grasp, and bustled over to her desk. She pulled out a jewelry kit, and fiddled for a moment before she held up her handiwork. “All done!”
She’d put the key on a thin rose-gold bracelet for me to wear. I slipped it on over my wrist. “Thanks, Odette. I truly appreciate it.”
Odette put a hand on her hip. “What brings you by?”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry if you’re busy. I just really needed a friend.”
“I’m not busy at all.” Odette looped her arm in mine. “Let’s go for a walk.”
The halls were empty this time of day, as most everyone was in class. We wandered until we came to one of the inner courtyards, the one where a round pool was resting peacefully in the sunlight. It was the same courtyard Ethan and I had broken up in… still, it was one of my favorite places in the castle. It was so beautiful here.
Odette sat cross-legged by the edge of the pool, and I sat across from her. “What seems to be the trouble?”
I blew a lock of hair out of my eyes. “Everything, really.”
“It can’t be all that bad. Keep your chin up, Emma. There will be happy days in the world again,” Odette said kindly.
“I’m not so sure.” Thinking about other people’s problems was easier than my own, so I changed the conversation. “How are you doing, Odette?”
Odette’s face fell a little. “Better, I think. I’ve been eating, but mostly because everyone still watches me. I don’t know if I’m ready to do it on my own. I have a weird relationship with food now. It’s gonna take time for me to get used to it.”
Odette had been treated for her eating disorder, and I don’t think she’d slipped up, but she still needed help in order to be accountable. “What exactly happened in rehab, if you don’t mind me asking?”
She shrugged. “It was a lot of therapy. Theo saw me as much as he could. He was the only one.”
“What about your mom?”
Odette’s gaze was watery when she looked at me. “We haven’t spoken since I collapsed onstage the night of the ballet. She’s ashamed of me. She thinks I threw my chances of being a prima ballerina away.”
Odette’s words cut me. I couldn’t imagine her mother could be so cruel.
Odette wiped at her eyes. “I kind of did. The Malovian Ballet won’t touch me now, and word spreads in the ballet world. I won’t be able to get a position as a dancer, after what happened.”
“So what? It doesn’t mean you can’t dance for fun.”
“I don’t want to dance for fun. Ballet was my life, Emma. It was everything I ever wanted, and I let that dream slip away.” Odette sighed. “I haven’t put on my ballet shoes since that night. It’s too painful. I can’t dance knowing I lost my one chance to be great.”
“It doesn’t matter. You are great. Ballet means everything to you. You love it so much. There’s no reason you can’t do something else with dance. There are a million things you could do— you could teach, you could do artistic shows, you could even start your own company. You just have to get creative, and see the possibilities.”
Odette looked into the pool. “I’m not sure. Igor thought the company would take me back at first, but since they haven’t, now he says that it’s impossible— that I’ll never make it in the ballet world.”
I suppressed the urge to strangle her. “Odette, you’re not still with that jerk, are you?”
“He’s not a jerk!” She became immediately defensive, and it threw me off. “He’s a great guy!”
“He didn’t even visit you when you were in the hospital,” I reminded her.
“It made him uncomfortable. I get it,” she protested.
“Odette, come on.” I rolled my eyes. “You can’t tell me he’s always there for you.”
Odette hesitated. “Well… he did get really jealous when I went with Theo’s family on vacation this summer. He doesn’t understand that Theo and I are just friends, and I’ve told him a million times I don’t see Theo that way. Igor doesn’t want me to be friends with boys. He’s worried they’ll take advantage.”
“No, he’s totally insecure, and it’s gross,” I corrected. “You should be friends with whoever you want, not who Igor approves of.”
“He doesn’t want me to have a strong connection with someone who isn’t him. He wants to be first in my life, and since he’s my boyfriend, shouldn’t that be true?”