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Fiction Holiday Creative Nonfiction

Title: I'm Just a "backup"

Author: Haripriya


Author's Note: Hello everyone! This story wasn't one of my best ones because I included the prompt at the end of the story, so it might be a little disappointing to many of you. But either way, I just wanted to post this story to get some feedback and suggestions for this story. Other than those quick words, I hope you kind of enjoy what I've written, and please feel free to comment down below on what you think about this entire story! I hope you have a great, lovely Saturday and happy holidays!!


My favorite thing in this whole wide world is being a ballerina. I feel really proud of myself when I dance. It's almost like I go into my own world, my own place. As I move, as I close my eyes, I just dance my heart out. Learning new techniques, more advanced steps, doing all of that is my favorite thing about being a dancer. I love being myself, and just doing my steps without anyone bothering me. Like I'm in my own secret world, where no one ever bothers me at all. It's my passion, and I just love doing it.Β 

"Hey Bella!" my friend, Anna calls out.

"Hey! I'm just doing some warm-up moves and practices before class starts. Anyways, why are you here so early?" I ask.

"I should be askingΒ youΒ that question. I'm early because I want to practice my whipped throw. I did terrible last class when you all did it so perfectly. So I'm going to redeem myself from that humiliation." she said as she put her backpack down.Β 

"Well, I can give you some pointers...maybe you can use that?" I suggest.

"Sure Bella. But let me ask you know. Why are you here so early? You're always early for every class." she points out.

I feel my face flushed. Getting tomato red. I try to hide my face from her, to not get embarrassed.

"Iβ€”Well, I'm here because...I just want to practice for the audition for the Nutcracker." I admit, and without even looking at a mirror, I can tell my face looks like I just dipped my head in a bucket full of red paint.

"But that isn't until another week. Besides, we have other things to practice too," she says and continues practicing the whipped throw.

"You're right," I say, "You know, if you want, maybe we can learn the whipped throw together?" I ask her.

Anna chuckles, and after she gets her breath, she makes out these words, "Of course Bella. I love to do anything with you."

I smile too, feeling quite happy.

"Well, the professional and more of a correct term to say the whipped throw is FouettΓ©," I say, not trying to lookΒ tooΒ smart.

"Yeah, I know, it's just that no matter how hard I try to pronounce it, the word doesn't stick to my head. Also, saying whipped throw/whipped turning is just much easier than pronouncing that word," she replies.

I just nod my head, and we both start practicing together.

"After we do the FouettΓ©, we're going to do the Pirouette. That way, for this class, we'll be good to go. According to my watch, class starts in another fifteen minutes." I tell her.

"Ok, so let's start." she agrees back.

I take a deep breath, and officially start telling her how to conquer the move.Β 

"To do the FouettΓ©, you need to first turn on one foot while turning it fastly outward, then quickly inward, just like how I'm doing, see?" I explain to her while demonstrating how my foot moves.

"Ok, so all I do is turn, turn my foot outward, and then inward. Then repeat these series of steps and do it fast later," she tells me.

"Exactly Anna!" I encourage her. "No wonder why everyone tells you you're a fast learner!" I add, and I see her smile becoming wider.

"Thanks, Bella," she says.Β 

I coach her on how to do this move a few more times so that she could memorize it quickly and learn it faster gradually. Soon, I even asked her to do the step alone while I counted her beats.

"One, two, three...one, two, threeβ€”Anna, you did it! That's all it takes! You're so close to mastering it!" I exclaim.Β 

"Really? Wow Iβ€”I didn't even know that! Th..thanks, Bella! You really are the best friend." she tells me, which makes me feel happy.

I quickly glance at the time to see that it's already 10: 50 am.Β 

"Hey Anna, we still have ten more minutes, do you want to start doing the Pirouette?" I ask her, trying to wait to hear her opinion.

"Umm...sure! But, we haven't learned that in class, so how can you teach me?" she questions, and I look down.

"Well...you see Anna, when I'm at home, I kind of teach myself all the moves. I look at famous plays and shows, which is how I learned all these moves really quickly." I confess.

I didn't know how she would think about me when I told her this.

"Really Bella? That's amazing! You know, you deserve to climb higher in your ballerina career." she says.

"Thanks, at least I hope so. So far, I haven't gotten picked in any auditions...so maybe? But thanks for always cheering me up Anna." I tell her as we start to practice the next move.

I do some quick stretches and warm-ups in my legs for us to start the next move.

"The Pirouette is a very important move in ballerina. It is when you spin on one foot while the other foot is on the knee. The foot which is on the knee is kind of supporting the leg while you do the dance move. But sometimes when you try to spin on one foot, people tend to break their toes and things like that which is why I'm going to show you the simplest method of learning the move." I explain to her.

I show her how to carefully spin, without breaking bones or any other parts of your foot. I help her try to balance the foot, and I continue to show her.Β 

"Look carefully Anna, the spinning foot should move in a smooth direction for the flow to be a bit better," I suggest to her.

To help her learn the move a bit easier while keeping on the beat, I show her some guidelines and let her try to do it by herself.

"Wow, Bella! When you break the movements down like this, I feel like I can do any steps! Thank you so much!" she yells in joy.

"Your welcome Anna, and look! We finished our practice right on time for class!" I tell her.

"You're right, I guess I'll see you in class!" she waves, and I wave back at her.

πŸŸ‘πŸŸ‘πŸŸ‘

"Students, please sit down. In this class, we're going to take auditions forΒ The Nutcracker,Β because Christmas is coming up and holidays are coming up, we need to pick the best of the best students to perform," Mrs. Juan explains.

"So, how many people will be picked, Mrs. Juan?" Anna asks.

"Good question Anna. I will pick 25 students, and from those 25 students, I will pick 6 of them to do multiple roles. Plus, we're going to be performing out of town! So a week before the performance, the 25 students will go on tour with me, and there we will set up everything for the performance." Mrs. Juan continues explaining to the students.Β 

Oh my gosh! Will all my practice and hard work be enough for the surprise audition? Will there be, even a sliver of a chance that I can get the main role, Clara? Or the Sugar Plum Fairy? Was I meant for this all my life?Β questions fill my mind as Mrs. Juan tells us all the directions.

"Now fellow ballerinas, the auditions will begin. Each student will show me what we've been practicing so far. They will also show separate moves and will have to answer questions." Mrs. Juan clarifies.

"Will the audition for each girl be done in front of everyone, or separately?" I ask, my heart pounding nervously for her answer.Β 

"To answer your question Bella, yes, they will be done separately. No one should receive help from any other students under any circumstance. To avoid that, we are going to test each of you for different moves." she construes.

I feel so much better that I don't have to be in the spotlight, and do it in front of everyone. If I mess up, only Mrs. Juan will be there to see.Β I think relieved.

"Any other questions girls? If no, we are going to start the auditions. The first person I have on my list is Anna C. and Bella L." she continues.

"I wish you the best of luck Anna, I know you'll do great," I whisper to Anna quietly.

"Really? I know you'll do an amazing job too," she whispered back.

It had been some time since Anna was in there and the rest of us were out. We were waiting for about ten minutes, and out of curiosity, without anyone seeing me, I peeked at the door to see Anna doing the Pirouette.

I hope she does great.Β I pray.

But after some time, I see that she's done with a smile on her face.

"Hey, Anna! How did it go?" I ask.

"Well, I did everything the way you taught me, and I saw she was impressed, but she said she'll only announce the results at the end of everyone's audition, basically next week," Anna told me.

"Ok. I can wait that long." I tell her, and as soon as I do, I hear my name called next.

πŸŸ‘πŸŸ‘πŸŸ‘

"Bella Lemaire!" Mrs. Juan called.

"Sorry Mrs. Juan! I'm here!" I holler back.

"Good. Now Ms. Lemaire, let's see what you got. Do a FouttΓ©, then slide onto an Etendre, and end with a Plier. Finally, stand in the second position." she instructs me.

I hold my breath really deep, and then I close my eyes. Her moves chorus through my ears as I hear the music played. I tried to be calm and more swift, as a real ballerina would do. After I was done, she stopped the music, and smiled, then looked down at her paper, almost like she was writing something down.

"Very good Mr. Lemaire, now I want you to answer me this question. In ballet, what three things do you need to be an excellent ballet dancer?" she asks.

I look down anxiously and look up at the ceiling.

"Umm...you needβ€”poise, hard work, and...andβ€”determination," I respond hesitantly.

"Very well then Mrs. Lemaire, you may go out and the results will be announced next week," she says.

"Thank you, Mrs. Juan!" I say as I walked out.

"So? How did everything go Bella? Did you rock it? I meanβ€”did you gracefully rock it?" she asks which makes me giggle a little.

"I tried my best Anna, but only next week will we know the audition results," I say as a twirl out of the common room to get some water.

"See you next week Bella!" she shouts.

"See you too Anna!" I yell back as we both head out our separate ways.Β 

πŸŸ‘πŸŸ‘πŸŸ‘

"Girls! The audition results have been announced. As the role of Clara, we have Anna, and the back-up dancer of Clara is Bella," she announces. "...and then for the Sugar Plum fairy..." she continues announcing, but I don't listen to any of that.

I'm happy for Anna, but why am I a backup dancer? I thought I would at least any role.Β I question myself over and over again.

Next to me, I see Anna happy, so I congratulate her, having a fake smile on my face.

"See Anna? I told you that you rocked the audition!" I exclaim, but still, the melancholiness doesn't disappear in my tone. Luckily, Anna doesn't notice that.

"Thank you so much, Bella! Without your support, I couldn't have got this role!" she says, and I smile at her, though deep down, I still feel pretty upset about being a backup dancer.

When we're going on tour, I just want to have a peaceful trip, without any distractions. After all, I'm just a backup dancer. I'll have a lot of free time to hang around by myself while the others are rehearsing.Β I say to comfort myself from everything that had just happened to me.

~The End~Β 


December 19, 2020 18:58

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42 comments

Hello everyone! To be honest, this isn't one of those stories I'm really proud of. Here's why: 1. Honestly, I know NOTHING about ballerina in general. So if some of the things I included in this story is just a complete blunder, PLEASE let me know! I don't know if the moves I wrote or the different positions I wrote was even correct, so that's why I humbly request you to correct me! 2. For some reason, in this story, I included the prompt thing at the very end which I generally don't like doing because it seems like I forgot about the prom...

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22:37 Dec 19, 2020

Actually, I like it much better that Bella was a backup! It added tension to the story!!!

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Nora K.
14:11 Dec 20, 2020

Hey there Haripriya!! :) This story was so incredibly spectacular!! Your characters and dialogue are marvelously detailed, and your names are so creative and unique! The metaphors and similes that you used in this story were wonderful!! Your descriptions were so very creatively detailed and captivating! The friendship between Anna and Bella is wonderfully realistic, as well as the characters’ emotions!! I absolutely love The Nutcracker, I have seen and listened to it about fifty-million times!! It’s such a spectacular performance, I’m so gla...

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Jana Diriyeh
19:40 Jan 11, 2021

The story is great with detailed description! It was kinda weird that Bella didnt hate Anna in the end, or just show random negative emotions. but the idea is super cool and awesome!

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Hello there!! I am so glad that you enjoyed the story Jana! Thank you for your feedback! Really helped a lot! :)

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Hi Haripriya!!! Great work, really felt like you knew a few things about ballerinas! Just a few corrections... "Exactly Bella!" I encourage her." I think u mean Anna. "One, two, three...one, two, threeβ€”Bella, you did it! Again Anna. "Hey Bella, we still have ten more minutes" One last time:) Other than that it was incredible!!! Great work:)

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Oh, yeah...sorry for the name switches...I was confused while writing, thanks for catching them! XP Also, thank you so much! :)

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03:37 Dec 20, 2020

Wow this was really good! I’m Not a ballerina but it sounded good to me πŸ˜†. It really flowed nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed this. P.S. could we do an upvote for upvote spree? The darn downvoters are back at it again.

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Hello Abby!! I am so glad that the ballerina terms sounded like I knew something about it... About upvoting, I'll do it for you! Just not right now, but later tomorrow (like the 20th...)

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03:53 Dec 20, 2020

Haha, it did lol. And thank you so much, that sounds great!

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OK...so it's been quite some time and I got up to doing 4 pages, I'm sorry, I know that's not a lot...but that's only as far I got to this upvoting thing. I'll make sure to do some later! :)

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02:48 Dec 21, 2020

Oh, thank.you so.much! I will be sure and upvote you!

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22:36 Dec 19, 2020

I thought this was amazing! I think you could have maneuvered the prompt better by Bella thinking, "If I hadn't taught Anna the pirouette, I would have been Clara! This is so unfair.... etc., etc. And then she could have been like, "ughhhhh I'm tired of all this... I just want peace and quiet" I know that Bella and Anna are good friends, but you could have said that Anna was Mrs. Juan's favorite so you thought the whole was rigged. Just to add some drama lol :) Great job! Keep up the great work!!!! (also, switch the places of the fouette a...

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22:36 Dec 19, 2020

I mean, make it so that Anna didn't know how to do the fouette, but she was practicing her pirouettes. :D

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Hey Jennie!! I am so glad you liked the story! Also, LOVE the drama! Based on my research, I saw that the Pirouette was the hardest thing to learn...now idk if that's true or not, but that's just what I read. I'll get back to you as soon as I find more things about this, but thanks for correcting me!

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22:52 Dec 19, 2020

wait really? I did ballet from when I was six to eight (then I quit yayyy) and I learned to pirouette pretty early... I guess it's the hardest to MASTER (we getting technical here) but definitely you would learn it pretty early

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Oh my gosh, if I'm wrong...then I'm sorry. Here, I'll tell you where I saw it. ... "Pirouettes. Pirouettes are notoriously one of the most difficult ballet moves and it can take years for a dancer to learn how to properly execute a pirouette. One of the most common and widely known dance moves, however, it requires an insane amount of balance and technique."~Google

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00:22 Dec 20, 2020

Yes, that is true! I suck at pirouettes because I can't complete a full rotation! but the key thing is "...learn how to properly execute a pirouette... " so I agree with you it is one of the most difficult, so I find it hard that Anna hadn't learned it before the class, but then executed it perfectly in the audition... anyways, I'm just being nitpicky... The story was amazing!

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Writers Block
15:34 Dec 27, 2020

Nice touches of technique descriptions and good story line leading up to a goal (I.e. the nutcracker).

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04:16 Dec 27, 2020

Not disappointing at all! Descriptions were so detailed, the story had such tension and suspense, and your dialogue is so real!

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A. E.
07:26 Dec 23, 2020

I really liked how you explained each movement. One correction is that if she was auditioning for the role of Clara she probably would've known how to do a pirouette. ( Also a pirouette isn't a proper noun.) I really liked how much detail you put into the story, and I was surprised that you didn't know much about ballet.

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Hello! Sorry, I didn't know that!!! Just for the flow of this story, I just wanted to add that in...so yeah. :( Really? I just wanted to capitalize it because since it is a move in ballet, to make it a proper noun, but thanks for letting me know!!! :) Actually, no, I don't really know much about ballet. I do know there are positions (up to 5th... I think??) and these two moves, that's all. But I am so glad that you actually thought I knew something about it! XP

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Coco Longstaff
12:36 Jan 04, 2021

Hewo I got interested in this when you talked about ballet I used to do it 3 or 4 years ago but I quit when it got too hard Aww, its so nice how Anna and Bella are such good friends Hmm I wanted Bella to be Clara....too bad. Anyway, good story!

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Thank you so much! Also, really, you did? That's so cool!

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Coco Longstaff
23:27 Jan 04, 2021

Oh yes I did, and you’re welcome!

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