A girl?
A girl?
"I am." Mia said. She didn't bother to force a smile to assure him she was okay. She was still pissed at him because of the whole issue with Benjamin and how he had reacted. But she was going to do her best. Not because of him, but because of herself.
This was going to be her last time dancing on stage. After tonight, she would focus on her education, graduate, have a great job and begin to live in reality. Then, dancing can only be her hobby, not a career.
"One more practice before we leave?" Mr B asked everyone. It wasn't actually a question so they all stood up to run it one final time. Mia noticed every other person looked nervous, understandably, so she tried to look courageous. She hoped Leo would be proud of her. She hoped he would be able to watch her video.
After the final rehearsals, she looked at her outfit with a sad smile and turned around when she felt someone else's presence.
It was a lady who assisted Mr B in the studio. She was also their make up artist. "Hey!" She said as she moved closer to hand Mia a bottle of water.
"Thanks." Mia accepted it but didn't drink from the bottle.
"You look a bit lost. Sure all is good?" The girl asked. Her name was Allison, Ally for short. She was the kind of girl described as 'cute' instead of pretty. She had a small stature, small round face, pouty lips and beautiful round eyes. Mia didn't know whether she was older or Ally was. But since Ally was friendly, she was also friendly to her.
"I am good." She smiled at Ally before taking a deep breath.
"I noticed you've been a bit distracted lately. I won't ask for details, but I hope you do your best to leave everything else behind when you are on stage tonight. We are all counting on you."
Mia didn't know how to answer so she nodded.
"Are you sure you do not want to get your usual make up done? You used to worry about your people at home or in school finding out about this." She reminded her, sounding genuinely concerned.
'Home'. Mia didn't have a home with Linda and Mary anymore. Mia's home was Leo, and Leo loved her dancing so there was no point in hiding. Also in school, she didn't think it was a big deal if the management found out about it. But just to be careful, she had inquired about it and told it was safe to go ahead. So far she wasn't doing anything to tarnish the image of the school, it was fine.
"I'll reveal my face today." Mia said with resolve.
Ally seemed to be pleased with the idea so she smiled. "Meet me in the ladies room in 5. I'll touch up your make up before we leave.
********
"Are you ready?" Jeremy knocked once more on Ellie's door and pressed his ear to the door incase she was saying something. It was still quiet so he tried to open the door but it opened from inside first.
"Ready!" She said with a grin and made a 360 degrees turn as she asked him how she looked.
She wore a simple white polo with the image of Angelina Jolie from maleficent printed on it, a black leather trousers and black boot which he had gotten her for her eighth birthday. Her hair was left down just like his. No much difference between how she looked now and how she usually looked.
"Wow! You look pretty. Are you hoping to find a boyfriend there?" Jeremy asked, narrowing his eyes to look at her.
"Eww! No. I will never have a boyfriend." She said and began to walk ahead of him, not realizing how surprised her brother was by that statement. Why? She didn't like boys? Did she like girls instead? He hadn't taken time to talk about that with her before so he was indeed surprised.
"Why?" He asked as he followed her outside. "You don't like boys?" He asked with bated breath, hoping she would tell him she did. He wasn't homophobic at all, but it was normal to be worried about issues like this especially when it was something most people in the world frowned against. Also, he thought it was probably going to be difficult for her to find a partner. What if she liked a girl who was straight, and got her heart broken?
Thankfully, he realised his worries were unfounded when she answered,
"Because I'll take out my anger on boys and want to hurt them because Chloe hurt you." She said, turning to give him a piercing gaze.
He was gobsmacked!
"What are you saying? One has nothing to do with the other. You cannot hurt others because other people hurt—"
"I will! So if you want me to be nice to boys, meet a girl who treats you like you'd want me to treat someone else's son and brother."
He let out a weak sigh. Why did she always have to sound so mature?
"Alright. Fine! I will. But you must not think of having any boyfriend until you are in the university."
"Yes sir." She said uninterestedly and kept walking ahead of him.
"I am serious!"
She giggled and repeated, "Yes sir."
"Good girl." He smiled and took his sister's hand as they walked side by side.
"Oh! There's someone who wants to meet you. Her name is Maria." He remembered to inform her.
"A girl? You are already hanging out with another girl?" Ellie stopped walking to frown at him.
He looked at her in confusion. He really couldn't understand woman in general.
"You're mad I got over Chloe quickly?" He asked, raising a brow. Wasn't she the same person who told him to find a woman who would treat him well?
When she didn't respond, he smiled and explained. "She is a middle aged woman. She is addressed as Mrs Wesley but she insists we call her Maria."