Читать книгу Rosa and the Three Wishes - Darcey Bussell - Страница 8

“Isn’t it weird to think that it’s our very last day here?” Rosa said as she and her best friend, Olivia, walked into the changing rooms at Madame Za-Za’s ballet school.

Olivia nodded in agreement. After the holidays they would both be going to the Royal Ballet School in London!

Rosa looked round at the familiar green walls and rows of pegs for hanging their clothes on and breathed in the smell of hairspray. “I’m really going to miss this place,” she sighed, taking off her coat.

“Me too,” agreed Olivia.

Rosa thought of everything Madame Za-Za had taught her since she had started at the school – and everything that had happened to her, not just the classes, and the exams and the performances…

Taking her red ballet shoes out of her bag, she smiled to herself. She had a secret. Her shoes were magic! Sometimes they would start to glisten and glow and then they would whisk her away to Enchantia, a land where all the characters from the different ballets lived. Rosa had been on some fantastic magical adventures there.

But the shoes will still take me to Enchantia even when I’m at the Royal Ballet School, she thought, stroking the soft leather. I don’t have to say goodbye to them.

She felt slightly uneasy though. She hated to admit it, but it almost seemed as if the shoes belonged here, with her ballet teacher, Madame Za-Za. It had been Madame Za-Za who had given them to Delphie Durand, and then Delphie had passed them on to Rosa.

Trying not to think about it, Rosa got changed. She was just tying the ribbons on her shoes when a girl walked into the changing rooms, her chin held high. She had bright green eyes and brown hair.

Rosa groaned inwardly. Holly!

Holly was a new pupil at Madame Za-Za’s ballet school. She had recently come to live in the town with her aunt and uncle, and had started in Rosa and Olivia’s class. She was very good at ballet but she knew it and, although she was a little younger than most of the other girls, she seemed put out that she wasn’t in the highest class.

“I want to sit there,” she said to Rosa. She pointed at the bench where Rosa’s bag was and gave an imperious toss of her head. “Move your bag.”

Rosa frowned. “No. There are plenty of other places you can sit.”

“But I want to get changed there because it is next to the radiator,” Holly told her.

Taking off her coat she threw it down, covering up Rosa’s clothes, and then she went into the little sideroom where the sinks and toilets were.

Rosa’s temper flared. She jumped to her feet and grabbed Holly’s coat, intending to dump it on the floor.

“Don’t,” Olivia said quickly. “It’s our last day.”

“But you saw what she just did!” Rosa exclaimed.

“But after today we won’t ever have to see her again,” Olivia pointed out. “Don’t have a row, Rosa. Please.” Some of the other girls had started to come in and were looking at Rosa and Olivia curiously.

Rosa forced herself to calm down. Olivia was right. It was their last lesson; she didn’t want to ruin it.

“Just ignore her and let’s go and warm up,” said Olivia. “I want to make the most of every second today.”

“Me too,” Rosa agreed and put the coat down. They smiled and hurried out of the changing rooms.

It was hard to ignore Holly. She argued with Madame Za-Za when the teacher corrected her movements in the exercises. She tutted at the other girls when they got in her way. Rosa felt cross. She found it hard to enjoy her last class when Holly was being so awful all of the time.

“I want you to imagine you are a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis,” Madame Za-Za said as they sat and listened to a piece of beautiful music. “You are stretching your wings, the colours sparkling and glowing, and then with a burst of energy you start to fly, swirling and swooping…”

As Madame Za-Za’s voice and the music swept over them, Rosa longed to get up and start dancing.

“And now the butterfly’s energy is fading. Its life is coming to an end,” Madame Za-Za said as the music slowed. “It pauses, flies on, pauses, flies on, until finally it lands for the very last time.”

It was time to dance. The girls ran to find a space in the studio. The music swelled out again and Rosa imagined herself as the butterfly pushing out of a chrysalis. It was wonderful to swirl and spin, imagining she was as light as air, soaring through the sky and then gradually slowing down and coming to rest.

Madame Za-Za split them into two groups so they could watch each other.

“Look at Holly,” Olivia whispered as she and Rosa sat on the floor. Holly was moving lightly, her body expressing joy and flight. But it was as the music started to slow that Rosa found she couldn’t take her eyes off her. With every pause, the dark-haired girl seemed to get a little weaker. Her arms, lifted behind her like wings, seemed to be gradually losing their strength, fingers fluttering. Every movement she made expressed sadness, the coming to a life’s end. As the music finished, she took three last steps forward and then sank to her knees, her arms folding around her, head sinking down.

“Oh, wow!” Rosa breathed, despite her dislike. “She’s brilliant.”

“Amazing,” agreed Olivia.

“Excellent girls,” Madame Za-Za said at the end of the lesson. “There has been some really good work today. We’ll finish there.” She curtseyed and they all curtseyed back.

As Rosa and Olivia collected their character skirts from the end of the room, Rosa saw Holly walking nearby, her face composed.

“Your free dancing was brilliant,” Rosa said generously.

Holly shrugged as if to say of course and walked away.

“Honestly!” Rosa exclaimed crossly to Olivia. “She is so rude!”

“Rosa!” It was Madame Za-Za.

Rosa looked round.

“Would you mind coming to my office for a quick word?” the teacher asked with a smile.