Prima Ballerina

MADISON CALLOWAY. high school junior; sixteen. madison mclaughlin. TAKEN. and, as maureen cummings once said: “I am the best goddamn dancer in the American Ballet Academy. Who the hell are you? Nobody.”

BEFORE THE HEATHERS’ PARTY;

Some people are born with it,the ability to good at anything and everything without even trying. The ones who could make messy buns, wrinkled clothes, and sweatpants look like haute couture… And yet, Madison made those people look like kindergartners. Madison gave meaning to classic saying, looks can be deceiving. Though she didn’t look a day over ten, Madison had an inner darkness (Which earned her the nickname of Lilith, just two days into freshmen year). It wasn’t that Madison was purely evil, in fact, she volunteered to teach at the tiny tot’s ballet classes, but it was more so that she didn’t like change in her scheduled world.

Since birth, Madison had lived and danceed in Rosewood, which meant she owned the ballet and social scene. As she entered elementary school it became rather obvious that she had already earned her diamond encrusted spot at Rosewood’s dance academy. Though she had the school in the palm of her hands, she still practiced as hard as physically and mentally could until she was officially accepted into the program. It wasn’t until she walked into her dorm room to find the bright eyed Jude Griffin stretching in the middle of the floor that her world finally got rocked. The Calloway name allowed for her pushy mother to snag a roster of the upcoming freshmen class and their marks, obviously Madison was first, but Jude was a close second. And after the first dance class, it became unmissable that Jude was a huge threat. Of course, Jude was flawed. Her feet were weak and her skill was extremely disorganized, but underneath the rust there was a raw talent and Madison could sense that it would become a problem.

At first Madison thought she could sweep Jude under her wing; she would be able to closely monitor how her competition worked and maybe she would be to able make a friend along the way, but Jude was quick to ditch Madison for the likes of Isidora Flores, River Montgomery and Blake Armstrong. Madison didn’t pay much mind to the trio until they disrupted barre warms ups within the first week of classes and suddenly, they were put onto the top of her list.  

DURING THE HEATHERS’ PARTY;

In theory, a party sounded fun; she could let loose, maybe even socialize with the upperclassmen, but after discussing the idea of attending with her mother, she quickly realized she was just being foolish. A girl like her shouldn’t be attending a party, she had her career ahead. If something went wrong on this one night, it would be thirteen years of dancing down the drain.

So instead of attending the party, Madison decided to surprise her mother for dinner in the city. She couldn’t have been happier, they hadn’t spent quality time together since the start of the school year. With a clear mind, Madison set out to find her mother. Before she knew it she found her mom and she was fast approaching. With a grin she gave her mom a hug before asking where she wanted to eat. But what her mother answered with wasn’t she expected. With a shriveled expression and a cruel pout her mother asked why she wasn’t practicing. At first Madison was confused, had she done something wrong? Why couldn’t they have dinner together? Her mother then tutted her away and mentioned how her face looked fuller; she needed to work off the pounds she had put on.

Holding back tears, Madison stumbled out of the building and ran back to her dormitory. Did she gain weight? She couldn’t have; since the school year started back up all she did was practice; sometimes she even skipped meals to keep her figure slim. As she kicked in her door to her room, tears began to stream down her cheeks. What was wrong with her? Didn’t she have a ballerina body? With angry warped thoughts, Madison found herself in her bathroom, shoving a toothbrush towards the back of her throat. She would get that damned ballerina body.