Time by Annabel T Kassa

I look around me and I feel the world just rushing past. I don’t feel as if it has stopped for me, I mean why should it? Everything is happening quickly, it’s all just a blur and there’s nothing I can do to change that. I hear a faint ringing and realise it’s the sound of my alarm. It’s already time for me to get out of bed and enter school- a place which suddenly all time begins to stop. Next thing I know I’m dressed and eating breakfast. I’m out before I know out and I feel as if there is little time for me to just sit back and relax. It’s another hard day at school and I’m finding it difficult to balance my ballet with it. The year itself is already over and the thought that important times are drawing nearer make me shiver.

‘Clara!’ someone calls.

‘Yes,’ I reply.

‘It’s time!’. That word ‘time’ means so much and so little at the same moment. It can be used in many contexts and makes me feel many emotions. Crap, I know what this means. Something I have been training for and longing for. And just like that, it is time to go to that audition. Countless dance sessions, all those extra hours I have put in all lead up to this. This is it.

I walk up to the ballet studio and see the examiners awaiting my approach. This has been my ultimate dream ever since I was a kid. There are posters of the Royal Ballet School all around my bedroom and it all leads up to this. After changing and entering the room, I am mesmerized by the ceilings intricate designs. I can feel my heart pounding, the sounds of its quick beating ring through my ears. The examiners play the music and all of a sudden, I feel all the worries lift off my chest. As my solo plays out, I remember my first ever ballet lesson and I remember the feeling of escape and freedom I feel when dancing. I feel all the pride my mum would be feeling if she saw me right now and that pushes me further. The song comes to an end and so does my solo. I look towards my examiners but they have the best poker-faces I’ve ever seen. I cannot tell how I have done but they simply thank me and tell me that I will receive an answer in two weeks after all the applicants have auditioned.

Two weeks later.....

I wait anxiously by the letter box, ready to prance on the letter with the results. Then I see it. The Royal Ballet School’s logo and my name. I thought the audition was nerve-wracking but this does it. I rip the envelope open with my mother by my side.

She hugs me as tears begin to flow out of my eyes. I can’t believe it.