text: Title: I'm Just a "backup" Author: Haripriya Author's Note: Hello everyone! This story wasn't one of my best ones because I included the prompt at the end of the story, so it might be a little disappointing to many of you. But either way, I just wanted to post this story to get some feedback and suggestions for this story. Other than those quick words, I hope you kind of enjoy what I've written, and please feel free to comment down below on what you think about this entire story! I hope you have a great, lovely Saturday and happy holidays!! My favorite thing in this whole wide world is being a ballerina. I feel really proud of myself when I dance. It's almost like I go into my own world, my own place. As I move, as I close my eyes, I just dance my heart out. Learning new techniques, more advanced steps, doing all of that is my favorite thing about being a dancer. I love being myself, and just doing my steps without anyone bothering me. Like I'm in my own secret world, where no one ever bothers me at all. It's my passion, and I just love doing it. "Hey Bella!" my friend, Anna calls out. "Hey! I'm just doing some warm-up moves and practices before class starts. Anyways, why are you here so early?" I ask. "I should be asking you that question. I'm early because I want to practice my whipped throw. I did terrible last class when you all did it so perfectly. So I'm going to redeem myself from that humiliation." she said as she put her backpack down. "Well, I can give you some pointers...maybe you can use that?" I suggest. "Sure Bella. But let me ask you know. Why are you here so early? You're always early for every class." she points out. I feel my face flushed. Getting tomato red. I try to hide my face from her, to not get embarrassed. "I--Well, I'm here because...I just want to practice for the audition for the Nutcracker." I admit, and without even looking at a mirror, I can tell my face looks like I just dipped my head in a bucket full of red paint. "But that isn't until another week. Besides, we have other things to practice too," she says and continues practicing the whipped throw. "You're right," I say, "You know, if you want, maybe we can learn the whipped throw together?" I ask her. Anna chuckles, and after she gets her breath, she makes out these words, "Of course Bella. I love to do anything with you." I smile too, feeling quite happy. "Well, the professional and more of a correct term to say the whipped throw is Fouetté," I say, not trying to look too smart. "Yeah, I know, it's just that no matter how hard I try to pronounce it, the word doesn't stick to my head. Also, saying whipped throw/whipped turning is just much easier than pronouncing that word," she replies. I just nod my head, and we both start practicing together. "After we do the Fouetté, we're going to do the Pirouette. That way, for this class, we'll be good to go. According to my watch, class starts in another fifteen minutes." I tell her. "Ok, so let's start." she agrees back. I take a deep breath, and officially start telling her how to conquer the move. "To do the Fouetté, you need to first turn on one foot while turning it fastly outward, then quickly inward, just like how I'm doing, see?" I explain to her while demonstrating how my foot moves. "Ok, so all I do is turn, turn my foot outward, and then inward. Then repeat these series of steps and do it fast later," she tells me. "Exactly Anna!" I encourage her. "No wonder why everyone tells you you're a fast learner!" I add, and I see her smile becoming wider. "Thanks, Bella," she says. I coach her on how to do this move a few more times so that she could memorize it quickly and learn it faster gradually. Soon, I even asked her to do the step alone while I counted her beats. "One, two, three...one, two, three--Anna, you did it! That's all it takes! You're so close to mastering it!" I exclaim. "Really? Wow I--I didn't even know that! Th..thanks, Bella! You really are the best friend." she tells me, which makes me feel happy. I quickly glance at the time to see that it's already 10: 50 am. "Hey Anna, we still have ten more minutes, do you want to start doing the Pirouette?" I ask her, trying to wait to hear her opinion. "Umm...sure! But, we haven't learned that in class, so how can you teach me?" she questions, and I look down. "Well...you see Anna, when I'm at home, I kind of teach myself all the moves. I look at famous plays and shows, which is how I learned all these moves really quickly." I confess. I didn't know how she would think about me when I told her this. "Really Bella? That's amazing! You know, you deserve to climb higher in your ballerina career." she says. "Thanks, at least I hope so. So far, I haven't gotten picked in any auditions...so maybe? But thanks for always cheering me up Anna." I tell her as we start to practice the next move. I do some quick stretches and warm-ups in my legs for us to start the next move. "The Pirouette is a very important move in ballerina. It is when you spin on one foot while the other foot is on the knee. The foot which is on the knee is kind of supporting the leg while you do the dance move. But sometimes when you try to spin on one foot, people tend to break their toes and things like that which is why I'm going to show you the simplest method of learning the move." I explain to her. I show her how to carefully spin, without breaking bones or any other parts of your foot. I help her try to balance the foot, and I continue to show her. "Look carefully Anna, the spinning foot should move in a smooth direction for the flow to be a bit better," I suggest to her. To help her learn the move a bit easier while keeping on the beat, I show her some guidelines and let her try to do it by herself. "Wow, Bella! When you break the movements down like this, I feel like I can do any steps! Thank you so much!" she yells in joy. "Your welcome Anna, and look! We finished our practice right on time for class!" I tell her. "You're right, I guess I'll see you in class!" she waves, and I wave back at her. 🟑🟑🟑 "Students, please sit down. In this class, we're going to take auditions for The Nutcracker, because Christmas is coming up and holidays are coming up, we need to pick the best of the best students to perform," Mrs. Juan explains. "So, how many people will be picked, Mrs. Juan?" Anna asks. "Good question Anna. I will pick 25 students, and from those 25 students, I will pick 6 of them to do multiple roles. Plus, we're going to be performing out of town! So a week before the performance, the 25 students will go on tour with me, and there we will set up everything for the performance." Mrs. Juan continues explaining to the students. Oh my gosh! Will all my practice and hard work be enough for the surprise audition? Will there be, even a sliver of a chance that I can get the main role, Clara? Or the Sugar Plum Fairy? Was I meant for this all my life? questions fill my mind as Mrs. Juan tells us all the directions. "Now fellow ballerinas, the auditions will begin. Each student will show me what we've been practicing so far. They will also show separate moves and will have to answer questions." Mrs. Juan clarifies. "Will the audition for each girl be done in front of everyone, or separately?" I ask, my heart pounding nervously for her answer. "To answer your question Bella, yes, they will be done separately. No one should receive help from any other students under any circumstance. To avoid that, we are going to test each of you for different moves." she construes. I feel so much better that I don't have to be in the spotlight, and do it in front of everyone. If I mess up, only Mrs. Juan will be there to see. I think relieved. "Any other questions girls? If no, we are going to start the auditions. The first person I have on my list is Anna C. and Bella L." she continues. "I wish you the best of luck Anna, I know you'll do great," I whisper to Anna quietly. "Really? I know you'll do an amazing job too," she whispered back. It had been some time since Anna was in there and the rest of us were out. We were waiting for about ten minutes, and out of curiosity, without anyone seeing me, I peeked at the door to see Anna doing the Pirouette. I hope she does great. I pray. But after some time, I see that she's done with a smile on her face. "Hey, Anna! How did it go?" I ask. "Well, I did everything the way you taught me, and I saw she was impressed, but she said she'll only announce the results at the end of everyone's audition, basically next week," Anna told me. "Ok. I can wait that long." I tell her, and as soon as I do, I hear my name called next. 🟑🟑🟑 "Bella Lemaire!" Mrs. Juan called. "Sorry Mrs. Juan! I'm here!" I holler back. "Good. Now Ms. Lemaire, let's see what you got. Do a Foutté, then slide onto an Etendre, and end with a Plier. Finally, stand in the second position." she instructs me. I hold my breath really deep, and then I close my eyes. Her moves chorus through my ears as I hear the music played. I tried to be calm and more swift, as a real ballerina would do. After I was done, she stopped the music, and smiled, then looked down at her paper, almost like she was writing something down. "Very good Mr. Lemaire, now I want you to answer me this question. In ballet, what three things do you need to be an excellent ballet dancer?" she asks. I look down anxiously and look up at the ceiling. "Umm...you need--poise, hard work, and...and--determination," I respond hesitantly. "Very well then Mrs. Lemaire, you may go out and the results will be announced next week," she says. "Thank you, Mrs. Juan!" I say as I walked out. "So? How did everything go Bella? Did you rock it? I mean--did you gracefully rock it?" she asks which makes me giggle a little. "I tried my best Anna, but only next week will we know the audition results," I say as a twirl out of the common room to get some water. "See you next week Bella!" she shouts. "See you too Anna!" I yell back as we both head out our separate ways. 🟑🟑🟑 "Girls! The audition results have been announced. As the role of Clara, we have Anna, and the back-up dancer of Clara is Bella," she announces. "...and then for the Sugar Plum fairy..." she continues announcing, but I don't listen to any of that. I'm happy for Anna, but why am I a backup dancer? I thought I would at least any role. I question myself over and over again. Next to me, I see Anna happy, so I congratulate her, having a fake smile on my face. "See Anna? I told you that you rocked the audition!" I exclaim, but still, the melancholiness doesn't disappear in my tone. Luckily, Anna doesn't notice that. "Thank you so much, Bella! Without your support, I couldn't have got this role!" she says, and I smile at her, though deep down, I still feel pretty upset about being a backup dancer. When we're going on tour, I just want to have a peaceful trip, without any distractions. After all, I'm just a backup dancer. I'll have a lot of free time to hang around by myself while the others are rehearsing. I say to comfort myself from everything that had just happened to me. ~The End~