Tendu

Tendu means "tight or stretched." A tendu is one of the fundamental movements in ballet where the working leg is extended along the floor until only the tip of the toe remains touching the floor.

J A D E N

"What!" I heard someone scream from downstairs.

I groaned and rolled over to the side of the bed but I couldn't fall asleep because the screaming continued.

Looking out the window, I saw Miss Curtis standing in the balcony with a few maids.

"Even the maids aren't spared from her bitter nature." I said to myself and made my way downstairs.

"... Who made this mess?!" Miss Curtis's voice yelled.

"What's going on so early?!" I yawned.

"If you don't tell me who did this in the next second, everyone present will lose their jobs." She said again, ignoring my question.

All three maids just stood quiet, looking at their shoes.

If I don't help then, they stand s chance of losing their job.

"You all can leave." I said aloud, causing everyone to stare at me.

The maids exchanged glances at each other and one by one ran away from the garden.

I streched while letting out a yawn, my eyes caught Marielle glaring at me stop I just shot her am innocent look.

"What gives you the right to tell my workers to leave without me dismissing them." She asked calmly.

"They seemed terrified of you and I'm pretty sure it isn't their fault." I answered gesturing to the surrounding.

"Not their fault?" She shot me a deadly look. "Since it's not their fault, I want you to clean this up and not come inside the house until there are no more pink petals everywhere." She ordered.

"Marie, that's not nece-" Irene tried to say but Marie waved away the idea immediately.

"It's fine, Miss Irene. I'll clean it up." I replied with a smile.

Marielle just held onto Miss Irene's arm and walked away without shooting a second glance at me.

I walked towards the door to get the full picture of what I'm supposed to clean. From the door, I could clearly see that I shouldn't have said anything to the maids because it really did not look like a one person job.

"Better start cleaning, I guess." My brain told me.

After sweeping for hours, I finally managed to gather all pink petals and decided to take a well deserved break and headed to the room.

I grabbed my phone from the bed after which I pressed the home button and the time displayed on the screen showed it was almost 9:00PM.

Did I actually spend all day cleaning the garden?

After throwing the phone back on the bed, I entered the bathroomand took a long shower. I came out with a towel wrapped around my waist and body still dripping water.

I noticed the my door was left wide open which is strange because I know it was closed before I went into the bathroom. I walked over to the door to close it but i saw a shadow run past through the back door.

Walking outside, my eyes shifted from the back door to the living room, the chandelier was shaking and was about to drop while Miss Marielle stuck under not moving but staring at it shake.

"Miss Marielle!" I screamed but she didn't budge.

This woman is cuckoo.

Wasting no time, I held my towel tight and sprinted to the living room. I succeeded in moving and shielding her from the drop of the chandelier.

With her eyes sealed shut, her body trembling in fear, she held onto me tightly, still bracing herself from the impact.

I lifted her up, gazing at nothing else except her face. Her eyes slowly opened and her eyes met mine.

After slowly dropping her on the sofa and stop not breaking eye contact, my towel dropped and I immediately picked it up and wrapped it around my body while she turned away immediately.

Suddenly, the sound of the doorbell echoced through the house and I took a deep breath.

I opened the door and a tall man stood at the opposite side of the door. He looked genuinely taken aback by my appearance but it didn't stop him from entering the house.

He observed the sight I'm front of him and went straight to Miss Marielle who just looked at him like he was trash.

"May I help you?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"I'm Justin Tim, the new dance instructor of prima ballerinas." He introduced, sticking out his hand.

"What do you want?" She ignored the hand he brought out.

"It seems I came at the wrong time," He looked at the fallen chandelier. "What happened here?" He asked.

"An accident." Miss Marielle answered.

"Have you informed the police?" He asked again.

"I don't want the police to get involved." She stated.

"Why not? This is a seri-"

"What do you want from me Mr Tim?" She interrupted.

"The act of this year is titled Giselle, and I want you to be Giselle." He offered.

"I am sorry, I am no longer interested in dancing." She firmly said.

"But this could be your comeback! I came all this way just so I could convince you to make a comeback in the ballet world."

"I'm sorry Mr Tim. I am just not interested. You should leave."

"I will convince you one way or another Marielle. If you change your mind, here's my card." He offered but she didn't take it.

"I'm leaving this here." He announced before dropping it on the table and made his way to the door.

"For heaven's sake put some clothes on!" He told me before leaving for good and I locked the door.

I turned around to face Miss Marielle but she looked very distracted.

"Take me upstairs." She commanded.

I picked her up and began to make my way to her room. While going upstairs, I stepped on a few glass pieces before successfully dropping Marielle in her room.

I went back to my room and noticed I left blood traces on the polished tiles.

Now she has a reason to actually get mad and complain tomorrow.

Sitting on a stool, I brought my leg up and tried to remove the glass pieces that managed to get stuck in my foot.

It was a failed attempt because each time I held the tip of the pieces, it would hurt and I'd end up letting it go.

There's no one else except Miss Marielle at home that could help me with the pieces so I just have to man up an-

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts and it opened to reveal Miss Marielle with a walking stick and a small box in her other hand.

"You left blood traces in my room so I decided to get you this." She said showing the first aid box properly.

She shakingly walked towards me, so I tried to get up to get her but she waved her hand frantically, causing me to sit back down.

Immediately she reached the stool, she fell on the bed and faced me with apologetic eyes.

"Show me." She scowled.

Even has a mean expression when she wants to help, but for some strange reason, her scowl didn't irritate me but instead made me smile.

I placed my leg on the bed while she opened the first aid box and brought out a pair of tweezers.

"This might hurt." She said with a straight face before using it to bring out the glass pieces stuck in my foot and bandaging the foot.

"You should stay in bed for awhile." She ordered and slowly walked outside my room.

Maybe she's not so bad after all.