When I was young, I knew no fear. Now I am 12 and afraid of the world. The people are mean, the animals cruel. But when I dance it takes everything away. Hi, I'm Lily. And this? Well this is my life, and my story of how I became the swan in swan lake.

One day I was dancing in my basement like normal. All of a sudden my mom yells…

“Lily, get up here!”

“Coming!” I said in response. As I got upstairs I could see that mom was mad. “Do you need something?” I say questioning my every move. As I neared closer to the counter she said “Why do you have a B in math? I expect you to get only A’s! As well as science! A B-? Get to your room and study, no more dancing until you get your grades up!” I wanted to say something in response, but couldn’t find the voice to do so. I turned and went to my room. As I was going I passed my dad in the hallway. 

“What’s wrong kiddo?” He said with a look of sympathy.

“Mom said I can’t dance until my grades go up! That’s so unfair. How about no more criticizing me until she gets a job!”

“Well that does seem unfair Lily, I get what you're saying. But you can’t say that to your mother. How about I help you study? I hear you have a math test coming up, let’s start with that.” My father said, seeming not to care about my mother, but about helping me. I love him so much.

“That sounds nice.” I said with a sad look on my face, but inside I was a jumping ball of joy.

It’s now been a few months, and Christmas is here. The only thing I want is some ballet shoes -pointe shoes to be exact- but with mom, my wish might not come true. It’s been hard on us, my parents getting divorced, our house got sold so we live either on the streets or hopping in and out of unwanted apartments. Times can change though, for now I am 15 and in high school. I actually got the pointe shoes, and I was allowed to dance in the school ballet club. That is until my mother found out.

“Why would you go behind my back and join a club without asking? I would have picked a better suited one! Like the cheer team! Young ladys should always listen to their mothers! If you don’t leave that team you can go live with your father!” Mother said. I had tears welling in my eyes, but left for my fathers house that same day.

I walked the streets taking four hours to get there. But along the way I had stopped, for there was music playing in the streets. I put down my things and started swaying to the music. Like a tree in the wind I was on releve in less than a minute, pointe in less than two. I jumped and twirled, pirouetted and did a new move. But what I didn’t know was that there was an offer coming in the crowd. The ballet school for the beautiful. I had heard about it, and dreamed of attending it. But my mother never let me. I spoke to the director afterwards. She had offered me a full ride scholarship, and I said I would have to speak to my father. We exchanged numbers and I went back to walking.

When I arrived at my dad's house, there was a car that didn’t look anything like my dads. It was white and had a purple trim on the tires. That’s new, I thought. I knocked on the door and in what had to be five minutes, a new lady was standing at the door. 

“I’m looking for my father, John, is he here?” I asked in my most polite voice. Just as I said that my father appeared in the door.

“Lily! It’s been so long! Why are you here?” My dad said with a half smile.

“Mom said That if I want to keep dancing then I have to come live with you” As I said those very words, the woman in my dad's house looked at me with an evil grin. Then she said “Well you can't stay here! You poor lowlifer! I don’t care if you're the daughter of my boyfriend! Leave and never come back!” I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Just as she was about to slam the door in my face my father said “Ok, you can leave now.” I turned to leave only for him to stop me. “Not you” He said ”I was talking to my ex girlfriend, get out Jo Ann.” At this point there was a look of shock on her face.

“John! You can’t seriously kick me out! I'm your first love! And you're mine!”

“My first love was my daughter's mother, then came my daughter. You only came a few weeks ago. You're late to the party.” I could have bursted out laughing if I wasn’t biting my lip! The look of anger and regret on her makeup stained face was hilarious! My dad had invited me in and I had talked to him about the offer. He said he was fine with whatever I wanted, just to come home whenever I can. 

Later on that day I called the director. “This is Lily from before. My dad said that I could go to your school if I got to come home anytime I wanted to.” After that I danced and danced until the play came around. I had been assigned the role of the white swan. All the other girls bickered and pleaded to be the white swan. But they couldn’t. The day came and I was the most beautiful swan I had ever seen. My father and mother said so as well.