5

It was 4:30 when the blasting noise of the alarm was released into the sleeping neighbourhood, stirring me a little. The beeping continued and I could hear the faint murmuring of my brother's annoyance. His stomping became louder, coming closer to the door when suddenly a loud bang echoed through my bedroom.

"Jinri!!!" his low groggy voice seeped through the door but I ignored it; covering my ear with the comfort of my pillows. “Jinri!!" Still I didn't get up. It had taken him about four shouts of my name (Each shout getting much louder),   before I had reluctantly got up and turned off the alarm. Once doing so Joshua's door slammed close, probably going back to sleep then.

Being the first to be fully awake I took a shower, brushed my teeth, got changed and packed my leotard along with my pointe shoes into my gym bag. Yes, it was the first day of University but it was also My last day at the academy. With half closed eyelids I stumbled my way to the kitchen, preparing a quick toast to eat on the way.

                                                                     ***                                                                      

We spent the first hour of the morning with our daily stretches. The usual people were there: Angela and Liz the two twins, Sofia, Louise, Mary, Sianna, Lola the list goes on. The two boys were also there; Johnny and Oliver. Madam Chambers stood grounded at the front with her own barre demonstrating what everyone in the room had already probably memorised off by heart.

"Barre Stretch everybody" Madam Chambers spoke out making everyone immediately get t-o their section on barre, carrying out the stretch.

"Make sure your backs are straight, don't bend it. Now hold for 30 seconds... Ok Change" She commanded and all at once we swapped our legs. "I hate this stretch" Sofia muttered beneath her breath, pulling the face of pain. She came just last year but we became really close since she too had an older brother and could relate to what I have to go through. However unlike me Sofia was a bit more rebellious, She wasn't afraid of bending the rules a little which I kind of like about her.

"Sofia, Jinri stops muttering!"

We moved on to the next routine we'd be doing, We had been working on it for a while now and would be my last dance with the guys here. We worked hard though, it was a productive morning and ended the session just before it got to 7:30 after they had surprised me and Sofia with a mini group party with full english breakfast instead of the usual cake. I would have literally have cried seeing as though I spent most of my teenage years here however I had been way to excited for Eastwood. I checked my watch again and I still had time to quickly go back home seeing as though  today was the first day of college. School started at 10:30 just for the newcomers while everyone else would have to come at the normal time which was lucky since I had absolutely stunk after that.

“Are you excited?" Sofia asked as we quickly got changed back into our tracksuit bottoms. She was the only other person in the academy that was coming to Eastwood with me however she didn't need a scholarship since she was lucky enough to have parents that could afford the school fees.

"For University of course I am, why?"

"Nothing" But her eyes glinted a little something more on what she told me although before I could ask Sofia abruptly stood up grabbing her gym bag . "I have to go, See you" She said speeding off through the doors. She wasn't usually like that; normally we would wait by the bus stop together making me more certain that something was up. Pushing the thought to the side I made my way back home.

The reception was quite and almost isolated apart from the few cleaners, polishing the already gleaming floor. Summer Ville Arts was home to a few different people; Bands, Figure skaters, Street dancers, singers, actors that whole lot was here, It was basically the Eastwood of  the after school clubs around the area and a platform into getting to Eastwood itself. By when I had first entered ballet here the place was still newly renovated and being only 10 the placed looked massive. Along with the long corridors and heavy wooden doors the place was amazing back then but now the walls had started to dull, hardened gum could be found behind every locker and litter scattered across the floor. Never the less it was still the temple that sheltered the many aspiring artists here; may that be a singer or a dancer, In fact quite a lot of the younger youths from the town had came here for at least one class provided by the centre.

‘Ahem’

A man stood behind me a broom lock in his hands, staring down at me waiting for me to move. ‘Sorry’ I said moving to side, He brushed passed me sweeping ahead of him with an obvious glint of annoyance. I should get home...

***

By 8 that morning I arrived home only to see the cushions that were once placed neatly on the sofa scattered about it every nook and cranny of the room. Joshua Hurried past me, looking for another place to destroy.

“What you doing?” I asked as he pulled away shoes from the shoes cupboard.

“I well you know just thought of making a mess today” He said in a sarcastic tone “I’m looking for the keys for my car, do you perhaps know where they are?”

“No”

“Well, thanks for your help then” He spat looking a lot more irritated , watching him as he searched the whole house. “Why do you need them? Your school is only down the road from here. Anyways you could just ring the bell; Mum and I would be here anyway”

 “Can’t, Jonathan’s having a party at his tonight after school at his new house  and it'spretty far so need my car, Mum doesn’t know I’m going and she thinks I’m only going round Mike’s because you know she trusts him”

“What if she calls him to check up on you?”

“Told him the plan, His got my back.” He could see I doubted his plan. Joshua had always been the more rebellious one out of us. He once was caught with a girl the next day. I would never forget the horror that shone in my mother’s eye after she came out of his room. He certainly got the telling off that evening, once mother could process whatever she had seen. “Found ‘em” He sighed in relief. He proceeded to shove the keys in his Jeans, heading off. “See ya Jin” He said slamming the door as he left. I stood there a minute or two staring at our front door as worry started spilling into my stomach, I was never a good ending when Joshua had a ‘plan’.

Realising that I needed to prepare for school; I rushed up the stairs and grabbing the nearest clean towel I could find, I jumped straight into the shower to cool myself for the school day.

Minutes later I felt refreshed; all that sweat from this morning’s training was now replaced by the soapy, fresh smell of flowers. It was 8:50 now and it would take me approximately 1 hour and a bit  to drive to Eastwood. Pulling open my wardrobe, I was expecting a miraculous outfit to be ready before my very eyes but instead I was met by a pile of uncoordinated clothes gushing out from the cramped shelves. It can never be too easy can it? Grabbing the first top and jeans I could find through the mountain of clothes I quickly put them on, grabbed my pre- prepared bag and dashed off towards my car.

***

The school was jam packed with students a lot more then what I had remembered during orientation. You could clearly tell who was new and who wasn’t. Groups of girls and guys walked around like herds of sheep following the clear leader of the group while the new scholars wonder around like lost ones. We were all going to meet at the main auditorium for a introduction from the headmaster and get our timetable and classes organised.

I made my way towards the entrance of the university; I am so not about to be late again, it was 10:05 so I had 25minutes to find my ways towards the auditorium. The thunder of the school bell rang through the hallways indicating the start of period 2 for the older students. As people started hurrying down through the corridors to their next class the hallways soon became empty making it easier to find where I was supposed to go. The signs above me had no indication of where the hell this auditorium was, Does this thing actually exist? The whole campus was huge and to make things worst I don’t even know if I was in the right building or not. Looking around all I could see was long corridors and doors upon doors.

“Jinri?”

I turned around and Stephanie was standing there; she was wearing a floral summer dress with a shoulder bag hanging from her shoulder and had small pumps on her feet. You could kinda of guess she would later come to be one of the prettiest girls around the school. “ Hey Stephanie” I greeted her, her ponytail swinging behind her as she made her way towards me with a wide smile on her face.

“Stop calling me that you sound like my mother, call me Steph instead’

“ Do you know where we’re meant to actually be? I’ve spent nearly 10 minutes trying to find my way to the auditorium and you know what happened last time” I asked her as she reached me, laughing at the memory of being late.

“Yh course I do; My sister showed me the way there once. I think it's this way” she said in thought as she  pointed towards a long hallway. We proceeded to walk taking a few sneaky peeks into the classrooms we walked passed.

“ Can you even believe we’re actually here now!” She exclaimed with obvious excitement. “Like, my sister would constantly talk about this school obviously knowing that I would be envious of her, seeing as though our parents couldn’t afford to send me there as well. But to think I actually got a scholarship here, I can’t believe it!”

“Neither can I really”

As we turned the next corner, we were met by a line of students all waiting to enter the next room. People stood waiting awkwardly, keeping to themselves  whilst others tried desperately to make friends with those around them. Suddenly Mr Thomas came out, introducing himself once again to us before allowing us into the room.

***

The auditorium was huge, there was no doubt about it, the room was filled with rows upon rows of seats and at the front there stood the tremendous stage in which had been the background of the many Eastwood videos I had watched back when I was younger. How I would love to be up there dancing.

“This as most you may already know is called the Orchid, it is one of the biggest stages in the country and many who have had the chance to perform on this stage have gone off to live their dreams. Now I’m sure I’ll be seeing some of you performing on this stage some day, am I right?” Mr Thomas said as he led us down to the very front of the stage filling In each row. Steph and I sat together as we didn’t really know anyone else here. We stayed quiet though, not saying anything to one another as we were just still amazed by what we were seeing. Nothing much to others  maybe but everything to us. Yes, you may have to be better than others to get into Eastwood but you needed to be special to shine on the famous orchid stage.

“ Anyway some bad news, The headmaster is unable to attend this moment in time but I will be here to sort you out on your first day. So we’ll start with some admin work, you’ll get your timetable, photos taken for your ID then we’ll do some friendly get-to-know-each other games just before lunch’ He announced “So now when I call your name out come up to the front to get your timetable and photo taken, so Mark Abott , Sofia Adams and Lucy Allen please come up” The people stood up from their seats and made their way to the front. I recognised Sofia from dance and tried calling out for her but she seemed to not have heard me and continued on walking.

“Well you just got blanked.” Steph commented, noticing what just happened and making me roll my eyes in response. “How do you know her anyway?

“We go to the same dance school before coming here, they even gave us a leaving party this morning since it was our last day there. She probably just didn’t hear me.” I said waiting for my name to be called. A few more people went up before I was finally called. Making my way towards the front I immediately became quite nervous.

“Ah Jinri, I  remember you. How have you been?” Mr Thomas asked as he passed me my timetable.

“I’m fine” I told him, grabbing the papers in his hand and moving towards the area where they were taking photos. It was up on the stage; there was a white studio background and the photography took one quick snap and it was the next persons turn. As I walked up the stage’ The studio lights covered my eyes but as soon as they began to adjust to the light, all I could  see was the vast number of maroon covers seats and the golden details in the balconies hanging up high on the walls. For a brief second, I had closed my eyes imagining what it have been like to be dancing up here on stage, wearing the  beautiful, handmade costumes and the music playing in her ears.

“Next” The photographer shouted whilst her examined his previous shot. “Hurry up please I have a lot of work to do today”

“Sorry” I quickly said taking my position in front of the white screen, plastering a wide smile on my face before the blinding flash was released by the camera. The photographer came up to me showing me a quick glimpse of the image and moved on hurriedly to the next person.

***

By the time we had gotten our lunch  from the canteen, most of the seats had already been taken up by the other students but we found two seats at the far end of one table at the back were most of the scholar students were seating as well. Finally sitting down I took a big chunk in the hamburger whilst shoving a few chips in there as well.

“Well your hungry” Steph said watching me gobble down my food.

“Well that's cause I love food” I told her when suddenly  I felt a tap on my shoulder causing me to turn around; and to my surprise he was standing right there in front of me.

“Um Jinri right?” He asked, his soothing voice causing the pattern of my heartbeat to go abnormally fast and suddenly making me feel so self cautious about the crumbs splattered across my mouth.

“Yh, Andrew?” I asked not really remembering his name but his face was still clear as day from the moment I had first saw him next to me.

"I can't believe your here"

"I can't believe it either to be honest with you" I told him in a state of trance, looking deep into his brown eyes. I snapped my head away to drain my concentration unto my food instead; trying to avoid staring at him once again.

"Really? how you finding it so far then?" He asked and by now he had sat beside me, and proceeded in taking a bite out of his apple, (and in a very endearing way I must say) God help me! I could feel the sweat forming on my forehead which is great cause this is exactly what I need to be right now; A complete sweat bucket.

"I guess its fine" I replied looking at Steph's who's mouth was slightly agape; Eyes watching him this whole time. She caught me looking at her and widened her eyes trying to tell me something."What?" I mouthed to her causing her to nod her head towards Andrew who was too busy eating away.

"Andrew this is my friend Steph and Steph this is Andrew"

"Hey"

"Hi"

"Anyways better get going my own friends are waiting for me but I'll see you around"

"Yh sure I'll see you around" Getting up, he made his way towards a group at the other end of the canteen. My eyes drifted towards a the back of a girl who was obviously sat on a guy eating the hell out of his face. Ew...

 "Um why didn't you tell me you knew a hot guy here?" Stephanie exclaimed as soon as Andrew left. "Like a seriously hot one!"

"I didn't know he was here" I said going back to eating my hamburger "Plus he's not that hot is he?"

"You're kidding right? I mean I swear every girl present was legit gawking"

"Really?" I slowly turned around, and with the exact words Steph said, they were gawking.

"Uh Yeah!"

"Well, we should get going, don't want to be late" I told her, shoving the rest of the burger into my mouth before getting up. Walking towards the bin I noticed the vast amount of eyes following me and it wasn't the stares of admiration but more like the stares of death. What the heck did I do now?

***

I've sat on the carpet (well I say carpet but technically it was mainly my clothes sprawled across the floor) and my indecisive mind for ages now I've still haven't decided whether I  should bring this cosy pink jumper or this maroon halter top? Decisions, decisions. I ended up just bringing the both of them cause you know a girl needs her options.

"I can't believe you're leaving. My baby girl is turning into young woman!" Mum leaned against my doorframe watching me as I tossed my clothes into a huge black suitcase at the other end of the room. "But first you need to learn how to fold your clothes"

"I know how to fold  my clothes mum"

"From what I see you can't and since this is your last night with us. I think I just spend this time with you" She said, a soft smile painted on her face as she kneeled in front of the suitcase and proceeded to folding my clothes. We talked about small matters and recalled back past memories; laughing at happy times and sniffing at the sad ones. By the time I had placed the last of the clothes I would be bringing, it had already been 11:46 pm and my eyes were slowly aching to close themselves but I promised to call Krystal back  in london. Forcing my body to get back up to get the phone, I dailled her number and within seconds her voice was on the other side.

"Jinri! I was waiting all evening!" She said her voice full of joy, making me smile a litte. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too Krystal, anyway how is it there in London? Met any cute guys yet?" I asked jokingly but with a hint of seriousness. " I mean I have"

"What! you need to tell me about it!" Krystal said with much eagerness." I mean over here there are a few but haven't met one yet"

"Well we met on the train on the way back from london and it turns out we go to the same school, he does ballet as well and he is gorgous" I told her before hearing a deafening scream coming from the other end causing me to pull my phone away from my ear to prevent the possibilty of deafness.

"I can't believe it, You know what this mean right?"

"What?"

"It's meant to be!"

"Stop it we've only just met, anyway still know nothing about the guy"

"Yh yh keep talling yourself that! Anyway even though I've seriously missed you and would love to talk for longer, it's still pretty late and you must be tired so I'll let you sleep because you need the rest Jinri. Goodnight then!"

"Goodnight! miss you " I told her before hanging up the phone and laying back into my bed. I'm gonna miss the girl so bad! I though as the warmth of the thick duvet surrounded me, causing every ounce of my muscles to relax and slowing I was transported to dreamland.

Authors Note;

Hey Hey Hey! I'm back, so chapter 5 is up. Again I hoped you enjoyed this weeks chapter and just know That I would be making a double update on Christmas eve and Christmas day so stay tuned for that. Like always please please comment any thoughts, improvements and suggestions for this story! Thank you soo much for reading!!

Jcookiecakes xxx