Graceful Pique

“Holland, hi. Sorry to wake you, but I was wondering if your dad could give me a ride to The Studio?” I asked.
“It’s five in the morning Emilia,” whispered Holland.”You can’t be serious.”
“Can you ?”I ask again “ Dad had to go pick up Madeline from Mom’s apartment because she had a “very important” customer.”
“Ughhh, you owe me just for making me get up,”she says. After a little while she says, “Sorry. My dad came home late from work, and he’s still asleep.” “I can’t believe you wake up this early,” she yawns, “and go again in the afternoon.”
“You know why I have to go, but thanks anyways,”I say calmly as I hang up. I end up without a ride, and all seems hopeless. While, I look up how far Le Studio de Danse is, I hear the excited pitter-patter of little paws.  As tiny Ella is running over to me with a tennis ball that is way too big for her mouth, she trips over the carpet. I feel like she knows I may not be going to dance. “Oh Ella,”I say laughing. “Should I go little Ella? Should I go?” I say as I tickle her belly. “What am I saying? I tell her. “I have to go. Especially right now.” Even though i’ll be late, I walk. I grab my dance bag and head out the door. The cold, salty air starts stinging my face as I walk down the street. There’s a slight fog this morning and I wonder if I should take the shortcut through the woods, but then I reconsider. Something about the dark, massive trees at dawn creeps me out a little bit.
“...And plié,”Ms.Clémence says excitedly as I finish my dance. “Enfin vouz l’avez! At last you have it! It’s true what they say ‘you can do anything if you practice often’.”
I say excitedly,“I know. I can’t believe i’m actually going to audition. I mean I might not make it because there are others too , and they’re from around the country. And the world --”
“But you are very good. There is no doubt about that.”Miss Clémence says.
“Have you ever been to San Francisco? Is it nice?” I ask.
“Oh c’est une ville trés beau. It’s a beautiful city. You will be very lucky to go.”
“If I get in. But i’ll miss home if Ido. It’s five hours away.”
“Don’t worry. Summer session for your level is only two weeks. And if you do good, they may let you go the full year.”
“Hopefully,”
“Your passion will be your ticket in. I just know it.”she says with a smile.
“Thank you,”I tell her.
“Well, we are done for today, and you’ve been working very hard, so i’ll give you the afternoon off.”
“Oh. That’s very kind, but if you don’t mind i’d like to come back and practice some more.”
“Go on. Go have fun!”she insists.
I think about it and I tell myself that I do need a break. I need to stop stressing even if it’s just for the afternoon. “Thank you,” I say again.
“So, what are we eating ?”Holland asks impatiently.
We’re just walking into the mall when she says it.  “We just ate a bagel,”I say. “You’re hungry again?”
“I’m just kidding,”she teases.
Holland loves food. It’s funny, our friendship actually started because of a churro. We were both hungry, little six year olds at the fair. It just so happens that the churro cart was in both of our sights and they only had enough strawberry sauce left to fill one churro. My mom and her mom started arguing over who got their first and who wanted it first. My mom “won”. We were walking away when I decided to go back and give her half. Turns out she was moving to my school and we hung out ever since. So shoutout to that strawberry-filled churro. Thank you for my best friend !   We walk into one of her favorite stores and she shows me the headband she wants to get for Madeline’s birthday. I walk over to her and she holds up a white unicorn headband from  My Little Pony. It has a gold crown with fake jewels sewn into the headband. It also has little ears and a single curl with the colors of the rainbow.
“What do you think ?”asks Holland. “Will she like it ?”
“Oh she’ll love it !”I say.  I smile. I can already imagine her running around the house never wanting to take it off her head. She’ll probably put her fairy wings on and become a unicorn fairy. We spend the next fifteen minutes trying on random stuff like those giant, fuzzy hats and cat ears. After an hour and a half of walking from store to store with a hungry Holland complaining, we finally leave. Outside the mall we find a farmer’s market. Holland literally runs to the nearest stand and buys one of those cups filled with an assortment of fruits.  I go buy some apple cider. I love farmer’s markets. I like walking by the stands full of fruits giving off their beautiful fragrance, but we don’t stay long because it gets dark early.
Back home I hop into bed and a little later Ella runs into the room. She attempts to jump onto the bed, but since my bed is high and her corgi body is low, she fails. I bend over and pick her squirmy little body up and onto the sheets. She likes to burrow into them and sleep. “Goodnight Ella,” I whisper. I start thinking about how not once until now had I thought about ballet. All the stress tries to come back ,but I don’t let it. I’m tired of it controlling me and right now i’m tired and i’m excited for tomorrow.
“You can’t take her from us!”Dad yells. Back in my room this sudden yelling wakes me up.
“What’s going on ?”I whisper to Ella. I sleepily get out of bed and quickly glance at my phone; 5:36 AM. I rush down the stairs and notice my mom is here. This is very strange. 
“ I can and I will. I’m her mother.”she says.  I don’t know what’s happening, but I can tell mom is furious. Now, most people yell when they’re mad, but my mom doesn’t. I don’t know why and I don’t know how but she just stays as calm as a nice cup of tea on a peaceful afternoon. When she gets into an argument without much importance, that is when she yells. It’s quite strange. She does the opposite of what’s expected.
“Hey,”I say. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing. Just a small disagreement.”Mom says calmly.
“Emilia, please go to your room,”Dad implores.
“But--”I say.
“Please? Go.”he says looking at the staircase.
I go upstairs. Before going to my room, I quietly open Madeline’s door a little and peek inside.  Sound asleep. The front door shuts and the house is once again silent. I go back to my room and try to fall asleep again. I keep shuffling and turning over to one side of my pillow then back again. I know something’s going on. I get up, open my window a little, and listen.
“Why today? Couldn’t you have picked another day?”Dad asks as he’s doing one of those nervous pacing things.
“Today is special,”she says. “That’s why she is coming with me.”
“It’s special for us too ! She’s also my daughter Élisabeth!”he says. Then, Mom’s phone rings and she answers.
“Something just came up. I have to go Nicolás, but i’ll be back for her at noon. Au revoir.”she tells Dad. She then gets in her car and leaves.
I get ready for dance and the Dad is silent all the way there. We left the house at 5:55 and I stay at the studio until 7:25.
“Happy Birthday Madelini!” I
say. She looks at the plate of pancakes I brought with a twinkle in her eyes.
“ OH gee! They have butterflies!”she says excitedly. She’s so adorable. “oh gee” is Madeline’s way of saying “oh my gosh”. She quickly gobbles down the strawberry and mini pancake stacks I made her. They’re held together by a long skewer with a paper butterfly perched on top.  When she was eating the pancakes I thought about what Mom had said. She was coming soon and I knew she was going to be gone for quite a while. I had to do something.
“Do you want to go somewhere?”I ask.
“Let’s go to the zoo.”Madeline says.
“OK, let’s go.”I say. She grabs her unicorn and we leave.
“Look Madeline! It’s a red panda !”I say. We walk over to their exhibit and look at the red pandas.
“They are so adorable!”Holland says.
“Holland ?”I call.
“Oh. Sorry.”she says.
“I said that I think my mom is trying to take Madeline away to Paris with her.”I tell her.
“OH NO! Why ?”
“I don’t know. That’s the weird part.”
“What are you gonna do ?”
“Well, for now i’m just going to keep her away from home as much as possible today.”
“But they’re going to start wondering where she is after a while.”
“I know.”I sigh.
“Emilia look!”Madeline calls.
I smile and walk over to her. After the zoo, we went to eat lunch at the park. I  had brought a basket of food for a picnic.
“Where are we going now?”Madeline says grabbing her bag of cookies.
“We are going somewhere special,”Holland says.
I pick up the basket and we start walking down the street. “Do you like your birthday so far ?”I ask.
“YES !!”Madeline says. “It’s the best birthday ever, except I wish Mom and Dad were here too.”
I glance at Holland. “ I know, but this is our special trip for you,” I tell her. Let me change the subject. I start to look around and notice that we’ve arrived. “ Hey look! We’re here.”I say excitedly. We go inside and are greeted by Vanessa, an employee,.
“Hey Emilia. Hey Holland.”she says.
“Hi Vanessa,”Holland and I say. I take Madeline by the shoulders and say “We’re here for her surprise.”
“You must be Madeline. Happy Birthday !” Vanessa says and then disappears into the back of the shop.
Madeline starts to look around and says “Wow ! There’s so many shoes.”
Vanessa comes back and hands Madeline a box. 
“Open it,”I say. 
She opens the box and carefully takes out a small pair of ballet slippers. “I love them !”she says enthusiastically.
I take her shoes off and she puts the ballet slippers on. She hops off and starts to twirl.
“Perfect,”I say. “Now that you’re going to be a ballerina, you’re going to need them.”
Madeline runs to hug me and says, “Thank you. Now I can be just like you !”
“No. You will be much better.”I tell her. After, we went over to Holland’s house and watched movies and baked cupcakes. I tried to stay as long as possible at Holland’s, nervous of going back home. It was 2:30 when Dad started calling. Mom probably took longer than expected. We had to go back home.
We’re home now and Madeline runs through the door to tell Dad about her ballet shoes. I on the other hand take a deep breath and hope for the best as I go through the door. I look around but Mom isn’t here. That’s strange. I go up to my room and dance for a while until Dad comes in.
“Emilia, can we talk ?”he asks.
And there it is. I’ve been dreading this talk all day. I knew it would happen. “Yeah sure,”I say.
“Well, uh your mom came over today and she told me that she’s going on business to Paris for quite a long time.”
“Oh,”
“She wants to take Madeline with her.”
“Why ?”
“She says that she wants to spend more time with her,”
“How? She’s always working.”
“My thoughts exactly. She tried to take her today, but I managed to talk her out of it. We postponed it. We’re going to court in two days.”
“But, why? You can’t let her take Madeline, Dad! Wait, that’s the day of my audition.”
“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to take you.”
“Dad I have to go! I’ll have to wait until next year!”
“Can you find someone to take you?”
“Uh...yes. I do have someone.”
The following day, I spent most of my day in Le Studio with Ms.Clémence. I practiced my audition dance again and again because I want to get a spot in summer session. Dad was stressing over going to court. He has to take Madeline with him, but I have a plan. I think it’s pretty clever even though it’ll most likely get in trouble. I’ll do anything for Madeline because court is no place for an innocent little girl. All I can do is hope that everything turns out fine.
  I’m next and the room is really stuffy. I think it’s because of how nervous everyone is. I can feel heat that’s starting to radiate off my face. The girl who was before me is finishing up her audition and i’m next.
“Number 23,”says one of the judges.
Oh my goodness. Okay...breathe Emilia. It’s going to be fine. I walk up to the center. I start my choreography. I am in sync with the music. I feel awesome. I think about Holland who willingly volunteered to bring me even before I asked. I also think of Madeline outside with her. She was so happy when I told her she was coming. I had turned my phone off and Holland turned hers off too. I didn’t want to see dad’s frantic calls over and over. Then, I think about how Mom could ever think of taking Madeline away. Suddenly, all this anger rushes through my veins and threatens to throw off my choreography. It feels like that force between a magnet and metal. When you hold it slightly over the metal without letting it go, and it feels wobbly. That is exactly how I am. The closer you get,the stronger the force is, and just like that the magnet sticks on the metal. I’m on my knees now. Oh no. What do I do ? What do I do ? I start to panic and i’m on the verge of tears. Don’t you dare cry Emilia! You have to be strong. For you...for Madeline. I get back on my feet, turn to smile at the panel, then continue my dance.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t make it, but at least I finished and didn’t give up. Outside, Madeline and Holland come over and congratulate me.
“You were awesome !”Madeline says.
“But you didn’t even see me,”I say confused.
“I know, but I know you’re good.”she says.
Holland comes over and says, “So, how’d it go?”
“I fell,”I say. “I was doing good until I fell. And it’s all because of my dumb anger! I should’ve trusted that my dad could win the case.”
“It’s alright. You’re as graceful as a gazelle. They probably liked you so much they don’t even care that you had a small fall.”
“It doesn’t work like that,”I sigh.
Holland grabs my shoulders and pushes me towards the door. “Let’s go. I want a sandwich.”she says.
“Holland, what would I do without you?”I ask.
“You wouldn’t be going to eat a delicious sandwich in San Francisco.”she says.
We’re almost at my house. I keep looking out the window at the majestic green trees wondering what’s going to happen. A few minutes pass and now i’m at my doorstep. “Come on Madeline.”I say.
We walk through the door and Dad comes running. “Madeline! Thank goodness you’re all right.”he says. He hugs her. He turns to face me and I feel ready to face the consequences. He mouths a thank you to me and I stand there suprised. What’s happening? Madeline runs off with Ella and Dad hugs me.
“Dad i’m sorry,”I cry. “I messed everything up.”
“What ? No you didn’t.”he says.
“Yes. I did. Now because of me Madeline is going with Mom and who knows when she’s coming back.”
“She’s not going anywhere Emilia. I won the case.”he says with a giant smile on his face.
“Dad! You should have started off with that.” I run off and look for Madeline. I find her and hug her like i’ve never hugged anyone else. She giggles and laughs.
“Madeline, never go to Paris without me.”I say.
“What ?” she says.
“Nothing.”
Three weeks later, guess who’s miraculously going to spend her summer five hours away.