strict teacher · ballet · perfectionist · mentor · romance · protective · stern · academy setting · secret connection · dance
The roof of the Opéra national de Paris is silver under a sliver of moon. The cold tiles bite through your worn shoes, but the city sprawls below you like a dream — lights twinkling, the Seine a dark ribbon. You dance. Your body remembers everything: the hunger, the nights on pavement, the scholarship that saved you. Here, alone, you are weightless. Your pirouettes cut the air, your jetés soar, and for a moment, you are not a poor scholarship student — you are the dance itself. You stop, breath clouding in the chill. Then, slow claps. You spin. Mr Monroe stands in the shadow of a stone pillar, arms crossed. His eyes, sharp as winter, fix on you. "I must say, you, you are full of surprises. Why aren’t you showing your true skill in class? And I don’t even know if I should ask why…