her, so she shoved him back. His solid frame didn’t budge but he made his point.

“That’s right. Now punch me. Go on. Tell me what you think.” She hesitated for a second and then went for it.  He ducked of course but he had her angry. “Now we’re talking.”

She continued trying to shove and punch him as he asked, releasing all her frustration.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” He raised his hand for her to stop, as he went to turn off the music but Anya didn’t notice. As he turned, she punched him solidly in his right eye.

“Oh my God
,
I am sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

Darius bent over in pain, holding his eye protectively while Anya fussed over him.

“I’m so sorry.
Really sorry.”

“Chill out Anya. It’s fine.”

“You told me to be angry, so I was.”

“I
t’s fine, just mistiming. Good to see you have plenty of anger
,
though,” he said with a grin. Anya knew then he was more than fine.

“How about you try it on your own now?” he said and replayed the track, ur
gi
ng her on as she took out all her anger and frustration while dancing.

She could tell Darius was not impressed
,
which just made her angrier. She should have got
ten
him in both eyes! But it did feel good to blow off some steam.

The hour passed quickly and they were both sweaty at the end. Of course, with her full bodysuit, most of Anya’s sweat was absorbed.

“That was good!” she said at the end while wiping her face. “I felt like I had a good workout.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t become a
Krumper
in the near future, but you did okay for a ballet dancer.”

“Thanks
, I guess
,” she said. “I’m really sorry about the eye.” She inspected his eye and noticed a nice bruise forming. She felt proud that she could do that.

“Don’t worry about it. It fits in with my criminal image.”

Anya held back a grin. “I’m going to stay and work on some ballet while the studio is free, if that’s OK?”

“Go for your life,” he said and grabbed his bag and left. Anya then continued with her standard ballet exercises, just to try and feel a bit normal again after releasing all that aggression she didn’t know she had. It had actually felt amazingly good to let it all go. She didn’t know where it all came from! This could be fun after all.

Thirty-two

It was that time of the year again. The drama play auditions. Sebastien, Elena, Frankie, Leon and Letitia were all coveting the main roles for this year’s productions, as were thirty other ambitious actors.

This time, Elena knew that Letitia couldn’t intimidate her into failure like she
had
at the singing audition. This was her turf. Sebastien and Elena were already in the auditorium when Frankie, Leon and Letitia walked in. Letitia saw her and started singing in a strangulated voice while Frankie giggled. Leon had no idea what was going on
,
but waved enthusiastically to both Sebastien and Elena, earning him a sharp reproach from Frankie.