“Sarina! What was that tumble? I have never seen a worse posture!” the gym manager was frantic, pointing out every single flaw to the gymnasts as they practiced their individual weak spots before throwing everything together for the performance.

“Sorry coach!” she yelled back in a startled tone. Everyone inside the gym was tense because of the performance, even those who were not taking part of the whole thing. They were probably focusing on Nationals or the other meets. There was no rest for a gymnast.

“Molly! Dismount needs work!” he called to Molly who was busy at the vault, his tense posture heading through the entirety of the gym.

“Right! Okay!” the startled ginger called back, het feet barely on the matt before she heard his call. Sarina could only shake her head as the manager paced through the gym, acting as if he was a qualified coach. The real coaches, all three of them, were a little preoccupied with a little problem by the name of ‘Parker’.

Parker was a recently recruited gymnast out of a public gym, but she was only seven years of age. She had natural flexibility, but so much that she would qualify better as a contortionist than a gymnast or acrobat. She did not know much gymnastics skills because she had only started the sport recently but the coaches were determined to catch her up to speed.

The intentions the coaches had for her were a bit crazy, but it was evident they planned well. For the Royal Variety Performance the floor routines of many were combined into a beautiful show, but the manager wanted more. So more he got.

Parker was to be a flyer.

That meant she was going to be thrown around in the air throughout the performance. Someone was going to get hurt, Molly knew instantly as soon as she heard of the game plan, but she didn’t think it would be Parker. A flyer can throw off someone’s focus when performing.

There was only eight weeks left until the performance.

Irritated, Molly left from the vault and headed over to the tumbling track where Sarina was silently cursing herself. Not a single person in the gym was in their right minds.

“Hey, chicken nugget,” Molly called out, propping herself onto the floor near the track. Sarina gave her a nasty glare.

“Are you seriously hungry again? Those things will make you fat,” she retorted before going off in a run down the track, leaving Molly to sigh dramatically to herself. She fell onto her back, her ginger bun digging into her skull. Sarina, of course, had completely loose hair as she refused to tie it back. Usually she kept it loose because she liked to feel as if there was wind in her hair when she tumbled but today it was more out of spite. Of course, she was obligated to tie it for competitions. But practice? Free reign.

“But chicken nuggets are life…” Molly whispered to herself in such a saddened tone.

Sarina paid no attention to the buzzing around her, only focussing on her posture as she whipped through the air and landed blindly. Her head ached from the nagging at the back of her mind that something was wrong but could not do anything about it.

It had been five days since Alice had come to the café.

Usually Alice would visit her favourite haven at least twice a week, but this time she had gone through an entire week without making a single appearance. If Sarina had the girl’s number, she most certainly would have trolled her messages until she had no choice but to answer the gothic gymnast. Even though Sarina had given her number to Alice two weeks ago, not once had she bothered to contact. Sure, it was not as if they were friends or even more than acquaintances, but Sarina knew something was up with the girl as soon as she saw her.

She was worried for her. No girl should be strung along like this. She deserved the truth, but was it Sarina’s place to tell? She had never been in such a situation before. This girl had caught her eye in every positive manner, and she wanted to see her happy. The sooner she got out of the toxic relationship, the better.

So, first things firsts: she had to find Alice.

“Get your head out of the gutters Miller!” the manager called to Sarina as he made another round of the gym, Molly quickly scrambling back to the vault. She did not respond, instead pulling the rubber band off her wrist and, very dramatically, pulled her hair into a ponytail. The manager gulped at the serious face she pulled, knowing that nothing had to be said to her any further. Any problem she had, would be fixed by her own hands.

♕♥ ♕♥ ♕

“Are you accusing me of having an illegitimate child?!” the entirety of the situation was hopeless. I was at the palace, watching my parents’ press conference from the monitor in my room. They were at a hotel across the country, trying to kill the accusations against them. Things were going quite nicely, having already sorted the tax faults and slip up happenings. It was done smoothly, his silver tongue saving his own backside. My mother was quiet through most of the conference, only adding comments when needed. She was going to blow up soon though, I could tell, because they were talking about family.

The media questioned him about his family and he spoke truthfully, revealing he was harsher on his family because of our royal blood and grooming towards greatness. Unfortunately, the fact that the Royal Princess and Princes were kept secret was called into question. He tried to answer calmly, stating that it would be best to wait for the coronation but the public wanted to know why. Why not reveal us at our birth?

Truthfully, it was Mother’s idea but she would not care to admit it. She wanted to raise her children without distractions from the media, their focus purely on development.

Maybe that was the reason why we were not as perfect royalty as they had expected. Without the constant nagging of the public eyes, we did not grow up to be the stiff dictators they wanted us to be. Instead, we hired private investors, snuck out of the palace, frolicked with boys and vandalise jets.

And that was only this year.

“Your Majesty, if I may: why do you think the customising of one’s own appearance is taboo?” another spokesperson questioned, the King’s face red with fury already.

“It is unprofessional and unbecoming of people of this great country,” he sneered through gritted teeth, my mother’s form turning tense beside him at the booth.

“Are you saying that we should return back to medieval times?” another media group accused, wanting to get the scoop of their lives.

“It might have been unjust but it was a peaceful time,” Father tried to reckon.

“Naturally, because the plague was just a silly cold,” many laughed at this. “How far are you willing to take the act of enforcing your ruling? Would you close down tattoo parlours, forcefully remove each piercings from the land, bleach each coloured hair?” my father sighed at this, running his face into his hands. Clearly this was not going as well as he had planned. Thankfully, Mother intervened to save his sorry backside.

“What the King is saying is merely his own opinion, but we understand that others feel differently and thus no action will be taken. Everyone has his or her own likes and dislikes and this is one of ours. We are not dictators as to force our ruling upon you,” she spoke professionally, trying not to reveal her nervousness.

“Thank you, My Queen. It is clear that, just as the vandalism says, the King is truly a victim to his own wife,” someone had the guts to say, and a riot began because of it. Furious, Father slammed his hands onto the table before storming out. My mother followed behind without hesitation, both slipping out of the frame until the program was cut. They were not happy, and I could only hope that they would not bring that ferocity back to the palace. I would take good care not to run into them.

“Highness?” I craned my head to see Ian standing in my open doorway, his posture a little stiff. “Your ballet is within an hour,” sighing, I nodded. With the extra classes for whatever performance, we even had classes at Saturday evenings now. It was unpleasant. Nevertheless, I got dressed in my tights and leotard and did my hair in the car. I was tired and felt awkward. I could already predict a terrible class.

♕♥ ♕♥ ♕

As if the Great Depression was reborn, even the Madame felt out of it today. She was more furious and pushed us to our limits. She was tense, her shoulders stiff and her foot forever tapping to the imaginary beat in her head. It threw us off, because she was tapping to a different counting than the music we were performing too. As if miraculously, it seemed that Caleb was unaffected and was even happier than usual. His form was starting to resemble that of a male ballet dancer and his performance was making up for his experience. I just hoped that when we were on an actual stage, he would still have the same attitude.

When Madame called us for a water break, she disappeared outside where we could hear her groaning in anguish. Bad day perhaps, but it seemed as if everyone had a bad day except for Caleb. We sat at the end of the studio, taking a few sips of water just to hydrate the throat. It was not good to dance with anything in your stomach really. Especially when you do jumps.

“So he told me that it was an unbelievable improvement and that if I kept it up, I could get a great mark on my mid-year,” Caleb told me the story of how his professor reacted to his idea and photos. Eventually Caleb apologized to me about the photos and said that some of them were actually good, he just kept looking into his own flaws. Truthfully, I think he only did it to spare my feelings and did not like the pictures anyway. But I appreciated it.

“That’s wonderful news! So have you got any other models?” I was curious.

“Yeah, my old buddies from High School are helping me. Also, I was think that weird chick from the open class,” he told me with a nod.

“You mean Sarina?” I had thought about her also, as she would fit into his photography category.

“Yeah. She was like an acrobat or something but with her black hair and makeup, I think I can make an amazing photo,” I was happy for him, but the idea of him having other models made my stomach clench. Everything about Caleb started to feel off to me and I could not calm down the nerves I felt around him. Being natural around him just felt… unnatural.

“Hey Cal!” startled, I looked up to see Anna bouncing over with her excited bobbing head. Cal? “Thanks so much for the video. I absolutely loved it! Especially that part at the end with the sharks and the flowers. It was amazing!” she was ecstatic, going on as if she quit ballet to become a cheerleader. Caleb chuckled at her actions, myself sitting quite confused and curious to what she was talking about.

“Glad you liked the movie. It’s my favourite ever,” he answered, a large smile adorning his face as he accepted the video case from her hands.

“What movie is that?” I chipped in, curious as to what I was being left out of.

“Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t like it,” Caleb said to me with a small smile, leaving me speechless as he continued to practically become a fan girl with Anna. Since when have they been friends?

Completely annoyed, I huffed and stood up before moving across the studio.

“What’s her problem?” I heard Anna retort.

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway…” Caleb assured her, going on and on about the scene with the sharks. I left the studio to go to the restroom, seeing Madame outside with a screaming tone as she spoke on the phone. Clearly it was going to be a while.

No one besides me was in the restroom so I went to stand in front of the sink. My hair had fallen a bit out from all the dancing. Well, that and I had done my hair in the car. It wasn’t perfect or anywhere close. I rinsed my face, regretting it almost immediately as some water had splashed onto my leotard and was clearly visible on the black fabric.

“Shit,” I cursed. Clearly it was not my day. This morning when I had accidentally thrown coffee powder over my cereal instead of sugar, I knew. This was one of those days. I tried to dry my leotard by standing under the air dryer, and it did help to some extent. You could still see the wet mark though. Unfortunately, it worsened my hair. Oh well, I didn’t give a damn anymore. I headed back to the studio after blowing my nose clean.

On returning I saw most of the studio having grouped off, Caleb and Anna standing and talking to a few other girls. The two other male dancers were somewhere off to the side, chatting each other up. They had bulky muscles but soft personalities. It was strange. Instead of joining the laughing group, I headed to my bag and pulled out my phone. Cornelius had sent me a picture of a broken pot with the caption: ‘Thanks for keeping our secret. That could’ve been our heads!’

Clearly this was the work of a furious King.

Madame returned soon after with a sneer on her face, calling everyone closer to hear the announcement.

“Everyone, we have to cut practice short today. My nephew was just born and apparently I just have to see him. The nerve of my sister,” she said with a scrunched up face, shaking her head in detest. “One, two, three, Révérence!” everyone curtsied or bowed and the chiming of ‘thank you’ in French sounded. Everyone quickly left, glad for the shortened class. Caleb was giving out recommendations of new movies to Anna and the others, not even noticing I was leaving until the very last second. He rushed over to me and pulled me back by grabbing my shoulder.

Annoyed and furious, I slapped away his hand and looked up at him with an accusing ‘what?’. He was startled at my face before straightening himself out.

“Aren’t we riding together?” at his innocent voice, I sighed and shook my head. I cast my eyes down towards my feet, which were still covered with pointes as I wanted to make a quick escape.

“I’m not feeling too well today, so Ian is picking me up. Sorry,” I lied, shrugging my shoulders slightly. Well, in essence, it was not a lie at all. I was no feeling well, emotionally. Even if I did not face a hurricane today, it felt as if I had been more hammered than usual. I need a break.

I could hear a small sigh from him before he took my face into his hands, raising it so that he could look into my eyes.

“Then I truly hope you feel better, my love,” he leaned over and kissed my cheek lovingly before pulling away. He gave me a sweet smile, one I could not help but return. I nodded to him and affirmation and he smiled even bigger before leaving to talk with the others again. He didn’t even see me off.

“Home, Highness?” Ian asked as I jumped into the backseat instead of my usual place at the front. I groaned as I laid onto my back across the seats, only wearing my skin-tight ballet clothes.

“Not today, Ian. I need a big drink right now,” smirking, Ian nodded.

“Right away, Princess,” and with that, we were off.

♕♥ ♕♥ ♕

I had stares on me as I entered the café, not caring in the least that I had not changed my appearance since coming from ballet. I was dressed in nothing but a black leotard, pink tights and pink pointe shoes. Strands of my hair were sticking to my face from the sweat of dancing, but my head pained so much I didn’t even care. Ian had dropped me off at the café before heading to get me some medication. Thank the world’s deity for granting me someone like him.

I sat at the counter, not wanting to be alone in a booth.

“Can I get a rose and strawberry smoothie please,” I ordered, my head planted into my arms as my head pounded like a drumming marching band.

“Should I make it a double?” I peeked out from my cocooned state, spotting the midnight hair which I can’t seem to get rid of when I come to this café. At the beginning I wanted to ignore her, seeing as she was a bit too crazy and energetic for my liking. But she had helped me after the fight between Caleb and me and made me laugh when she was our waiter. She was not all that bad.

“You know it sister,” I said back, smothering my face in my arms.

“Wow, I feel honoured. Should I call you bro from now on?” I shot her a small glare. “Alright, alright. Dude it is,” I couldn’t help from smiling and shaking my head, my smile not visible to her. “So tell me, what idiot would leave such a cute, vulnerable girl here all alone?” I couldn’t help it, I grew furious. I smashed my hands onto the table and lifted my head to look at her.

“I am not vulnerable!” I disagreed, furious at the accusation. I thought she would grow disheartened, but instead she laughed. It caught me off guard.

“Please. You look like a fragile little girl who’s favourite toy was just taken away,” my jaw fell open at this.

“Take that back!”

“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Sarina said in a more calming voice, bringing over my drink. My eyes met hers, and for a second, I couldn’t look away. Eventually I began to feel embarrassed and cast my eyes away. She looked so serious.

“It’s a bad day. That’s all,” I said softly, taking my drink and taking a sip to give me a reason not to talk.

“Uh huh. I totally believe that. Give me one second,” she walked over to the window which separated the counter from the kitchen and leaned through it. “Boss! I’m taking the night off!” she called out, almost instantly a grumbling noise from a furious man erupted from the kitchen but it seemed Sarina didn’t care. She pulled off her apron and threw it onto the counter, heading around it to my shocked side. My jaw was completely slacked, bewildered at her actions. “Let’s go,” she said encouraging, grabbing my wrist and pulling me from the seat with my smoothie in my other hand.

“Wait! I didn’t pay!” I called out, but she had other plans as she suddenly took off, dragging me with her. I could hear the ‘boss’ behind us, his deep voice making it seem as if I was being chased by Jaws. Luckily, this massive bulky man didn’t follow us into the middle of the road.

“Sarina! You’re going to get me killed!” I yelled out, distressed. Every thought in my mind that Sarina was a closet sane person was now gone. She was bloody ballistics.

“It will be fine!” she called, but the very next second a car honked loudly as it had to stop because we were running in front of it. “Sorry!” Sarina called out, but I noticed it was Ian behind the wheel and I send him a face of fake crying. Instead of getting out and pinning Sarina down, he laughed loudly because he knew Sarina from watching me.

The traitor.

“Where are we going?” I demanded, my commanding side coming out as I grew anxious.

“You’ll see!” she said and pulled me along for quite the journey. We ran about two blocks before coming to a stop at a park. It was the same one I met Caleb at.

“What did you bring me here for?” I asked, out of breath. We had finally stopped running and now we were casually walking to the middle of the park where a large fountain stood.

“Well I figured you would be more comfortable to talk about your problems where there weren’t any ears, right?” my jaw slacked at this. I had no idea how to respond. “So, what is troubling the dearest pastel ballerina?” she asked, sitting down at the fountain’s side. It wasn’t turned on, the water still as night. I sighed and joined her side, now starting to feel regret that I had not even pulled on any trousers.

“Just… normal problems,” I said silently, sipping at my smoothie, which had thankfully made it all the way in the run.

“Such as?” she pressed, causing me to sigh silently as I debated on what to tell her.

“My parents are in a bad place at the moment, and so are my brothers,” I told her.

“You have brothers?” she asked, curiously. I nodded.

“Two of them, twins. They are little sly devils and they pull me into their problems,” she nodded, indicating me to go on. “I had terrible cereal this morning. I accidentally threw coffee over it and neglected to see it so I started to eat it,” at this she started bursting with the laughter. “It tasted terrible,” but she still found it funny.

“And you’re upset because of that?” she asked through the laughter. I shook my head no.

“You know my boyfriend?” I began, and immediately she sat up straighter and became serious.

“Yes?”

“Uhm well, he’s been becoming good friends with this girl at ballet ever since he started dancing with me. It’s just… I feel as if I am not enough for him anymore, you know? It makes me feel inferior to know that I cannot share all of his likes and add to his conversations. Like… he likes movies and watching TV but I don’t really. I never have.

I always liked dancing or listening to my brothers play music or even reading. I love to read but recently I haven’t found the time to do so. He loves photography but even after all of these years, I don’t know the first thing about it. He’s stressed about college and I can’t even tell him that I know what it’s like because I don’t. I’ve always been home-schooled and it’s different. I don’t feel as close to him as we used to be, even if he tells me he loves me,” I opened up, knowing that I would not find anywhere else to receive advice than right here, right now. I could see sadness seeping into Sarina but she tried to remain strong.

“A boy should not be able to make you feel inferior, Alice. You’re allowing him too much power over your life and you’ve become dependent of him. It shouldn’t be like that. You should be the one who affects him, not vice versa. If he could see how truly amazing you are, he wouldn’t even look at another girl. He’d constantly fight for your hand because believe me, you are worth it,” her words brought a small smile to my face.

“Thanks Sarina,” I said, feeling myself get emotional just talking about it. It was always me and Caleb against the world, and now that he was spreading out to other people, I felt like a disregarded cupcake on the side of the street. I understood that we could not always be the power couple that stood front and centre of our own lives, but I had hoped it could just be that simple. We had always been in a good place. I have never needed someone else.

Sarina hopped off the fountain and walked a few steps before pivoting back to face me.

“Besides, what does he have that I don’t?” she asked sarcastically, and I laughed at her joke. She wasn’t a bad person. She headed back towards me and held out her hand towards me. I stared at it with question. “Well, it can’t be his dance skills, right?” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, placing my smoothie down and allowing myself to me pulled up. We were alone in the park, the stars gleaming above with some sort of twisted satisfaction.

Sarina stood in front of me, holding my hands out to the side as she directed a classical waltz. I was surprised she knew how to waltz, especially after seeing her tense figure at the open class.

“I watch Dirty Dancing,” she answered my unspoken question, causing me to laugh hysterically at how calmly she said it. Eventually she spun me around and I was startled when she suddenly gripped my waist and rose me off the ground.

“Bloody hell!” I yelled, startled. I had not expected her to be so strong. Then again, I forget she was a gymnast. She laughed at my reaction, continuing to dance to the silent music of the night-time. An owl-choir.

She placed me on both my pointes, turning me in a pirouette as I lifted my leg to the right position. We waltzed, because that was all she knew how to do. It wasn’t needed for music or even choreography, because this was purely fun. Eventually she picked me up again, the crazy girl, into a tilted lift before spinning me around and pulling my body to hers. She laughed at my raised eyebrows. It was such a quick action!

“Wow, this is not how I thought my day would go,” Sarina was amused, having a blast with the girl she had a crush on.

“Shut up you. You weren’t the one pulled in front of a car,” I grumbled.

“What, are you still mad about that?” we had a laughing before it died down, both us heaving to get oxygen to out lungs.

“Alice?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to tell you something.” I turned to her with question in my eyes. “About Caleb,”