My foot was tapping restlessly as I stared up at the assembly stage. They were just finishing talking about the football team and their victory to a rival school and then I was going to be next up there.

Leo, the lucky son of a bitch, managed to get his Mum to persuade the Head Teacher for it to just be me to go up on stage as he had a 'doctors appointment'.

That was complete and utter bullshit since I saw him sneak in 5 minutes ago and hide in the back corner of the assembly hall.

I knew he just wanted to see me suffer up on stage by myself. What an asshole.

"And now onto another victory on behalf of the school. Last weekend one of our Year 11's went to the county hall to compete in a dance competition which was against Dance Schools all across the country and, of course, they brought home the trophy." Mr Collins' smile stretched from ear to ear but you could just tell that he was sick of presenting students achievements by how forced his enthusiasm was.

He can't exactly complain though, he decided he wanted to be a Head Teacher so he had to go with all the necessary jobs that came with it.

"Eliana McCoy, can you please come up to the stage." Mr Collins started off the applause as I lugged the heavy, gold trophy off of the floor in front of me and up the stage stairs.

Do not trip do not trip do not trip do not trip.

I thankfully managed to make it up the three steps that separated the floor from the stage without making a complete mockery of myself and stood beside Mr Collins centre stage, placing the trophy on a small table that was next to me.

"Congratulations on your win! Please tell us about the steps it took to get the win." Mr Collins moved out of the way of the podium so I could stand in front of it.

Only problem is, because of how small I was, I could barely see over the top of the wooden top. Good thing I do ballet then isn't it?

As I made myself comfortable behind the podium, I pushed up on my feet and stood with my feet at a pointe so I could actually see my peers.

I had rehearsed this stupid little speech in my head but now that I'm looking at the whole school, all the words just fizzled out of my brain.

"Uh, hi." Jesus Eliana, get a god damn grip "Well it wasn't easy getting to the skill that I'm at today. I've been doing ballet for nearly 8 years now and it's a tough little hobby to take up. A lot of training and dieting and hard work put me in the position I'm in today."

My eyes scanned around the room, trying to find my brother and his friends since I hoped that they would actually be listening to what I was saying.

When I finally found Harvey in the middle at the back of the hall, he gave me a little thumbs up when we locked eyes and I let out a small breath.

"But it's not just what I do, it depends on your partner as well. I was very lucky to be with a dancer who was as committed and hard working as I was and I definitely wouldn't have won this competition with him, so for that I am very grateful."

I could see Leo crouching down at the very back of the hall, his eyes watching my every mood and a smile brightening onto his voice when I spoke about him.

Even though he ditched me, I couldn't exactly leave him out.

"It's so refreshing to hear how committed our students are here." Mr Collins suddenly appeared back at my side, placing a hand on my shoulder and giving it a vigorous shake "So what's the plan for the future at the Bluebells?"

His question caught me by surprise as I didn't really want to discuss my future with the entire school.

"Well, there's another competition up in Scotland that I can enter into but for now... Wherever the dancing takes me, I'll go." I flashed a quick smile to Mr Collins and the school, taking small steps away from the podium and falling back down to my feet on the ground normally.

I would not recommend doing a pointe for that long in converses, it does not feel good.

Once again, Mr Collins started clapping his hands and slowly but surely, the rest of the assembly joined in. I noted a couple of "Woo's!" from the back of the hall and I could only assume it was Harvey and his friends.

I didn't have to take the trophy back down the stairs with me luckily so I made a quick exit off the stage and back into my original seat at the front.

As I relaxed back into my chair, I only just noticed my knee jiggling up and down. I didn't realise how anxious I was about this until now I guess.

The rest of Mr Collins' assembly was boring as hell and I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there and into my study time.

Unfortunately I had to wait until everyone had cleared out the hall before I could take the trophy and take it to the office so they could look after it until the end of the day.

Making my way to my locker so I could grab my English text books, I was surprised to see Leo standing beside it.

"Look who decided to show up." I rolled my eyes at him, opening my locker and sorting through my things.

"Come on, you know why I couldn't go up there." Leo closed my locker as soon as I was finished with it and slipped his hand into mine. Luckily we both had the same study period so we both made out way to the library.

"I know, I know. Can't have the school knowing that Mr Bad Boy Drug Dealer does ballet." I put on a stupid voice for when I was describing him and Leo decided to respond by picking me up off the floor and and spinning me around in the empty corridor.

"Put me down!" I squealed, trying to contain my laughter and focusing on not dying a the same time. Thankfully, Leo did put me down and we continued our walk to the library.

"You did really well up there." Leo smiled, pulling my hand up to his mouth and placing a kiss on the back of it "But I do have a question. Did you go onto your tip toes when you started speaking?"

I groaned "God, was it really that obvious? I knew straight away I wasn't going to be able to see over the damn podium properly so I just pushed up and held it."

Leo stopped walking abruptly, his eyes looking from my face, down to my shoes, and then back up to my face.

"You did that in trainers?"

I nodded my head and laughed at him "It's not that hard, just hurts a little bit."

"You're one ridiculous girl, you know that?" Leo shook his head and laughed, pulling me into his side and kissing my temple.