Chapter 3

Chapter 3

45 minutes later, the class had packed up and were waiting to go to their next lessons.

“You have all worked really well today and there were some good answers on those questions, let’s see if we can keep this up for the whole term”, smiled Miss Jameson.

The bell rang and the students surged out of the classroom. Sharvona waited for Megan to join her.

“How long is your detention then?”

“Half an hour … it’s not fair I don’t like Maths so why should I bother!” snapped Megan.

“Well remember”, Sharvona imitated Miss Jameson “5A star to C including Maths and English so get cracking”.

Megan smiled “never mind, maybe I’ll understand the work better in detention, it is too noisy at home to concentrate”.

“Why don’t you use the library then, after school?”

“I have to be home by 3.45 and no later”

“But if you explained then your parents might extend your curfew”

“Hey it’s not curfew, they just don’t want me out late… still I can’t get too many detentions”, grinned Megan as they walked into Citizenship.

“Hurry up you two, you’re late!” called Mrs Smith.

Megan and Sharvona sat down at their table, Sabrina and Alice were already there.

“Hey guys, did you just come from Maths?”

“Yep and I got like my 1000^th detention”, groaned Megan.

“Seriously, I thought that you would try and work a bit more”.

“So did I”, added Alice “why don’t you help with the work Sharvy”

“I find Maths hard myself and besides I have ballet practise so I don’t really get much free time” admitted Sharvona.

Mrs Smith clapped her hands sharply and asked for silence.

“Today girls we will be starting a new project we are going to be looking at crime among young people… I’m going to start with a very silly question, what is a crime?”

“Stealing’s a crime Miss” called out Megan.

“Yes I know that but I wanted a definition of the word crime?”

“Miss isn’t a crime something against the law?” asked Sharvona

“Correct, I couldn’t have put it better I, as you all know there are various laws put in place to keep us all safe. They have to be obeyed for the good of all citizens. We have rules in school as well and even though you may think they are boring, they need to be there; can anyone name one of our main rules?”

“No running in the corridor” suggested Saffron

“Coming from someone who is constantly reprimanded for disobeying this rule, I am surprised to hear you mention it”, laughed Mrs Smith.

“Now on a more serious note can anyone tell me why this rule is in place? It may seem like an obvious question but we need to discuss it”.

“Is it because people can hurt themselves when its’ slippery and then they have to go to hospital” called Saffron.

“Well I wouldn’t go as far as hospital, but yes accidents do happen.  Our role as a school is to give you an education and keep you safe while we’re at it. Now as you know just like in school there are people who disobey the rules. Why do you think they do this…? Florence can you tell me?”

“People may break the rules because they don’t want to seem too good and they want to fit in with a certain group”, replied Florence.

“Exactly, anyone else?”

“Some young people do it to get attention from others, they may have a difficult home life or no friends so they turn to crime”, said Clare.

“That’s a very good point, what about the media’s influence. I know that young people are very hooked to the media nowadays, so how are we influenced by it?”

“Films, with crime can influence us because some people may think it’s’ cool and go and do the same thing”, suggested Sabrina.

“So do you think that films, video games with crime in them should not be watched?”

“To be honest I don’t really know, I think it is up to an individual at the end of the day. The film could be seen as a warning or an inspiration, to either be like them or to say this is someone I don’t want to be like”.

“I agree with you Sabrina, and that brings me onto our next activity. I want you to discuss in groups what you think peer pressure is.”

Sabrina, Alice, Sharvona and Megan were already in a group. The others soon settled into groups and a lively discussion began.

Next Book

If you're enjoying these two chapters then you'll be loving Summer Showcase, the new book in the series . It should come out around January depends on how busy I am!

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Hi Sharvona, how was your ballet practise?” asked Megan. Megan and Sharvona had been best friends since they were in reception. They even lived on the same road. Sharvona hooked her arm through Megan’s as they walked towards the main building.

“It was really good and my teacher wants me to dance at the Royal Opera house”

“Really, I can’t wait to watch you perform. Just imagine when you are a famous prima ballerina. I’ll be famous just for being your best friend!” squealed Megan.

Sharvona laughed, “This is my first performance and anything could happen”.

“I don’t think so, you’ve done so well in less than 3 years”, assured Megan as they sat down and pulled out their pencil cases.

“What’s’ first lesson?” queried Megan

“Maths”

“Great, just great”.

“Forgotten your book again?”

“Nope, my dog ate it”

“Seriously, Miss will never believe you”

“She’ll be so surprised that I dared to use this excuse, that she won’t say anything” laughed Megan.

The majority of the class had arrived and there was the general commotion of getting seats and finding out what happened on TV. Eventually the door opened and a dark haired lady walked in with a pile of papers.

“There are only a few notices today class, so when you are quiet I will explain what they are”

She cleared her throat; this was the wrong thing to do as everyone else thought they could do the same thing. A curious concert of coughs and clearing of throats took place for around 5 minutes.

“All those who want to be involved in the tennis competition need to meet in the hall at break”, she read once silence had resumed.

The teacher sat down and picked up the second notice, she glanced at it briefly.

“Anyone who is interested in try-outs for tap dance classes please meet in the gym after school”.

The bell rang and the students clattered off to their various classes.

“Come on Sharvona, you’ll be late for Maths. What’s wrong? You look kind of strange”

Sharvona sighed, “I have always wanted to learn tap dancing and now I have a marvellous opportunity. The only problem is the fees, my parents may not be able to afford additional gear…tap shoes are expensive you know”.

Megan thought for a moment and then said “do you know what the prize is for the gala… you know because sometimes they may give let’s say £1000 first prize and all that. If you won first prize then you could buy shoes to last a life time”.

“It is all very well to say that, but as far as I am concerned there are no prizes”.

“You know I completely forgot about your birthday… hmm I wonder what colour goes well with jet black hair?”

Sharvona pushed open the door to Maths “How did we get from dance fees to birthdays?” she laughed.

Miss Jameson rapped her ruler on the table, “class will you please sit down quietly and get out your homework. We will spend the first half and hour going through it. Jenna can you please hand out the folders for me?”

The general confusion to finding homework followed. Sharvona opened her homework folder and took out the two sheets of homework.

“Did you do every question?” asked Megan

“I couldn’t be asked … I’ll just say that I couldn’t understand it”

“That’s a good idea it throws her off your track”

Miss Jameson switched on the projector. “I’ll put the questions on the board and we will go through them one by one. If there are any questions I’ll answer them as we go along”.

“Okay then number 1, we have a nice easy addition sum so I am expecting good answers. Megan can you please tell me how you got your answer to number 1?”

“Miss I didn’t do the homework…I forgot sorry” apologized Megan.

“Diary please – you know what I expect, I’m here every day after school so you can easily come and get help”.

Scowling Megan slammed her diary on the table.

“Less of the attitude please young lady”, warned Miss Jameson.

“Right can someone else give me the answer to the sum of 48 and 50?”

Sharvona put up her hand

“Is it 98?”

“Yes that’s right, maybe you’re getting it after all”.

Update on chapters

Hope that everyone enjoyed the first chapter. I have decided to post each new chapter daily instead of weekly. So watch this space for further updates.

Chapter 1

Sharvona placed her hand on the barre; she went through her routine exercises gracefully concentrating on her posture and precision.

“Hold your arms with a graceful curve for port de bras” called her teacher.

“Come on, we have gone through this so many times, the toe must be pointed for the tendu. I want you to go through the battement de tendu again and let me see that toe point”.

Sharvona took a deep breath and raised her leg in front of her; gracefully she extended it above her head. Concentrating on her pointed toe she performed the whole exercise sinking into a deep curtsy at the end. She looked up to a smattering of applause.

“Well done Sharvona, you can do it when you really try. Now let’s take a look at your floor exercises, I believe you still need to improve your pirouettes on the extended leg and then if there is any time I will check your abesqueres and attitudes”.

Sharvona moved to the centre of the room and waited in first position with her arms in avant.  The music started up and she rose up on tiptoe. Her movements were graceful and fluid and she seemed to float on the air as she pirouetted around the room. She carefully extended her right leg and flicked her chin as she came around before stretching her leg out behind her and her arms above her head. She launched herself into the air keeping her legs outstretched. She landed in an attitude with her left leg curved behind her back.

“Excellent, Sharvona you have really mastered this now. I am going to tell you a piece of really good news. The Royal Opera house is holding a gala performance and would like you to do a solo. I believe this would inspire you and make you work even harder than you are now”.

Sharvona began to jump up and down in her excitement. “Could I really do it, could I?”

“Yes you certainly could, for someone who has only learned quite recently you have made remarkable progress. I am fully confident that you are able to do this”, smiled Madame Tarknova.

Sharvona walked to the changing room her mind in a whirl. She had always wanted to dance in public and now she had a golden opportunity. She was only worried about one thing:  what dance was she going to do? She had only learned very recently but she was determined to make a success of it.

The wind was blowing leaves across the pavement as Sharvona walked down towards the bus stop. She could hardly wait to see her mothers’ face when she told her the good news.

“I wondered what I will be wearing, I really hope that it is a sparkling tutu, I would love to wear one of those. Maybe even a tiara with little feathers like they wear in Swan Lake”, mused Sharvona.

 “Mum, are you in?” she called racing up the stairs to their apartment. A slim woman poked her head around the door frame; her face was pale with circles underneath her eyes. She had a pale peach house dress on and looked tired.

“Must you really shout I have a headache Sharvona”, she chided gently.  Sharvona stepped into the flat and hung up her coat. She dumped her ballet bag on the floor and poured herself some orange juice. She sat at the kitchen table opposite her mum.

“So, how was the practise today?”

“Good”, replied Sharvona, she hesitated and then said “My teacher wants me to perform at the Royal Opera house. They are having a gala evening and I’ll be doing a solo”.

“Really! I’m so proud of you, you only started recently. We’ll have your name in the papers before too long”.

“Well I don’t know about the papers, I wasn’t told if the press was going to be there”

Her mum got up from the table and walked towards the window. She fiddled with the leaves of her plant and did not speak for a moment. Eventually Sharvona went over to join her.

“Mum? You’re pleased aren’t you?”

“Of course I am … its’ just that…?”

“Its’ just what?” probed Sharvona.

She sighed and then hugged Sharvona.

“I don’t want to worry you. You just go on that stage and show them that you are a star.”

“I will don’t worry”.

“Now then, I believe you have some maths homework to do?”

Sharvona groaned loudly, she hated maths and always skipped her classes if she could. Her mum gave her a gentle push in the direction of her bedroom.

“Go on with you” laughed her mum.

Sharvona flung herself on her bed. She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. She knew she had to get the homework done otherwise she would be in detention. She really could not afford to get any more of those.

“Oh well, I guess I had better get on with this homework”. She picked up her pen and began.

Introduction - Dance For The Stars

Hello Readers,

Welcome to the first installment of the Sharvona Series. I will be inserting a new chapter each week so keep reading this page. Hope you enjoy the installment!