The Cursed Ballet Read Online Free

then, whether you want it or not, Madeleine, Sophie, Emma, and I are watching your back.”
    Before Ophelia could respond, Kayley marched out of the room.
    Ophelia stared at the door in disbelief. Was that some sort of threat? Had her friends been spying on her? Did they know about Devon?
    Panic gripped her as she searched her mind, trying to find a time when someone might have spotted her. But it couldn’t be. Devon would have noticed, even if Ophelia hadn’t.
    How dare the girls decide they knew what was best for her! They were jealous of her dancing. They were jealous that she’d found something (someone) else to take up her time, that she no longer involved herself in their petty lives and the school’s petty goings-on.
    Jealous.
    Rage raced through Ophelia. She needed some distraction before her midnight date with Devon. She tapped her mouth with her fingers, trying to think of what could work.
    Riffling through her closet, she found the old box she kept full of yearbooks, show programs, and old notebooks. She dug through the box and came up with what she was looking for: a journal. Her mom had given her the journal when she came to Dario Quincy three years ago. But since Ophelia wasn’t much for feelings, she’d tossed the journal aside with a snort and hadn’t thought of it since.
    Now, though, she felt this was the perfect time to put down her thoughts. She felt compelled to write about Devon. He was so ethereal that she was afraid he would disappear. She wanted to write down everything he said or did, everything he made her feel. And she wanted to write about her friends and how strange they were acting.
    She opened up the diary and wrote the first words that came to mind:
    My friends are acting strange, and I know it is because they are jealous. The only thing that gives me comfort right now is Devon. Dancing with him makes the whole world disappear. I find that I long for him every single night—I wait with bated breath to be reunited with him. He feeds my soul like nothing else can. I needn’t eat nor sleep, for Devon is my nourishment. Those around me only serve as distractions, and they will never understand this need I have for him, this yearning that consumes me.
    After an hour and a cramped hand—who ever writes longhand anymore instead of using a computer?—she read over the first few lines. Crinkling her forehead, she reread them. The words were exactly how she felt, only somehow, they didn’t sound like her.
    A trickle of nervousness ran through her. Kayley’s words about the strangeness of the house echoed around Ophelia’s head. Then she happened to glance at the clock. Eleven fifty.
    She jumped up and got ready to sprint to the dance studio.
    Devon would be there, and she couldn’t be late.

Chapter 7
    In ballet class that Monday, Ophelia was on cloud nine again. She and Devon danced the entire weekend, ending with a kiss that made Ophelia shiver every time she thought about it. Part of her wondered if that was because of his always-cold hands, but she knew it was because of something else: she was falling in love.
    Ophelia stayed far away from Kayley, Madeleine, Sophie, and Emma during practice, but she could still notice their quick glances and their worried expressions.
    As Ophelia relaced her shoe, hanging back from the center of the room for the third time, Madeleine tiptoed toward her. When Ophelia stood up, she was face-to-face with Madeleine’s worried, kind eyes. Darkness threatened to overtake Ophelia—she must have stood up too fast. But the darkness receded into little points of light, and she looked at Madeleine impatiently.
    â€œWhat?” she whispered to Madeleine, in no mood to deal with whatever nonsense Madeleine was going to spout.
    â€œWe’re worried about you,” Madeleine whispered back.
    Ophelia’s eyes turned cold. “I don’t need your worry.” She flipped around to the barre and